Arlan Hamilton

Four years ago, Hamilton was living out of a hotel room she shared with her mother. Today she’s a VC who has deployed some $4 million across 100 companies led by underrepresented founders (including Blendoor, our No. 34) through her venture firm. She’s also raising an added $36 million to invest exclusively in startups founded by black female entrepreneurs. (She’s calling it the “It’s about damn time fund.”) Hamilton aims to close the funding gap for women of color, who receive only 0.2% of total VC dollars—and others are taking note.