Meet The Disruptors: Eve Blossom Of Material Change On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis
We are ever changing as well as our world around us and the events that shape our lives. Our journey of change in these uncertain times requires all of us together to succeed. We will need to bring the best we all have to offer in this next chapter of our history.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eve Blossom.
Material Change Institute is a non-profit that enables underrepresented investors to reach influential decision-making positions within the asset management industry. They are driven by a vision for the capital ecosystem of the future: one that provides diverse representation and equal access that broadens investments. Material Change Institute prepares, connects and supports diverse investors to build their experience and network.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
With a degree in architecture and design, I was interested in using design as a direct vehicle for social change. I traveled and worked in Eastern Europe for a short time on a construction administration project and also, lived in Vietnam for two years, training Vietnamese architects in computer aided design and saw how technical work and higher, fair wages directly impacted their lives and their extended families. At that time, I had met incredible artisans in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and India and thought about how to use a similar model to impact their work and their lives more sustainably. I returned to the U.S. and worked at a Silicon Valley tech start-up and loved it. The company was acquired and I co-founded an internet technology company.
Later, I would think back on the artisans in Southeast Asia and founded Lulan, a start-up to co-design with artisans, to create a technology transfer, fair wages for their work while preserving their incredible techniques and traditions. And then I expanded Lulan into WE’VE, an e-commerce platform to sell different types of artisanal products from all over the world. After many years, I felt the next big growth area would be women’s healthcare, an area of healthcare that was and still is greatly underserved. So in 2016, I co-founded Future Family to assist women and couples in their fertility journey to make fertility care more accessible and affordable for families by combining advances in fintech, fertility, telehealth and concierge care. It was an incredible experience to design the service, hire and manage fertility nurses working remotely across the U.S. providing fertility support to families. As a serial entrepreneur for some decades, I shifted to work with Private Equity and VC firms as a domain expert and advisor. I also am an advisor and investor in several technology, digital health and women’s health companies.
During my work throughout the years, I saw the lack of funding in underrepresented start-up teams and the low representation of diverse investors. We know this, and the data shows: the investment industry does not reflect our world’s immense diversity of people, experience, and perspectives. McKinsey reports that women and other underrepresented professionals manage just 1.4% of financial assets. Because I fundamentally believe that diversity, equity and inclusion in asset management are not only morally just but also economically beneficial, I founded Material Change to provide underrepresented investors with the tools they’ll need to assist a much needed transformation in the investment industry.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I believed there wasn’t a comprehensive program for those beginning their investment journey that showed seasoned entrepreneurs how to transition into the venture funding ecosystem. It was important to me to create a program where people, no matter their background, could gain direct learning and have access to mentors and to the larger network.
The asset management industry is an integral component of the world economy, and we have the opportunity to tap into new and diverse markets in order to achieve legitimate change and growth. We are breaking the mold of who the traditional investor can be and who inclusively, should be. By providing underrepresented investors these opportunities, we are able to disrupt the asset management industry by looking at it from a different perspective.
Material Change is designed to prepare investors from underrepresented groups for success in asset management roles. Our vehicle for transformation is a platform that integrates learning, mentoring, internships, tools, network and additional support. The fellowship is structured around our five pillars which include, Leadership, Generative Communications, Business Strategy, Strategic Foresight and Mentorship/Internship. In designing our flagship program, we tapped into decades of expertise via instructors, domain experts and VC investors.
We all need a little help along the journey. What lessons have you learned from this journey? Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’ve learned so much from others throughout my life professionally and personally. Biggest lessons have been: to listen, to learn, be open, be flexible, bring a growth mindset, let go, unlearn, believe and be kind.
There are way too many mentors to mention starting with my sixth grade teacher, family, lifelong friends, colleagues along the way to even strangers I’ve met only once. When I was in middle school, I had a math teacher who was involved with other school activities. She encouraged me to try out for student council, track, cheerleading and acting, which I did and was a part of throughout middle school. She taught me that the way you or others define yourself are preconceived notions that may not be true and applying yourself in different ways may surprise you and change your thinking throughout your life.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disruption for disruption-sake shouldn’t be the goal. But disruption is needed when a system is not inclusive, does not apply different perspectives that would increase the opportunity and wealth for all of us.
Traditionally, a venture capitalist is someone from an affluent background or someone who has built wealth for themselves and their family with education in business or finance. They begin strategizing ways to grow their assets and decide to learn more about the market to invest in companies and entrepreneurs they believe will help them grow their wealth.
Asset managers play a key role in the industry, facilitating the movement of capital from investors to entrepreneurs, growing ventures and restructuring enterprises.
Minorities and women have long been underrepresented in the asset management markets. As mentioned earlier, just 1.4% of financial assets are managed by women or minorities. These statistics have not changed in the last decade, nor have the high minimum thresholds that prevent many smaller funds from getting off the ground.
To continue this growth, the industry must unlock value in new and diverse markets driven by diverse individuals. And Material Change’s focus on enabling underrepresented investors to achieve influence within the asset management industry will contribute to this growth.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
What really comes to mind is a quote from Albert Einstein, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
In my five years at Architecture School, I learned about design, structure, materials, design systems thinking and more. This training changed me and my thinking fundamentally. And I’ve applied systems thinking to my work in architecture, design, start-ups, investment, advising, mentorship and teaching.
We are ever changing as well as our world around us and the events that shape our lives. Our journey of change in these uncertain times requires all of us together to succeed. We will need to bring the best we all have to offer in this next chapter of our history.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We are continuing to strategically pair our fellows with mentors to help them reach decision-making positions of influence. And we will continue to strategically partner with instructors, domain experts, VC investors and others to provide our fellows with impactful curriculum and experience that will support them as they broaden investments.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If we had diverse investors in influential positions across the asset management industry, it would have a huge impact on some of the most critical areas of our time: technology, health, food, energy, climate, education, finance and more. If the investors in the room are not diverse, how can we expect investments to be? I’m excited for this change and for the Material Change Institute to be a part of this transformation.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow on:
- Twitter: @MaterialChange_ and @EveBlossom
- Instagram: @EveBlossom
- Facebook: @MaterialChangeInstitute
- LinkedIn: Material Change Institute, Eve Blossom
- Website: https://materialchange.net/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Eve Blossom Of Material Change On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
