As a Black designer working in predominately white spaces, I have to think about how I show up in my professional environment. I make sure my tone is friendly. Non-threatening. I edit my speech so that others won’t doubt my intelligence. I am mindful of my brightly colored locs and try to dress in a way that signals I am a professional. I didn’t realize it for a long time, but I designed a different version of my Blackness: a created version to fit into white society. To some extent,
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss how some founders take existing ideas/concepts from underrepresented founders/communities [see the fury over the ‘Bodega’ back in 2017] – who are without the comparable resources needed to execute. (24:00) They also break down: The fallout from Basecamp continues (1:00) Bill and Melinda Gates divorce (12:10) Elon Musk and Dogecoin (16:05) Black Panther 2 and celebrity holograms (20:00) Sponsors Flatiron is hiring! Check out their roles Moveable Ink is hiring on pocitjobs.com Extras Techish on PatreonAdvertise with TechishPlease rate and review the Techish podcast Subscribe To
Adyen is hiring on pocitjobs.com Semra Ezedin is a positive, proactive graduate with a passion to motivate and inspire others. While she studied to become a doctor, an opportunity in Spain propelled her on a path to tech, and eventually landed her a unique role with Adyen. We spoke with Semra about her unconventional tech journey, working with NASA and why she chose freedom and flexibility over an overly structured life at Silicon Valley. This interview was edited for clarity. Tell us about yourself I’m Semra, first-born daughter of Ethiopian immigrants.
Tara Reed is a true tech rebel. She’s a Black founder who travels the world working from her laptop, building tech companies and teaching others how they can do the same. Tara runs a multi-million dollar school teaching people how to build apps, without needing to know how to code. Her TED talk went viral, inspiring unlikely entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses. We had the opportunity to speak with Tara about her entrepreneurial journey, Apps Without Code, and her advice to other founders. This interview was edited for clarity Tell us a
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com A Technical Lead at Cummins, Munashe Mugonda’s interest in tech began in Zimbabwe. As a child, she grew up on a farm and always wondered if there was a better way to automate the repetitive tasks that her father did every single day. From a Farm in Zimbabwe to a College Scholar in The US “I’d ask my dad,” Munashe recalls, “Is there no machine that we can instruct to do these things that we are doing over and over again?’ I was always trying
Growing up as a child of immigrants had its struggles. I could see my parents’ difficulty adjusting to a new country, culture, and language. I didn’t want to have the same challenges, so I got into a habit of not mentioning my heritage. While doing volunteer work, I learned a lesson. I shared with colleagues that I grew up in the U.S., but one of them realized I was leaving out vital details, my heritage. With a sparkle in her eyes, she wanted to know all about my home country and its culture. Her
As a Black professional, you need to weigh the job opportunity with the level of racism and discrimination you may encounter in a particular city or country. Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been offered a great job, but you realize you’d have to move to a city with a largely racist population? Do you decide to go and suck it up as best possible, or do you decline the offer and stay where you are? This type of dilemma is common when you are a Black
As of 2019, according to a report by the Nation Center of Women in Technology and Information Technology, Black women make up 3% of the computing jobs in the United States. While there are many aspects that come in to play, such as having the access and resources to learn or having a psychologically safe work environment to thrive in, a big factor can also be attributed to not having enough resources to feel that they can be successful as a Software Developer. Today we’ve put together a list of
The number of Latinx founders in the US is continuing to growing at a faster rate than any other demographic. Yet we’re all familiar with the drab stats: only 2.4% of total VC funding goes to Black and Latinx founders. We’ve put together a list of some Latinx women founders who have broken through the ceiling: launching thriving and innovative companies developing new technology in software, medical, e-commerce and beyond. Read how they’ve backed their ideas, raised funds and are changing the lives of many. Ariel Lopez, Founder Knac The
Brandwatch is hiring on pocitjobs.com As a kid, Evelyn Castillo created surveys for fun. In sixth grade, she did one on whether students would be more effective taking tests if there was a clock in the room or not. She did another one on how different genders liked to react to different kinds of music. Today, it comes as no surprise that she’s now an account director at Brandwatch, using her expertise in analytics and market research to help clients refine their processes relating to digital intelligence. We had a
