Last month we co-hosted our first Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summit in NYC with our new partner DigitalOcean. Participants connected with venture partners, founders and leaders from Silicon Valley & NYC’s tech startup communities. This intimate setting allowed us to not only discuss the challenges in raising money but also the challenges of making our industry more inclusive. This summit featured a wide range of tech speakers that dived into discussion around ethnicity, gender, sexuality and what it means to look at diversity through a global lens.

“It was an honor for DigitalOcean to host the first Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summit. I was so incredibly inspired by the diverse and passionate group of attendees.”- Hollie Haggans, Global Community Partnerships

*Special thanks to everyone who joined us, including our volunteers and fellow team members. Stay in touch with 500 Startups & DigitalOcean for upcoming Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summits,  meetups and announcements. Search #DONYC500 and follow DigitalOcean & 500 Startups for more tweets from this Summit. Photo album can be found HERE. Proceeds from this event were donated to Black Girls CODE, a non profit organization that focuses on providing technology education to African-American girls ages 7–17.