Forbes has unveiled its third annual 50 over 50 list, highlighting dynamic female leaders and entrepreneurs who have achieved significant success later in life. Let’s meet some Black women over 50 making moves in tech and proving that success has no age limit. Brenda Darden Wilkerson – President and CEO of AnitaB.org Wilderson, 63, founded the nonprofit AnitaB.org, which aims to diversify tech by bringing in more women and nonbinary talent. She began the role at age 57 after spending eight years with Chicago Public Schools and has now boosted her organization’s
Elon Musk’s X Corp., formerly Twitter Inc.— has sued a nonprofit group, The Center for Countering Digital Hate, over its report describing the extent of hate speech on the social media platform. Led by Imran Ahmed, The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) aims to protect human rights and civil liberties online The company holds platforms accountable and responsible for their business choices by highlighting their failures, educating the public, and advocating change from media and governments to protect communities. What did the report find? The CCDH report said that Twitter failed to act
Over 70 years after Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells were taken without her knowledge, her family finally settled with Thermo Fisher Scientific, a biotech company they say profited from them. Henrietta Lacks Lacks was a Black mother of five who died of cervical cancer in October 1951 at 31. She had learned she had cervical cancer eight months before her death when she was admitted to a racially segregated ward at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Following a tumor biopsy, doctors saved a sample of Lacks’ cancer cells without telling her and
Black Tech Street has announced an alliance with Microsoft to transform the Oklahoma neighborhood of Greenwood, also known as “Black Wall Street,” into a national hub of Black talent and innovation. Greenwood and Black Tech Street Greenwood is a historic freedom colony in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and had one of the most prominent concentrations of African American businesses in the United States during the early 20th century. It was popularly known as America’s “Black Wall Street” but was burned to the ground in the Tulsa race massacre in 1921 by a white
New research has shed light on the extent of misogynoir across social media platforms. The study comes from the Digital Misogynoir Report by Glitch, a charity tackling the online abuse of Black women and marginalized people. What is Misogynoir? Misogynoir, a term coined by the queer Black feminist Moya Bailey in 2010, describes the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience. Glitch uses the term to detail the “continued, unchecked, and often violent dehumanization of Black women on social media, as well as through other forms such as algorithmic discrimination.” The charity highlights
This summer, Baddies In Tech is hosting its inaugural BaddieCon event to celebrate and connect women of color in tech. BaddieCon Event Baddies In Tech is a professional development and networking community for women of color in tech. Its first-ever BaddieCon will take place in Brooklyn, New York, on August 18, allowing attendees to gain insights from over 30 speakers, connect with employers, and build relationships with each other and a theme of “Sustainable Success.” Through engaging workshops and thought-provoking panels, women of color will also gain career growth insights and the tools
Latina-led venture capital firm Supply Change Capital has announced the close of its inaugural $40 million fund to invest in the future of food. Investing in food, culture, and tech Supply Change Capital, one of the largest Latina-led funds, invests at the intersection of food, culture, and technology to catalyze early-stage sustainable businesses that modernize the food system. The firm has deployed over $13 million across 15 early-stage food and agriculture technology companies since June 2021, with Latine, Black, and/or women founders and CEOs comprising 80% of the portfolio. Limited
Materials Nexus founder Jonathan Bean has joined the small number of Black people in the UK who have been able to raise over £1 million for their startups. Reducing the cost of going green Green technologies, like wind turbines and electric vehicles, hold great promise for a cleaner future. We need to enhance their material components to make them even more effective. However, this often involves heavy mining for rare-earth metals and precious metals. Jonathan Bean, a UK-based theoretical physicist from the University of Cambridge, founded Materials Nexus in 2020
ThriveDX, a global leader in cybersecurity education, and BlackGirlsHack, an international cybersecurity training nonprofit increasing diverse representation in cybersecurity, have launched the BlackGirlsHack Scholars Program. The Scholars Program will enable a cohort of 25 individuals associated with BlackGirlsHack to receive the support and benefits needed to complete the program successfully and secure new cybersecurity employment. Helping Black Women and Girls Thrive In Cyber The BlackGirlsHack Foundation was founded by Tennisha Martin, a Black woman from Washington, D.C., who has worked in the IT and Cyber Space for over 15 years. The nonprofit
Buffalo Massacre Families Sue Meta, Reddit, Discord, Alphabet, And Others For Role In Radicalization
The devastating 2022 Buffalo mass shooting has sparked a legal battle to hold social media companies responsible for their platforms’ role in radicalization. Two lawsuits, launched by the victims’ loved ones, are seeking accountability from tech giants such as Facebook, Reddit, and Alphabet, alleging that the algorithms and content on these platforms contributed to the racist attack that resulted in the deaths of ten Black people. How social media shaped the attack Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white male, was fueled by white supremacist ideology as he carried out a murderous
