Sydney Thomas

Venture Partner, since 2023

What is your superpower?
Active listening and translating what I've learned into actionable insights
Favorite Book?
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radial Life of Lorraine Hansberry
What's the thing that brings you the most joy?
Sitting in my backyard journaling with a glass of wine

Berkeley's commitment to educating the broadest range of students is clear in the businesses this community creates. It's inspiring to see their focus on solving real and deep problems, and I'm so excited to support them.

Bio

Sydney is the Founder and General Partner of Symphonic Capital and a Venture Partner at The House Fund. Symphonic Capital invests in companies making life better for the 99% and the launch of her fund was recently covered by TechCrunch. She has focused on this thesis for the past 6 years and has created a distributed network invested in this space by founding a podcast where she profiles these companies, launching a newsletter where she writes about these companies, and hosting events where she organizes people who care deeply about the impact these companies can have on our society.

She participates in several extracurricular activities to increase diversity in tech and level the playing field more broadly. She is on the strategy committee of BLCK VC, on the Board of Colorwave, and on the Advisory Board of Invanti – a startup generator in the Midwest. This work awarded her a Black VC's Making an Impact designation and an article in Marie Claire.

She is deeply involved in her community in Oakland. In 2020, she was honored to receive the Champion of Justice Award from Esq. Apprentice, an Oakland-based nonprofit she supports that creates alternative pathways to a legal career. She was also appointed by the Mayor to serve as a Commissioner for the City of Oakland’s Public Safety and Services Commission.

Sydney graduated from Duke University with a Public Policy Studies degree. She also received an MBA from UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business.

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