5 Networking Tips for Women of Color Entrepreneurs
Is your network truly your net worth? Regardless, business owners and entrepreneurs are often on the lookout for networking tips, even more so those that belong to minority groups such as…
Is your network truly your net worth? Regardless, business owners and entrepreneurs are often on the lookout for networking tips, even more so those that belong to minority groups such as womenpreneurs; black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); and women of color.
Our CEO and Head of Strategy, Ari Krzyzek, is one of them.
More than ten years ago, she immigrated from Bali, Indonesia to the States and started a business that is Chykalophia today. Along the way, she faced challenges that she had never imagined before, something that minority, women of color still face even today as entrepreneurs.
In his book E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work & What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber mentioned that a business owner usually has three distinct personalities:
- The entrepreneur: The visionary. The creative mind that brings the business forward.
- The manager: The organized character. The one that keeps the business running.
- The technician: The doer. The one that actually executes the business operations.
In Ari's case, her technician self was a digital designer. Starting her career in Bali as a digital designer, she lacked the managerial and entrepreneurial skills to actually run our agency. A further challenge presented itself as Ari knew not a single soul in the industry to connect with, learn from, and make her way into the network she needed to establish our agency.
To add fuel to the fire, networking became even more difficult due to the fact that Ari is a minority, a woman of color, to be precise.
Why networking is crucial for women of color entrepreneurs
In recent years, minority-owned businesses only make up 18% of the population and women-led startups received just 2.3% of VC funding in 2020. That gap has barely moved since, with companies founded solely by women still drawing only about 2% of venture capital dollars in recent years. So with less funding available, women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs need to be extra creative in finding ways to grow their businesses.
One foolproof method to try is networking. And this is what Ari did in her early business days.
Your network is the one growth lever no one can defund.
5 networking tips for women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs
Below are five networking tips for women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs that you can start doing today, tried and tested by Ari.
Start online
To help you get started, you can check online women of color groups like WBENC, NAWBO, Luminary, The Entreprenista League, Fabrik, Dreamers & Doers, and The 10th House (use code: ARI10H for special pricing). Or you can also look at these LinkedIn groups and decide which ones might be great for you:
- National Professional Women of Color Network
- Femtech & Women’s Health by Women of Wearables
- Hispanic Professional Women’s Association, Inc.
- Neythri: A Global Community of South Asian Professional Women
- Black Career Women’s Network
How to do it
- Pick two communities, not ten: one paid room where your ideal clients already pay to be, one free niche group to test the water.
- Finish your profile before you post anything, so a click on your name lands somewhere credible.
- Search each group for your topic and reply helpfully to three existing threads before you introduce yourself.
- Filter niche online and local meetups on Meetup and add one to your calendar.
See a worked example
Say you run a bookkeeping studio for creative freelancers. Rather than joining all seven communities at once, you might pick one paid room where your buyers already gather, like a women-founder network, plus one free LinkedIn group in your niche, then spend the first two weeks only reading threads and noting who asks thoughtful questions before you introduce yourself.
Tools to use
Ellevate Network for online groups and local chapters, Meetup for niche online and in-person groups, and WBENC for women's business certification plus a national network.
Steal our AI prompt
Here is what my business does and who my ideal clients are: [describe your business, your niche, and the exact type of person you want in your network]. Suggest 5 specific types of online communities or LinkedIn groups where those people already gather, and for each write a 2-sentence introduction I could post that leads with a helpful observation, not a sales pitch. Keep the tone warm and specific, not salesy.
Attend one-on-one meetings
Instead of jumping into big networking events with dozens of participants, Ari recommends starting slow. Big events can be intimidating and exhausting if you know no one.
At this point, you should have connected with one person or two from the online groups or communities. Send them a message and invite them for a coffee or brunch where you two can talk more closely.
How to do it
- Message the one or two people you already exchanged replies with, referencing the specific thread so it is not cold.
- Offer a low-stakes format: a 20-minute virtual coffee, not a 'pick your brain' hour.
- Share a Calendly link with two or three open slots so they book in one click.
- If you have no warm contacts yet, let Lunchclub match you into weekly 1:1 video intros.
See a worked example
Imagine you traded a few helpful comments with someone in a founder group. Instead of a vague 'let's connect sometime,' you might send a short note naming the exact thread you both commented on and offering two concrete times over video, so the ask is easy to say yes to.
Tools to use
Steal our AI prompt
I want to invite a new connection to a casual 1:1 coffee chat. Here is the context of how we met and what they care about: [paste the thread, message, or notes about this person]. Write three short, warm outreach messages of 3 to 4 sentences each that reference how we connected, offer a specific low-pressure format, and make it easy to pick a time. No hard sell.
Refrain from hard-selling yourself
When seeing your new connection in person for the first time, don’t dominate the conversations. Ask your new friend how things are going, what they’re trying to achieve, if you can be of any help, and other topics along these lines.
Let the business talk flow naturally. And don’t limit your conversations to business talk only. Consider this meeting is for building friendships and not solely for work purposes.
How to do it
- Prep three open questions about their goals and current challenges before the meeting.
- Follow an 80/20 split: listen and ask for most of it, talk about yourself only when invited.
- Close by offering one concrete, no-strings help: an intro, a resource, or a quick review.
- Log what you learned and a follow-up date in Dex so the relationship keeps warming without a pitch.
See a worked example
In a first coffee, you might set yourself a rule: ask three genuine questions about their work before you say a word about your own offer, and leave with one small way to help them, like an intro or a useful resource, rather than a proposal.
Tools to use
Dex as a personal CRM that logs context and nudges follow-ups, and Never Eat Alone for the give-first networking philosophy.
Steal our AI prompt
I have a first 1:1 meeting with a new connection. Here is who they are and what they are working on: [describe or paste their bio, business, and any recent posts]. Give me 6 genuinely curious, open-ended questions to ask about their goals and challenges, plus 3 low-key ways I could offer to help them that do not involve pitching my services.
Join a course or masterclass
By joining a class, you get to meet people with the same interests, who are at a similar learning level as you. Having all these things in common, it's easier to make new friends while gaining more knowledge.
Some courses are conducted weekly, others twice a week, while the intensive classes can take place every weekday. Choose which ones suit your schedule and your investment budget.
How to do it
- Choose a live, cohort-based format over a self-paced video so you actually meet people.
- Match the schedule and budget to reality before enrolling: Maven cohorts and paid workshops differ a lot in time and cost.
- Introduce yourself in the course chat or Slack on day one and reply to two classmates.
- Search Eventbrite for a local workshop in your city if you want in-person contact.
See a worked example
Suppose you want to sharpen your positioning. A multi-week live cohort can do double duty: you learn the skill and you spend six weeks in a small group of peers at your level, which is a far warmer place to build relationships than a one-off webinar you watch alone.
Tools to use
Maven for live cohort courses where the group is the network, Coursera for university and company courses, and Eventbrite for local in-person workshops.
Steal our AI prompt
I want a course or masterclass that builds a specific skill and also puts me in a room with peers I can network with. Here is my skill gap, my weekly time budget, and my price range: [describe the skill you want, how many hours a week you have, and your budget]. Recommend the types of cohort-based or in-person formats that fit, what to look for in a good one, and a short intro message I can post in the class chat on day one.
Find a mentor
A mentor teaches you the best practices of your chosen profession and also guides you when you’re at a crossroads, on the verge of going off track, and can’t see the big picture.
Plus, your mentor has other mentees, not just you. Chances are he or she will introduce you when there are potential collaborations and opportunities, so you get new connections!
How to do it
- Write down the one decision or skill you most need help with before you request anyone.
- Request a free mentor through SCORE or MicroMentor and filter by relevant industry experience.
- Come to the first call with a specific question, not 'can you mentor me?'
- Check your local SBA Women's Business Center for free in-person counseling and warm intros.
See a worked example
If you cannot afford a paid coach yet, you might start with a free mentor. For instance, you could request a SCORE mentor in your industry, come to the first call with one specific decision you are stuck on, and treat it as an ongoing relationship rather than a single Q&A.
Tools to use
SCORE for free SBA-backed mentoring, MicroMentor for volunteer business mentors, and SBA Women's Business Centers for free local counseling.
Steal our AI prompt
I'm looking for a business mentor and want to make a strong first impression. Here is my business, my stage, and the specific challenge I need help with: [describe your business, how long you have run it, and the one problem you are stuck on]. Write a concise mentor-request message and 5 focused questions for a first 30-minute call that show I have done my homework and respect their time.
Networking tips don't work unless you do
Ari didn't really have any networking tips at the start of her career. She had to try things hands-on and experiment to see what worked and what didn't. But you don't have to do this the hard way like she did. Use these networking tips as a shortcut to establish your businesses and yourselves as women of color entrepreneurs.
This 5 Networking Tips for Women of Color Entrepreneurs article was originally published on SheVenturesPodcast.
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