Domonique Fines
About Domonique Fines
Domonique Fines is a renaissance woman who is a native of Oakland, CA. A graduate of Clark Atlanta with a BA in Fashion Design & Merchandising, she was a recipient of the inaugural 40Under40 Alumni award because Domonique took an unbeaten path to break into tech and hasn’t looked back! As former Director of Events for Y Combinator from 2016-2019, and the 1st black woman to work at YC, Domonique produced 7 Demo Days, 5 Female Founder Conferences, 6 national/domestic Outreach Tours (inclusive of inaugural trips to HBCU’s), and much more that reached thousands of founders + investors from all over the world. In addition, Domonique was a key influence in building out the Black at YC community amongst YC founders. Domonique joined All Raise as the 4th employee serving as the Director of Engagement expanding + managing the volunteer community (the backbone of All Raise) with a specific focus on launching + aligning the Los Angeles & Boston chapters. She also co-founded When Founder Met Funder (WFMF) to address the fact that Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the US, yet they receive a negligible percentage of overall venture funding. This annual event was sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank and offered a unique opportunity for Black female founders to connect with investors & fellow founders in Silicon Valley and beyond. In 2021, Sam Altman (previous YC president during Domonique’s tenure there) launched a stealth fund in which Domonique joined as a scout alongside 9 additional founders, leaders, and waymakers. Domonique managed the fund for the next two years being the lead on fundraising, portfolio management, founder outreach, etc. Today, Domonique is still using her tri-focused experience as a founder, funder, and operator to create out of the box experiences, build partnerships, open lanes, and focus on community access to tech.