Harlem Capital Community,

Please join us in welcoming our Fall Intern Class: Jorge Guajardo, Paulina Linares, Anissa Lee, Samantha Preston , and Chelsea Hamlet. They are joined by 2 returning fellows: Amir Williams (Summer 2024) and Alivia Jiang (Summer 2024).

ABOUT THE INTERN PROGRAM

Harlem Capital’s internship is a 10-week program that occurs 3 times per year, with winter, summer and fall cohorts. Each cohort consists of 5-6 interns and 1-2 fellows (returning interns). Interns are tasked with weekly deal screens, industry analyses, and key value-add projects over the course of the internship. Our interns are what we like to call our ‘secret sauce’ as they allow us to accomplish projects outside of regular deal work that expand the diverse ecosystem. Notably, our Partner, Gabby Cazeau and Principal, Nicole DeTommaso have come from this program.

2024 MARKS OUR 7TH YEAR OF THE INTERN PROGRAM

As we enter our 7th year of running our intern program, we continue to be amazed by the talent that exists within the ecosystem. We have received over 17,000 applications and hired 122 interns over 21 classes in a 7 year period. 35+ of those interns now work in VC or PE, which is one of HCP’s proudest stats as we’ve become one of the largest diverse funnels into VC. 

ABOUT THIS COHORT

The 5 applicants were chosen from a pool of 1,840 applications.

This intern class has 2 undergraduate students, 2 full-time employees and 1 MBA student.  The current undergraduate & MBA students hail from Georgetown University, University of Texas at Austin and The Wharton School. The current full-time employees hail from Techstars. The class is 40% Latino, 20% Asian, 20% Black and 20% Two or More Races. 60% are first generation college students and 60% are first generation American.

Additionally, 80% of this class applied more than once, with 2 applying twice, 1 applying three times and 1 applying >4 times. In fact, 16% of the applicant pool was reapplicants from previous classes. Furthermore, at each stage of the Fall ‘24 interview process, more than 35% of the candidate pool was individuals who have reapplied to the program. We appreciate the determination and loyalty to HCP.

A DIVE INTO THE FALL ‘24 APPLICANT POOL

Let’s take a look at the demographics of the Fall ‘24 applicant pool. Alongside race & gender data, we also started tracking some other important diversity data stats in our application (optional for candidates). 

The Fall ‘24 applicant pool was 33% first generation American and 38% first generation college students.

The applicant pool was 45% women or non-binary individuals and 15% identified as LGBTQ+. 

Harlem Capital takes a lot of pride in having a diverse applicant pool not only for race and gender, but also amongst other areas of identity and life. We continue to prove to the ecosystem that there is no pipeline problem.

HARLEM CAPITAL IMPACT REPORT

Harlem Capital is on a mission to invest in 1,000 diverse founders over 20 years. Since 2018, we have raised 2 funds and made 60 investments – we are just getting started in changing the face of entrepreneurship. As we continue to set goals as a firm, we wanted to take stock of how these investments and us as investors have impacted the VC landscape and our communities. 

One pillar we analyzed was our intern program effects and here are the results (as of 1Q24):

View the full impact blog post here.

CONCLUSION

We have now had 122 interns over 21 classes with 17,000+ applicants. Be sure to apply to be a part of our next cohort!

Our Winter 2025 application is now open until October 8th, APPLY or SHARE.   

Regards,

The Harlem Capital Team