Kimberley Nixon tells it like it is. Yes, she is a Los Angeles–based venture capitalist and the founder and managing partner of Open Venture Capital. Yes, she is passionate about increasing access to investment for women of color, who we know raise less than 1 percent of all venture capital.

Nixon is also keen to share the human side of her life. Health is a topic she knows intimately as she overcame cancer in her late 20s after a misdiagnosis. Today, she is balancing, like many of us, her passions with being a wife and mother to two tweens. If you are looking for a relatable, smart, hip role model, Nixon is it!

Highlights

• Nixon, who grew up in a Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn before gentrification, reflects on how “New York is a living, breathing manifestation of resilience.”
• Nixon shares how a total stranger helped prep her for an interview at Deloitte while waiting for their own interview for a more senior position.
• Nixon discusses being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a curable form of cancer.
• Though the same lump was misdiagnosed more than a year before, Nixon considers herself fortunate that she was able to receive care at Johns Hopkins.
• How Nixon’s passions for access to health, education, and real estate investing sparked the idea of raising her own venture fund
• Testing a venture fund and building a startup both require a proof of concept stage.
• Nixon explains honing in on companies that increase access to healthcare.