Following my North Star: Why I’m joining Reach Capital

The Grounded crew adds a new partner

I do a lot of informational phone calls with soon-to-be or recent graduates who want advice on how to navigate their careers. The question that typically comes up is something along the lines of “How do you think about your long-term career goals and achieving them?” 

My answer is always “I don’t believe in goals - never have. I have a north star and I think about whether each step I take gets me closer or further away from that north star”. 

My north star is pretty simple: I want to create financial security for me and my family and I want to make the world a better place for the girl I was. 

Today, I’m excited to announce that I am taking one step closer towards my north star, as I join Reach Capital as their newest Partner. I have known the Reach team since my first day in venture and I have always been impressed by their investing savvy, teamwork, and, more importantly, relentless commitment to impact. 

For those who don’t know, I was the first in my family to go to college and have always believed that education was the engine for economic mobility. I went to graduate school for education and started my career at an ed tech startup. I’m thrilled to join Reach and recommit to deploying capital towards a sector I care so deeply about and that I believe will help make the world a better place for the girl I was.

This is incredibly bittersweet, as I’m leaving a team that I adore at Cowboy. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for mentors like Aileen Lee and Ted Wang who helped make me a sharper investor and better partner to founders. Aileen, in particular, took a bet on me and helped me develop my own voice and judgment as an investor. 

One thing I will always carry with me is the “we” mentality that she instilled in all of us on the Cowboy team - always putting the team and the founders we work with first. While I’m sad to leave, I’m looking forward to continuing to co-invest in seed-stage companies with them.  

At Reach, I will spend a lot of time on consumer and marketplace investments within education and the future of work. I’m currently super excited about companies that enable community-driven learning and help people become agents of their careers. If you are building in any of these spaces, please ping me at jomayra@reachcapital.com!