A Wrap on 2021 and Feature in NASDAQ
It's been a while, musings on 2021 and some other things I'm excited about at the intersection of cities, community, climate and innovation.
A Wrap on 2021 and Feature in NASDAQ
If you had told me this past year would look anything like what it has been I would have not believed you on many fronts. There were so many places and experiences I came across that opened my eyes to creativity, ingenuity, and the power of community to drive solutions. One pleasant surprise was a feature in NASDAQ right before the end of the year as A Woman To Watch.
From Mexico City to Glasgow and San Francisco I explored emerging industries and ideas that undoubtedly will shape the way we live, work, convene and play in cities. Some questions and areas of exploration I hope to dive into further as we enter 2022 include:
An opportunity to drastically reimagine finance
How can we design and deploy capital into the technologies and solutions that need them to scale and have a REAL impact? Capital markets and mechanisms haven’t innovated alongside the companies and solutions they aim to support. If you saw my recent feature in Reconsidered I discuss Sequoia's announcement a few months ago highlighting a new and important focus on patient capital. What does this look like for innovators across cities at a time when markets and money are being deployed across infrastructure, projects, and technologies? We have an opportunity to no longer fund things in silos but explore how they work together to build cities where economies and people flourish.
The role of decentralization across finance and energy
Like many other people, I’ve found myself trying to stay afloat in the midst of Web3 being shoved into our daily discourse whether we are interested or not. I’ve found myself deep in the rabbit hole of all things Web3 and crypto recently though not solely focused on gains though of course, who doesn’t want those? I’m particularly interested in the role of government. As we continue to see our grid shift to a more decentralized generation portfolio, and Web3 usher in more interest in decentralized ownership is there an opportunity to leverage community to create value of communal energy assets? To use blockchain for smart contracts that securely allow users/consumers to trade energy credits for things like community solar projects (take a look at the Brooklyn Microgrid Project?
The power of storytelling to transcend silos around urban innovation and enable collaboration
While at COP26 I met several filmmakers and creatives with who I shared my story and work. On the last day, I was also invited to speak with Van Jones on his podcast alongside a couple of other incredible climate leaders. Throughout my career, I’ve seen the importance of bringing together people with varying expertise and focus to create valuable partnerships that foster creativity and speed up implementation. It’s said time and time again and still, we know that it’s easy to get bogged down in your single area of focus and forget there are other brilliant individuals and entities solving the same problem as you. What if we all took some time to separate from our one way of doing things to explore others’ way which may highlight ideas we haven’t thought about? What if we made these remarkable projects and ideas accessible to everyday people desperate for climate optimism? I’m currently thinking that through with these filmmakers and am excited about the blueprint of a future of regenerative docu-series we are thinking through soon. More to come on that soon, but in the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more or potentially collaborating feel free to drop me a note here.
A photo we snapped after our recording with Van Jones for his podcast. I’m pictured (in the middle) next to dear friends and women leading in climate, Kayalin Akens-Irby, Planet FWD, and Vasser Seydel, The Oxygen Project.
You can read my piece following COP26, Key Takeaways From The Glasgow Climate Change Summit here. I enjoyed writing it and sharing it and it doubles down on many themes I’m mentioning here.
Below are recent readings/listens I highly recommend to round out your year including infrastructure, energy efficiency, and federal appointments for the incoming administration:
“The 22 Fund, a Los Angeles-based early stage growth equity fund, announced that Bank of America and Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation (RPDFF) have committed to The 22 Fund I, LP (The 22). The 22, created in 2018 to be a $100 million vehicle making equity, debt and revenue share investments, provides capital into promising technology-based, export-oriented manufacturing firms led by women and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs that are often left out of tech capital opportunities.”
As climate change continues to intensify—raising the urgency to address mounting risks and escalating costs—the public and private response remain slow and uneven. Steps toward more renewable energy are gradually taking hold, but a significant and immediate challenge continues to surround the country’s urban built environment: an increasingly vulnerable network of transportation, water, and private real estate assets. From roads and sewers to homes and commercial buildings, the location and design of current physical systems keep adding more greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, overconsuming natural resources, and exposing people to greater dangers.
I’m truly looking forward to what 2022 holds and here’s a poem from one of my favorite poets and authors who opened up COP26. She has a new book out titled The How which I highly recommend. You can see her perform it here, and the words below capture her talent and magic.