Antonia Dean Honored as 2026 RealList Connector
This year’s honorees make Philly’s startup and innovation community easier to enter, from first introductions to cross-sector collaborations.
Business is all about who you know — and who those people know, too.
Our annual RealLIST Connectors list highlights the must-know people in the ecosystem who can help push your career forward, make a networking connection or simply meet like-minded people. After our original list came out in 2020, we added connectors to the community in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
We curate the list by asking our community for nominations and reviewing past reporting. From there, we send the nominees a survey to fill out, asking about their community involvement and what they’re passionate about, before narrowing it down to 20 honorees.
The 2026 awardees include investors, meetup organizers, AI enthusiasts and more — all working to add to the collaboration that they say makes Philly’s innovation ecosystem special.
Antonia Dean
Partner, Black Ops VC
Also: Founder & Chief Strategist, The Antonia Method; Board Member, Philly Startup Leaders; Board Member, Liberty Pearl Foundation; Member, Omega Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Living in: Philadelphia, PA, for 8 years
Favorite thing about the ecosystem: I love the honesty and authenticity of Philly. There are founders, investors, and connectors committed to showing that great companies can start and grow here.
Role model or mentor? Patricia Penn Floyd and Israel J. Floyd
Favorite quote:
The common thread throughout Dean’s career has been helping startups build. As an investor and advisor, she now uses that experience to guide companies and connect them to resources, plus spreads the advice even further through speaking opportunities and her weekly newsletter.