Life as a Black woman from a Jamaican family inspires Keianna’s passion for entrepreneurship.

She was raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in a large family from Jamaica, a global leader in cultural innovation. Entrepreneurship was a way of life. She used a home-grown entrepreneurial mindset to land a full scholarship to Columbia, setting the stage for her career.

Keianna began her career 15 years ago as an Obama White House Intern. She had the opportunity of a lifetime working alongside global leaders to advise President Obama on personnel and public policy matters. In recognition of her leadership, Keianna had the honor of meeting with President Obama. She also met the First Lady and the President’s senior advisors.

After college, Keianna entered the private sector as a management consultant at Deloitte. Inspired by her White House experience, she advised public sector executives on healthcare reform, including Healthcare.gov, which expanded healthcare access for millions of Americans.

Keianna left Deloitte to return to Columbia to earn a Master of Public Health, deepening her healthcare expertise. In graduate school, she was introduced to venture capital, which resonated strongly with her entrepreneurial mindset and early-career success.

She took learnings from her public health studies and entrepreneurship studies at Columbia Business School to launch and grow health technology startups. As CEO and Co-Founder of Soshel, she launched a social care platform for mental health, inspired by family members living with mental illness. As COO/Director of Operations of Emmyco, she led a team to grow an on-demand health concierge platform, partnering with leading health systems.

Meanwhile, she invested in health technology startups at the Keiretsu Forum and MBX Capital. She evaluated pitches and conducted due diligence to recommend startups for investment. She also served as a mentor at Techstars and First Round Capital.

Today, Keianna is Managing Partner of Keianna Dixon Consulting. She uses her expertise to deliver startup advisory services.

Outside of this work, she is a Business Development Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), guiding startups to increase their revenue and scale their GTM motion via the AWS Marketplace.

In her free time, you can find her "fulljoying" herself at Caribbean festivals, basking in nature, and obsessing over track and field championships.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Master of Public Health, General Public Health: Venture Capital and Startups

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL
Entrepreneurship Course: Launch Your Startup

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Economics, Sustainable Development, and Public Policy Courses

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
Bachelor of Arts, Sociology