Fearless Fund co-founder resigns amid battle with conservative group

One of the co-founders of an Atlanta-based venture capital firm that supports Black women founders has resigned from the organization following litigation brought by a conservative group alleging racial discrimination.

Ayana Parsons, co-founder of Fearless Fund in 2019 along with Arian Simone and Keisha Knight Pulliam, served as the fund’s chief operating officer. In an exclusive interview, Parsons told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday that she resigned from her position in April.

Parsons said the federal lawsuit against Fearless was not part of her reasoning for leaving the firm, but she did not elaborate on her reasons for leaving. Fearless Fund is one of several organizations, ranging from large corporations to law firms, whose corporate diversity programs have been challenged by conservative groups since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in university admissions.

Parsons said she would continue to oppose efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in corporate America.

“I have withdrawn from the operations of the fund, so I don’t deal with the day-to-day, I don’t manage it,” she said. “But what I can tell you about myself is that I am a problem solver. I am an agent of change. That’s why I bring people together to discuss innovative and creative ways to continue to drive change and to do so across multiple domains.

Credit: Special

Credit: Special

Parsons was a general partner in the firm’s first fund, which invested about $26 million in dozens of companies. Although she is no longer part of the company’s operations, she is still a co-founder and investor. Fearless Fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Parsons’ departure.

Last August, the conservative American Alliance for Equal Rights sued the Fearless Fund and its nonprofit Fearless Foundation over a grant program administered by the foundation to small black businesswomen. The Alliance alleged that the group’s $20,000 grants were racially discriminatory because those funds were restricted to black women.

But Fearless said that Grants are charitable donations and this type of donation is protected by the First Amendment.

Both sides have traded legal losses and victories. Most recently, in June, a three-judge appeals panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court ruled against Fearless and issued a preliminary injunction against the grant program, saying the program caused irreparable harm.

On Monday, at a business summit in Atlanta hosted by ForbesBLK, Parsons encouraged the public to stay the course following the court’s decision.

“To all of you, when you see what happened to the Fearless Fund and many other organizations, my message is: don’t be discouraged, lean in,” she told the audience Monday.

Parsons also said she initially wanted to stay in the background of Fearless Fund’s work, but the lawsuit changed that.

Credit: Ben Gray

Credit: Ben Gray

Alongside Fearless, Parsons also co-founded a management consulting company with her husband in 2012, Yardstick Management, which they sold in January 2023. She plans to put the lessons she learned over 30 years to good use. years in corporate America to help the next generation of Black leaders. .

“If I can use this next chapter of my journey to reach more people, coach them, develop them, mentor – whether they’re entrepreneurs, whether they’re investors, whether they’re business leaders – that’s what I want to do,” she said.

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