In early June, I wrote to diversity professionals and others advancing workplace inclusion about corporate statements responding to the killing of George Floyd. I did this to discourage companies from releasing PR-type statements that were heavy on buzzwords, light on substance, and unlikely to disrupt racial injustice occurring within their reach. Instead, I wanted corporate leaders to examine practices within their organizations that adversely impact Black talent and use statements to convey how they would dismantle the internal structures and systems that allow these injustices to perpetuate in the workplace. Fast forward
August 13 marks Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. This is not a celebration. Instead, it represents the date that Black women must work into the new year to catch up to what White non-Hispanic men made at the end of the previous year. That’s an extra 226 days of work for Black women, who make just 62 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic White men. This translates to corporate leaders attributing Black women’s worth as roughly three-fifths of the value of White men. This pay gap has a devastating impact. It means
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com “Rarely is survival a learning tool,” says Dwendolyn “Dwen” Williams, a 24-year veteran in Information Systems. She’s currently working at Cummins, a Fortune 500 company that manufactures diesel and natural gas engines for Volvo and Ford. With her extensive career, Dwen mentors young hires of color about survival and the skills required to succeed in the tech industry. There’s been a rapid change in technology, which went from using awkwardly-shaped floppy disks to the serverless cloud storage during her career. But Black people and other
Latinx founder numbers are growing at a faster rate than any other group and we’re expected to yield $1.4 Trillion in US GDP. A couple of years ago, I started my journey in supporting Latinx founders as an investor at Backstage Capital through the Accelerator and with this post. And I believe what I wrote then even more now! TL;DR Latinx entrepreneurs are a strong force to be reckoned with! With capital and support, we can grow our businesses to produce in the trillions — trillions that can better the lives of our
As a 13-year-old, it was hard for me to understand why my mother insisted that I cut off my baby dreads or that I get rid of any oversized jeans that imperceptibly sagged. Dating back to my adolescence, my parents instilled in me this notion that, as a black man, I had to carry myself a certain way if I wanted to be successful. Even more imperative than what I wore or how I looked, I distinctly remember a conversation with my father where he explained that I would have
Today marks four years since I joined Google full-time otherwise known as my “Googleversary.” I keep waiting for some sort of graduation announcement or ceremony that would indicate the end of an era and the start of a new chapter, but I suppose that’s not exactly the same, after college. Today, I contemplated finally answering the million-dollar question I get too often “so, what do you do at Google?” But instead, I’ve decided to take some time today to reflect and simply celebrate some of my favorite moments over the
Co-host of our podcast Techish Abadesi Osunsade discusses the next chapter of her career, after having been let go from her previous position during the midst of the pandemic [a process she was extremely transparent about here]. 2020 — what a year! I’m extremely grateful to have good news to share in a year that’s really put us through the ringer. I’ve just started in this new role and I’m excited to work alongside the leadership team to create positive lasting change not just in the company but, I hope,
This post was initially published by Abstract! It highlights the career achievements and thoughts of Senior Front End Engineer Andrew McCloud. What personal passions bring you to Abstract? Design communities! I’ve been installing/building software for managing communities of designers since I was in high school. Shoutout phpBB, celerondude, Pixel2Life! In 2010, I attempted to create something similar to Abstract called Pixelcloud, inspired by Facebook’s internal design collaboration tool. What’s one childhood lesson that you still carry with you to this day? I can usually avoid the pain of finding out something on my
Put your money in funds that invest in Black-owned startups Unrest in the streets has made its way to Wall Street. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was photographed kneeling in solidarity with protestors; Morgan Stanley promoted two Black women to high-profile roles; and Citi, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs published inspiring anti-racist messages and pledges. Many financial firms announced donations to the NAACP or similar organizations. These are all commendable efforts, but they won’t address the root causes of structural racism in finance. In fact, in the absence of deeper solutions,
I was one of the first Black investors to be promoted to Partner at a venture capital firm. At the time (2015), I was also one of the youngest, having just turned 31 years old. I have been in the venture industry since 2011, beginning as an intern in Kapor Capital’s inaugural Summer Associates program. I have never seen a wave of pro-Black commentary and actions like the one we are all witnessing today. Over the past few weeks, more people than ever before have aligned themselves to the #BlackLivesMatter
