Kristina Montague is managing partner for The JumpFund, an early stage venture capital firm built by women for women. She is also a partner in Next Wave Impact, a national effort to increase the number of women investing in early stage, impact-focused ventures. Her personal motto is "invest in the change you want to see in the world."
What books have you read and recommended to others that influence how you've developed your career?
I do not tend gravitate to non-fiction but when I do, it is either a book that profiles a strong female's career and life journey, such as "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg, or something that digs deeper into our internal psyche and personal mission, like Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly" or "Rising Strong." I am currently reading my friend Tangela Johnson's new book, "Relaxed Power: How to Live a Purposed (Not Perfect) Life," which has terrific advice to challenge my type A personality. On my "to read" list is a book by one of our portfolio company founders, Sevetri Wilson's "Solid Ground: How I Built a 7-Figure Company at 22 with Zero Capital." Sevetri is testament to a woman who never taken no for an answer, and built her company from the ground up, becoming the the first Black woman to raise over $1 million in New Orleans, and has raised over $10 million for her software-as-a-service platform Resilia, in which the JumpFund is invested.
What books have you recently read for pleasure that you're telling others about?
I mostly read for pleasure, as both an escape and a way to relax and get out of my head (and away from the computer!). This summer, as we were all looking at vast stretches of time with no socialization or vacations in sight, I pulled the New York Times summer reading list and ordered several books to fill my reading coffers. Some were light and fun, like Jennifer Weiner's new book, "Big Summer," a 'light' murder mystery with underlying notes of female body image and personal empowerment, or "Sea Wife" by Amity Gaige, another 'thriller' about a couple navigating their own relationship, depression, and escapism as they chart an unknown course on a yearlong sailing trip with their young children. I am wrapping up the books on my list with "All Adults Here" by Emma Straub, a tale of a family in upstate New York with hidden secrets and lots of neurosis. I tend to prefer and choose books written by women with strong female characters, but have a soft spot for WWII fiction such as "All the Light We Cannot See," by Anthony Doerr and most recently "Beneath a Scarlet Sky," by Mark Sullivan, a re-telling of the true story of Pino Lella, an Italian boy who risked his life to save Jews by leading them over the Alps, and later served as an opposition spy posing as a Nazi general's driver.
What is next on your to-read list?
I treasure books recommended by and passed along from friends, so next up is "This Is How It Always Is," by Laurie Frankel, a story of a family navigating their youngest's sexual identity, and "Excess Baggage," by former Chattanoogan Tracey Carisch, a true story of one family's year of traveling the world and giving back.