Tracy Gray was inspired to start The 22 Fund by an experience she had some 20 years ago at another venture capital firm.

During the early 2000s, Gray was working for venture capital firm Zone Ventures in downtown and said she never saw a person of color come in and pitch their companies.

“I saw a couple of women and I saw one guy who looked half Latino because I asked him because I was shocked that he was there,” Gray said.

The 22 Fund, which Gray started in 2018, is a downtown venture capital firm that invests in minority-owned businesses. It currently has five companies in its portfolio, including Repurpose in the Arts District, a leader in single use compostable products; Re-Nuble, a New York City manufacturing company that turns organic waste into agricultural resources; and Nature Coatings, a Las Vegas manufacturer that converts wood waste into a black pigment. All were started by women or a person of color and in some cases both.

As for whether being a Black, woman-owned business has affected her company in either a good or bad way, Gray said that it is both.

“People see it as a trend,” she said. “Right now, people are turning away from diversity because of (President Donald) Trump and his people.”

This despite evidence that diverse-led companies are more successful, Gray added.

“If you want success in business you want to invest in people of color and women, period,” she said.

Lessons learned

Gray started her professional career as an engineer on the Space Shuttle program before making the transition to venture capital. She would later return to school at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business and Columbia Business School where she earned her MBA.

She later become an adviser to then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in international business.

It was while at the city that she learned that Southern California was the largest manufacturing center in the country, bigger even than the entire state of Michigan. At the same time, she learned about exporting.

Those were lessons she took to The 22 Fund where she is focused on increasing the export capacity of U.S. manufacturing companies, positioning these companies to accelerate growth and scale via international sales.

“We ended up with climate tech or sustainable tech manufacturing companies here in the United States and helped them export so we can create what we call the clean, quality jobs of the future in low to moderate income communities and increase the wealth of women and people of color,” Gray said.

Best and worst

Gray said she enjoys being her own boss but considers herself to not be the best employee.

“I am interested in things that are different. I’m an engineer, so I like to tinker. I am always questioning to why people do things the way they do if I don’t think they make sense,” Gray said, adding, “I’m not a great employee. I always tell people that if I come to you for a job don’t hire me. But I love my boss.”

So, when asked what the best aspect of running her business is, she immediately replies with a laugh, “Having the best boss ever.”

More seriously, she said she liked that she can do what she wants to do.

“I’m an impact investor,” Gray added. “My passion is having an impact on people and the planet. So having the ability and the freedom to do that is the best ever.”

As for the worst thing about running her own business it all comes down to her gender and skin color.

Less than 1% of those running venture firm are women and less than 0.1% are women of color, she said.

“The worst thing is there are so few of us in the system that I work in that I hate saying no to companies that I have met because if they are started by a woman or a person of color they have few places to go,” Gray said.