Startup Handmedowns

Welcome to another episode of Startup Handmedowns! We promise this episode was worth the wait! This week, we chat with Porter Braswell, co-founder and CEO of Jopwell, a career advancement platform for people of colour. As Porter describes, Jopwell was created out of necessity. When Porter entered the finance industry, he noticed that there were very few people in the industry that looked like him, and as a black man who had many opportunities that most people of colour are systematically barred from, he allocated the responsibility onto himself to fight for diversity in the workforce. Part of the reason why Jopwell is so successful is that Porter is able to foster a community that is about more than just finding a job. He knows that bigotry isn’t something that is just felt in a controlled environment like work or school; being a marginalized person means that you experience the world differently, giving you a unique perspective on the world around you. This can make it very hard to find success in a workfor