CNote Press Kit
Media Contact: Sparkpr, CNote@sparkpr.com
About CNote
CNote is a women-led social enterprise on a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. Using the power of technology and a community-first framework, CNote’s platform has enabled corporations, foundations, and individuals to deploy over $100M in investments and deposits into financially underserved communities across the country. CNote is a Certified B Corporation that has earned “Best for the World” honors from B Lab and was named “Best Women-Owned Business” by the United Nations’ Women’s Empowerment Principles program.
Impact is Our Mission
CNote tracks the on-the-ground impact of its community investments through quarterly quantitative impact reports and by profiling the small businesses, people, and organizations supported by investors in CNote’s loan funds.
Notable Coverage
Inside Philanthropy: Want to Advance Racial and Economic Justice? Invest in Small, Black-Led CDFIs
San Francisco Business Times Executive Profile:
Sustainable Brands: Corporate Treasurers Get Serious About Shifting Cash to Communities
The Global Treasurer: Treasury network questions fintech role within ESG investment
Credit Union Times:Impact Investors Could Be Credit Unions’ Path to Long-Term Resilience
Press Releases
Awards
- Real Leaders Impact Award (2021): CNote was ranked among the top 150 impact companies that are solving business problems in socially constructive ways.
- World-Changing Women in Conscious Business Award (2020): magazine honored co-founders Cat Berman and Yuliya Tarasava for mission-driven business leadership.Conscious Company
- InvestmentNews Innovator Award (2020): CNote was honored for its focus on fixed income and cash with social impact.
- Best Women-Owned Business, U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles program (2020): CNote was recognized for addressing the persistent lack of funding for small businesses owned by women of color.
- ImpactAssets 50 (2020 & 2021): ImpactAssets selected CNote for its annual showcase of impact investment fund managers.
- B Corp Best for the World Honoree (2019): CNote scored among the top 10% of B Corps on the B Impact Assessment in the customer benefits category.
Logo Downloads
CNote’s Co-Founders
Catherine Berman
Co-Founder and CEO
Catherine Berman is the CEO and Co-founder of CNote, an impact investment platform that helps large institutions, like corporations, banks, and foundations move deposits and capital into community investments to address racial justice, climate change, and other pressing social issues. She’s a three-time entrepreneur with experience building scalable businesses. Her last startup grew into a multi-million dollar firm in less than four years. Prior to CNote, she worked as a Managing Director at Charles Schwab focused on new market segments and predictive analytics. At the vanguard of impact investing, Catherine has spoken at events hosted by Stanford, Oxford, Google, The Economist, SoCap, Coinbase, and others to challenge conventional thinking about money and meaning.
Yuliya Tarasava
Co-founder and COO
Yuliya Tarasava is the COO and Co-founder of CNote, an impact investment platform delivering competitive returns by investing in women, minorities, and low-income communities across America. Yuliya has built and delivered innovative financial products across three continents along with holding high-level risk management roles on Wall Street.
Before launching CNote, Yuliya led quantitative due diligence for over 20 mutual funds across multiple asset classes for AMG Funds. At Summit Rock Advisors, she developed proprietary analytics and risk management frameworks for a portfolio of over $10B in assets. She was one of 12 individuals selected for Acumen’s Global Fellows program, which led to her running strategy and operations for Juhudi Kilimo, a micro-finance institution in Nairobi that supports farmers and small-to-medium agro-businesses throughout Kenya.
Born and raised in Belarus, Yuliya has always had an interest in how finance can contribute to economic development and equality. She is a CFA and CAIA charterholder. Yuliya has spoken at events hosted by UC Berkeley, SoCap, Opportunity Finance Network, Deutsche Bank, and others to challenge conventional thinking around financial innovation as a tool for positive social change.
