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From Crypto with Kamal, by Kamal Hubbard

Meeting Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital and Runner

Kamal Hubbard · posted to Crypto with Kamal on · 4:44

This is Kamal’s video, shown here with his permission. Watch it on his channel, where the comments are.

Kamal Hubbard records this as a personal update after meeting Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital and her new company Runner, at an event. He describes her as “a venture capitalist and the founder of Backstage Capital” who focuses on diversity and inclusion in tech, and Runner as built to help people get a fairer shot in places like Silicon Valley.

Kamal is struck that Hamilton, while touring to promote her own book, took a photo holding up his book, DeFi for the Diaspora, after she said, “come on, let’s get in a picture.” He calls it one of the times someone humbled him with their own humility: “Hey, I’m up here and I want to put you right up here with me.”

Transcript

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Who speaks: Kamal Hubbard (B). Transcribed by We Them Media from the original audio, with Kamal’s permission. Speaker letters mark turns, as the model separated them.

These are the speakers’ own words. We have not checked their claims.

0:03AYeah.

0:04Kamal HubbardGive me 5. This is just like, it’s, it’s been a great thing and I’m so blessed. I’m also so grateful, so grateful to so many, so many people that, you know, I can’t even name names right now. So, um, you know, this has just been Certainly one of those weeks once again where, um, you know, I’m counting my blessings because actually yesterday I had a chance to meet Arlan Hamilton. Now, not sure if anybody knows who Arlan is. You should. If you do not, you absolutely should. Um, I heard about Arlan, her story at least, at least 4 years ago. She is a venture capitalist and the founder of Backstage Capital.

0:04Kamal HubbardAnd she does a lot of really great stuff in terms of making sure there’s diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology space. So as you can see in this picture, it’s myself, my lovely wife, and Arlan herself. And my gosh, this to me was the best thing. I’m not going to say the best thing ever. This is a really cool thing. You could see her holding up my book, DeFi for the Diaspora. That, like I said, that’s, that’s a pretty monumental thing, and I’ll tell you why. Number one, when I saw her yesterday, she was touring, talking about, you know, uh, really what she has going on with a new company called Runner, which is going to help people with employment, especially people who may not necessarily have a shot or have had a shot in Silicon -- places like Silicon Valley and other tech hubs to actually have an opportunity to be selected in a more equitable fashion.

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0:04Kamal HubbardSo that right there, hats off to that. Also, she wrote a book which I encourage you guys to check out. Arlan’s book, uh, tells her story. And, um, it’s, it’s definitely a stir -- a story worth reading about and talking about. But beyond all that, um, you know, she’s here and she’s reading my book, DeFi for the Diaspora. Not just that, uh, you know, she said, hey, come on, let’s get in a picture, and she agreed to hold up that -- my book. So that was one of those moments for me. One, I mean, I’m already pretty excited to meet her in person, hear her speak. She was talking about her book, and obviously she’s promoting her book.

0:04Kamal HubbardBut to say, hey, you know what, me as an author, I’m going to take time out of me promoting my book and I’m going to help you promote yours. That’s one of those things right there that, I mean, hey, once again, so humbling. And there’s not a lot of moments in life where somebody humbles you by their own humility, you know. And that’s definitely what it was. I mean, there’s a -- I’ve been put in my place many times in life by people who were saying, hey, I’m up here, you’re down here. Right, but to some for somebody to say, “Hey, I’m up here and I want to put you right up here with me.” Dang, man!

0:04Kamal HubbardThat is that was a feeling. So I’m still riding high off that and can’t thank Arlan enough. You guys once again pick up her book. It’s it’s definitely worth reading once again. Learn more about Backstage Capital and what they’re doing.

4:30AOkay. Don’t know what it is about these holidays, they make me want to holla. When all year I’ve been flipping dollars, switching gears to have a top model sitting here, pop my collar, be

That was the whole conversation.

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