Kara Nortman ’93 is co-founder of Los Angeles’s professional women’s soccer team Angel City. In this episode, Kara recounts her evolution from leading LA’s largest venture capital firm, Upfront Ventures, to co-founding Angel City alongside partners Natalie Portman and Julie Uhrman in 2020. Since then, Angel City has not only garnered significant fan followings and profitability (quadrupling its revenue projections in year one), but also developed a profit model to enable community and philanthropic impact. Using Angel City as a model, Kara has since broadened her focus–leading a $150M raise to form Monarch Collective, whose mission is to invest in women’s teams, sports, and rights across the world. Finally, Kara describes her own Harvard-Westlake story and personal connections to the team—noting that three of Angel City’s stars, including team captain Ali Riley ’06, Gisele Thompson ’24, and Alyssa Thompson ’23 are all HW alumnae. Kara references Jeanne Huybrechts and Barb Welch of Harvard-Westlake, as well as Alan Blinder and Lori Dauphiny of Princeton University, as profound educational influences.
Up Next in Season 5
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Episode 63: Tiffany Alexander Aldridge
Tiffany Alexander Aldridge ’87 is Director of Annual Giving at Harvard-Westlake, overseeing a program that leads all American day schools in overall dollars (raising more than $10M in 2022-2023). However, what draws Tiffany to the role is not the program’s size, but its impact—which Tiffany and h...
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Episode 64: Robert Hur
On January 12, 2023, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur ’91 to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents during his time as vice president—thrusting Rob into the national political spotlight. In this episod...
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Episode 65: Ynon Kreiz
Ynon Kreiz is Chairman and CEO of Mattel, a global toy and family entertainment company and owner of among the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. In this episode, Ynon tells his story—from growing up and attending college in Israel, before relocating to Los Angeles to study entertainment ...
