S1 E2: Rev. Dr. Keith Daniel
TIME STAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:58 Dr. Keith Daniel’s Story & Roots in Durham
5:40 From Community Development to Venture Capital
23:50 Wealth, Faith & Black Flourishing
DESCRIPTION
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Keith Daniel, a leader deeply rooted in Durham’s history and widely known among community leaders as the Priest of Durham or the Mayor of Durham. With a steadfast commitment to the intersection of faith, economic development, and Black community empowerment, Dr. Daniel has become a trusted voice in shaping the future of the city.
He shares his journey from growing up in Black spaces in Washington, D.C., to attending Duke University, and eventually returning to Durham to invest in Black futures. We explore his work with Resilient Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to funding Black founders, and discuss the tension between economic growth and justice.
Dr. Daniel offers powerful reflections on redefining wealth, the role of faith in social transformation, and the importance of community-driven solutions to systemic barriers.
GUEST
Rev. Dr. M. Keith Daniel is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Resilient Ventures, LLC, a committed capital fund investing in African American-led high-growth companies, and the owner of Madison Consulting Group, LLC, which supports individuals and institutions striving for human flourishing. With a career spanning three decades in higher education, faith leadership, and community development, Dr. Daniel has served in executive roles at StepUp North Carolina, DurhamCares, and Duke University Chapel, where he led the Lilly Endowment-funded PathWays program and later became Director of Community and Campus Engagement. His leadership also includes serving as Interim Director of the Office of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School and directing milestone projects such as Duke’s 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Integration of Black Students. Passionate about education and entrepreneurship, he has guided business leadership programs at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and North Carolina Central University. An ordained American Baptist minister, consultant, and mentor, Dr. Daniel is deeply committed to faith-rooted social change, serving on multiple boards including The School for Conversion, Justice Matters, Duke University Chapel, and Duke Health Chaplain Services and Education. He holds degrees from Duke University, North Carolina State University, and Duke Divinity School and cherishes time with his wife Lorna and their children, Madison II and Loren.
Give To Bishop Laney: $MKeithDaniel
Learn More About: Resilient Ventures
TRANSCRIPT
Dooley: Well, Dr. Keith Daniel, thank you so much for being willing to meet with us. It’s such a pleasure to have you on.
Daniel: Well, thank you. I’m honored, and especially with this being your, I guess, inaugural podcast season—blessings with that. Hopefully, I can offer some good aspects of our life here where I am.
Dooley: So, let’s kick off just asking you a question: What is the story of Keith Daniel?
Daniel: Oh boy, you gotta give me a timer on that, bro. Well, given I know the heart of your heart ministry and Black South, my story does begin in Durham, North Carolina. Multiple generations of my family go back to my third great-grandfather. When he was emancipated, he was able to buy some land, planted a church there, and built some homes. Several generations later, my mother was born here in Durham, graduated high school, and ended up moving up to Washington, D.C., where I was born in 1968.
So, yeah, my story is rooted in Durham. Even before I can remember, as a child my parents would send me to Durham for the summers, and I stayed in the homes of grandparents, aunts, and uncles. My father’s from Durham as well. My parents actually connected up in the D.C. area. They went to the same high school—my mother was a class or two behind my dad—and they ended up meeting again at the Pentagon. They knew each other, it’s kind of an interesting love story that I’ll skip over for time’s sake, but suffice it to say, they had me as their only child.
I was fortunate to be raised in D.C. and socialized mostly in Black spaces, all Black spaces, with few encounters with white teachers. I went to a predominantly Black high school and then got admitted to Duke. So, Duke was coming home for me. It wasn’t a strange place. I was fortunate enough to play football, walked on the football team, got a full scholarship. My dreams came true athletically, and academically, it was an amazing place. In the late ‘80s, when I was going there, there wasn’t too much racial strife or tension going on. We had a deep bond to the Black community in college. Actually, this year is my 35th anniversary—I graduated in 1990. It’s gonna be exciting because we just had a really great bond with that class.
My early adulthood years were Durham and Duke. The D.C. community still marks me deeply—my high school, Archbishop Carroll High School. I’m co-chair there, and it was a deeply formative experience of Black men—over 100 Black men graduating together, fighting together. Some have died already, some are imprisoned. It’s just the reality of growing up in the urban setting.
I’ve been married 31 years this past December. My wife’s also from D.C. We have two children. My son is in grad school at Duke—I’m proud about that. He’s a joint degree master’s student. My daughter already has a master’s as well. She finished at Meredith in industrial-organizational psychology. So, deeply rooted in education. I believe, as one pastor likes to say, that the greatest threat to white supremacy is Black knowledge and wisdom.
And I’m excited to be doing work with NC Central. When we came on the podcast, I mentioned I have two interns from NC Central. I’ve got a legacy of family who went to NC Central as well. Obviously, because until 1963, Black students couldn’t even go to Duke. So, the HBCU community looms large for me.
Dooley: That’s so good. I have to ask the question because I feel like it’s—what do they say about the South? For folks, it’s family, football, and faith, right? Those are the big three things people talk about. So, what position did you play?
Daniel: Well, you know, there’s always a debate about football here. Basketball is king for sure. Tomorrow, Duke plays UNCC, which is one of the greatest rivalries ever in college basketball.
Football is also a big rivalry between Duke and UNC, of course. Duke won this year by one point after being down 20 at halftime, so that was an amazing comeback.
Yeah, I played mostly wide receiver. I did get shifted to defensive back, but most of my playing time was at wide receiver, and I had some good moments there.
I started playing at an early age in Silver Spring, Maryland, and then in my high school years. But in high school, I actually played defensive end. A lot of people laughed at me because of my size—there’s no way anybody my size plays that position. But, you know, by God’s grace, that was what the opportunity looked like for me.
The chance I got to play in college was at wide receiver.
Dooley: Yeah, and now it’s a huge jump from there. When you first came back to Duke—or back to Durham—as a returner, I know you and I have talked about the Black South and reverse migration.
Through the Christian Community Development Association, which is an association of Christians who do community development work, they use the word relocation for that kind of move. That’s what brought you back to Durham, and now you’re in Resilient Ventures.
So, talk to us a little bit about Resilient Ventures—the work you do and how you found yourself in that space.
Daniel: Yeah, so we’re a committed capital fund in what’s called the venture capital asset class.
We are committed to getting capital to Black founders who have scalable businesses. And if we can’t write the check, then we try to make introductions and help them move further along with the support and ecosystem they need as entrepreneurs.
We started the fund in 2018. We’ve invested a little over $2 million in companies over the last five years—basically from 2019 to 2024.
Now, we’re on our second fund and have already deployed $1 million into four companies. We have a commitment to deploying at least that amount—if not more—over the next four years of investing.
We look for founders that already have market fit, but I call them at the teenage stage—they’ve got growing pains. They need more money, more capital, and we try to fuel their ideas and solutions that they are bringing to bear in our communities.
Our website is Resilient Ventures, where we have our thesis, resources, and more about what we do.
Dooley: Yes, and you co-founded it with a white business partner, right?
Daniel: Yes, he’s about 11 years my senior. He’s had great success in the computing and software engineering space. My role complements his—my background is more in human resources, professional development, and vocational calling.
I hope to help make people that have as much of a moral compass as they have a desire to be wealthy.
There’s a chance to make great wealth in this space, but you can also lose everything, so you need to stay humble. I pray that I can remain steadfast in that. Like Paul said, whatever my situation, I’ve learned to be content—I know what it means to have it all and to experience loss. I just pray to stay faithful to God’s call.
Dooley: Yeah, I know over the past few decades, the term Black wealth has become a big concept. Economic development is a major theory of change in achieving that.
I’d love to hear more because I know your background was deeply rooted in community development work in neighborhoods. Then you shifted to focus more on economic development.
Can you talk about that shift—what caused it, or what encouraged you to step into that space?
Daniel: Yeah. Well, some years ago, over on Duke’s campus, we have a space called the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture. For those who don’t know, Mary Lou Williams was an iconic jazz musician—her story is incredible. As we enter Black History Month, if you don’t know her, add her to your list. She was on faculty at Duke through the late ‘70s. There’s a quote from Dr. King on the wall of the center that says:
"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the economic injustice that makes philanthropy necessary."
That always stuck with me. Most of my career has been in higher education. I did several stints with nonprofits. I believe in the church’s generosity to the poor. But as you know, we need to ask: Why are we spending 80% of our time addressing the crisis rather than looking at the conditions that cause the crisis? Why are the lines for basic needs getting longer?
That means you have to take a stand somewhere—politically, policy-wise—and say, We’re going to correct the system. And we know how hard that is with institutional systems. Some people wake up knowing exactly what they’re going to do—run for office, address the housing crisis, or tackle another systemic issue. For me, venture capital found me. I didn’t seek it out.
When I left Duke full-time, I gave myself the title Christian Community Development Practitioner. I didn’t know where that would lead. I didn’t necessarily see myself doing this work. But venture capital provides a path to wealth-building—both for my family and the communities we invest in.
It was a precipitous fall into this work. But it started years ago with some close friends returning from abroad. They wanted us to think together about what it means to come back to our communities.
That led to asset-based community development. When people ask, Do you have any assets? they usually think of a car or a house. But real assets are anything that appreciates in value—business ownership, home ownership—those are the key pillars in this country. And those can be game changers for a family and a community.
Dooley: That’s so good. You’re hitting on what I was about to ask next—how do you navigate the tension between profit and people?
How do you stay rooted in your calling while working in venture capital, which is so profit-driven?
Daniel: Yeah, well, that’s the dance, right? I try not to overthink it because I know that God opened this door for me. If God’s not in it, then I’m in trouble. I’ve been given responsibility for millions of dollars—most of it not mine. I want to do right by it. I also have people around me who hold me accountable. But I do negotiate my presence in this space. There are times I have to decide: Am I going to step into a room full of white men, or should my business partner handle that meeting? I’m still navigating what it means to stay close to my community while engaging in these systems. But it’s humbling. That’s part of the Christian walk—learning to embrace humility and contradictions.
Dooley: That’s so powerful. One last question—how do you define wealth?
Daniel: For me, wealth starts with community. I grew up in the Black church. I know what it’s like for people to say, I didn’t even know I was poor. We survived because of community. Wealth is about mutuality—making sure no one has too much and no one has too little. If you have that kind of genuine community, that’s real wealth.
Dooley: That’s so good. The last thing I want to focus on is the folks you serve and work with through Resilient Ventures.
What would you say is the biggest barrier and point of pain for Black founders right now? And then, where is the beauty—where have you seen beautiful stories unfold? So, the pain and the beauty.
Daniel: Yeah. Well, as you know, the statistics for having a successful business are not great. They're baseball numbers—and, though I didn’t grow up playing baseball, I know enough to understand that not everyone gets multiple swings at bat. Not everybody has the privilege to miss a bunch of times. For many Black founders, they may only get one shot at a business opportunity. If that doesn’t work, they don’t necessarily have a rich uncle they can go to and say, Hey, let me try again. The playing field is still not fair for us. It just isn’t. And now, we have a country that wants to double down on dismissing access—on reducing diversity, eliminating equity initiatives, and pushing back against inclusion. Equity, in particular, is a financial term—it’s about ownership. And when you talk about equity, you’re talking about owning more than some people want you to own. That’s why they don’t want us talking about it. So, that’s the pain.
My mother talks about it a lot—she was an Equal Employment Opportunity specialist in her career. Her job was to get Black people in the room—to make sure they even had a chance to be interviewed. That was her battle. But there was pushback on that, just like there has always been pushback against affirmative action and any attempt to level the playing field. Some businesses fail for the same reasons any business does—poor execution, financial mistakes, or market shifts. Those challenges are universal. But for Black founders, there’s an added weight. That said, when we see a company grow, when we see them hire more people, when we see them double or even triple their revenue—it’s surreal. That’s the beauty. Black founders are thriving, despite the barriers.
Dooley: That’s powerful.
Daniel: Yeah. And when you start thinking about impact—the generational change that can happen when we own land, when we own businesses, when we control our own resources—that’s when it really comes back to community. For me, one of the most beautiful things is the level of discretion I’ve gained to make certain choices. For example, my wife and I recently traveled to Ghana. That trip would never have been financially possible in the past. If I had stayed in my previous profession, it just wouldn’t have been an option. But because of the work I do now, we could go—and that was life-changing. And the thing is, it’s not just about personal success. It’s about bringing it back to our community in material ways. That’s why my goal is not just to retire and sit back. I want to work so that others can flourish.
Dooley: Wow. Have you seen any of the businesses you’ve worked with go through that transformation—where they didn’t just succeed for themselves, but their whole community benefited?
Daniel: Oh yeah. I try to be careful about talking too much about specific companies in our portfolio because people can visit our website and hear those stories themselves. But Black genius is everywhere—especially in Durham. We’ve funded companies that are tackling issues like financial access, housing innovation, and wellness. For example, we have a physician in our portfolio who is working on sickle cell treatment. That’s life-changing work. But it’s a long game. Building generational wealth takes time. Sometimes, it takes years to know if a business will survive and scale. And, you know, I was in a conversation earlier today with a man struggling because his son is dealing with addiction. He admitted that he wasn’t really there for his son during his early years. That made me think—some businesses are like teenagers. They have growing pains, and they need support to make it to the next stage. Not all of them will survive. But that doesn’t mean they were a failure. If a business flames out but provided real solutions to a community while it existed—that’s still impact.
Dooley: That’s good. Well, if you’re listening, definitely check out Resilient Ventures’ website. Look at their portfolio, read the stories of the folks they’ve supported, and follow their work. If you’re in or around the areas where they’ve invested, support those businesses! The last thing I’ll ask is—what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Daniel:
Know your community.
Understand the needs of your people.
Listen—and I mean deep, careful listening.
Find the joy in listening.
Don’t rush to start a business before you truly understand what’s needed.
The best ideas come from being present with your community.
Ask for help.
Don’t be ashamed to say, Here’s what I need.
And at the same time, look for ways to help others.
The real success in life comes when we reach a point where it’s no longer about us. When you transition from working hard for yourself to working so that others can flourish—that’s when you really start living. That’s the Good Samaritan model. We see someone in need, and we don’t let barriers get in the way. We use our resources, our connections, and our power to bridge the gap—to make people whole. And Erin, I think about your transition—your work, your heart for this community—that’s what we’re about. If you’re not flourishing, I’m not flourishing. Even if my personal economic state looks fine, if my people are struggling, then I’m not okay. That ache—that pain—should drive us to create better businesses, better solutions, and a better world.
Dooley: That’s so good. I think it was someone from NCI—I can’t remember his name right now—but he talked about how he teaches a course on the entrepreneurial mindset and how it shapes not just business, but life.
Daniel: You’re talking about Allen, yeah. He’s a great guy.
Dooley: Yeah! Everything you just said reminded me of that. From listening to the community to building businesses that serve others—it’s not just a business principle, it’s a life principle.
It’s about being human. And I think that’s the best way to live this thing called life.
Daniel: Amen.
Dooley: Well, Dr. Keith, thank you so much. It is such an honor to have you here. My wife and I, after we had dinner with you last time, she was like, Man, I felt like I was sitting with my uncle. It just felt like family.
Daniel: Amen. Well, bless you, brother. And yeah, nephew, I’ll take that! You and your wife are a blessing, and I’m praying for you both in this transition. Thank you for having me.
Dooley: Thank you so much.
RESOURCES
Sun August 27, 2023, Rev. Dr. Keith Daniel preaching on Exodus 1:8-2:10. Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC.
MUSIC PLAYED
Podcast intro music:
