Originate, Motivate, Innovate

CHAPTER 1The Power of Asking Questions

The reason that there's no such thing as a stupid question is because asking a question is the most powerful thing you can do. I am Omí Bell, the CEO of a multimillion‐dollar nonprofit called Black Girl Ventures. I'm a system disruptor and business strategist who moves ideas to profit while empowering people to live more authentically. I've been able to help thousands of women gain access to financial and social capital by disrupting the entire venture capital ecosystem. We'll talk more about that later, but one thing you should know up front is that I ask the tough questions. And I will challenge you to ask tough questions of yourself as well. The tough questions that I ask in high‐powered rooms full of CEOs that don't look like me are no different from the questions I ask myself.

By the time I was seventeen years old America had already given up on me. I'm supposed to be a statistic. My future was supposed to be a crapshoot, and my options were supposed to be nonexistent or limited at best. You aren't even supposed to be reading this book right now. At least that's what society would have you believe. I had my first child when I was seventeen and still in high school. As a single mom and with baby in tow, I graduated on time and went to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. Junior year of college, I had my second child, delivering my baby only one month before final exams. I was a single ...