Suggestions
Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson
Impact Market Builder, PE/VC Fund Investor, Aspen Finance Leadership Fellow, Bloomberg New Voices Fellow
Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson is a recognized innovator and thought leader in venture capital and impact investment, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the asset management industry. She is currently serving as an Aspen Institute Finance Leadership Fellow, a position she has held since June 2023.3
Robinson is the founder and CEO of VC Include, an ecosystem and marketplace designed to expand investment opportunities for diverse asset managers.12 She launched VC Include in 2018 to build platforms and programs for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and women-led asset managers in alternative investments.4
In addition to her role at VC Include, Robinson is also:
- Founding Partner of Include Ventures, a fund-of-funds and direct investment vehicle launched in late 202135
- Member of the Ceres President's Council3
- Bloomberg News New Voices Fellow4
Throughout her career, Robinson has been involved in various impactful initiatives:
- Developed online technology competitions and conferences in Africa, partnering with organizations like the U.S. Department of State, World Bank, Microsoft, and Nokia1
- Served as Executive Director of Appfrica and Managing Director of The Appfrica Fund, one of the first accelerators and early-stage investment funds in Africa3
- Co-founded Ebola Deeply, a microsite of News Deeply, focused on providing comprehensive coverage of the Ebola crisis3
Robinson's work has been recognized by numerous organizations, including the Knight Foundation, Echoing Green, Entrepreneur, CNN, and Forbes.14 She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.4
Highlights
May 2024 flew by! 💫
The Venture + Vision luncheon, hosted by VC Include and Pivotal Ventures at the Waldorf Astoria during the #MilkenGlobalConference was THE major highlight of the first half of the year!
Many thanks to the leadership and support of Melinda French Gates for doubling down on WOC's leadership in the investment field. We remain committed to exponentially increasing the number of WOC asset managers and asset owners in our lifetime.
With deeply personal remarks by Sue Toigo, Patience Marime-Ball, Esq., Troy Duffie and Kwanza Jones ♛, the luncheon celebrated top global Women in Finance + Asset Allocation, urging investment in women-led funds.
Thanks to our partnership, we engaged pioneers in the #assetallocator and #genderlensinvestment space that are writing checks to women-led funds at scale, from the investment team at Pivotal Ventures Erin Harkless Moore, CFA Renata Aráuz-DeStefano, to Sallie Krawcheck at Ellevest, Linnea Roberts and Ita Ekpoudom @ GingerBread Capital, Betsy Zimmerman + Carolina Huaranca Mendoza @ First Close Partners, Stacey Walker King @ Macro, and industry luminaries Janiece Evans-Page, Cheryl Dorsey, Priscilla Sims Brown, Tonya Allen, Kim Lew and Renae Griffin. The list goes on and on...I'm grateful to you all for investing your time, energy and for your unwavering committed to accelerating #impactinvesting and #alphageneration by investing in women– our luncheon was deemed one of the best events during Milken Global!
We intentionally held space for the presence of supportive men backing women-led funds with both capital and expert guidance, buoyed by VCI's own Milton Speid - including Jimmie Briggs, Kunle Apampa, Jim Casselberry, and Ashley D. Bell. Your commitment to recognizing and investing in women's capabilities for mutual growth underscores the importance of collective effort in realizing outsized returns 🙏🏾
Kwanza closed out the lunch with a powerful talk and a lingering question: If you get what you want, will you be ready for what you have? This is the type of question every person - whether an asset manager or owner, should think deeply about 💡 🔦
Special thanks to the #VCI team including Milton, Alia Einstein-Diez, Joel Bashevkin, Ivy Binns, Rendel S., Sofia Shield, and the amazing work of Umindi Francis and her UFCG team for making this a true highlight of my year! ✨
#GenderLensInvesting #Gratitude #Assetallocation #Inclusion #Equity
Given last weekend’s power punch to Fearless Fund’s grant program for Black Women, I strongly believe that the way that the institutional investment community has stayed silent about the #FearlessFund lawsuit needs to be examined.
I feel compelled to share a bit about how I’ve experienced building the INCLUDE platform (VC Include + Include Ventures) as a founder + my journey fundraising while accelerating access to capital for firms that look like The Fearless Fund. In 2021, I was so excited and happy for these courageous and determined GPs when they began knocking it out of the park in terms of garnering LP checks, knowing that they were one of 2-3 Black Women-led funds in the U.S. that have raised significant capital.
Raising more than $1M in funding is near to impossible for the 23.5 million Black women in the U.S. Since 2017, there have been less than one dozen Black Women-owned firms across the U.S. that have been able to raise more than $25M - and only with the help of powerful allies that determined enough was enough! It’s been an honor to see this happen, because I know where we’ve been. We have been used, sidelined and left out of profit-sharing, generation after generation. I started VCI when there were less than 3 firms like Fearless. But progress, as we see, is fleeting, given the systems in place that are constantly undermining our progress.
The politics and history that center white decision makers + patriarchy across ethnic lines has to be deeply understood to be combatted. It takes courage and capital, simultaneously, to create a barrier against oppressive men (and women) who see zero sum gain when it comes to Black Women - and I speak from this lens, because it’s my lens, while realizing that my indigenous American and Latinx/hispanic identifying and other women have similar and overlapping realities.
Many times, I’ve been called to advise many white-led organizations that have taken my insights and have not invested capital at any level, but instead attempted to replicate my model that they initially insisted they wanted to partner on and support. INCLUDE has outperformed on every metric. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, but sad that the underlying system continues to try to dismantle my/our gains at every turn.
I don't stand for the Fearless Fund. I stand BESIDE these FEARLESS Fund founders and the countless other Black Women that never got the chance, the check or the runway to be GREAT. $20k folks, and 22 thousand Black Women applied for this grant. Through your silence, you’re saying that Black Women don’t deserve to launch their businesses. They don’t deserve to try. Do better.
To achieve equity, it requires your fierce participation AND your capital. Because if you do not stand up against the attack on Fearless Fund, you cannot be considered an ally. You will have failed in your moral and fiduciary obligation to capture the value of founders (of firms and of companies) to create a better world for humankind.
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.