by Clare Bratten via tntribune.com
NASHVILLE, TN — Just in time for Mother’s Day week, James Shaw Jr. was honored in the presence of his parents Karen and James Sr. with a reception on Monday at Tennessee State University, his alma mater.
Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover, who helped honor Shaw with a scholarship in his name, said in a statement. “The TSU family is extremely proud of alumnus James Shaw, Jr. for his bravery and courage. His actions saved the lives of many others.”
Karen Shaw’s reaction to the public accolades from politicians, community leaders and media at even the national level was one of “amazement.”
“I spent some time just thinking about this in conversations with friends and my husband – what it is about this terrible event that caused this reaction – being in the news nationally and even internationally? My son’s life was spared and for that I am completely grateful. I believe with all of the ugliness going on in the world people just needed something good to hang onto,” said Karen Shaw.
“Whether your beliefs are spiritually based – that James was covered and protected by God, which is my belief, or that he has a higher calling – this has really brought our community, the state of Tennessee, maybe even the U.S. or globally – where people gather around one message – helping others to survive.”
But as a mother to James, she also has concerns along with her appreciation of the outpouring of support. That outpouring has included $240,000 in donations to a GoFundMe campaign James started to help the families of the victims of the shooting, and appearances on national cable TV news. Shaw was honored at a Nashville Predators game, and, appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where he met his sports hero Dwyane Wade who donated $20,000 to the GoFundMe Campaign and received another $20,000 from the show’s sponsor Shutterfly. The Steve Harvey Show announced it planned to send him on a trip to Barbados.
In the world of politics, James Shaw Jr. was honored with a resolution at the state capitol by Tennessee legislators the day after the shooting calling him a hero “twice over” and Vice President Pence called him a ‘national hero.’
Still Karen Shaw shows the steady focus of a mother for the long term health and well being of her son after the trauma of the initial event. “We are very appreciative of the attention and the opportunities that have come to James and are being offered to James. But at the end of the day, what I want is for my son’s emotional and mental health to be the same as it was on April 21st [the day before the Waffle House shooting].”
“When I saw him on CNN, I could see that he was re-living the event in his mind as he was talking about it. It is just unfair a stranger can come and ruin the lives of so many people and damage the lives of others who just happen to have been there. Not just for James but for anyone who was present.”
“We have some supports in place and we are doing our best to be sure he has the appropriate means and support. That’s the best Mother’s Day I can have – making sure he comes out of it as a healthy human being mentally and emotionally.”
To read more: http://tntribune.com/community/local/nashville/james-shaw-jr-hero-to-his-mother-his-alma-mater-his-community/
Hamilton announced the news while participating in the United State of Women summit this past weekend. Backstage Capital is a venture capital firm that invests specifically in underrepresented founders. Through this newly-announced initiative, the firm will invest in black women founders $1 million at a time.
“The rumors are true. Today at [the summit] I announced that my venture capital firm has launched a $36m fund that will invest in Black women founders $1mill at a time,” she tweeted
Hamilton is part of the only 9 percent of VCs that are women, according to Forbes. Also, only 15 percent of total VC money went to female founders last year.
The numbers are even more dismal among underrepresented groups like people of color and LGBT founders. “Investing in us—people of color, LGBT people, and women—is good business, good sense,” Hamilton, who is a black queer woman, told Quartz earlier this year. “And you are foolish if you think otherwise.”
As for what she’s branded the name of this initiative, Hamilton coined a name we are all the way here for. “They’re calling it a ‘diversity fund’,” Hamilton tweeted. “I’m calling it an IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME fund.”
And according to a Monday morning tweet, the work has already started with the new fund. “It is launched and raising,” she said. “Been in motion for months, and have some great partners. Will invest in 2-3 companies out of it before the end of the year, 5-6 in 2019.”
You can learn more about Hamilton and how she overcame all odds to create Backstage Capital in the latest season of Gimlet’s entrepreneurship podcast “Startup”.
Source: https://www.essence.com/news/arlan-hamilton-36-million-funding-black-women