Belarus American Yuliya Tarasava’s impact investment platform CNote facilitates investments in women, minorities and low-income communities. Tarasava founded CNote to dismantle systemic barriers to success, and her efforts have provided 4,000 jobs in disadvantaged communities. Tune in to learn how her immigrant background made her passionate about giving everyone a chance at success.
Transcript
Denzil Mohammed: I’m Denzil Mohammed, welcome to JobMakers.
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Denzil Mohammed: Let’s face it. The United States doesn’t always work as well for some as it does for others. Looking at the wealth gap and who it affects in this country is but one very revealing example. And particularly if you come from a place of sameness, like the former Soviet Union, for instance, those gaps in inequities likely stand out even more. For Yuliya Tarasava, immigrant from Belarus and co-founder and chief operating officer at CNote, an impact investment platform that delivers returns by investing in women, minorities, and low-income communities, America’s inequities stared her in the face. So she and a friend, also with immigrant roots, decided to do something about it. The result is astonishing. In just six years, CNote has helped create or maintain more than 4,000 jobs in disadvantaged communities; invested more than 50 percent of capital into small businesses owned by black, indigenous and people of color; and invested more than 40 percent of capital into women-led small businesses, eight times the national average. Yuliya believes everyone deserves a chance at success and dismantling the systemic barriers to such success is what she and her business are all about, as you learn in this week’s JobMakers.
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Denzil Mohammed: Yuliya Tarasava, COO, and co-founder of CNote, thank you for joining us on the JobMakers podcast. How are you?
Yuliya Tarasava: Good. Thank you for having me, Denzil.
Denzil Mohammed: So tell us a little bit. You have a very unique company, I would say. And what was the problem that you saw to address with the idea behind CNote?
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes. So why CNote exists is to use financial innovation to solve for wealth gap, to help to reduce the wealth gap. That was the intention and that was … it kept myself and my co-founder [unintelligible]. And that’s what we really wanted to solve by starting CNote.
Denzil Mohammed: How successful has your company been since you founded it in 2016 in meeting its goals?
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes. I think that time really will tell. Obviously, as you can imagine, closing the wealth gap, it’s a very aspirational goal. And I think we can all argue, how do you measure that? I think for us, we are thinking about some of the concrete numbers that we can capture, which is the capital that we deployed in underserved communities that helped with creating wealth or leveling the field. And so far we deployed over I think $150 million in capital in underserved communities around the country. And we have about $200 million that is [unintelligible] constantly circling on the platform. And we can also count the number of jobs that we created, which is also in hundreds. And we can also count how many affordable housing units were created by using that capital that we deployed in the communities to build affordable housing. And on the top of it, the capital is also used to create community facilities where kids can gather for post-school education or some activities. We help to build health clinics. We helped to build healthier food stores in a food desert. So the capital’s really being used to make communities more sustainable, more resilient, and create opportunities for people in those communities to really get to the next level. And, again, leveling the field and giving them opportunities that otherwise they wouldn’t have because they don’t have access to capital. They don’t have access to certain financial products and services that we all use.
Denzil Mohammed: And I know that you are headquartered in Oakland, California, even though your team is entirely remote and actually always has been even pre-pandemic. And clearly it works very well for you. But you chose Oakland intentionally. Can you give us perhaps your favorite example of opportunities that you have created?
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes, Oakland. I’m not sure how much as a [unintelligible] Oakland was happening there. I really think about Oakland as this renaissance story. I think it was forgotten and ignored for a while. It was really considered to be one of their most crime heavy or riskier neighborhoods in the Bay Area. And yet with the support of the communities with the right intentions, the right people really taking ownership of what’s happening there, it’s seeing that renaissance that it’s going through right now with new businesses popping out, with new development coming in, with, again, communities really standing behind and creating that new future. I mean, we can also talk about all the gentrification that is happening there, which is obviously a part of it, unfortunately, of all their new movement that is happening. And you definitely see it, not just in Oakland, but around the country. But I think for us, again, it was very intentional to be there because of all the good stuff that is happening there when it comes to new life, new development, new air that it was bring into the Oakland economy. And to your point, even though we’ve been remote even before pandemic, we’re going continue to be remote. The intention is still there to be in Oakland and to continue supporting this economy, to continue supporting this community, first and foremost.
Denzil Mohammed: I just looked up to see if there was a Whole Foods in Oakland and, yes, there is. [laughs]
Yuliya Tarasava: It is, it is.
Denzil Mohammed: Talk about gentrification. Okay. So take us along the journey with you and your co-founder. What was it like to bring this company to where it is today and what were some of the lessons you learned in starting this company?
Yuliya Tarasava: I actually listened to some of your podcasts in preparation for this one. And I heard someone talking about answering similar questions in a way that always have a co-founder running the company. On your own, just so hard. I will totally sign up to that. It’s really, really hard to start and to grow the company on your own. I really think about the company, it’s a child and it definitely takes a village. And it takes two parents to begin with and then their whole village to support. And so the relationship that myself and my co-founder has … Catherine Berman … we’ve been friends before we became business partners and we were very much aligned first of all as people, like what we want to see in the world. Like how do you really see yourselves? Like what’s really important for us? We’ve gone through a long journey together, really aligning ourself personally, and then moving on into [unintelligible] how we’re seeing the world and what do we want the world to be? And so having that alignment is incredibly important, because things will go sideways. It’s obviously an entrepreneurship journey. It’s always ups and downs and it’s gonna be frustrating. It’s gonna be annoying. It’s gonna be devastating. It’s gonna be all the things that sometimes you just want to stop and resign or when you’re [unintelligible]. And then what really keeps you going is that alignment and that keeping your eyes on that north star. And as long as you have those eyes on north star, and you’re aligned with your partner, with your business partner, that’s what really keeps you committed and keeps you on this journey. And then beyond that, obviously, it’s not just me and Cath who’s running the company, it’s the whole team. And now we are about 25 people, and this is the whole village that takes to raise the child, to bring CNote to the level where it is right now. And bringing people on board, again, understanding they’re not just here because of their job security or because of the money, but they’re really here because they share your vision, they share your mission. They share the passion for economic justice, for social justice. They really share that desire and the intention that the world needs to look different. That’s what really brings people on board. And that’s what really keeps people around in spite of the fact that, again, startup journeys can be volatile. And you don’t … We kind of like building. We often give this analogy. We’re building the plane as we go. We have the direction. We know the destination. But there’s a lot of things that happen along the way. And we have to be flexible. We have to be agile. We have to be really good communicators. So there’s a lot of things that have to go right in order to get us there. And, again, having the right team and having a very committed team and passionate team, and also that clear communication, matters a lot in that journey.
Denzil Mohammed: You once said that gender equality and women’s empowerment are the DNA of CNote, your company. Can you explain this a little bit?
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes, of course. So we are female-led and female-owned at CNote and we very much recognize that women founders have been neglected. We very much recognize that the culture as we know it and the companies have often been defined by maybe overwhelmingly male energy in the companies rather than female. And for us right now, if you look at who we are, and, again, who is a part of that village, we have a lot of women. We are very, very proud to say that engineering team is the biggest team at CNote and I think 80 percent of the team is female. And we continue effort on … keep growing the team and keep giving young, promising female professionals opportunity to really raise up and be successful and get exposure to that, to the corporate role, to that impact investing world that we operate in. So, yes, we care who we bring on board. We care how the company runs. I think the fact that we are female-led and female-owned creates a certain culture that also attracts more women.
Denzil Mohammed: So I’ve spoken to several entrepreneurs who are in this finance space, Christina Qi from Domeyard, for instance, and other minorities who talk about they went to a conference and someone asked them to get them a Coke because they didn’t look like they were traditional finance people. So it’s really amazing that you’re doing this kind of work in this space. But let’s take it back to your background. You mentioned background. You come from a place where [laugh] the president has called himself the last dictator in Europe. He’s your one and only president. What was life like back in Belarus growing up?
Yuliya Tarasava: Growing up in the Soviet Union was probably more instrumental to my development as a person, but also creating that real interesting contrast between communism, socialism and capitalism and really seeing pluses and minuses behind those systems. So for me growing up in Soviet Union I’m very much used to everyone is the same. Everyone is getting exactly the same. Everyone looks the same. Everyone wears the same. Everyone have access to quote-unquote same opportunities and stuff and some of the things provided to you. And I can tell you when the Soviet Union broke up, a lot of people were not really happy because not only you’re older you have to readjust to a new way of living. And probably [unintelligible] my parents and my grandparents, who were definitely not a big supporter of going into this new system, because they were just so, their mind was just so baked in the old way and old world. And then, honestly, the transition was obviously not the best for an average person. I remember we very quickly went from having everything to suddenly having nothing and using our food stamps to get any type of food that we could not grow for ourselves, using the piece of land that we had or growing animals. So it was a really interesting experience, remembering that again, going from abundance to now some sort of poverty and standing in line in stores and literally facing empty shelves. And so that’s, I think, really, really formed my, I don’t know if it’s understanding, but kind of formed my maybe multi-structural, multi-vertical view on the world and, again, understanding that capitalism and free markets, it’s working to a certain extent. But there’s also some of that social aspect that is actually really interesting to bring into that system. And I think that’s what, that’s the whole, that’s what we are trying to do right now is this whole concept of social enterprise. When people say to me, Hey, just focus in on your maximizing your return and maximizing your revenue, maximizing shareholder value. It’s not necessarily the right thing. You have to start thinking about their, the welfare and the impact on the whole world. And I think some of that, I could definitely see some of that connection back to my childhood and just how excited I was to actually explore this new models of creating the value.
Denzil Mohammed: Clearly that had an impact on how you saw economics.
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes.
Denzil Mohammed: And when you came to the U.S., which of course is the shining example of free markets and capitalism, how did that make you feel about economics in the U.S. and this idea of free markets?
Yuliya Tarasava: Yes, yes. When growing up in Belarus, and, again, especially Belarus was going through transition and we became more open to the Western world and start hearing more stories on how people live in Europe or in America. Very often there, the perception that we had is America is the richest country and almost to the point that money grows on the trees, which obviously [unintelligible]. To some extent, that’s how America was portrayed through shows and media, et cetera. And so I remember when I was [unintelligible] to United States, there’s definitely that excitement to experience that, it’s like, oh my God, I’m going to that land of honey rivers and, again, money growing in the trees. It was definitely like this idealized view of America. And then coming to United States very quickly that view was shattered in pieces and it is because I came to United States. I decided that I want to continue my education and I really wanted to study finance given that it was my interest, that I identified studying economics back home in Belarus. And then being here in United States, going to school, realizing that I cannot get access to loan and I have to have support from some of their communities that already created so they can vouch for me. And still being able to pay in cash and working long hours and living in the cheapest place I can possibly find, I found myself in Bridgeport. And then in Bridgeport, it’s a very divided, it’s [unintelligible] Connecticut generally it’s a very divided state. Like you have this concept of redlining. You have across the line is primarily BIPOC community and then across the street [unintelligible] is gonna be primarily white community. And at that time it didn’t really make sense for me. I didn’t really know the concept of redlining, but then, as I started going through school, and as I studied more and more about it, it just suddenly was realizations like, Wow, America, the way we see it from outside, is actually not the America that you experience when you come here. And the color of your skin very much defines the future that you have here. Again, what zip code you were born into, again, defines that, your opportunity to actually generate wealth. And then understanding how a lot of the issues that we are dealing in America right now is really structural issues. It was just result of the way the laws were written, the way the history unfolded and us procrastinating as a society doing something about it. Now we dealing with the largest wealth gap in the history and all this health issues, educational issues. I mean, you name it right? And it goes back to that, to those systemic changes that we’ve been not willing to tackle.
Denzil Mohammed: You moved here when you were 20 years old in 2004. And I really appreciate that the nuanced understanding you have about how things work in the United States, that’s really terrific, and that you’re working very steadfastly to address that. So how do you feel overall, personally about the United States as that place that allowed you to actualize this particular Belarusian American dream?
Yuliya Tarasava: No, I don’t want to sound like a downer on the United States. I think United States does give a lot of opportunities to people. And I think if you are, if you’re smart, if you’re driven, if you’re dedicated I think there’s a lot of doors. That resilience, I think that’s a big part of it as well. I think a lot of doors can really be open to you. And, again, I’ve obviously experienced it myself. I work hard, I studied hard. I put myself out there and I was knocking the doors until the door opened. And at some point the doors open. So I absolutely don’t want to diminish the opportunities that America has given to me. And, honestly, I’m also interestingly enough surrounded mostly by people that are immigrants here. Just, I think, we just have so much to resonate with. And we have so much in common that I think it’s very normal that I’m gonna be surrounded by people like me who’ve gone through similar journeys. So yes. And most of them have wonderful lives and have families and they build the beautiful life here. So yes, absolutely, America is a wonderful place for people to really try their energy, to try their ideas, to try their projects that they have in mind.
Denzil Mohammed: As a fellow immigrant who is, who does not have his family here I can tell you that I know how hard it is just to exist, much less thrive, just being by yourself. You don’t have that social capital to count on. You don’t have mom and dad to crash if you lose your place.
Yuliya Tarasava: Exactly.
Denzil Mohammed: So I really appreciate the success that you’ve had so far, and I look forward to so much more success coming from you. I really appreciate the work that you do, and thank you for creating the jobs that you’ve created.
Yuliya Tarasava: Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for reaching out, Denzil. It’s fantastic to connect. And thank you for letting me tell the story.
Denzil Mohammed: Yuliya Tarasava, immigrant from Belarus and co-founder and chief operating officer at CNote, thank you for joining us on the JobMakers podcast. This was great.
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Denzil Mohammed: JobMakers is a weekly podcast about immigrant entrepreneurship and contributions produced by Pioneer Institute, a think tank in Boston, and at The Immigrant Learning Center in Malden, Massachusetts, a not-for-profit that gives immigrants a voice. Thank you for joining us for today’s powerful story of immigrant entrepreneurship. Remember, you can subscribe to JobMakers on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And please leave us a rating and a review. I’m Denzil Mohammed. See you next Thursday at noon for another JobMakers.