“As a lawyer, I help people navigate external obstacles and as a coach, I help women of color move past internal obstacles.”
Meet Jamie Frank, our Legal Expert as part of “Meet Our Mentors” Series hosted by Impact By Women.
I’m Mahtab Namakian, designer at Impact By Women. This role has given me the opportunity to work closely with women entrepreneurs. As an Iranian American woman, this means a lot for me because I have seen many inspiring and talented women in Iran wanting to follow their passion but lacking the courage and resources to achieve their goals. My desire to capture their stories inspired this series called “Meet Our Mentors”. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Jamie Frank, Legal Expert
Jamie is a corporate and securities lawyer and transformational coach. She works with Jenny Kassan Consulting to provide legal support to mission-driven businesses. She also has her own legal and coaching practice which particularly focuses on supporting other women of color to build businesses, nonprofits, and careers. Jamie has been practicing corporate and securities law for over five years, and she spent six years in nonprofits doing antipoverty, antiracism, and economic justice work. She holds a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and earned her JD, cum laude, from Boston University.
MN: Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
JF: I am a corporate and securities lawyer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I work with Jenny Kassan Consulting supporting mission-driven entrepreneurs to build businesses and raise capital. I also have my own legal and coaching business supporting women of color building organizations, advancing careers, and raising capital.
I am a mixed-race woman (Black/White) originally from Northern Idaho which is a predominantly white region. Growing up my family did not have much money. From an early age, I knew that I was treated differently and that I had less than other people, and I knew I would have to work hard to change that. Because of how I grew up, I am acutely aware of the arbitrariness of wealth: how someone can have a very hard or a very easy life just because of their gender or their skin or where their ancestors came from. It really bothers me.
After graduating from law school in 2012, I was lucky to land a job with a big law firm (Sullivan & Worcester) where I worked for three years. I received excellent training and adored my colleagues but I didn’t want to help make money for big banks and corporations, so I returned to social justice work.
I became Development Director at New Economy Coalition, an extraordinary organization focused on finding solutions to systems of oppression, showing the world that economic justice is possible, and building a diverse coalition of groups from across the country to effect social change. I stayed at NEC for two years (2016–2018) before I started to miss practicing law.
MN: What part of your work inspires you and why?
JF: For many women, and especially many Black women and other women of color, it is not easy to achieve financial success. This is partly due to the barriers that exist in physical reality, such as racial or gender bias or generational poverty. And it is partly due to barriers in the heart and mind. (These obstacles naturally arise in someone who is consistently and unfairly denied opportunities that others regularly receive.)
We need to tackle both types of barriers. The answer isn’t mind over matter. It’s mind over mind: destroying the obstacles that aren’t real but that we construct for ourselves internally. And it’s a matter over matter: taking the actions necessary to reach goals once we have moved past our internal obstacles. As a lawyer, I support people to succeed in physical reality — the nuts and bolts of raising money. As a coach, I support women of color to overcome internal obstacles. I think that’s powerful.
MN: Why do you work with women entrepreneurs?
JF: I believe that women of color, and all women, must fiercely pursue their dreams and always be there for each other in order to create a just world.
I believe Maya Angelou when she says that “each time a woman stands up for herself . . . she stands up for all women.”
I talk about mindset a lot, but I want to be clear that women have external obstacles that we cannot solve just by seeing things in a different way. Our main problem isn’t underconfidence or impostor syndrome — it is physically getting access to wealth.
Again, the answer isn’t mind over matter: e.g., that a woman can succeed in the VC world if she just works a little harder or thinks differently. But we also need to support each other by creating real-world systems and institutions that can advance women entrepreneurs. Impact by Women is doing that. Hats off. It is a privilege to be a part of that.
MN: What are you looking forward to as a mentor at Impact by Women?
JF: I am excited to connect with and support the entrepreneurs in the program. Just by building businesses, they are changing the world. I am also excited to be part of Impact by Women’s mission to elevate women-led businesses by providing the access to investors that are values-aligned partners rather than just people trying to make a profit. The importance of this access cannot be overstated. Without it, the impact of what I do, as a lawyer and coach working on compliance, mindset, and strategy, is limited. The most well-designed offering is only effective if it can reach investors.
MN: What are the challenges you’ve faced as an entrepreneur?
JF: Having the confidence to move forward. I have a habit of thinking that I have to do one more thing — take one more course, have one more experience — before anyone will value me or listen to what I have to say. Part of why I went to law school is because I thought I needed an advanced degree before anyone would take me seriously. Since I became a lawyer, people treat me differently — with more respect. It’s powerful. I’m glad I’m a lawyer. But women and non-white people shouldn’t have to get advanced degrees so that they can be treated like they matter. And I still often feel like I haven’t achieved enough.
I also find it really hard to find time to build a business when there are competing obligations.
MN: What is one piece of legal advice would you want to give to women entrepreneurs?
JF: Have a really solid business model and financial projections before you start fundraising. This will not only help you talk to and get investors, it will help you to have clarity on how you should design your fundraising strategy and what kind of investors to approach.
Get a lawyer. Do not raise money from investors without an attorney. Securities law is highly regulated.
When people talk about getting investors, they focus on getting money. But you don’t just get money. You get an obligation. Before you start raising money from investors, make sure you are willing to take on an obligation.
MN: How has COVID impacted your life?
JF: I have been really lucky. I was already working from home, so work was not an adjustment. It has been disheartening to have nowhere really to go except the supermarket for so long, though, and I feel I missed a lot of the summer. I have also feared for vulnerable family members, but everyone is okay.
On the bright side, because everything is virtual, I’ve actually been able to connect with people more because there has been no need to travel to different events. In sum, I can’t complain.
MN: What would you advise your younger self?
JF: Don’t let other people tell you who you are. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t let your sense of self-worth depend on the opinion of someone else. You are powerful and vast. Your experiences matter, your life matters, you matter. Take up space.
MN: What’s your hope for the future?
JF: My hope is to continue to be in a community with women and women of color and to use all of my skill and compassion to support them in being who they want to be in the world so that we can all thrive. There are so many of us, and we are so powerful. We need to believe that; we need to support each other, and we need to act.
Meet the Designer :
Mahtab is a UX and Product Designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who recently graduated from California College of the Arts with a Master’s in Interaction Design. She is motivated and driven by identifying innovative approaches and improved solutions to connect and empower people. She is inspired by people’s stories and constantly tries to find opportunities to dive deep into understanding their motivations, intentions, attitudes, and needs. She believes in thinking empathetically, sharing humbly, and working collaboratively.
