Khalilah Webster, 43, is a digital media entrepreneur and educator who makes it her mission to help people and organizations succeed. She is the co-founder and managing partner of Minority Ventures Partner (MVP) Accelerator, Inc. and the Open Door Arts-in-Education Project.
Webster has used her dual experiences in media business to work to dismantle systemic racism with pathways to economic equity. The MVP Accelerator is a business incubator geared toward Black and minority entrepreneurs in New York City. Her second startup, the Open Door Arts in Education project, is an ed-tech company specializing in technology, entrepreneurship, arts, and media education for K–12 students.
Webster grew up in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood. Her father worked for the city’s Department of Education (DOE), but she said he was also an enthusiastic entrepreneur. She attended schools mostly in Canarsie, at the behest of her mother, to have better access to educational opportunities. “At the time, Canarsie was predominantly Italian and Jewish,” Webster said, “and my aunt lived [there]. I don’t know if it was something legal, but we used my aunt’s address to go to a better school. My mom wanted me to be a part of this special gifted program in Canarsie.”
She was accepted into the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Her education exposed her to different ways of thinking and life experiences. She first pursued ambitions of becoming an actress, but was turned off by the auditioning process. She still attended Brooklyn College as a theater major, but eventually changed her major to communications and journalism.
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“Didn’t even do any of those things, because at the time I actually started my first business,” said Webster. “My business partner and I both went to LaGuardia—she was a dance major, and we decided to start a performing arts center in the neighborhoods we grew up in.”
The Talent of Purpose Performing Arts Center served more than 500 students in the Brownsville, East New York, and Canarsie area successfully from 2002 until the economic downturn hit in 2008. They decided to close down the center in 2009.
“At the time, I thought that I had failed,” Webster said. “But I didn’t—I just missed the mark. I was able to learn the lessons I needed to learn so I could start all over and apply those lessons to my new business.”
Webster is deeply committed to leveraging her platform and resources to uplift and empower the communities that have shaped her. By equipping the next generation of innovators with the tools they need to thrive, she is not only investing in their individual success, but also in the long-term prosperity and resilience of her borough and city.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.