Driven by Intention: Own Your Purpose, Gain Power, and Pursue Your Passion as a Woman at Work by Michelle Gadsden-Williams

Author:Michelle Gadsden-Williams [Michelle Gadsden-Williams]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2022-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

MEET ARLAN HAMILTON

Arlan Hamilton’s approach to intention has far-reaching impact. She went from managing arena-level tours for musicians like popstar Jason Derulo to launching a venture capital fund, Backstage Capital, for startup founders like herself who are women, people of color, or LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

Arlan didn’t have a Wall Street background or even a college degree, and found herself homeless during the time period she was pitching Backstage Capital to investors. Deeply rooted in her conviction she could raise the money and her intention to help underrepresented entrepreneurs, Arlan has gone on to invest millions of dollars in nearly 200 startups, including Trim-It, an app-powered mobile barbershop; Unchartered Power, a company that transforms anything that moves into renewable energy; and Hostfully, a platform that helps vacation rental companies manage and scale their businesses.

Growing up near Dallas, Texas, Arlan was entrepreneurial by the third grade. In a story Arlan recounted to CNBC, her mother would buy bulk candy at places like Costco and Sam’s Club, and then Arlan would turn around and sell each piece at a profit.4 At 15, she took a job as a cashier at a pizza place and rose to become an assistant manager by the time she graduated high school.

Though she performed well in high school, even graduating with honors, she hated it, because she couldn’t ask questions or discover more beyond what textbooks provided. That sense of insatiable curiosity would follow her through her life and help her bring her intention to fruition.

Arlan decided to skip college. When she was 21, she wanted to see one of her favorite bands go on tour, so she reached out to the Norwegian punk-pop group to see if she could arrange the tour for the band. She had no experience, but the band agreed, and soon she was learning on the job.

“I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I didn’t know how to do that. I taught myself how to book a tour before there was Google and Twitter and all of that to make it happen. I booked the two-month-long tour in the summer. The band came out. I spent the whole time on the road with the band and fell in love with the whole vibe of it, even though no money was involved. We were just playing for dinner. It was just so much fun,” she recalls.

Arlan decided to turn that fun into a career. She reached out to a hundred tour and production managers to network, receiving twenty responses, three in-person meetings, and one meeting that eventually turned into a job with singer-songwriter CeeLo Green. She would later go on to manage arena-level touring for Jason Derulo and Toni Braxton. However, as much as she enjoyed the work, event management wasn’t fulfilling for Arlan.

She noticed that lots of celebrities were investing in startups. Curious, she researched and found that women, Black and brown, and LGBTQ+ startup founders were overlooked and undervalued. She dug deeper and talked to founder upon founder, who couldn’t even “get into the room” to make a pitch to try to get funding.

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