Danielle Shoots: Investing Millions in Domestic Emerging Markets

On today’s episode, Apollo sits down with Danielle Shoots, Managing Partner and Director of the New Community Transformation Fund - Denver. With the mission of providing equity for BIPOC founders, Danielle is a pioneer in the world of philanthropy at the age of 26.  

Scoring highest in Prioritize and Leverage, Danielle dives into how she’s hacked her career at an early age. She shares perspective on how she was able to team-build and influence others even in performance based roles, and how she’s on a mission to crack open the venture capital industry, and how marginalized communities in the US should be treated as a domestic emerging market.

Valuing impact-oriented goals over routine tasks, Apollo and Danielle discuss a shift in thought leadership through the generations. citing the internet and play-dates as cultural markers that note a change in what is demanded of professional leaders. 

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Guest Bio

Danielle Shoots is the Managing Partner and Managing Director of the New Community Transformation fund – Denver, an equity venture capital fund for BIPOC founders and the President and CEO of Wealth Equity Enterprises, a holdings company that owns several businesses that support the mission of building BIPOC wealth and leadership. Born and raised in Colorado, Danielle is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver, where she earned a degree in Business Administration. 

At the age of 26, Danielle embarked on her executive leadership path ascending to the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. After the state, Danielle served as the Vice President of Finance and Business Operations for the West Division of Comcast, managing a billion-dollar capital portfolio, strategic FP&A, Mergers and Acquisitions and a team of sixty employees located in seven states. Most recently Danielle, was the Chief Financial Officer for the Colorado Trust where she grew the foundation’s endowment from $430 million to nearly $600 million, reduced cash on hand to a recurring 1% while still operating the foundation. She also launched a direct investment portfolio across the State making investments in local media companies, real estate and housing and small businesses and leveraging the endowments’ balance sheet for creative bridge financing across multiple sectors and industries. 

Danielle’s passion for people and leadership, distinguished business acumen and tenacious work ethic have garnered her numerous accolades, including inclusion on the prestigious 2019 list of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business from the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, The 2020 Emerging Leader in Philanthropy from ABFE,  The 2018 Woman of the Year Award for her work with youth in the community, and a recipient of the 2017 Denver Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award. 

Danielle is a passionate community member and serves as a trustee for the Women’s Foundation, a mayoral appointed board member for the Prosper Denver Fund and the chief economic equity advisor to State Senator, James Coleman and State Representative, Leslie Harod.  

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Guest PLE Score

• Prioritize - 56%
• Leverage - 40%
• Execute - 4%

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Guest Quote

 ”The one thing I did was I cut a big check, and hired a second Managing Director immediately. It forced me to be really creative, and it forced me to put my money where my mouth was around us being a fund, that was going to really get to know our portfolio companies and our investments, and really be a partner with them.

 And then, I hired my Chief of Staff right away too, because she's my executor. So it was just a matter of saying, "I know what I'm good at, what I'm not good at. I'd rather have the pressure of making sure their payroll hits every month than the pressure of tryin