The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable

GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.

Woman of Color Breaks Wall Street Glass Ceiling Becoming President of Syntrinsic Investment: Meet HBCU Grad, Akasha Absher

Akasha Absher is the President of Syntrinsic Investment Counsel, a national investment firm that provides investment advice and strategic consulting to foundations, endowments, nonprofits, and those affiliated. The firm aims to co-create a sustainable and generative world that empowers all people. Akasha serves on the firm's Investment Committee and oversees the firm's efforts to provide investment advice and strategic consulting to clients.
 
Akasha's background includes investment consulting, investment banking, fixed-income trading, risk management, and nonprofit leadership, which gives her a unique blend of expertise and experience to work with clients to invest all resources with mission and business strategy. Before joining Syntrinsic, she spent many years as a portfolio manager and research analyst at Lucidus Capital Partners and Caxton Associates. Prior to that, she was Vice President and Sin at JP Morgan.
 
Originally from New York, Akasha earned her bachelor's degree in finance from Clark Atlanta University and her MBA from the Ross Business School at the University of Michigan. She and her husband moved to Colorado from New York City to enjoy their family and the mountains. When not spending time with family, Akasha can be found practicing yoga and is a certified instructor. In addition, she enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling domestically and abroad.
 
What is your personal story?
I was blessed to be raised by grandparents who valued education and saw it as a tool to increase your knowledge and become a productive member of society and as a step towards manifesting your dreams and goals. My grandparents encouraged me to dream big but also stay grounded. 
 
My initial dreams were to be an artist and/or ballet dancer, neither of which I was good at, and so my follow-on dream was to be a businesswoman that bought and sold companies. I watched "Pretty Woman" as a teenager, and Richard Gere's job fascinated me. It was my first glimpse at Wall Street, and after some research, I knew finance was my passion. However, even though I was a native New Yorker, I lacked the connections to get into the much-coveted training programs at the Wall Street firms. Thankfully, understanding that there is a need to bridge the gaps in access and opportunity, a nonprofit organization, Sponsors for Educational Opportunities (SEO), created a premier professional development program that provides underrepresented minority undergrads with industry exposure in financial services, as well as career guidance, interview skills, and training. Through this program, I spent the summer learning about M&A and built the networks and skills needed to begin a career in financial services.
 
With this gift of access from SEO, I spent many years building my career in the financial services industry. First, mastering an entry-level training program, then went to a top tier Business school which led me to become a VP at a Wall Street firm, and then embarked on a career at a credit hedge fund. However, it took several years before I picked my head up, noticed my surroundings, and acknowledged the extreme underrepresentation of women of color in the financial services industry and the pay disparity. I thought it was a lack of access to organizations such as SEO or other educational opportunities. Hence, I turned my efforts to philanthropy as a board member, volunteer, and donor, assuming that would solve the problem. However, the more engaged I became, the more I began to understand the deep structural inequities that prohibited success for underrepresented communities because of lack of access to so many different areas of society (e.g., capital, education, equal pay, healthcare, etc.) and more than just philanthropy would be needed to solve the issue. I wondered what it would take to convince all companies to hire diverse talent, pay equally, and invest in various communities.
 
Fast forward to 2013, and I joined Syntrinsic Investment Counsel to use my financial expertise in investing in businesses to provide strategic consulting and investment advice to nonprofit organizations. At Syntrinsic, we aim to co-create a sustainable and generative world that empowers all people. In my role as President and Consultant, I have the privilege to work with clients to think about how they can leverage all their investments to create a sustainable economy. For some, that is using investments to advocate for companies to change the relationship between the organization and its workforce, customers, the environment, and communities in which it operates. For others, it directly invests in strategies focused on solving economic injustice.
 
How can other women and women of color survive and thrive on Wall Street and in the more homogenous world of finance and investing?
To lead, you need to not only be given a chance but also do a lot of listening and have a strong network of people to help and support you. Building a diverse network of mentors is paramount, as well as being a mentor to other women and people of color. We will not survive or thrive without the support of others.
When opportunity knocks, be prepared to say "Yes" even when it's scary. Never be afraid to advocate for yourself. Being a woman in the workforce can be challenging, and to persevere, you must own your voice, be your authentic self as much as possible, and recognize that mistakes or missteps are part of the learning journey. 
My authentic self identifies as a black woman, a friend, a boss, a colleague, a partner, a finance professional, a dreamer, and a human with the capacity to achieve greatness and make monumental mistakes.
 
How can the GlobalMindED community further your equity goals personally and professionally?
GlobalMindED purpose to connect students to role models, mentors, and internships to close the equity gap is extremely important. My experience with Sponsors for Educational Opportunities proved that access to networks, training, and mentors has the power to shape lives and careers. 
 
Our engagements in the community and our roles as employers and employees have meaning and purpose and can be a powerful method for addressing injustices and fighting for equality. Alongside GlobalMindED, we can be continuously asking ourselves the following questions:
·    Is our work elevating women and communities of color and creating economic sustainability?
·    Are we using our power, privilege, and voice to advocate for others and provide access? 
·    Are we collaborating with GlobalMindED and the SEOs of the world to help build inclusive leaders? 
·    Lastly, capital is a tool that can enable transformative work. So how are we using our capital to catalyze change and more effectively support communities? 

Akasha serves on the Denver Chamber of Commerce board, the Board of Pinnacol Assurance Insurance Company, where she is the Chair of the Investment Committee, and serves on the Investment Committees of Gary Community Ventures and the Association for Black Foundation Executives. Previously, Akasha was a board member of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, Prosperity Denver Fund, Florence Crittenton, Rose Community Foundation's Professional Advisors Council, and past co-chair of the Women's Foundation of Colorado's Power of Extended Philanthropy Club. In 2017 and 2018, Akasha was awarded DBJ's Who's Who in Impact Investing in the Rocky Mountain Region. In 2020, Akasha was named one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado by the Colorado Women's Chamber, and in 2021 a Woman of Distinction by the Colorado Girl Scouts.
Female College Presidents: Breaking Barriers in Higher Education
These dynamic, inspirational college presidents who have led the way for women in higher education share their lived experiences, innovative practices, and vision for higher education, during this International Month of Women.

Female College Presidents: Breaking Barriers in Higher Education, a Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable presentation Click HERE
Dr. Ryan Ross; Assoc. V. Chancellor Student Affairs, Equity, & Inclusion, Colorado Community College System
with:
Dr. Colleen Simpson, President
Front Range Community College
Dr. Cynthia Lindquist, President
Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Dr. Rochelle Ford, President
Dillard University
Sandra J. Doran, JD, President
Bay Path University
Join us in Denver June 7-9 for GlobalMindED 2023
Early Bird Registration Open Now
Register here

GlobalMindED 2023 June 7-9 Denver Sheraton



To get a feel for the conference experience, please see this brief video by The PhD Project from the 2022 GlobalMindED Conference, and the Complete 2022 Program

The 2022 Conference:
  • 800+ attendees
  • 140 students from 41 universities/colleges
  • 300+ speakers from 65 universities/colleges and 47 businesses
  • 130 universities/colleges represented
  • Majority of panels featured at least one student
  • 74 % diverse speakers
The GlobalMindED Inclusive Success NetworkTM had another banner year of growth, impact, and outcomes for First Generation, poverty-affected and minoritized students. Here are some of the highlights: 
 
  • Return of in-person GlobalMindED conference with record attendance and the largest First Gen Leadership Class ever of 122 student leaders. See PhD Project brief video of the event. 
  • Our fourth annual Inclusive Leader Awards recognized 15 DEIB leaders across sectors.
  • Almost all our 100+ panels and sessions of 2022 featured a student. 
  • Of the 300+ speakers, 73% were diverse leaders sharing their thoughts. 
  • We held our first Industry Marketplace Career Exploration Arena at GlobalMindED 2022 with 40 companies, giving K-12, college students, educators, and leaders a way to learn about emerging fields and careers. Join us for the next one at GlobalMindED 2023. 
  • Our first satellite event at Georgia Institute of Tech was livestreamed via the Atlanta PBS affiliate. 
  • We became an official initiative of the Foundation for the Support the United Nations (FSUN) and will hold our first UN event on March 22, 2023. 
  • ·We served ten colleges with the GlobalMindED Success Collaborative connecting students at each HBCU, MSI, HIS and Tribal College with role models, mentors, internships, and jobs. 
  • We had partners/volunteers from Microsoft, Salesforce, Rubrik, HP, Stanford MBA and more. 
  • We spoke at the White House Initiative for HBCUs with sponsor Hewlett Packard. 
  • Our team, Board, Colorado Board and Executive Leadership Council are all majority diverse serving a majority diverse population of emerging leaders. 
  • We continued to publish our daily newsletter and conduct monthly virtual Equity events, led by people of color with majority diverse panelists and students. These are the role models for our students.
  • Our annual operating budget increased by 67% emerging COVID strong. 
  • We doubled our staff from four to eight as we grow to scale our impact. 
  • Our Young Professionals grew to 40 strong, with a ten-person leadership cabinet made up of, but not limited to, graduates of our programs who are now working professionals.  
  • Since 2015, we have successfully connected 1,200+ students to internships and jobs. 
  • Our founder, Carol Carter, was recognized as one of the Most Powerful Women in Denver by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and one of the Most Admired CEOs by the Denver Business Journal. 
 
We are grateful for the support, inclusive leadership, and financial contributions of our community and sponsors who work tirelessly to open doors for the students we serve, the institutions who support them, and the businesses and non-profits who are committed to hiring a capable, diverse talent pipeline.  We look forward to seeing all of you June 7-9 at our best event yet, GlobalMindED 2023 - Transforming Boundaries: Creating Systemic Access and Equity. The Inclusive Leaders Awards Dinner is June 7, followed by the conference June 8- 9 at the Denver Downtown Sheraton.  
GlobalMindED | 303-327-5688 | contact@globalminded.org | www.globalminded.org
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