行之有道

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有引领潮流的人, and then there are those rare individuals who can spot the trends before they even begin. Assia Grazioli-Venier ’03 has operated firmly in the latter category. 建议 telecommunications giant Vodafone to adopt mobile content (when she was just 24), 帮助Spotify扩大规模, and accelerating opportunities and solutions for women in her role today as a venture capitalist: Grazioli-Venier’s fingerprints are all over recent history’s impactful trends.

While her career path has been anything but linear, it’s Grazioli- Venier’s 2016 health scare that has informed the way she directs investments for Muse Capital, 她的风投公司. At age 35, Grazioli-Venier was diagnosed with breast cancer. 面临双乳切除术, she took a step back from her consulting career obligations and considered her future. It led her to chart a new path that could alter the investment landscape. 

“I had just started looking under the hood on how venture capital funding operates and who receives funding, and the disparity in capital allocated to men versus women stood out,她解释道. “If you look at where capital and power has been, it’s in the hands of one type of person, and major opportunities have been overlooked.”

考虑到这一点, Grazioli-Venier and co-founder Rachel Springate launched Muse Capital later that same year with a focus on consumer technology, 股本, 和多样性. The companies Muse invests in fall into the categories of “how we care, 玩, 和生活,” and 70% of those businesses have at least one founder who is female, 一个移民, 或者来自少数族裔背景. “One of our core pillars is around the multibillion-dollar underserved sector of women’s health,Grazioli-Venier解释道. “We have proudly been investing in this space for the past seven years.”

取, 例如, 缪斯对MIDI的支持, a virtual-care clinic for women over 40, 或Cofertility, 卵子冷冻和捐赠平台. “Representing half of the global population, women have unique health needs that span beyond reproductive care. Some conditions affect women disproportionately and are not niche concerns.”

While this conscious capitalism approach does good for the world, it’s also providing value to investors, 说Grazioli-Venier. “Women are the top purchasers in the country, and the idea of a fund that addresses women’s health needs is a huge opportunity,她说。.

Grazioli-Venier’s reach doesn’t just extend to women’s healthcare, either. She’s also had a big hand in advancing women’s sports — an industry that has seen a massive valuation jump in recent years. In 2012, she became the first woman ever appointed to join the board of directors of storied Italian soccer team Juventus F.C. Grazioli Venier advocated for a women’s team, which became a reality in 2017 with the launch of Juventus Women.

Today, Grazioli-Venier is regarded as one of the most established power 玩ers in women’s sports. She is an investor in the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit and was instrumental in placing Michele Kang as the franchise’s controlling owner last year, 命名的事务 《世界十大电子游戏平台》2023年度最佳交易. She was also an early investor in Just Women’s Sports, which has become a de facto brand in women’s sports coverage, and is a partner to one of the leading women’s sports talent management firms, 扰乱游戏.

经历这一切, Grazioli-Venier has leaned on her education at Barnard: “It instilled in me the idea that women can build anything we want. I couldn’t be more grateful for the values I acquired and the education that has allowed my work to serve a bigger purpose.”

Grazioli-Venier has taken those lessons and run with them. “We can scream all we want about change, but nothing will change unless capital changes,她说。. “I’m trying to put my money where my mouth is.”