Q & A

We recently sat down with Deldelp Medina to find out more about her passions, her calling and generally dive in deeper to get to know her

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What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work over the last few years?

We were not exempt from the realities of COVID; some of us got sick, some had family members get sick or die, it was a difficult time with a lot of uncertainty. When the murders of Ms. Taylor and Mr. Floyd happened, it was very painful. It made us realize that even in the middle of a pandemic, we still had to be careful and try to think about what state sanctioned violence looks like–that was a very heavy thing to be living with. Equity is an idea that everybody says they stand for, but cultural change is not something they necessarily understand or are comfortable with. This means that a lot of the work we are doing is financially at the whim of whether people are interested or not. Don’t just give us one chunk of money, make pledges of three to five years–we need financial consistency. The lack of consistency impacts our ability to show up for the work, and contributes to inconsistent systems that will not bring lasting structural change. Developing alternative business models to the startup status quo has become a central moral challenge of our time. These alternatives want to balance profit and purpose and put a premium on sharing power and resources.

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Why is getting investments in this alternative model crucial for those who seek it?

Right now the way in which you qualify for a loan or not for your business is based on a series of factors, none of them are about your relationship to your community. There is a lot of money out there, there has been more wealth created in the last 10 years, even during the pandemic people’s wealth grew. The systems we have in place actually reject people to ensure that it stays in the same place it is currently. People often say, “I will invest in a serial entrepreneur on the third or fourth time because they know what they should and shouldn’t do.” But the reality is that some of us don’t even get investment the first time around, so the idea of supporting the second or third is impossible for us to even imagine. We need to build systems that are equitable for people to make mistakes without destroying their personal financial state.

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How do we shift the narrative about the role of capital in BIPOC communities and reframe the perceptions of the risk involved?

You’d rather take $1 from the right person than $100 from the wrong person — investment equals relationship. Money is attached to people, and people have different expectations. We need to understand this work is not going to center you, it requires you to learn and engage in relationship making in a different way. We can't be a charity case or an extraction tool. By charity, I mean: I don't respect you, your work or the communities you come from that have the lived experience you have. When I say extraction, I’m talking about an expectation that our businesses are going to have 20x return. This essentially sets yourself and others up for failure. When you support this work, it’s really about changing narratives and engaging. When we’re all thriving, everybody’s better. What we are undergoing is an economic apartheid because we have the numbers, but we don’t have the wealth.

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What are the top three pieces of advice you would give to BIPOC entrepreneurs, who are dedicated to both purpose and profit, as they are starting or scaling their business?

1. Find a therapist and support network. You can’t do this by yourself.

2. Understand the difference between a customer and a supporter. A customer is someone who is putting money in your pocket for the service and technology. A supporter is someone who thinks your idea is great, but never puts a dollar in your pocket. Concentrate on your customers.

3. Give yourself the time to recharge and replenish as needed. Also, great lawyers and accountants really help!

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What is the call to action for investors who seek to promote social justice through investment solutions?

Who you think you are going to help is not always who you’ll end up helping, things look different. Look at your system barriers to actually engage people. If you are really about supporting the work, you’ve got to find people where they are at in the process. Black and Latinex entrepreneurs often cannot raise 100K from friends and families, so don’t make that a condition for investment. What it means for us to be in community looks different than white culture–it looks and acts different. Though we might be using the same words, they have different definitions, and people need to educate themselves on those cultural nuances.