Candice creates inclusive strategies for GV and its portfolio companies and helps the firm expand diversity across the entrepreneurs it funds.

As the first Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Pinterest, Candice led strategy to drive diverse talent, policy, and product outcomes. Prior, Candice spent a decade in diversity strategy and practice at Catalyst where her clients were F1000 global organizations across a range of industries. Candice was awarded Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business and The Root's 100 Most Influential African-Americans of 2017.

Candice studied Psychology and Business at Carnegie Mellon University and Cross-Cultural Psychology at Brunel University.

Alda brings over a decade of investing and legal experience to both Initialized and our portfolio companies. Prior to joining Initialized, she was a managing partner at 137 Ventures where she led investments in Planet Labs, Wish, Coupang, CourseHero, and Work Market (acquired by ADP). Additionally, she made personal early-stage investments in companies such as Maven, Legalzoom (acquired by Permira), SpaceX, and Osaro. Previously she was COO at Airtime, General Counsel at Founders Fund, Assistant General Counsel at Peter Thiel’s Clarium Capital Management, and practiced as a litigator for IP disputes at WSGR. She graduated from Stanford with BAs in economics and political science, and a JD from UCLA.

Sandy Carter is Senior Vice President and Channel Chief at Unstoppable Domains. In this role, she is responsible for driving new partnerships and integrations for Web 3.0, Blockchain, and NFTs. She is the founder of Women of Web3. Her mission is to onboard the world onto the decentralized web by building blockchain based identity platform.

Previously, Sandy was the Vice President for Public Sector Partners and Programs at AWS. In this role, she was responsible for driving next-generation partnering in cloud, machine learning, IoT and blockchain. She grew the partner ecosystem over 45% as the ecosystem contributed significantly to the success of the business.

Sandy is the Chairman of the Board of Girls in Tech, and an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley. She is also the author of Extreme Innovation: Three Superpowers for Purpose and Profit. She is a Top 100 Chief Tech Leader, Federal 100 Award Winner, member of Fortune Most Powerful Women, Stevie Award Winner for Women of the Year Technology, CRN 2021 Power 100, Top 50 Digital Influencers, Top 10 AI Influencers Verdicts ten of the most influential people in artificial intelligence, and the Top 10 Cloud Computing Influencer. 

Grace Macjones is a Nigerian-American technologist, podcaster, and Azure Cloud Engineer at Microsoft. She is a STEM advocate for underrepresented groups and is passionate about democratizing technology through mentoring, speaking at tech events, and volunteering with tech organizations such as Black Girls Code, Women Who Code, and DigiGirlz. Grace has been a mentor at Year Up, Husky Tech, and The Master of Science in Information Systems program at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

Grace is the host of the Tech Unlocked podcast which aims to demystify and diversity the tech industry by giving people of color the keys they need to unlock their successful tech careers. She also is the founder of Women of Color in Emerging Tech (WOCIET) which is a community helping WoC onboard into web3 and beyond. 

Sheena is a Partner at Comcast Ventures focusing on consumer investing, with particular interest in proptech, healthcare, and fintech. Prior to joining the team at CV, Sheena led Strategy and Operations for apparel at an e-commerce and fulfillment platform, Symphony Commerce. Prior to Symphony, Sheena was in the Corporate Strategy Group at Hudson’s Bay Company/Saks Fifth Avenue, driving the future of omni-channel commerce. She started her career at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) advising clients in the financial services, retail, and insurance sector. While in business school, Sheena worked at Bessemer and spent her summer at Google focused on strategy for emerging products. She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Economics and M.B.A from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Lauren works with Early Stage Startups in NYC focusing on fintech, consumer, and web3 companies at Silicon Valley Bank. Before this role, she spent two years at Morgan Stanley where she wore a number of hats within the wealth management division. She was first interested in the startup ecosystem while she was studying Art History and Economics at Boston College. For two different summers, she held operational and investor relation roles at a fintech and consumer startup respectively. She is currently interested in the intersection of art/music, tech, and business and spends a lot of time focusing on the future of blockchain technology. 

Chauncey Hamilton is an early-stage investor at XYZ Venture Capital where she joined as a partner in April of 2020. She spends her time investing in climate, future of work, and fintech. Previously, she's spent the past eight years supporting entrepreneurs at Dorm Room Fund and First Round Capital. Prior to venture, Chauncey worked in media where she had a front-row seat to startups and innovation at WIRED and Thrillist. Chauncey lives in Connecticut with her husband and two-spirited toddlers. 

Carolyn Witte is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tia. As patients turned entrepreneurs, Carolyn and her co-founder Felicity Yost built Tia to create a new standard of care for women. Since launching in 2017, Tia has grown to serve thousands of women aged 18-80 with blended in-person and virtual care in New York City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Tia’s “Whole Woman, Whole Life” care model fuses gynecology, primary care, mental health, and evidence-based wellness services to treat women comprehensively. Ultimately, Tia makes women healthier, providers happier, and the business of care delivery stronger.

Karlie is Startup Grind’s, Chief Marketing & Business Officer.  Karlie was Startup Grind's third employee and has been with the organization for ~9 years. She now leads the day-to-day operations of the organization and is responsible for overseeing revenue and growth, all sales and marketing initiatives, and building strategic partnerships. With 10+ years of marketing and events experience, she also leads the production of Startup Grind's flagship Global Conference, taking place in Silicon Valley every spring. Karlie is a new mom and lives with her husband and baby girl in Northern California.