New Collab Executive Director Dawn Leaks.
Collab New Haven has a new executive director with a clear message: Don’t let opportunity pass you by.
She also has a mission: To create more opportunities for those who are systematically denied chances to turn their ideas into realities.
Dawn Leaks, a seasoned nonprofit leader from Hamden, has taken up the title of director for the organization, which is a New Haven-based business incubator and accelerator program that primarily serves people of color and women.
Collab, which was founded in 2018, has helped produce valued new local businesses, such as Cityseed Sanctuary Kitchen, a multicultural cuisine catering service that employs refugees and new immigrants. Leaks succeeds Collab co-founders Caroline Smith and Margaret Lee in the executive director role. (Smith will continue to play an active role in the organization, while Lee is transitioning into a community advisory role.)
Collab succeeds in that effort by providing entrepreneurs not just with funding, mentorship, legal and marketing services, and business educations — but with childcare, transportation, and translation services.
“We like to call ourselves the front door,” Leaks said Thursday in an interview on WNHH’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program.
The idea is to give early entrepreneurs easy access to both a business education and a strong support network.
“Black women entrepreneurs receive less than 2 percent of venture capital funding,” Leaks stated. “Systemic racism, biases — they impact every sector.”
“We’re not trying to give anything ‘extra’ to Black and Brown female entrepreneurs,” she said. “We’re trying to level the playing field.”
Before taking on her new title, Leaks was the CEO of Lioness For The Female Entrepreneur, an online digital media company geared towards women entrepreneurs.
Leaks said she came to Collab because she knows what it’s like to be a Black, female entrepreneur — and wants to work with others struggling with the reality that “entrepreneurship can be a lonely place.”
“That’s what’s so great about Collab,” she said. “You’re also tapping into a community of like minded people … They know what you’re going through, you can bounce ideas off them … It’s real talk.”
“When you’re trying to build a business, you feel like you always have to put your best foot forward,” Leaks reflected. “You always have to talk about how great things are. And to be perfectly honest, sometimes things are not great.” Sometimes, Leaks said, things are about figuring out “where my next meal is coming from” and “can I cover my rent this month?”
In addition to lessons regarding how to search for funding, build capital, finetune your idea and identify your market, Collab offers a “safe space” for individuals to meet other entrepreneurs, share their struggles, and find the inspiration and empathy necessary to keep persevering and put their plan into action.
Leaks said she intends to spend her first month on the job listening to partners, clients, and community members about their needs and “how we can best serve those needs,” as well as hitting up New Haven restaurants to meet her new home. She said her main goal in taking over Collab is to expand their services and scope to offer support and resources to even more aspiring entrepreneurs.
At Lioness For The Female Entrepreneur, Leaks increased revenue by 200 percent and expanded their global audience to 100,000. She aims to extend those successes to Collab.
By growing the thoughts and ideas of diverse populations, there will be more sanctuary kitchens making local communities flourish.
The pandemic, Leaks pointed out, has shown “some gaps where a new product or service could be really useful.” Everybody has ideas — the more of those that can come to fruition, the richer communities become.
Those who have been taught to believe their ideas are lesser than, or who have consistently hit obstacles while attempting to pitch or sell plans to those with more power and capital than themselves, can schedule office hours with Collab to determine next steps that will mesh with their daily lives.
“The number one thing I would say is call,” Leaks encouraged. “I understand deeply some of the barriers” facing potential and current entrepreneurs, she said. “But just take the action.” All you need, Leaks said, “is yourself and your idea.”
“If you’re thinking about calling, just call.”
Watch the full interview below.