We have a special guest on the My Classroom podcast. Candice Matthews Brackeen is the Founder and CEO of Lighthouse, the Cincinnati, OH-based portfolio service firm including accelerators Hillman and NewMe, and venture capital fund Lightship, where she serves as Managing Partner. Lighthouse companies work together in support of underrepresented, early-stage, transformational businesses. As CEO of Hillman, the first accelerator in the Midwest to provide support exclusively to this demographic, she has influenced state policy around economic inclusion in addition to establishing meaningful partnerships with companies like Proctor & Gamble, Kroger, and Chase, in support of Hillman’s work. She has over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience and founded the Cincinnati Chapter of the Black Founders Network (BFN), to address the need for increased diversity and inclusion efforts in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. She holds a BA Economics from the University of Cincinnati and was a Hewitt-Kautz Fellow.