Jewel Melanie Burks Solomon is an American tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist working as the first head of

Google for Startups Google for Startups (formerly known as ''Google for Entrepreneurs'') is a startup program launched by Google in 2011. It consists of over 50 co-working spaces and accelerators in 125 countries, and provides hands-on lessons for aspiring entreprene ...

in the U.S. She is managing partner of the investment firm, Collab Capital, focusing on Black entrepreneurship. Burks Solomon was previously the Google entrepreneur in residence for diversity markets from January 2014 to October 2016.

Early life

Jewel Burks Solomon is from Nashville, Tennessee. Her mother, Valinda Burks, ran an insurance agency for 25 years. Jewel Burks Solomon's father, William Burks, owned and managed real estate properties, convenience stores, and a laundromat. In the 1960s, her grandfather, Bill McDaniel, founded businesses in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. Burks Solomon began working at a young age for the family businesses. She studied business at Howard University, graduating in 2010.

Career

Burks Solomon began her career at Google in Mountain View, California as a BOLD intern the summer of 2009. She was a full time enterprise sales associate for

Google Enterprise Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, ...

from 2010 to 2012. Burks Solomon moved back to Atlanta after her grandmother's breast cancer diagnosis. She worked at McMaster-Carr as a customer service manager but noticed major technological deficiencies. This prompted Burks Solomon to cofound PartPic in 2013 with Jason Crain. The startup allowed people to use

smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...

to search for parts using

computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the hum ...

technology. Burks Solomon served as the Google entrepreneur in residence for diversity markets from January 2014 to October 2016. PartPic was acquired by Amazon in 2016. Burks Solomon left Google to oversee the integration of PartPic's technology with the Amazon mobile app. The technology became Amazon PartFinder. In January 2020, Burks Solomon became the first head of

in the U.S. Burks Solomon is managing partner of the investment firm, Collab Capital. The firm focuses on Black entrepreneurs.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burks Solomon, Jewel Living people Businesspeople from Tennessee Businesspeople from Atlanta Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople African-American business executives American women chief executives African-American women in business American women company founders American company founders Howard University alumni Google people Google employees African-American investors American women investors American venture capitalists Amazon (company) people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links