Kenya Burrell-VanWormer, chief growth officer at NEO, and Katherine Winston, founding member and head of marketing at Plunk, have teamed up to build a program that will provide professional mentorship for minority entrepreneurs in proptech.
The verdict is in — the old way of doing business is over. Join us at Inman Connect New York Jan. 23-25, when together we’ll conquer today’s market challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities. Defy the market and bet big on your future.
Two women in proptech leadership positions are aiming to extend their impact across the space with the launch of their co-founded accelerator, Equity Angels, according to a Jan. 16 press release shared with Inman.
Kenya Burrell-VanWormer, chief growth officer at NEO, and Katherine Winston, founding member and head of marketing at Plunk, have teamed up to build a program that will provide professional mentorship, fractional executives and fundraising preparation for companies started by entrepreneurs from diverse demographics. Both women will serve as managing partners of Equity Angels.
“The real estate industry is going through one of the most challenging times in history and is caught up in a perfect storm of low sales volume, high interest rates, the proliferation of AI and industry-wide paradigm shifts,” Burrell-VanWormer, who was Inman’s 2018 Person of the Year, said in the release.
Burrell-VanWormer was recognized by Inman for standing up to powerful forces, showing leadership, fortitude and thoughtfulness in engaging with a controversial and important subject for the real estate industry, which at the time was a proposed dues increase from the National Association of Realtors.
Citing a McKinsey report on diverse startup leaders that shows companies started by white males typically out-fund those launched by underrepresented founders, the pair hope to encourage minority entrepreneurs to take action on their ideas.
McKinsey found that “in 2022, Black and Latino…