Watch this month: ‘Founding in Color,’ a docuseries about Black and Latinx entrepreneurs

This Thursday, Comcast customers will have access to the first in a three-part docuseries about the experiences and missions of founders of color who are building their businesses today.

“Founding in Color” will air over three weeks, and is presented by Xfinity’s Black Experience channel and Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs. Throughout the series, nine founders will discuss race, identity, building businesses amid a pandemic, and their personal experiences as entrepreneurs in America. You’ll be able to stream on the Black Experience channel (channel 1622), as well as X1 on demand, Xfinity Flex and the Xfinity Stream app.

The founders featured in the series have all participated in Comcast accelerators or business programs, including its Philly-based LIFT Labs accelerator, Atlanta-based The FARM and SportsTech accelerators, or as a RISE grant recipient.

“‘Founding in Color’ is a true passion project for LIFT Labs that started with a desire to shine a brighter light on Black and Latino founders in our portfolio and network — and inspire the next generation of founders — especially at the height of the pandemic,” said Danielle Cohn, VP of startup engagement and head of LIFT Labs, in a statement.

The series will feature:

• Renato Carregha, founder and CEO of Tegger
• India Hayes, founder of the compassionate tech hub Mini City
• Danielle Johnson, founder and CEO of Spark FM Online Radio
• Jasmine Jones, founder and CEO of Cherry Blossom Intimates
• Trish Miller, founder and CEO of The William Pleshette Company & Aneswim
• Max Tuchman, CEO and cofounder of Caribu
• Karlos Walkes, CEO of XiQ

Also featured is Michael Maponga, cofounder and CEO of Dallas-based AfroLandTV, a streaming media platform for pan-African TV shows and movies, who participated in the 2020 LIFT Labs accelerator. When Technical.ly checked in with the company at Demo Day in December, it had grown its audience by an average of 170% week over week, and were in advanced discussions with XUMO, a streaming service acquired by Comcast in 2020, to bring curated African content to its more than 24 million users.

You’ll also see Shanel Fields, founder and CEO of MD Ally, an on-demand telemedicine service for dispatchers and EMS professionals. Fields founded and incorporated the startup in 2018, and in 2019, after graduating with her master’s of business administration from the healthcare management program at Wharton School, launched into full-time work on the healthtech startup.

The system is focused on presenting the caller with the right level of care to save time and resources of the patient and the EMS team. The tech involves a telehealth platform and EMS integrations to make sure that information safely travels across the 911 system to the providers.

“I really felt it would add a lot of value, and help save lives,” Fields told us last year. “Especially with COVID, if responders are going out to non-emergent calls it can put them at risk [and] the patient at risk and potentially waste PPE.”

The three-part docuseries will become available over the next three Thursdays in September, beginning Sept. 9. Watch the trailer below: