Taneshia Nash Laird Convenes "Building in Color: Black Founders in AI"

BOSTON, MA — May 27, 2026 — Taneshia Nash Laird, founder of Thrive Tide Partners, convened "Building in Color: Black Founders in AI" on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at Northeastern University, drawing roughly 75 founders, faculty, students, civic leaders, and members of the innovation community for a morning conversation about Black-led AI companies in the Commonwealth. The gathering was part of Boston Tech Week 2026, the a16z-produced convening's first year in Boston.

Nash Laird moderated a curated panel with Tosin Joel, Founder & CEO of ToluAI, an AI-native enterprise intelligence company reasoning about future outcomes for large institutions, and Shawne Robinson, Co-Founder & CEO of Tosch.ai, an AI-powered analytics platform serving college and high school sports. The conversation moved candidly across capital access, the university-to-startup talent pipeline, and where Massachusetts' innovation ecosystem is strong — and where it isn't yet — for Black founders. The panelists framed the stakes plainly: being the only one in the room is not a strategy, and forums that let founders sharpen each other are how ecosystems get built.

The event opened with remarks from Dr. Richard O'Bryant, Northeastern's Chief Belonging Officer and Director of the John D. O'Bryant African American Institute, whose office sponsored breakfast, and Donald Wright, Interim Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion for the City of Boston, speaking on behalf of Mayor Michelle Wu's administration. An open-floor segment followed the panel, giving several early-stage founders two minutes each to pitch what they're building and make one specific ask of the room. The morning closed with open networking.

Building in Color reflects the connective work of Thrive Tide Partners — Nash Laird's strategic advisory practice serving founders and institutions at the intersection of capital, culture, and community — and her ongoing effort to convene rooms in which Black founders can find each other, funders, and the ecosystem partners they need to build.

[Click here to read "Exclusive: College athletes tend to pick teams on vibes. He wants to change that" featuring a photo from Building in Color: Black Founders in AI.]