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XWatch: Working From Home Challenges and Strategies to Succeed
Annie Burford is dot.LA's director of events. She's an event marketing pro with over ten years of experience producing innovative corporate events, activations and summits for tech startups to Fortune 500 companies. Annie has produced over 200 programs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City working most recently for a China-based investment bank heading the CEC Capital Tech & Media Summit, formally the Siemer Summit.

Join us this Thursday, April 30 at 11:00 am PST for the kick-off of dot.LA Convenes, a speaker series devoted to empowering women in tech in partnership with PledgeLA.
With so many challenges unique to women in this new work-from-home reality, we seek to foster an honest dialogue around these obstacles and discuss specific strategies to combat them.
Women in Tech: Working From Home Challenges & Strategies to Succeedwww.youtube.com
About the Speakers
Morgan DeBaun is the CEO and Founder of Blavity Inc.
Morgan DeBaun, CEO / Founder of Blavity Inc.
Blavity Inc. is the leading news company and media brand for Black millennials and Gen Z in the U.S. reaching over 30M millennials a month, surpassing the digital traffic of many legacy black media brands. Since launching Blavity in 2014, the brand has quickly grown to be a strong voice for viral culture, social commentary and a platform for young creators to showcase their work.
Starting her career in Silicon Valley, Morgan graduated with an B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Morgan has been widely quoted as an innovator and media entrepreneur in top tier consumer and business publications like Forbes, Huffington Post, NPR, TechCrunch and many more.
In addition to leading Blavity Inc., Morgan angel invests and advises entrepreneurs on how to launch their ideas, innovate and grow their businesses through her WorkSmart Program.
Joanna McFarland, CEO, President and Co-Founder of HopSkipDrive
Joanna McFarland, CEO, President and Co-Founder of HopSkipDrive
Joanna McFarland is the CEO and Cofounder of HopSkipDrive, the innovator in youth transportation. HopSkipDrive is a ride service that helps families and schools get kids where they need to go safely and dependably with a network of more than 7,000 highly vetted CareDrivers. HopSkipDrive currently serves 18 markets in 8 states plus Washington DC, and works with over 200 schools and districts as well as thousands of families every day. Before co-founding HopSkipDrive in 2014, Joanna spent 15 years in product management, building and scaling businesses for top technology, including WeddingChannel, Green Dot, and YP.com. In addition, Joanna spent the first part of her career in investment banking and private equity. Joanna has an MBA from Stanford University and a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her two boys.
Beatriz Acevedo is the president of Acevedo Foundation and the co-founder of L.A. Collab SUMA Wealth.
Beatriz Acevedo, President, Acevedo Foundation; Co-founder, LA Collab; Co-founder, SUMA Wealth
Beatriz Acevedo is a leading inspirational voice and Latina entrepreneur in the United States. She has dedicated her career to empower and open doors for the next generation of Latinx leaders.
Beatriz started her career in media at a young age, first on radio and later on television. Her work earned her three Emmy's, one MTV music award, and a media correspondent award, among many others.
Most recently, she became a tech media entrepreneur as the Co-founder and President of mitú, the leading digital media brand for young Latinos in the U.S. The mentorship initiatives that she created through her Accelerator Program, have also provided invaluable access to young Latino storytellers.
Beatriz is a passionate and sought after speaker who enjoys discussions around diversity as good business, female leadership, and the economic impact of Latinos in America. She sits on numerous boards and is an advisor on Mayor Eric Garcetti's tech council as well as on Annenberg's foundation tech initiative, PledgeLA. She recently co-founded LA Collab, a Hollywood initiative to double Latino representation in Hollywood in front and behind the camera by 2030.
Beatriz is the President of her family's foundation "Fundación Acevedo." For the past 30 years, the Foundation has provided scholarships for students who lack the financial means to pursue higher education.
- Morgan DeBaun, CEO / Founder of Blavity Inc. - dot.LA ›
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- How Women Can Build Self-Confidence in a Virtual World - dot.LA ›
- Blavity CEO Morgan DeBraun Calls for Action After George Floyd Death - dot.LA ›
- How to Build Company Culture In a Work From Home World - dot.LA ›
- Column: Adjusting to the New Normal When Office Life Resumes - dot.LA ›
- Column: Adjusting to the New Normal When Office Life Resumes ›
- Ridesharing App HopSkipDrive Announces Layoffs - dot.LA ›
- Startups Are Getting Used to Remote Work. Their Funders Are Not. - dot.LA ›
- Suma Wealth Aims to Provide US Latinos Financial Tools - dot.LA ›
Annie Burford is dot.LA's director of events. She's an event marketing pro with over ten years of experience producing innovative corporate events, activations and summits for tech startups to Fortune 500 companies. Annie has produced over 200 programs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City working most recently for a China-based investment bank heading the CEC Capital Tech & Media Summit, formally the Siemer Summit.
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California Debates Data Privacy as SCOTUS Allows Abortion Bans
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
The United States Supreme Court called a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks constitutional on Friday, overturning the country’s founding abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court also upheld that there cannot be any restriction on how far into a pregnancy abortion can be banned.
When Politico first broke the news months before SCOTUS’s final ruling, a slew of bills entered Congress to protect data privacy and prevent the sale of data, which can be triangulated to see if a person has had an abortion or if they are seeking an abortion and have historically been used by antiabortion individuals who would collect this information during their free time.
Democratic lawmakers led by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo called on Google to stop collecting location data. The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has long voiced plans for the agency to prevent data collection. A week after the news, California Assembly passed A.B. 2091, a law that would prevent insurance companies and medical providers from sharing information in abortion-related cases (the state Senate is scheduled to deliberate on it in five days).
These scattered bills attempt to do what health privacy laws do not. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was established in 1996 when the Internet was still young and most people carried flip phones. The act declared health institutions were not allowed to share or disclose patients’ health information. Google, Apple and a slew of fertility and health apps are not covered under HIPAA, and fertility app data can be subpoenaed by law enforcement.
California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (or CMIA), goes further than HIPAA by encompassing apps that store medical information under the broader umbrella of health institutions that include insurance companies and medical providers. And several how-tos on protecting data privacy during Roe v. Wade have been published in the hours of the announcement.
But reproductive rights organizations say data privacy alone cannot fix the problem. According to reproductive health policy think tank Guttmacher Institute, the closest state with abortion access to 1.3 million out-of-state women of reproductive age is California. One report from the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy estimates as many as 9,400 people will travel to Los Angeles County every year to get abortions, and that number will grow as more states criminalize abortions.
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: Adtech Firm OpenX Lures New SVP, Getlabs and DISQO Tap New VPs
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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Advertising technology company OpenX Technologies appointed Geoff Wolinetz as senior vice president of demand platforms. Wolinetz was most recently senior vice president of growth at Chalice Custom Algorithms.
Remote health care infrastructure provider Getlabs hired Jaime LaFontaine as its vice president of business development. L.A.-based LaFontaine was previously director of business development for Alto Pharmacy.
Customer experience platform DISQO tapped Andrew Duke as its vice president of product, consumer applications. Duke previously served as Oracle’s senior director of strategy and product.
Media company Wheelhouse DNA named Michael Senzer as senior manager of Additive Creative, its newly launched digital talent management division. Senzer was previously vice president of business development at TalentX Entertainment.
Fintech lending platform Camino Financial hired Dana Rainford as vice president of people and talent. Rainford previously served as head of human resources at Westwood Financial.
Kourtney Day returned to entertainment company Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as senior director of business development. Day mostly recently served as business development manager for themed entertainment at Solomon Group.
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This Week in ‘Raises’: Miracle Miles Lands $100M, Fintech Startup Tapcheck Hauls $20M
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
In this week’s edition of “Raises”: An L.A.-based footwear company closed $100 million to boost its expansion into the global market, while there were Series A raises for local fintech, biotech and space startups.
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Venture Capital
Miracle Miles Group, an L.A.-based footwear company, raised a $100 million Series A funding round co-led by IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital China.
Deno, a San Diego-based software development startup, raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Tapcheck, an L.A.-based financial wellness startup that helps workers access their paycheck before payday, raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by PeakSpan Capital.
Gemelli Biotech, an L.A.- and Raleigh, N.C.-based biotech startup focused on gastrointestinal diseases, raised a $19 million Series A financing round led by Blue Ox Healthcare Partners.
Epsilon3, an L.A.-based space operations software startup, raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Lux Capital.
Global Premier Fertility, an Irvine-based fertility company, raised an $11 million Series C funding round led by Triangle Capital Corporation.
Vamstar, an L.A.- and London-based medical supply chain platform, raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round co-led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and Dutch Founders Fund.
System 9, an L.A.-based digital asset market-making firm focused on the crypto altcoin market, raised a $5.7 million Series A funding round led by Capital6 Eagle.
Myria, an L.A.-based online marketplace of luxury goods and services, raised a $4.3 million seed round from Y Combinator, Backend Capital, Cathexis Ventures and other angel investors.
Binarly, an L.A.-based firmware cybersecurity company, raised a $3.6 million seed round from WestWave Capital and Acrobator Ventures.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
- Vamstar Raises $9.5M For Its Medical Supply Chain Platform - dot.LA ›
- MaC Venture Capital Eyes $200 Million For Its Second Fund - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Capital News - dot.LA ›
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.