Jersey City — The niche category of tech nepo babies has caught the world’s attention because of the immense power that comes with being birthed to successful tech executives.
Nepo babies are generally defined as the children of people who can practice power or influence to get their kids job opportunities. Think of families like the Rockefellers.
But, in the world of tech, nepo babies have access to a lot more than employment. Children of successful startup founders or VC firms will often have automatic opportunities to lead the brands that their parents built.
That means that said companies can potentially be led by one family for multiple generations.
The bigger (multicultural) picture
A bulk of the reporting on tech nepo babies highlights the children of people like WeWork founder Adam Neumann or Apple founder Steve Jobs. Yet, there are little to no reports on who the nepo babies of color are in tech.
This is not surprising as people of color are a stark minority in the sector. Career placement platform, Zippa found that of the 30 million business owner profiles on their site, 68.5% of founders identify as white.
Despite that, not having a “seat at the table” has never stopped founders of color from gaining traction and success.
Here are three children of color with legendary parents who just may be the tech world’s next set of nepo babies.
Zaya Wade, 15
Born to parents Dwyane Wade and Siohvaughn Funches, Zaya Wade may have a promising career in investing and business ownership if she chooses to indulge in the sector.
Her retired NBA-champion father co-owns businesses with his wife, esteemed actress Gabrielle Union. Some of their businesses include Proudly, a children's skincare line catered toward people of color and YNGDNA, a fashion company.
Beyond that, D. Wade owns a wine brand Wade Cellars and he also owns a stake in the NBA’s Utah Jazz, alongside having an equity stake in sneaker and apparel company Li-Ning.
That said, if Zaya is remotely interested in entrepreneurship and tech, her father’s plethora of business experience can help her get there.
Ella Rodriguez, 14
Ella Rodriguez’s parents are none other than former professional MLB player Aaron Rodriguez (A-Rod) and Cynthia Scurtis.
Beyond his career in sports, A-Rod is the CEO of A-Rod Corp. The corporation operates business in a multitude of ways including providing startup investment, building value in real estate and driving brand growth.
A-Rod Corp’s venture capital portfolio includes startups with household names such as investing platform Acorn, nutrition startup Goli and delivery platform GoPuff.
The sports star also guest starred on two seasons of ABC’s “Shark Tank” and made history as the first Hispanic to join the tank of investors.
A-Rod’s diverse involvement in tech, venture capital and private equity will allow Ella to take up any career she’d like to in the space, if it interests her.
North West, 9
Viral TikTok star North West was born to parents Ye (Kanye West) and Kim Kardashian. In North’s nine years of life, she has grown to online stardom, that is of course due to her star studded family tree.
Having the combination of an entertainer and fashion designer father alongside mother who doubles as a reality TV star, entrepreneur and VC investor leaves North with a promiseland of career opportunities in tech.
Beyond potentially working to build Ye’s fashion company Yeezy, North also has the option of engaging with Kim’s plethora of businesses including fashion startup SKIMS and skincare brand SKKN.
Kim’s latest venture, SKKY Partners, is a private equity firm that invests in high-growth, market-leading consumer and media companies. This alone may offer North an additional generational career route in investing.
Keeping it gee, this list just barely scratches the surface of how many nepo babies of color may end up as tech executives.
What I love most about this group is that no matter what career route they take, they will inherit massive forms of generational wealth and that alone is rare for communities of color.