This VC Went From Representing big businesses to Funding Women- and Minority-Led Startups

When Emily  was 22 years old, a woman gave her the chance to interview for a job that required 20 years of experience, even though she had zero.

It was a senior executive ad sales job. This was back in the 90s, during the color-printed national newspaper’s heyday. Emily was already at the paper to interview for a lower-ranking job, but when she heard about the ad sales exec opening, she blurted, “Oh my god, I want that job!”

The VP interviewing her (a woman) laughed, but Emily doubled down, “No, I really want that job.” The VP realized she was serious.

“Just because you had the audacity to ask me for this,” the VP told her, “I know you'll go out here and ask the clients for everything that you need.”

At the time, the 22-year-old had a 3-year-old toddler of her own and was caring for her father’s two preteen children after his passing the year prior. She was just about to finish college, against all odds, as a teen mom who’d grown up in low-income housing. She traveled to the paper’s corporate offices, interviewed with six VPs over three days, and they gave her the job.

“See how a woman can help change another woman's life?” Emily said in an interview with The Sun. It was this experience that propelled her career. She went on to start her own marketing agency from within the Sun, where she worked for seven years before officially striking out on her own.

What’s a major flaw in the narrative around women’s success today?
There's room for all of us. That's still a concept that women are learning to embrace, because we've been taught to compete against each other -- that there is only one slot. When we work together, there are a ton more slots, because we create them. We have to start using our resources together.

Why is Atrion Capital early-stage?
Women need to invest early so that we can have a voice. When we don’t play early, financially, we risk that there’s no representation on a board. I wanted to be able to sit with the guys. If I'm sitting there, I can be like, “Why are there no top executive females? I don't want to hear that you can't find them. I need you to go get some, like right now. And why am I still the only female board member?

I have a leg up with entrepreneurs just starting out, because I understand the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. That's what me and Tim did for all those years. Every day there wasn't a No. 1 song on radio, but it didn't mean that we didn't have to keep fighting.

Related: 98 Percent of VC Funding Goes to Men. Can Women Entrepreneurs Change a Sexist System?

With investing, you're taking a risk. And so many investors don't take a risk. They invest in the safe thing that looks exactly like everything else that has already worked.
Any investment is a risk. That's OK. We have to take more risks. I mean, look at the little girl who sold the lemonade to Whole Foods. It's our job to find these people. We owe that to our communities to invest in these concepts. You cannot tell me that you can only live one type of life or come from one type of neighborhood to be successful as an entrepreneur.

You have to bet on people when you see a skill set or a talent that maybe they're not even aware of yet. You have to go bet on them and educate them and train them.

I don't know a lot of women who people can relate to right now. We have to find girls that other girls can look up to who aren't singers or performers. We just need more narratives.