Supporting an Ecosystem for Women of Color to be Startup Founders and Investors by leveraging Angel Investing

Who is Tawana Murphy Burnett?  

Tawana Murphy Burnett, former consultant turned startup employee and entrepreneur, is now a global marketing leader at Facebook helping the top 30 Global Advertisers like Estée Lauder and Johnson & Johnson become the best mobile marketers. Prior to Facebook, Tawana led brand and product teams at Intuit, LeapFrog, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, leading P&L, Brand Growth, integrated marketing strategies and new product innovation for brands like Listerine, Advil, and ChapStick.  

Since 2017 Tawana has become an active investor in women and women of color owned businesses primarily through Portfolia and as a Member and Due Diligence Lead with Pipeline Angels. She has served on numerous Diversity and Inclusion councils, most recently joining Digital Undivided as an Advisory Board Member for StartUp Newark. 

Show Highlights 

• Tawana talks about being inspired to get involved in angel investing because of what Terri shared with her about her desire to get more capital into the hands of female founders when they met in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt. 
• Tawana joined Pipeline Angels and shares her experience learning about angel investing, leading a deal, and getting more involved to invest in more women of color.   

• Tawana has made 9 investments since she started less than two years ago.  She talks about being excited about the community building piece, hosting more events, and getting involved with Digital Undivided in Atlanta and Startup Newark.   
• Terri talks about leveraging AngelList as a ‘poor woman’s VC’ to be able to bring deals together and give women who are leading these deals some sort of compensation for the work associated with this.  She also talks about the importance of building the ecosystem but also finding ways for women to get compensated for all the work we are doing for free.   
• If Tawana could wave a magic wand, she would improve the public education system in the US and make sure it is financially supported.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Be open to conversations with people; be open to new ideas; be open to education.   

References in the Podcast 

• 4YFN: https://www.4yfn.com/ 
• Mobile World Congress: https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/ 

• Joanne Wilson (Gotham Gal):  https://gothamgal.com/ 
• Portfolia: https://www.portfolia.co/ 
• Pipeline Angels: http://pipelineangels.com/ 
• Kishau Rogers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishau/ 
• Mented:  https://www.mentedcosmetics.com/pages/ourstory 

• Sephora Stands Accelerator:  https://www.sephorastands.com/accelerate/ 
• Nancy Hayes:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhayes2/ 
• Fempire:  https://www.fempiregroup.com/ 
• Digital Undivided: https://www.digitalundivided.com/ 
• Project Diane: https://www.inc.com/kathryn-finney/innovating-inclusion-digitalundevided-and-project-diane.html 

• AngelList:  https://angel.co/ 
• Lynn-Ann Gries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-ann-gries-44440/ 

Contact 

Tawana can be reached through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tawanaburnett/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at [email protected]. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.