Introduction to Everette Taylor

When Everette Taylor was named CEO of Kickstarter in 2022, it marked a historic milestone—not just for the pioneering crowdfunding platform, but for the tech industry, where Black leadership at the highest levels remains rare. At the time of his appointment, Taylor became one of only a handful of Black CEOs leading a global tech company—breaking barriers in a space that has long struggled with representation. Taylor wasn’t just making noise. He was making impact.

The Journey to the Top

In a candid video conversation with Forbes, Taylor spoke about that journey—from the margins to the main stage—and how his unconventional rise continues to shape his leadership and Kickstarter’s comeback. Raised by a single mother on the South Side of Richmond, Virginia, he dropped out of college—twice. He slept in his car, cold-called his way into rooms where no one expected to see him, and launched his first startup at 19.

Early Life and Career

That early boldness set the tone for a career defined by risk-taking, reinvention, and relentless drive. Without pedigree or privilege, Taylor forged his own leadership style—one that blends creative vision, market instinct, and a deep understanding of culture. His big break came when tech veteran Mike Steib took a chance on him at Artsy, naming Taylor CMO at 29. “Mike taught me what it meant to be a CEO,” Taylor says. “Everything is your responsibility. No excuses.”

Turning Around Kickstarter

By the time he took the helm, Kickstarter’s shine was starting to dim. Though still the leader in its space, “revenue was declining, competitors were gaining ground, and the company’s cultural relevance had started to fade. We weren’t operating at the level we needed to be,” Taylor recalls. To reignite Kickstarter’s influence as a vital player in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, Taylor made a bold bet on the creator economy. “I didn’t just want to be a leader in crowdfunding,” he says. “I wanted Kickstarter to be a leader in the creator economy.”

Focusing on Creator Education

Since Taylor joined as CEO, creator education has become a central focus at Kickstarter, and over the past year alone, Kickstarter has rolled out dozens of new product features designed to support creators not just at launch, but to help them sustain, scale, and thrive throughout the full lifecycle of their projects. It’s a vision that’s already showing results, as the company returned to consistent year-over-year revenue growth. “Project success rates on the platform have climbed from around 50% to 65%,” he says. “That matters more to me than revenue or any other metric because our mission is to help bring creative projects to life—and that starts with giving creators the tools, support, and education they need to succeed.”

Cultural Transformation

But the transformation hasn’t stopped at product innovation. Taylor also reimagined the company’s internal culture to reflect the diversity of the global creative community it serves. “Inclusivity was mission-critical,” he says. “It started internally—with our team. My CMO is a Black woman. My head of content is a man of color. Our head of social is a woman of color. We built a team that looks like the world we serve.” With that diverse leadership team in place, together they revamped outreach and education, expanded funding initiatives, and positioned Kickstarter not just as a launchpad, but as infrastructure for creators of all kinds.

Personal Mission

“For me, this work is personal,” Taylor says. “I know what it’s like to fight for an opportunity. I know what it means to have someone believe in you. That’s what we’re building at Kickstarter—a place where creators don’t just launch projects, they build movements.” Two years since Taylor first stepped into the top role at Kickstarter, now 35, he remains an anomaly in the tech C-suite. But he’s determined not to be the last. “There are so many incredible Black men and women who deserve these seats,” he says. “I carry the responsibility of paving the way for them.”

Conclusion

Everette Taylor’s journey to the top of Kickstarter is a testament to his determination and innovative spirit. By focusing on creator education and cultural transformation, he has successfully turned around the company and positioned it for long-term success. As a Black leader in the tech industry, Taylor is committed to paving the way for others and creating a more inclusive and diverse community.

FAQs

• Q: Who is Everette Taylor?
  A: Everette Taylor is the CEO of Kickstarter, a pioneering crowdfunding platform.
• Q: What challenges did Taylor face in his early career?
  A: Taylor dropped out of college twice, slept in his car, and had to cold-call his way into rooms to get opportunities.
• Q: What is Taylor’s vision for Kickstarter?
  A: Taylor wants Kickstarter to be a leader in the creator economy, providing tools, support, and education to help creators succeed.
• Q: How has Taylor transformed Kickstarter’s internal culture?
  A: Taylor has reimagined the company’s internal culture to reflect the diversity of the global creative community it serves, hiring a diverse leadership team and revamping outreach and education initiatives.
• Q: What is Taylor’s personal mission?
  A: Taylor’s personal mission is to create a place where creators can build movements, and to pave the way for other Black men and women in the tech industry.

The Minority Business Development Agency, the only federal agency solely focused on the growth of minority-owned businesses, has undergone a significant reduction in operations. In March 2025, the Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy executive order mandated that nearly all of its roughly 50 employees received Reduction in Force notices. The remaining five career employees received reassignment to other agencies on Wednesday April 9, 2025 leaving the agency to be staffed by one political appointee. While the agency remains statutorily authorized, this shift effectively guts the agency and ensures its dormancy.

This marks a major change in the federal government’s engagement with minority business enterprises, a sector that has historically faced structural barriers to capital, contracts, and market access.

A Legacy Of Impact

Established by Executive Order in 1969 and codified by Congress in 2021, the MBDA operated for more than five decades as the federal government’s primary resource for minority business development. According to its FY 2024 Annual Performance Report, the agency helped facilitate over $5.6 billion in capital, contracts, and export deals for minority-owned businesses and contributed to the creation or retention of over 22,000 jobs.

Through a network of more than 47 business centers, MBDA provided technical assistance to African American, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American, and Hasidic Jewish entrepreneurs. The agency also partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), tribal colleges, chambers of commerce, and trade associations to expand outreach and service delivery.

Federal Statute And Sudden Scale-Back

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 made MBDA a permanent federal agency, granting expanded authority to establish regional offices, enter cooperative agreements, and conduct research on economic disparities. While this statute affirms MBDA’s long-term mission, the recent staffing reductions raise questions about its capacity to fulfill these responsibilities in practice.

Although the agency remains authorized, the reduction to a core staff—now also subject to RIF—marks a significant limitation in federal support infrastructure for MBEs.

Impact On Business Networks And Supplier Diversity

There are more than 9.9 million minority-owned businesses in the U.S., generating over $1.8 trillion in annual revenue and employing 8.9 million workers. According to the Federal Reserve, these businesses are more likely to be denied financing or offered less favorable terms than their white-owned counterparts. MBDA played a vital role in helping businesses navigate these inequities.

The agency also served as a key federal partner in advancing supplier diversity. It worked in close coordination with the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and co-hosted the annual Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week—a signature event convening policymakers, corporations, and business leaders to celebrate and support MBEs. Due to the agency’s recent restructuring, MED Week has been cancelled for 2025 with no clear directive for future reengagement.

A Shift In The Minority Business Ecosystem

MBDA’s partnerships with regional development organizations, supply chains, and nonprofit intermediaries helped shape a national framework for minority business support. Its contraction leaves a gap in coordination, data, and federal investment that previously supported equitable economic development.

As the agency’s future remains uncertain, stakeholders across government, philanthropy, and the private sector may face greater pressure to meet the needs of diverse entrepreneurs. This shift could prompt reassessments of how technical assistance, capital access, and procurement opportunities are delivered. Meanwhile, evolving federal policy and mounting DEI rollbacks in the corporate sector may lead to further scale-backs—leaving the future of supplier diversity in limbo.

For over 50 years, MBDA helped expand economic participation for communities historically excluded from traditional business pathways. Its reduction marks a critical inflection point—not just for the agency, but for the broader pursuit of inclusive economic growth.

Conclusion

The reduction of the Minority Business Development Agency marks a significant change in the federal government’s engagement with minority business enterprises. The agency’s legacy of impact and its sudden scale-back have raised concerns about the future of supplier diversity and the support infrastructure for minority-owned businesses. As the agency’s future remains uncertain, stakeholders must reassess how to meet the needs of diverse entrepreneurs and ensure equitable economic development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)?
A: The MBDA is a federal agency that provides support and resources to minority-owned businesses.

Q: Why was the MBDA reduced?
A: The reduction was a result of the Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy executive order, which mandated Reduction in Force notices for nearly all of the agency’s employees.

Q: What impact will the reduction have on minority-owned businesses?
A: The reduction may limit access to capital, contracts, and market access for minority-owned businesses, which have historically faced structural barriers to these resources.

Q: What is the future of the MBDA?
A: The agency remains statutorily authorized, but its future is uncertain due to the significant reduction in staff and resources.

Introduction to Shawn Cheshire

Army veteran Shawn Cheshire doesn’t like to feel limited, so she’s found innovative, inspiring ways to live her life since losing her sight in an accident while working as a paramedic at age 36. “If you want to know who I am and what I stand for, just look at how I live,” she says. To wit: she competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and became a 13-time U.S. Champion in paracycling. In 2021, she spent 60 straight days riding a single (not tandem) bicycle across the United States — a 3,600-mile journey chronicled in the documentary “Blind AF.”

Achievements and Expeditions

She went on to power her bicycle over 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico, and last year, she set a record time for paralympic athletes by completing a 23-mile, rim-to-rim hike across the Grand Canyon without a guide in under 11 hours. “The mentality can’t be, ‘What can I or can’t I do?’” Cheshire says. “It’s more of, ‘If I want to do something, how would I do it?’” It was a tough question to face in the immediate aftermath of becoming blind due to a traumatic brain injury sustained in 2010 in the back of an ambulance during a snowstorm.

Overcoming Challenges

“It is incredible how much we take for granted our independence as sighted individuals. I was a strong, independent single parent and lost all kinds of independence with this injury,” she recalls. “I was really depressed and all I could think about was dying.” After battling complex PTSD through an adaptive program at a VA hospital in which she trained for half marathons, Cheshire started her next chapter. When someone told her she’d never be good enough to compete in the Paralympic Games, it proved to be the impetus she needed to prove them wrong.

Getting A Guide Dog

Another pivotal choice was choosing to partner with a guide dog, a German shepherd named Nick, in 2020. Cheshire hadn’t considered it until she and a friend were shopping in a mall and stopped by a table hosted by the nonprofit Guiding Eyes for the Blind. “A woman named Lisa tried to talk to me about a guide dog, and I’m like, ‘I’m not a dog person. I can barely take care of myself. I don’t know if I can take care of a dog,’” she recalls. “She said, ‘You can try it and if doesn’t work, it’s not like they’re going to leave the dog with you, stuck there forever.’”

Bond with Nick

So Cheshire applied for a guide dog and partnered with Nick, who has “absolutely” increased her independence. The “spunky” service dog not only guides her to doors, stairs, chairs, escalators, curbs and other objects she asks him to find, but helps with her PTSD by waking her from nightmares and reflecting her emotional state. “Nick is literally my emotional barometer,” she says. “If Nick doesn’t seem to be OK and I can’t figure out why, that’s my signal to look at myself and think about how I’m feeling — what’s my anxiety? What’s my fear? Because nine out of ten times, it has more to do with me than him. It’s an incredible bond. Once you bond with these dogs, it is unbelievable how magnificent they are.”

Moving Forward

Nick joins Cheshire when she’s training for her adventures, hiking on trails near their home in Flagstaff, Arizona, or swimming while she paddleboards. He stayed with a Guiding Eyes for the Blind trainer during her bike ride across the U.S. because it wouldn’t be feasible for him to run it. She started that journey by dipping her bike’s wheels in the Pacific Ocean from Florence, Oregon, and ended by being reunited with Nick the night she finished in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she dipped her wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. The key to the ride was unlikely: music. A wireless JBL speaker on the back of the lead bike played tunes nonstop (which is inaudible in the movie because of copyright considerations).

The Documentary

She also had a two-way radio in her helmet to communicate with the lead bike, follow car and film crew. “They were always giving me feedback as to how close I was to the rumble strip or to the edge of the road or to the guard rail,” she says. “So I was just constantly thinking about all the sounds and staying focused on the music and listening to what the crew was saying. And then really trying not to be overwhelmed and scared by the wind or semi-trucks or all of the other stuff. It was a lot.” Cheshire hopes the film, which was directed by Gina LeVay and screened April 7 as part of the ReelAbilities NY Film Festival, inspires audiences from any walk of life.

Conclusion

“I hope that people can hear and maybe feel that no matter how bad it gets, there’s still a way through,” she says. “There’s always a way through.” Shawn Cheshire’s story is a testament to the human spirit and the incredible bond between a guide dog and their owner. Her determination and perseverance are an inspiration to anyone facing challenges, and her story serves as a reminder that with the right mindset and support, anything is possible.

FAQs

• Q: What inspired Shawn Cheshire to start competing in paracycling?
  A: Shawn Cheshire was inspired to start competing in paracycling after someone told her she’d never be good enough to compete in the Paralympic Games.
• Q: How did Shawn Cheshire navigate her bike ride across the United States?
  A: Shawn Cheshire navigated her bike ride across the United States with the help of a two-way radio in her helmet, a wireless JBL speaker playing music, and feedback from the lead bike, follow car, and film crew.
• Q: What is the name of Shawn Cheshire’s guide dog?
  A: Shawn Cheshire’s guide dog is named Nick, a German shepherd.
• Q: What is the name of the documentary about Shawn Cheshire’s bike ride across the United States?
  A: The documentary about Shawn Cheshire’s bike ride across the United States is called “Blind AF.”