Underrepresented: Navigating Business in the United States as a Pasifika with Jessica Chin Foo

From Tahiti to the global stage, Jessica Vaitiare Chin Foo shares her journey navigating entrepreneurship in the United States. She highlights how her French Polynesian heritage shapes her approach to business, the resilience required to overcome systemic challenges, and the importance of representation for diverse founders in creative industries. Jessica also emphasizes the importance of leading with heart, role of communities and networking in creating opportunities. Her ultimate goal is to empower other underrepresented entrepreneurs.

The Heart of Inclusive Entrepreneurship - in this episode we talk about:
• Cultural identity fueling innovation- helping startups thrive
• Why networks and community matter – building authentic relationships can unlock opportunities and drive growth.
• Why mental wellbeing is essential – sustaining entrepreneurs through rejection, loneliness, and setbacks.

• Navigating Racism in France and Italy- The importance of representation and empowerment to make entrepreneurship inclusive and accessible for underrepresented founders.

Connect with Jessica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicavaitiarechinfoo/

--------
The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

you

Beatrice Newman: 0:01

Hello, I'm Beatrice Newman. We're doing something a little different for this series and I'll be your host instead of your usual host, Peter. This is the underrepresented entrepreneur series. Being a black female founder myself, I know how hard it can be to do business in London. This series tells the stories of founders that have successfully navigated business where sometimes their backgrounds limit opportunities. In today's episode, we're speaking to to Jessica Chin Foo. Jessica shares her journey of leading with heart and how embracing different perspectives can help navigate and challenge systemic racism, particularly within the world of entrepreneurship. We also explore the unique barriers faced by underrepresented founders from small island communities like Tahiti, where limited access to networks, capital, and visibility continues to pose significant challenges. Despite over 7,000 people in the US identifying as Tahitian, these voices often remain unheard in a startup space. This episode unpacks what it really takes to break through in today's venture landscape and why true inclusion in entrepreneurship goes far beyond just being seen.

Jessica Chin Foo: 1:17

There's no diversity in racial abuse. People have hurt, I will say, or are uneducated. I went back more into a compassionate, like first, of course, it took me a while and a little bit of therapy to kind of get over that anger perspective. And I think in that sense, that also fuels me even more to show up and say, hey, we also build stuff. We don't need that kind of energy. And I want to make sure that...

Speaker 01: 1:45

Let's get this conversation going with Jessica on today's episode of Venturing into Fashion Tech. Are you all right calling you Jess?

Unknown: 1:55

Yes.

Beatrice Newman: 1:55

Yes, that's fine. Awesome. Jess, would you mind just introducing yourself?

Jessica Chin Foo: 2:00

Well, thank you so much, Beatrice and Peter and the Beyond Form team for welcoming me to this podcast today. I'm really grateful for this opportunity to share my story. I'm originally from the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia. I've been raised with entrepreneurship in mind. My mom started her own business, my grandfather as well, my great-grandfather in the islands of French Polynesia. As a first-generation American, I also strive to create my own space in the entrepreneurship world. Lots of lessons along the way. I moved out from the islands to California after high school, went to junior college, then went to public universities, and then after started on from trade to international development to a little bit of political and international development. work to then refining my operational capabilities in entrepreneurship, angel invested, and then joined a tech fund, which is where I've met some of the BeyondForm team. And that was about... eight years ago or so and since then I've laid out quite an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors also spearheaded various vehicles to empower entrepreneurs from an investment perspective and continuing to do so at a we'll say later stage currently working more on the buy side of M&A where technology companies. Coming

Speaker 01: 3:44

from the island of Tahiti, how has your heritage shaped the way you see entrepreneurship opportunity?

Speaker 00: 3:51

It's quite difficult as an isolated population already. You're in the middle of the ocean, of the Pacific Ocean, and they had the privilege of getting to know, you know, as I was mentioning, my family comes from, have been always entrepreneurial. And so accessing to resources and mentorship has been easier for myself. But I've seen some of my peers that have had more difficulties and making sure to enable bridges to exactly reduce those difficulties, reduce those barriers are super important at my adult life now and professional and making sure that my community is able to reach those and to that I've joined the French Tech Polynesie which assembles all of the entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders in French Polynesia, along with mentoring like the University of the Pacific, making sure that students that are looking at entrepreneurship have also access to my ecosystem, right, in the Silicon Valley and throughout my experiences. It is difficult, not, you know, from a geographic perspective. And then Polynesia, Oceania has been quite, I will say, you've got the Polynesian triangle where one side is you know, is Hawaii and is through the ecosystem, the energy of the U.S. And then you have down on the other right side of the triangle, you have Easter Island, which is, you know, through Chile. And then you have French Polynesia, which is French. And then you have New Zealand, which, you know, is part of the Commonwealth. But the communities as, you know, Polynesians and very far from those, we'll say, connected countries So to that, we have our own challenges in technology and entrepreneurship that are very, very distinct to this region.

Speaker 01: 5:53

We don't really get to talk a lot or hear much information about Polynesia, let alone French Polynesia. And I think some of those challenges that we're facing, but It would be really great to maybe pivot back to you then as an individual, seeing these wider challenges. What helps you find your footing in such a massive ecosystem? And what were some of the moments where you felt most lost?

Speaker 00: 6:16

One of my first position more in the M&A entrepreneurship sector has been as a trade analyst with the French Trade Commission, which then turned to Business France, as we know it now. And That was a while ago. And through that, really understood the mechanism, right, from that level, how to have public support and public service support. France has quite grown with the French tech and then Station F. So I've worked with like Roxanne Barza way back as I was an analyst. And I remember her already being very, we'll say, showing up with intelligence and ecosystem building and very much connecting the dots. where it matters. That was when Twitter was just starting. Craigslist was just starting. We were connecting with those founders with major corporates. And so understanding like how founders at that time were connecting with like ministers that were coming in, but also investors and corporate development and seeing how that really shaped entrepreneurship really gave me an idea of how the things worked, you know, outside of the MBA, but really being on the ground, really got me into that place. You really move further when you have a team in place, but also outside of the team, how your ecosystem really works, right? From a regulatory, from a research perspective, but also from a community and then from your talent pool and technologies. Always having that lens around, I think, has shape my journey. Where I got most lost, I think, is when going into fundraising capital, accessing capital. When I was raising for my own ventures as Angel Investment with family and friends, I think the story gets aligned. It's easy when you have that passion, but how do you go about and have others follow the entrepreneurs that you back, right? Like having that follow on and making sure also, even for your own journey, Right. Like, how do you capture the heart, making sure that the metrics also fall in place, that it makes sense? Because at the end of the day, venture capital, it has capital perspective. It's not social. And so making sure that you have the right lingo, the right business models and a structure in place that builds that trust, but also educates even entrepreneurs. Right. Like that's how you also have to show up.

Speaker 01: 8:47

It's not too dissimilar to other founders particularly within our community sort of BIPOC global ethnic majority however I guess people resonate or term that phrase but it's very similar to those experiences when raising money that seems to be areas that we tend to get lost in not because of us as individuals but I think because of the structures that are in place that don't necessarily support how we can progress through and I can certainly resonate with you when you talk about the NBA almost being a place where like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs become like your second family and really help to build that support network right but then it also still comes back to not a lot of entrepreneurs are able to go via that access route it was really interesting when you talk about craigslist and all of these other in a way startup networks are building to really help support the network ecosystem if you are becoming an entrepreneur and building your business but for someone that's actually new to the world of entrepreneurship it can feel very overwhelming particularly i'd say in now in this day and age. So what do you wish more people understood about what it really takes to find your way and build something meaningful in a very unfamiliar system?

Speaker 00: 10:00

From that sense, I think doing your research, definitely having your community, your allies, right? And making sure that you know people that look like you that want to, you know, that do things in that space, in that industry, you know, I'm thinking, right, like from example of Beyond4, like in terms of fashion and making sure that exactly if you're in the fashion space know about beyond form and others right that other corporate development uh communities other entrepreneurships you know research communities in that sense so as i i was mentioning mentioning earlier like the the one big lesson that i've learned throughout my journey is it's so cliche but people say yeah like uh your net worth is your network right like in that sense and but in knowing what is your network. Like I've recycled myself so much, but there's always a core, right? Of people that I know have my back that will come in and or even just have those kind of conversation, be open in exploring and seeing where we can add value to each other, but not from a tit and tat perspective, but really from coming from the heart and knowing exactly like there's allyship into this. My first tip would be yeah research and look at the community that you have the industry that links to it and then always have that curious mindset right like it may not make sense sometimes right at the present but later on like how Steve Jobs was saying you could connect the dots like backwards and see how it goes you don't really know when you're starting but when it comes from a mindset of curiosity moving forward you know launching even your product and not being sure okay is it going to make sense now, right? From an investment perspective, there's like a Slack channel that I'm a part of that looks at just that sustainability because that's something that resonates to me. And so always being or one that's for emerging fund managers, you know, from a nonprofit perspective. So how do I get involved? How would I still build community? And I don't have to engage with it, but at least know. And if they post news or reports, right? So always being abreast. So when you are ready to ask for support or just, you know, being connected, you have that open door. So I think that's super important.

Speaker 01: 12:26

So everyone that's listening, get a Slack channel, go do your research, build a network because that's really vital. And sort of speaking of community and allies, I think this really sort of swings back around to who you are as an individual and what you do as an entrepreneur. You've made it your mission to support founders and underrepresented backgrounds. Really, what drives that passion for you personally and why is this so important right now

Speaker 00: 12:54

very important right now because i think in terms of uh the increased um the increased tension of shaming, inclusion, and diversity is super important to show up on the other side. Like one personally from my end, I don't look French. I'm definitely Islander, but I speak French. And that's like my first language with English. And so at one point in my life, I tried to go live in France and I got racially harassed three times. And so I was like, well, you know, F you. Or I don't know if we could say that, maybe snap that. So really, build resilience to me to show up and even more, right? Like that we are part of a community that make things and we really shine our own light. And to me, the way that I know how to build community wealth for communities is through entrepreneurship, is through creating economic development jobs for others, right? When you are a And so to that, I've always wanted to support, build a bigger table to founders that look like us that or even create our own table. I think I've always been in that mindset. And I think having my mom, you know, single mom growing up like my grandmas and seeing her do long shifts, you know, then acquiring her own travel agency and, you know, really also inspired me, you know, I was able to see, okay, she did build long hours to be able for me to have that opportunity to also be able to go to junior college right after high school. That was something that brought me even to talk to you, right? And I saw that, how that can impact. And even for my brother, who's also in the startup, well, no, I guess it's a later stage, his company, the company he works with. But, you know, really seeing the opportunity that has happened within my own household from a single mom, I think that was led through entrepreneurship And so I'm really grateful to that. And I want to be able to share that to other founders, that especially entrepreneurship, being a founder can be a lonely road. And so making sure, again, that you have a network, you have allies that support you, whether it's just from a feedback perspective or introduction to strategic access to capital or vetted providers that will give you legal or financial advice that makes sense for your growth. I think is super important because at the end of the day, there's a lot of people, yeah, that just want to do business. But having that connection of heart or mind or industry is super important. So I always strive to, yeah, the bigger family in that sense.

Speaker 01: 15:59

I completely agree 100%. I think the world of entrepreneurship can be so lonely. And what we see on TV and media can really misconstrue that the journey is a lonely one, when in actual fact, it's not. And it really, actually, what I found is one of the hardest things to do is build a separate community and family. So it's really nice to hear you dig a bit more deeper in that extension of your actual sort of biological family and how you've actually gone about building it more externally. And I don't I don't know if it'd be okay to maybe swing back just a little on, you talk about being racially abused when you went to Paris, but maybe could you build on how that maybe made you more resilient and how do you manage racial tensions daily?

Speaker 00: 16:45

Thank you for sharing. I think it is always a sweet, better spot, right? And it was, yeah, in France, in Paris, in Bordeaux, and actually in Annecy and in Italy also, just in a span of like five months. that I was in Europe, like really trying to get that. And I was like, seriously, having gone to college in California, which has not happened. I have that experience to that extent. I was like, whoa, this is like a full blast. Five months of like various places and really condescending behaviors from mostly male, white, from the older dude from Bordeaux to just a group of guys, right? The one in Italy was very stereotyping, like called me like a dog eater just because I looked at his dog and reminded me actually of my dog. And the guy was coming out of a Mercedes that looked like James Bond's and had a, you know, which I was like, whoa, this is a nice car. And then I looked and nearly had the dog. And then he was just cursing at me, you know, and I was at a Michelin star restaurant that's with my mom because we were taking out some family friends. And I was like, seriously, like, that's crazy. It's just that disparity, right? One was in the metro on the street and then a restaurant. and all different places really showed me there's no, I don't know, there's no diversity also in racial abuse people have hurt I will say or uneducated I went back more into a compassionate like first of course it took me a while and a little bit of therapy to kind of get over that anger perspective and I think in that sense that also fuels me even more to show up and say hey we also build stuff we don't need that kind of energy we have got our own thing going and i want to make sure that all those that got their thing going is going forward and somewhere right so that's where i want to move the move the wagon i would say in that space and um so so going into a compassionate lens is is basically where i'm going outside of the personal feeling attacked to okay this person is hurting whatever they're going they're going on their own journey it is not mine whatever they released kind of let it go and bring it back to them and actually use that to ignite more of that support for communities so that it never happens because we shine so bright, you're basically just jealous.

Speaker 01: 19:17

I feel like a lot of us have to put on that mindset, which I must say takes a very special skill to do that because deep down, you're just like, you deserve no grace whatsoever. But in order for me to also, I guess, progress, I have to really swallow, and I wouldn't even call it pride, cause it's got nothing to do with that but I have to swallow this abuse and think of the silver lining which is you know I'm going to get to where I'm going to get to and just like you're saying we move on regardless of the what's and the why's it's irrelevant to me I'm just not going to be in that headspace and I feel like a lot of us have had to build on those resilience from yay high I guess in some instances until I think really global movement started to happen in a past couple of years I think we've kind of blocked ourselves from some of their abuse, but it seems like now there's no hiding from it. So I can only hope it gets better. But I really appreciate you sharing that triggering experience. It's triggered me really, but good on you for how you've been able to grow and develop and maybe kind of bringing it back down to a positive note. You talk a lot about the connection of heart, which I think is really, really beautiful terminology. Can you maybe expand on that? What does connection of heart look like?

Speaker 00: 20:35

From the heart is really when the founder or even just the community comes and resonate with each other, right? Like they find purpose or they strongly believe in. There's a sort of faith and hope and knowing and trusting that things will work out in its own way at its own time. I think that's super important. For instance, one of my close friends who graduated from like Startout, which is an accelerator focusing on the lgbtq plus community and since it's like almost the end of pride but just as an example followed his own journey always with heart like we've always been in touch i've made connections for for him in various ways and just also being a mentor but seeing how his resilience with heart how he grew to series a but then at the end of the day due to some client issues with their public facing had to almost close out and lay off about 100 people said they had like they have like 30 millions in accounts receivable that hasn't been received, which is the startup world in its sense. You're going into new markets, the insurance carrier never had that large scale of testing that they needed to pay, obviously didn't have the cash flow for it probably, or insurance, you know, they don't have insurance to cover them. So, I mean, it's a new market disruption anyways, but the way that he resonated with his community, his staff, having his investors as well, always showing up and and staying grounded, asking the right questions. And it was like three weeks ago, I met him again with one of his employees that was there that got released. And she was like, yes, those founders. It's like three beautiful gay men, two of which I know. When I was in UC Davis, we did the International Queer Club together and they were all having drinks. And even if that venture was gone, there was still that heart. They could see that they were entrepreneurs, they had to do Like you have to do, you know, as an adult, as a business owner, as a founder, you are going to be in very difficult places. That's just the nature of it. We can't be unrealistic and be all like you were saying in terms of what the media is showing or the end story. There's light and darkness in a sense, right? Like there's those polarities. And that's why we say entrepreneurship is not for everybody either. And you have to also know that and be okay with it. And I think that's when it comes and sinks in, in the heart and the stomach. Like you're really, okay, this is my calling. I'm going to do it as much as I can, how I can and know that that's for me. But taking care of yourself also, making sure that you have those times for yourself because you're probably working every day. I think that's very important. I think

Speaker 01: 23:27

everything that you're saying, there's almost a kind of like a spiritual context to it. And it doesn't necessarily mean a spiritual to the divine because I think everyone world connects to that very differently but yes it really comes back down to your mental well-being and I think how you perceive the business and working with people and I feel like this is what separates us from entrepreneurs that really chase the money and entrepreneurs who are doing something as you're saying the connection to the heart because yes the end goal is obviously to bring in the money and live well but it's so much more than just that right and that's why we continue to strive on a day-to-day and And I completely agree then why entrepreneurship is not really for everybody because it needs to have so much more heart, so much more than that. I brought the word back to you, but I'm loving it. Connected heart is the mantra for today. So what do you think it will take for as many people from all backgrounds to be able to have their goal as being a founder? It's

Speaker 00: 24:27

a very beautiful mantra, right? Entrepreneurship is for everyone. I think everybody should try it for sure. It should be part of a class. like how you do a project and same as how would you launch, um, Your own little product or your lemonade stand with maybe you're going to put some flowers in it. As a kid, I think in our own education system, having that, I think, would be nice to have just because our society is so driven to that. So one would be, yeah, integrating an education system. But overall, what we can have to inspire everyone to go and test out entrepreneurship is welcoming. I is being inclusive, is saying, hey, why don't you try it, right? Because entrepreneurship is also about execution. Everybody has great ideas, but executing is like one other step, right? Is actually bringing the mindset into something tangible. And then you go and really think about what do I need to get that? And who will be supporting me? Who are the allies? Then you're really going into that which creates community in your own entrepreneurship. But again, it is for everyone to try out, but not everyone will stick with it. And that's just part of life, part of who we are in our own journey in showing up into this world. But I think it's like biking. Entrepreneurship, it should be like biking. Yeah, not everybody wants to go, you know, because yeah, it's like scary with the cars around.

Speaker 01: 26:07

I love everything that you said. And it's really beautiful to really bring entrepreneurship back down to a level that for me and this conversation, a higher purpose. So thank you. We're going to do a quick fire round of questions. So I'm just going to shoot and you're going to give me your fastest response. Are you ready? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess. Cool. So first question is, biggest thing you miss from the islands that you don't get in the US? Oh, fresh coconut milk. You know what? I'm going to side with you on that one because no one does it better than back home coconut, right? Fresh from the tree.

Speaker 00: 26:45

Fresh from the tree, girl. That's like the best. Honestly,

Speaker 01: 26:49

yeah. Second, what's more important early on, building the right team or getting the product to market fast?

Speaker 00: 26:57

I think like getting the product on the market fast so you can already reiterate knowing, okay, that's actually that kind of team that I need because that's the kind of product that I will be launching.

Speaker 01: 27:09

I agree with you. You might have had issues if maybe there was a different cookbook. I'm kidding. Three, what's a bigger red flag in a potential co-founder? Lack of transparency or lack of commitment?

Speaker 00: 27:22

I think really both because, I mean, there's no really bigger red flags, especially when you go as a co-founder. It's like you're getting married. If you can't talk to someone, you don't really see what's going on. It's really opaque. How are you going to be able to navigate and trust that the other person is going to be an ally and is going to have your back, whether it's from product perspective, a business perspective. I think like that's super important. Like really think about a co-founder, like if he was like your life partner.

Speaker 01: 27:54

If you had to define success in one word, would it be impact, freedom or growth? Freedom. Yes, of course. Perfect. Perfect. And today's podcast session, Jessica, it's been such a pleasure. I really, really enjoyed getting to know you. And thank you so much for the nuggets of wisdom you've dropped on the podcast today. And I hope everyone listening feels a little more lighter and really excited about that next step of jumping into the entrepreneur pool. Take care. Thank you.