What does housing instability do to a child? To a family? To a community? Alexandria Lafci knows firsthand — and she's spent her entire career trying to answer those questions through action. Alexandria is the Managing Partner of Home Team Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in construction technology. Before Home Team, she co-founded New Story, a nonprofit that built thousands of homes across Haiti, El Salvador, Mexico, and Bolivia — and partnered with ICON to print the first-ever

When we think about philanthropy, most of us picture mega-donors, foundation galas, and the Giving Pledge. But Hali Lee has spent her career arguing that the future of giving was never in those rooms. It's been in the kitchen tables, the susu circles, the ge meetings — communities of regular people pooling their time, talent, and money to take care of each other and their neighborhoods. In this episode, Hali shares the story of how her grandmother's generosity after surviving two wars shaped he

In this episode of Principles of Benevolence, Ebony sits down with Cameron Carter, CEO and Co-Founder of Rosarium Health, to talk about the overlooked connection between housing and healthcare. Cameron spent a decade inside value-based care at DaVita, Bright Health, Evolent Health, and Truven Health Analytics before a personal experience with his own grandmother and aunt in Compton, California led him to found Rosarium — a company helping people age safely in their own homes through accessible m

What does it actually take to change who controls capital — and who benefits from it? In this episode, Ebony sits down with Erin Harkless Moore, Managing Director of Investments at Pivotal, the group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress for women and families. Erin leads Pivotal's fund and direct investment strategy, backing overlooked founders and next-generation fund managers in women's health, the care economy, and financial access. Erin's path to one

What does it take to walk away from one of the most powerful roles in corporate America — not because something went wrong, but because something more important was calling? Amy Weaver spent nearly twelve years at Salesforce, helping guide the company through a period of extraordinary growth as its market cap surpassed $300 billion. She made history as the first person in Fortune 500 history to go directly from Chief Legal Officer to Chief Financial Officer. Then she did something almost no one

What if the most powerful wealth-building tool in the Black community has been hiding in plain sight for 120 years? Ryan L. Smith grew up on the South Side of Chicago where he felt safe inside his home but couldn't walk a block in any direction without encountering disinvestment, lack of opportunity, and gun violence. He watched friends whose lives took a very different path and made a decision early: the most scalable way to change things is through business. That conviction took him from Howa