Morgan DeBaun

Morgan DeBaun (born 1990) is an African American serial entrepreneur and corporate advisor. She is the Founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., the leading digital media company for Black culture and millennials.[2][3]

Morgan DeBaun
DeBaun in 2016
Born1990 (age 32–33)
St. Louis, Missouri[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis
OccupationEntrepreneur
Websitemorgandebaun.com

Early life and education

DeBaun was born in St. Louis, Missouri.[1] While living in a predominantly white suburban neighborhood, her family surrounded her with positive black role models. They sent her to a magnet school in the city so she could be around more children like herself.[4]

DeBaun showed an interest in business at an early age. She sold sugary snacks to her fellow students in their middle school that lacked vending machines, and she learned about investing from her father at age 14.[2]

She came up with the idea of Blavity Inc. while attending Washington University in St. Louis. Black students there would sit together at lunch and talk for hours. She referred to this gathering of African-American students as Black Gravity, or Blavity.[2][5]

Career

DeBaun began her career working on product management and business development at Intuit.[6] She kept her full time job at Intuit but was spending all her nights and weekends working on Blavity. She ultimately left Intuit and committed to Blavity full time due to her dissatisfaction with the media coverage of Michael Brown's death.[7]

DeBaun cofounded Blavity with Aaron Samuels and Jeff Nelson in 2014.[2] They started with a curated video newsletter and built a website, which was only the beginning. The site features content created by and for young black Americans, including subjects such as the Black Lives Matter movement and protests of the National Anthem.[8]

The news site has grown into a digital ecosystem with a monthly reach of over 100 million people and over 100 corporate partners per year. Their portfolio of brands includes Blavity News, AfroTech, Travel Noire, Shadow and Act, 21Ninety and Lunchtable. Their conferences include Summit21 for Black women creators and AfroTech, the largest tech conference connecting a global community of 20,000+ Black tech innovators through a series of digital and in-person events.[7]

Blavity Inc. recently launched Blavity.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission to drive Black economic advancement forward through entrepreneurial fellowship programs featuring grants, education & mentorship.[9]

DeBaun is one of few African-American female founders that have raised more than $1 million in venture capital,[10] in fact, DeBaun has raised $12 Million for Blavity, Inc.[11]

DeBaun also acts as an advisor to influential global brands and companies including Disney, American Airlines, CES, and Pantora Bridal and often partners Blavity with big brands to help them authentically reach Black audiences.[7]

DeBaun is also the creator of WorkSmart, a business podcast and small business advising program and founder of M Roze Essentials and Growth Notebook.[12] DeBaun also advises entrepreneurs and start up founders in her WorkSmart Program.[13]

Awards and recognition

2016 – Forbes 30 Under 30 list of "young people transforming the future of media"[14]

2016 – The Root 100 list of the 100 most influential African Americans[15]

2016 – MVMT50 Top 10 Innovators of the Year[16]

2018 – Forbes' America's Top 50 Women In Tech.[17]

2019 - Culture Creators Innovators & Leaders Technology Award [18]

2020 - Dot.LA Rising Entrepreneur [19]

References
  1. "About". Morgan DeBaun. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  2. Mandi Woodruff (February 5, 2016). "5 black business leaders who are changing the face of Silicon Valley". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  3. Dayna Evans (November 9, 2016). "How I Get It Done: Morgan DeBaun, Co-Founder and CEO of Content Platform Blavity". NYmag.com. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  4. Keryce Chelsi Henry (February 27, 2016). "Morgan DeBaun Is Putting Black Millennials' Voices Center Stage". Nylon. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  5. "Black + Gravity = BLAVITY". The Seam. 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  6. Taylyn Washington-Harmon (July 18, 2016). "Morgan DeBaun on the growth of Blavity, covering #BlackLivesMatter, and the state of black-owned media". NiemanLab. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  7. Roberts, Yola. "How The Vision of This Female Founder Has Created Unrivaled Access For Black Voices in Media". Forbes.
  8. Sarah Buhr (September 12, 2016). "Blavity, the BuzzFeed for black millennials, is raising $1 million and gets a redesign". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  9. Richardson, Randi. "Millennial content company gives a boost to Black-led startups". NBCBLK. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  10. Lima, Debora (October 9, 2017). "Miami startup raises $1M to provide affordable legal services online". South Florida Business Journal/bizjournals.com. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  11. "How I Raised $12 Million For My Media Start-Up". CNBC MakeIt. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  12. STAHLER, Kelsea (August 16, 2018). "How 'Blavity' Co-Founder Morgan DeBaun Became One Of The Most Important Women In Silicon Valley". Bustle.
  13. "Morgan". WorkSmart. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  14. Emily Inverso (January 4, 2016). "30 Under 30: Meet The Young People Transforming Media". Forbes. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  15. "The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans 2016". The Root. Archived from the original on September 28, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  16. Mashaun D. Simon (March 11, 2016). "Tech Coalition Will Honor 10 Black Innovators at SXSW". NBC News. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  17. "Morgan DeBaun". Forbes.
  18. "Morgan DeBaun Accepts Technology Award at Culture Creators 2019". Billboard.
  19. "Rising Entrepreneur: Morgan DeBaun". 28 October 2020.
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