The Future of Ecosystem Building: Fay Horwitt on Healing, Empowerment, and Building a Better Way

When you ask ecosystem builders around the U.S. who has shaped their thinking on equity and inclusion, one name comes up again and again: Fay Horwitt. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Fay has spent the last decade shaping how communities think about equity, inclusion, and the invisible work of ecosystem building. From her early ventures supporting women entrepreneurs to her years as President & CEO of Forward Cities, Fay has built a reputation as both a truth-teller and a healer in a field still defining itself.

Today, Fay is launching WayBuilders, a social enterprise dedicated to reimagining how we build and sustain ecosystems so that underestimated entrepreneurs – and the ecosystem builders who support them – can thrive.

This conversation is about more than Fay’s story. It’s about what her journey teaches us about the future of our field.

From Film School to First-Time Entrepreneur

Fay didn’t set out to become an ecosystem builder. She began in film school, then moved into nonprofit leadership roles at the YWCA and Girls Inc. Her first taste of entrepreneurship came in 2014 after a year in Hawaii, when she returned to North Carolina determined to start a marketing company for women-owned businesses.

That determination led her to attend a Startup Weekend. Instead of encouragement, she found herself one of the only women – and the only woman of color – in the room. Her idea wasn’t chosen. She nearly walked out.

“Something inside me was so intrigued by this new-to-me world of startups that I took my hand off the doorknob, turned around, and rejoined my team.”

That weekend confirmed the need for more inclusive spaces. It also launched her first ecosystem initiative: InovateHER, a program to train and support women entrepreneurs.

Finding Her Voice in Equity

Fay quickly became known in her community as an advocate for underestimated founders. She organized workshops on diversity and inclusion, pushed back on practices that excluded women and entrepreneurs of color, and demanded better.

It wasn’t always popular.

“Publicly speaking out about observed inequities is generally not the best first salvo; many times it can lead to defensiveness that shuts down conversation. What I’ve learned is that genuine conversations – one on one, with humility – are far more effective.”

Her persistence paid off. Fay eventually joined Forward Cities, a national nonprofit advancing equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems, where she rose to become President & CEO. Over seven years, she and her team worked with more than 40 communities across the U.S., developing programs like ESHIP Communities, E3 Durham, PLACE Builders and Black Wall Street Forward, and helping establish Forward Cities as a field leader.

Shaping the Profession

Even before ecosystem builder was a widely recognized role, Fay knew she was practicing something important.

“In 2015, I didn’t know what ecosystem building was… I just leaned in to figure out how to connect people, remove barriers, and help entrepreneurs succeed.”

Over time, Fay has helped define what the profession requires. Through initiatives like the P.L.A.C.E. Fellowship, she trains emerging builders in six essential activities:

1. Authentic relationships – nurturing genuine connection and trust
2. Asset mapping – understanding what already exists in the ecosystem.
3. Assessing – identifying gaps and barriers.
4. Alignment – convening stakeholders for collective sensemaking.
5. Action – starting small to build trust.
6. Advocacy – ensuring progress is supported and sustained.
7. Amplification – telling stories that matter.

What stands out is her insistence that ecosystem building is as much about relationships and healing as it is about strategy and data.

“More and more, I’m recognizing it comes down to building relationships – being authentic, listening deeply, and making sense of what you’re seeing and hearing.”

Launching WayBuilders

WayBuilders is Fay’s newest chapter—and her boldest yet. It’s built around three pillars:

• WayPoints: the principles that guide how ecosystem builders lead.
• WayWorks: the practices that guide how communities design and sustain ecosystems.
• WayMarks: the measures that prove what’s changing, who benefits, and how to sustain funding.

At its core, WayBuilders is about creating the invisible infrastructure – trust, relationships, connective tissue – that makes ecosystems work. As Brookings has noted, this infrastructure is as essential as roads and bridges.

Fay sees WayBuilders as an evolution, not a break:

“The old way isn’t working. Traditional interventions may generate outputs – jobs, companies, revenue—but they don’t shift the underlying systems. We’re not here to fix broken systems. We’re here to build better ones that benefit all.”

Lessons for Ecosystem Builders

Fay’s journey surfaces key lessons for anyone committed to building stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems. These are not just principles to believe in; they’re practices to live by.

1. Bake equity in from the start

Equity cannot be retrofitted. Too often, ecosystems start with a narrow definition of entrepreneurship – tech, white, male – and only later ask, “How do we bring others in?” Fay is clear: that approach never works.

 “Access, belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion are not initiatives — they are infrastructure.”

Example in practice: In collaboration with EcoMap Technologies, Fay and her team designed the P.L.A.C.E. Builders Fellowship for emerging ecosystem builders, intentionally centering their lived experiences. Instead of asking participants to adapt to mainstream frameworks, the program created space for them to design interventions grounded in their own communities. The fellowship didn’t “add equity later” – it was the foundation from the beginning.

2. Build trust like infrastructure

Ecosystem builders love to talk about capital, accelerators, and metrics. But Fay argues that the true infrastructure of any ecosystem is trust. Without it, programs collapse, partnerships fizzle, and entrepreneurs disengage.

At Forward Cities, Fay saw how long it takes to build this invisible infrastructure: months of listening sessions, hundreds of cups of coffee, repeated demonstrations that you’re not just parachuting in.

Example in practice: Rooted in the legacy of Durham’s historic Black business district, Black Wall Street Forward focused less on shiny new accelerators and more on rebuilding trust between community institutions, entrepreneurs, and funders. By honoring history and centering culture, it rebuilt connective tissue that had been frayed for decades.

For builders, the lesson is simple: treat trust like you would roads, bridges, or broadband. Invest in it, maintain it, and recognize that without it, nothing else functions.

3. Equip builders with both tools and care

Most professional development programs for ecosystem builders focus on frameworks, surveys, and convenings. Fay has helped design many of those tools. But she also insists on something often overlooked: the well-being of the builders themselves.

“I want ecosystem builders to be whole and well. Only then can we show up wholly for our communities.”

Example in practice: Through the P.L.A.C.E. Builders Fellowship, Fay designed a curriculum that balanced technical training with personal support. Fellows learned six core skills (from asset mapping to amplification), but they also had access to mentors, peer circles, and collective site visits. In Fay’s words, the fellowship was as much about “finding your additional family” as it was about professional growth.

For builders everywhere, the takeaway is clear: invest in your own care as much as you invest in your skills.

4. Rethink measurement

Traditional metrics – jobs created, businesses launched, revenue generated – remain the default way to measure ecosystem success. Fay challenges us to go deeper.

Counting outputs tells us something, but it doesn’t tell us whether ecosystems are actually shifting toward equity. If outputs alone were sufficient, the racial wealth gap wouldn’t still be widening.

Example in practice: With WayBuilders, Fay is pioneering Waymarks – new measures that track what’s changing beneath the surface. Instead of only asking, “How many businesses started?” the model asks:

• Who feels they belong in this ecosystem?
• How – and where – is decision-making power held and/or shifting?
• Which underestimated entrepreneurs are gaining real traction?

This shift in measurement isn’t just academic – it’s about funding. Builders who can show that trust has grown, collaboration has deepened, or barriers have been removed will be better positioned to secure sustainable support.

5. Innovate with courage

Perhaps the hardest lesson is this: doing things the way they’ve always been done won’t cut it. Fay is blunt about this. Traditional interventions can produce activity but fail to address root causes.

Example in practice: Fay’s creation of WayBuilders itself is an act of innovation. Instead of continuing with the status quo, she spun out Forward Cities’ core programs under a new model – one explicitly designed to center principled leadership, collaborative action, and builder sustainability. By structuring the work around WayPoints, WayWorks, and WayMarks, she has created a flexible but principled framework that communities can adapt to create shared prosperity through entrepreneurship.

Innovation doesn’t always mean flashy new programs. Sometimes it means rethinking the very assumptions that underlie our work – who we center, what success looks like, and how we sustain ourselves as builders. It means asking hard questions, even when funders or partners prefer easy answers.

For ecosystem builders, this is both an invitation and a challenge: be brave enough to break with the old models, and creative enough to imagine better ones.

The Future Fay Envisions

What excites Fay about the future of ecosystem building isn’t the outputs—it’s the people. She sees a future where:

• Ecosystem builders have a space to connect, heal, and grow together.
• Communities embrace invisible infrastructure with as much urgency as visible assets.
• Builders themselves are supported as whole humans, not just as practitioners.

She also sees opportunities for technology to deepen empathy. She has even experimented with AI as a tool to shift perspectives:

“I wish there were a tool that helped us better understand each other’s perspectives. Binary thinking doesn’t resolve anything – it doesn’t help us move forward.”

Carrying the Work Forward

Fay’s work is as much about legacy as it is about innovation. By carrying Forward Cities’ signature programs into WayBuilders, she is ensuring that years of community trust and wisdom aren’t lost, but carried into a new chapter.

And she’s not interested in going it alone.

“WayBuilders may be my next chapter, but it’s not meant to be built alone. The future of ecosystems depends on collective imagination and shared leadership.”

For other ecosystem builders, the invitation is clear: join in. Co-create. Carry the work forward.

Final Thought

The future of ecosystem building will not be decided by metrics alone. It will be shaped by whether we, as builders, choose to prioritize equity, trust, and care for entrepreneurs and for ourselves. Fay Horwitt has spent her career showing us what that looks like in practice.

Her message to the field is both sobering and inspiring: the old way isn’t working. But a better way is possible—if we build it together.

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Fay and I teamed up to capture her hardest-won lessons and best advice for entrepreneurial ecosystem builders. Download the guide here: