Mergers & Acquisitions names the 2023 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, including Norwest’s Sonya Brown.

How are you a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)?
As a part of the Norwest leadership team, I helped develop multiple committees to help increase diversity from three different angles: hiring, investing and portfolio. I also serve on the leadership committee focused on investing in underrepresented founders and CEOs. Norwest’s work on DEI is continuing to build on its commitment to invest in founders from underrepresented groups. For example, Norwest has invested in more than 60 women-led companies to date, most recently adding Babylist, Pequity and Praxis Labs to the portfolio.

I also helped launch a new Norwest mentorship program with the Black Business Student Association (BBSA) from the Graduate School of Stanford Business (GSB). The program’s goal is to help students successfully break into the field, learn more about venture/growth equity and understand how to be successful and develop a career.

Additionally, I joined the advisory board of CareerSpring last year, which is focused on making connections between underrepresented candidates and job opportunities through mentorship programs, internship programs and job placement.

How are you advancing the state of women?
We have continued hiring women into Norwest and I am proud to say we have hired several new female associates on our growth equity team. I’ve enjoyed mentoring and training female investors on my team and have been hosting quarterly events with the female investors at Norwest.

For the full list of 2023 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, see here.