Morgan DeBaun
Morgan DeBaun (born 1990) is an African American serial entrepreneur and corporate advisor. She is the Founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., the leading digital media company for Black culture and millennials. Early life and education. DeBaun was born in St. Louis, Missouri. While living in a predominantly white suburban neighborhood, her family surrounded her with positive black role models. They sent her to a magnet school in the city so she could be around more children like herself. DeBaun showed an interest in business at an early age. She sold sugary snacks to her fellow students in  their middle school that lacked vending machines, and she learned about investing from her father at age 14. DeBaun came up with the idea of Blavity Inc. while attending Washington University in St. Louis. Black students there would sit together at lunch and talk for hours. She referred to this gathering of African-American students as Black Gravity, or Blavity. Career. DeBaun began her career working on product management and business development at Intuit. She kept her full time job at Intuit but was spending all her nights and weekends working on Blavity. She ultimately left Intuit and committed to  Blavity full time due to the lack of coverage from Black media companies after Michael Brown's death. There was a huge gap of information between what she saw happening on the ground and what was in the mainstream media. She wanted to make a positive impact on her community and build a brand that could help the voices of her generation push progress forward and tell stories. DeBaun cofounded Blavity with Aaron Samuels and Jeff Nelson in 2014. They started with a curated video newsletter and built a website, which was only the beginning. The site features content created  by and for young black Americans, including subjects such as the Black Lives Matter movement and protests of the National Anthem. The news site has grown into a digital ecosystem with a monthly reach of over 100 million people and over 100 corporate partners per year. Their portfolio of brands includes Blavity News, AfroTech, Travel Noire, Shadow and Act, 21Ninety and Lunchtable. Their conferences include Summit21 for Black women creators and AfroTech, the largest tech conference connecting a global community of 20,000+ Black tech innovators through a series of digital and in-person events. Blavity Inc. recently launched Blavity.org , a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission to drive Black economic advancement forward through entrepreneurial fellowship programs featuring grants, education & mentorship. DeBaun is one of few African-American female founders that have raised more than $1 million in venture capital, in fact, DeBaun has raise $12 Million for Blavity, Inc. DeBaun also acts as an advisor to influential global brands and companies including Disney, American Airlines, CES, and Pantora Bridal and often partners Blavity with big brands to help them authentically reach Black audiences. DeBaun is also the creator of WorkSmart, a business podcast and small business advising program  and founder of M Roze Essentials and Growth Notebook. DeBaun also advises entrepreneurs and start up founders in her WorkSmart Program. Awards and recognition. 2016 – Forbes 30 Under 30 list of "young people transforming the future of media" 2016 – The Root 100 list of the 100 most influential African Americans 2016 – MVMT50 Top 10 Innovators of the Year 2018 – Forbes' America's Top 50 Women In Tech. 2019 - Culture Creators Innovators & Leaders Technology Award 2020 - Dot.LA Rising Entrepreneur