![\"A](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Astou_2-768x1024.jpg\")
Diallo\u2019s early interest in building companies is a hallmark to her upbringing. Both of her parents are first-generation entrepreneurs \u2013 her father owns a furniture shop in New Haven \u2013 and they instilled within her a passion for engaging in work that is of purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though work has been hard, my parents truly love what they do, and I think so much of it is because it had a community aspect,\u201d she says. \u201cI think if you’re not loving what you do, and you don’t wake up and go to work knowing that you’re going to help make someone\u2019s life easier, I don\u2019t know \u2013 you should be the change that you want to see in the world, and you should make those decisions every day, even if they’re small.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diallo is now a rising junior at UConn majoring in Information Management Systems at the School of Business, and this summer, she\u2019s finding that purposeful work with an internship with Loeb.nyc<\/a>, a New York City-based venture collective that works with startups to help improve their chances of success.<\/p>\n Through Loeb, Diallo has connected with the up-and-coming firm, Lockstep Ventures<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cLoeb sent a PDF of different portfolio companies that they had,\u201d Diallo says, \u201cand I saw Lockstep \u2013 a venture capital firm looking to invest in Black founders. So, I was like, \u2018Ok, this is really cool,\u2019 because one thing about me is that I love to work with people that want to help other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Lockstep\u2019s mission is to address issues that perpetuate racial inequality in the U.S. through venture capital. The company works to inspire and empower systemic changes, and looks to support companies that address disparities in health literacy, financial literacy, education reform, and justice\/recidivism.<\/p>\n When she\u2019s not attending intern roundtables or presentations about different aspects of working in venture capital and project development, Diallo is working directly with Lockstep \u2013 helping to manage social media channels and working on projects related to brand awareness, user acquisition, and scalability for the startups that Lockstep has partnered with.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of Lockstep\u2019s first investments is called Fleeting<\/a>,\u201d says Diallo. \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018the Uber for trucking,\u2019 and what they’re looking to do is help to bridge the gap with trucking workers and people that own trucking companies.\u201d<\/p>\n The company is also focused on supporting the employment of previously incarcerated workers, a mission Diallo believes in.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a lot of people that were incarcerated, it’s so hard for them to get back into the real world and find jobs,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce you have a felony on your record, it’s really difficult. A lot of Lockstep\u2019s initiative is to help people who were previously incarcerated, and they are even looking to invest in companies founded by previously incarcerated people. So, it\u2019s super inclusive, and something I really love about Lockstep is they put their money where their mouth is.\u201d<\/p>\n Someone else who puts their money where their mouth is, Diallo says, is NBA basketball star Kyrie Irving, whose firm \u2013 KAI 11 Consulting<\/a> \u2013 has partnered with Lockstep to assist underrepresented and minority entrepreneurs with access to programs, mentoring, and resources to support their efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m a big basketball fan, and when I heard about Kyrie, I was like, \u2018oh, my god, this is big,\u2019\u201d says Diallo, who is working on Lockstep\u2019s partnership with the firm, conducting due diligence and helping to source deals. \u201cKyrie is actually one of those basketball players who\u2019s really into on social justice, and I just love that about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Between her work at Lockstep and her participation in Hillside Ventures<\/a> \u2013 UConn\u2019s newly-launched student venture fund<\/a> \u2013 Diallo says her eyes have been opened to the opportunity that venture capital can offer to invest in a wide variety of companies and industries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a village of innovations to bridge gaps,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n An enthusiastic member of the Werth Innovators Leadership Development, or WILD, program<\/a> through UConn\u2019s Peter J. Werth Institute Entrepreneurship and Innovation<\/a>, Diallo actually decided to attend UConn because of the entrepreneurial opportunities that The Werth Institute offers students.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really the innovation aspect that pulled me in, because I think that innovation is what’s going to change the world,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I love that The Werth Institute isn’t just business majors \u2013 we want people from different majors to be able to come join, because we\u2019re the generation that’s going to be able to face problems and deal with climate change and sustainability, education technology, equity \u2013 we have so much ahead of us. And I love that Werth pushes us to not only be followers and natural contributors to society, but leaders as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Werth Institute Director David Noble says that Diallo is already a leader and, through her work with Lockstep, has a real opportunity to enable the social change that is so important to her.<\/p>\n “Our journey with Astou is not over,\u201d says Noble, \u201cit has only begun. Her short-term success needs to translate into long-term growth, but without a program like Werth Innovators, and then the student venture fund, we would not be able to attract and retain the top tier talent in the state of Connecticut.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astou Diallo combines a flair for business with a passionate interest in social justice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":168555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731,156,1862,2235,2225,2306],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2168],"class_list":["post-175206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-profile","category-busn","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-voices"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 16:34:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175334,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175206\/revisions\/175334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/168555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175206"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=175206"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=175206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}