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March 7, 2024 35 mins

To kick off Women's History Month, we're highlighting one of Elias Torres' role models: Freada Kapor Klein.

Freada has considered herself an activist since high school, and since then, she's founded SMASH — an organization that helps low-income students get into STEM, co-founded Kapor Capital, which invests in early-stage startups focused on closing the equity gap, and even wrote a book all about what it takes for companies to actually close the equity gap.

In this episode of The American Dream podcast, Freada and Elias discuss how technology and activism can (and should) co-exist, the problems prohibiting equality today, and debate if we really are making progress closing the equity gap.

  • (1:35) Who is Freada Klein?
  • (8:55) Can activism, tech, and money all mix together?
  • (11:45) The swing of the progress pendulum
  • (17:18) Kapor Capital’s different approach to talent
  • (23:13) How do we close the privilege gap?
  • (26:58) The disadvantages minority founders have in trying to make their startup successful
  • (29:48) How can we help underrepresented founders get up to speed faster?

Learn more about SMASH

Learn more about Kapor Capital

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