In the tech industry, less than 5% of the workforce is African-American, and we know the tech sector has a long way to go in fixing diversity issues. The following list is a short intro to just some of the Black product designers who are flourishing in Silicon Valley, the corporate world, and beyond. They are creating incredible experiences, and invaluable products, and are supporting the next generation of designers. Mariam Braimah Mariam is a product designer at Netflix. She is also the founder of Kimoyo Fellowship, a design program teaching the
Greenhouse is hiring! Check out their roles here Wayne Titus has had an unconventional path into his current career. He began his professional journey as a comparative literature student at Yale University, with a burning desire to help people. He now finds himself doing just that, but in the most unexpected field: Tech. Today, Titus works as the Manager of the Enterprise Practice at Greenhouse Software. He has built a team that works to ensure the company’s onboarding clients get the best possible experience. He uses his unique perspective and
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,
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.
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
Before it was time for my regular afternoon nap, I scrolled on Twitter to see a statement from Jason Fried, CEO/Co-Founder at Basecamp, about some of the changes that were being made. You can read the article here. As I begin to read through the announcement, I thought internal changes would have meant some changes to their products or team but what I read is something I never saw coming. There are many things I want to point out but let me focus on what sticks out the most. The first
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 a Latina founder of a social impact company, raising VC money hasn’t exactly been easy. Especially in Chicago, where I’m based, the VC community, while close-knit and easily accessible, is small, homogenous, and focused on later-stage investments. On the startup side, of the 65 Chicago-based startups backed by Chicago-based venture capital funds, only 16 (about 25%) have a non-white founder, and only 15 (or 23%) have a female founder to Chicago Blend. From firsthand experience, the lack of access to early-stage capital compared to the coasts has an oversized impact on underrepresented
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
