This week on Keep It Positive, Sweetie, I’m joined by the powerhouse herself — multi-hyphenate entrepreneur and co-founder of The Fearless Fund, Arian Simone. We dive into a candid, no-holds-barred conversation about Selling the Vision, her relentless fight for women entrepreneurs of color, and the landmark federal court case that thrust her into the national spotlight — igniting a much-needed conversation around the future of DEI in America. From sitting at the feet of legends like Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks as a young girl, to being crowned a real-life Ivorian Queen, Arian’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. Her story is bold, brilliant, and deeply inspiring. Grab your pen and paper — class is in session. You’re about to be educated, empowered, and reminded of the power of purpose.
Chapter 1: Who is Arian Simone and what is her background?
Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. I'm your host, Chris Renee Hazlett, and this is the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show. Hello and welcome to this episode of the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show. I'm your host, Chris Renee Hazlett, and today we have a powerhouse joining us. She's an entrepreneur, investor, author, and co-founder of the Fearless Fund.
Kiss family, let's give a warm welcome to Arianne Simone. Arianne, thank you so much for coming by. Literally, coming by, because you're right there. Yes. Oh, my goodness. I didn't know you were so close. Yes, I know. Yes, I love it. You have to come by more often.
Yes, I'd love to, but thank you for having me. Absolutely. I'm honored.
I've been wanting to talk to you. I've been so fascinated with everything you had going on. Me? Yes, you. So to get this opportunity, I'm just super grateful. So thank you so much. Oh, thank you. Yes, absolutely. So there's been so many things that people know about you from your story to what you've done lately with the Fearless Fund. Very dynamic woman.
But I want to get to the root of who you are from the beginning. You've been very open about going from homelessness to being an entrepreneur. Tell me about that journey. She even took me back.
Okay, Crystal.
We're going to take it back and then we're going to come.
Yes. It was truly a moment where... How should I put it? I was just more so out of alignment with my assignment and what I'm supposed to do on the earth. I was a college student at Florida A&M University, and I owned a store while I was there in the mall. And I made a promise to myself while I had the store that one day I was going to be the business investor I had been looking for.
The Promise, of course, looks like the Fearless Fund today, but the journey there, of course, took a lot of adventure. And there was a time when I gave up on the store. Some days you'd have $50,000, some days your account is negative, and I'm like, am I good at this, or what is happening here? And I stopped.
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Chapter 2: How did Arian Simone go from homelessness to entrepreneurship?
that is incredible so how did you go about it like you said it just started with words what were you telling people to make because i was i was telling people my where's mine right here baby i was telling people my vision
And they were buying into the vision. And I told, I ran into somebody named Rodney Sampson, known in Atlanta in like the tech space, Tracy Gray. These people ended up being on our advisory board, but I just started telling people my vision. And they were like, okay, it's a little far-fetched, but if you believe and you sound like you believe, we'll rock with you. Wow.
Now, what were some of the hurdles as you're building this? Oh, God. I want to get into that because people see where you are now and it's like... Well, it's capital intensive.
That's first and foremost. You need securities attorneys to even set it up. And you're talking about a setup fee that's probably six figures. Yeah, a setup fee. I figured out how to cut every corner, trust me. I was like, okay, can we figure out how to set this thing for like 15? I'm like, let me step this thing. But as I was selling the vision, I started to raise money.
and started to raise it from individuals at first. And then from there, I was at a family homecoming and ran into somebody and I sold the vision again. And they were like, Hey, we'll have our company come down and meet with you. And they were our first institutional investor. So it was Lisk. And then after Lisk was like fifth, third and I think Costco. But the names were there.
Yeah.
And when the wake of George Floyd hit and a lot of the commitments to the black community took place, we were literally the right people in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. So now Inbound is happening. But mind you, I spent three years of grinding, two years plus of no salary just trying to figure it out. to get there.
So yeah, it was a lot of years of still selling the vision.
Yes. And can you explain for people who don't know exactly the mission of the Fearless Fund?
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