TikTok Is Helping the HHF and Black Girl Ventures Reach New Economic Opportunities for Black And Brown Entrepreneurs

Kristin Snyder

Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

TikTok Is Helping the HHF and Black Girl Ventures Reach New Economic Opportunities for Black And Brown Entrepreneurs
TikTok HHF Black Girl Ventures

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In 2020, TikTok invested $750,000 into a partnership with The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF). The goal was to increase Latinx representation on the app by encouraging entrepreneurs to act as content creators.

This month, the social media app donated an additional $1 million to the non-profit to further support #CreciendoconTikTok, a program that launched in 2021 initially sharing $150,000 across 30 Latinx businesses.


“We really wanted to intersect vision, cultural pride, tenacity and self reliance during this time period,” says HFF president Antonion Tijerino. “TikTok’s objectives were to be able to support our community in an authentic cultural way by delivering messages, and as well as growing businesses.”

Forty businesses will receive a $10,000 grant through HHF. Tijerino says the end goal is to to create a network of business owners and entrepreneurs who can learn from one another. That network will also learn how to integrate TikTok into their business strategies.

“As important as capital is to access and research and customer service, you have to build that personal brand,” Tijerino says. “You have to make sure that it's authentic and you're able to grow. That's one of the ways that we are trying to give tools beyond giving out a grant.”

The TikTok partnership will also fund a leadership institute in San Antonio this summer. Incoming college freshmen will learn about how to become entrepreneurs and understanding social media’s role in that space.

In addition to the donation to HFF, TikTok is also giving $1 million to Black Girl Ventures (BGV), a non-profit dedicated to connecting Black and Brown women entrepreneurs. Through these donations, both organizations will give out grants to entrepreneurs, teach young people how to navigate the business world and host workshops focused on using TikTok to grow a company. Additionally, TikTok will host a webinar series that teach small business owners how to leverage the app and expand their reach.

BGV founder and CEO Omi Bell, an HBCU graduate, says she didn’t receive much business guidance when she was a student but with some of the funding, she hopes to help change that.

“We want Black or brown people to be able to get access to training and funding earlier,” Bell says.

To make that happen, TikTok will help fund an eight week accelerator program, which grants 25 HBCU students $5,000 stipends and the opportunity to pitch their businesses, teaches people how to pitch, manage cash flow and develop business plans.

The partnership will also support a media fund, which will teach business owners how to use TikTok. Bell says one of the primary goals of the partnership is community programming, and the funding may include opportunities for creators to work with business owners and grants.

“TikTok creates economic opportunity for entrepreneurs or communities who have been historically locked out of institution or resources and networks, where you don't have easy access to mentors,” Bell says.

Connectivity is also part of what Tijerino’s foundation hopes to foster through this program. By teaching people how to share their entrepreneurial stories on social media, Tijerino says it can help connect Latinx business owners across the country, adding that the goal is to “make it a living breathing network, as opposed to just one that has a lot of names collected that were a part of this.”

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Here's What People Are Saying About Day Two of LA Tech Week
Evan Xie

L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.

Here's what people are saying about day two of L.A. Tech Week on social:

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LA Tech Week: Technology and Storytelling for Social Good

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow 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.

LA Tech Week: Technology and Storytelling for Social Good
Photo taken by Decerry Donato

On Monday, Los Angeles-based philanthropic organization Goldhirsh Foundation hosted the Technology and Storytelling For Social Good panel at Creative Visions studio to kick off LA Tech week.

Tara Roth, president of the foundation, moderated the panel and gathered nonprofit and tech leaders including Paul Lanctot, web developer of The Debt Collective; Alexis Cabrera, executive director of 9 Dots; Sabra Williams, co-founder of Creative Acts; and Laura Gonzalez, senior program manager of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

Each of the panelists are grantees of Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050, an initiative launched in 2011 that is continuously trying to drive and track progress toward a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles. Goldhirsh’s vision is to make Los Angeles better for all and in order to achieve their goal, the foundation makes investments into organizations, creates partnerships and utilizes social capital through community events.

The panelists shared how the work they are doing in each of their respective sectors uses technology to solve some of society's most pressing challenges and highlight the importance of tech literacy across every community.

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Here’s What To Do At LA Tech Week

Kristin Snyder

Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

Here’s What To Do At LA Tech Week
Evan Xie

This is the web version of dot.LA’s daily newsletter. Sign up to get the latest news on Southern California’s tech, startup and venture capital scene.


MONDAY

LA Hardtech: Local Talent Meets CEOs: Want to see robots in action? This hardtech event will showcase product demos and feature conversations about all things aircrafts, satellites, electric vehicles, robots and medical devices. June 5 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in El Segundo.

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