Turtle Academy & Ventures

WHAT: TRTL (tur-tle) Ventures is a seed stage investment fund that believes it's time to get back to growing logarithmically, like nature. Long has exponential growth been heralded—but at the cost of equitable conditions in work and in life, not to mention business models that don't always yield profitability. HOW: Our slow and steady pace allows for first generation wealth builders to acquire the knowledge, network, and skills needed to found profitable businesses. In turn, our turtles deliver abundance and equity to their communities. The interplay between our School and our Fund ensures turtle seedlings are strong, nurtured, and well-fed on their journey to unlock and unleash their full selves so they may have outsized impacts in their families and communities. WHY: Long have turtles from BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, rural poor, urban poor, female-identifying, and at-need communities been underserved, under-networked, and over-emotionally-taxed by a world that wasn't built for them. And what's worse, there have been multiple occasions of "Culture Vulturing" whereby ideas, demand spaces, and insights have been extracted from these communities without proper partnership and share in the upside (see especially: Fashion, Entertainment, Beauty, Personal Care, Food, and Cannabis).