Meet Shannon Morales, a single mom of three and founder and CEO of Tribaja, a tech talent marketplace based in Philadelphia that pairs Black and Latinx employees with companies committed to diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through her company, Tribaja, Morales, 34, provides Black and Latinx employees interested in the tech field with education and training and pairs them with tech companies she’s vetted as being truly committed to inclusion and diversity. Her company also offers 100% free coding, software engineering, data science, project management training, along with so many other
This year, search interest for “Black in tech” reached a five-year high in the US, according to Google. The demand for Black people in tech is clearly skyrocketing and POCIT is part of the flock of leading publications trying to provide you with the latest updates on the people you need to look out for. Here’s a list of some of our favorite Black people in tech and articles you should have a read of to get some inspiration and advice. Imposter Syndrome, Believing You’re Enough And Raising $40M –
Emtech, a Black female owned central bank digital infrastructure provider, targets emerging markets where payments infrastructure need aligning with digital innovations — to improve efficiency, introduce new products and services that are likely to promote financial inclusion, and in ensuring the secure movement of money.
Binga founded the Binga State bank in 1908 in Chicago and it was one of two pre-eminent Black-owned financial institutions in the US until its collapse during the Great Depression. Born in Detroit in 1865, Binga established himself in Chicago first as a real estate broker during the Great Migration. He was able to buy homes at a cheap price from white locals fleeing their neighborhoods in the wake of Black Americans moving in from the South. After buying the homes – he was able to fix them up himself and
Serena Williams’s early-stage venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, has raised an inaugural fund of $111 million that will invest in founders with diverse points of view. The achievement comes nine years after she first started the project and has taken on a portfolio of more than 60 angel investments. The investments were all backed by the athlete’s own money. For those who aren’t aware – an angel investor is an individual who uses their own funds to support a start-up company or project. “As an angel investor, you can only
Born in Los Angeles, Nwandu grew up in a foster home after her mother was killed by her father in a tragic episode of domestic violence. Fast forward to 2014, which by all accounts, looked like it was the year that Angelica Nwandu’s adult life was in a downward spiral. She failed her LSAT and GMAT exams because she couldn’t afford test-prep classes while all her friends were graduating. But her life turned around years after and now she owns one of the largest media brands on social media –
Zuora, Inc, the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, announced that Valerie Jackson will join as the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer, in November 9, 2020 and since then she’s been making waves. Jackson has been leading Zuora’s diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives across its global workforce. As the newest member of the executive team, she reports directly to co-founder and CEO Tien Tzuo. She made the move to technology as she has always viewed it as an industry of innovation, core to building the future and changing the
Northern Commerce, a web development and digital marketing firm that was founded in 2015 and has about 190 staff, is giving $150,000 to the Lead to Change Foundation, a Toronto-based agency that supports black youth in arts and culture. The money is a one-year commitment and will be used to offer youth workshops in garment and print design, podcasts and broadcasting, photography and video, and audio recording and engineering. Northern staff will also work with youth in developing digital marketing skills. The firm has presented Lead to Change with an
While some of us continue to complain about the lack of diversity on platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, others are doing something about it. Thankfully there’s now a long list of Black-owned or minority-centered streaming services dedicated to publishing original content. It’s a breath of fresh air to be able to have options – particularly during Black History Month – a time when most major streaming giants put Black trauma at the center – when in fact BHM is also a time for us to celebrate the
Just 1% of venture capital raised goes to Black entrepreneurs. Fifth Star wants to change that. It’s writing checks at the earliest stages of a startup’s life — the “friends and family” round — providing investments between $25,000 and $50,000 for each startup. It has so far raised just under $1 million, with plans ultimately to deploy $5 million to Chicago’s Black founders. Launched in February 2021, Fifth Star Funds has created a unique venture capital fund specifically dedicated to backing Black founders in Chicago. Fifth Star Funds aims to foster a more
