Kayla Austin has received a $25,000 grant from Pharrell Williams to help accelerate her gun safety start-up, My Gun’s Been Moved. Last year, the 19-year-old Howard University sophomore pitched her idea at Pharrell Williams’ Mighty Dream Forum and Black Ambition in Virginia. Her passion was awarded a $25,000 cash prize to help bring her business to new heights. Austin came up with the idea to launch a gun safety initiative at 12 years old after attending a youth program. “So, I found out that majority of shootings involving children and teens happen with a
A TV series about the rise of Black and Latine startup founders? A definite must-see. Founding in Color, a documentary series by Comcast Universal, has returned to our screens for its second season. The docuseries follows the journeys of 11 Black and Latine startup founders as they navigate the many complexities that come with launching a business as a minority founder. Throughout the series, each entrepreneur shares exclusive insights into the hurdles they have faced as underrepresented founders. The three-part series created by Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs and REVOLT’s creative agency
To commemorate Black History Month, we have been spotlighting the pioneers in tech who have paved the way for up-and-coming Black technologists. For our latest edition, we have decided to spotlight the tech industry people making moves today. From making coding easily accessible for all to inventing the programming language behind platforms like Adobe – these are the pioneers you need to know today. Saron Yitbarek Saron Yitbarek is working to make coding accessible for all. So the entrepreneur and founder of CodeNewbie decided to create a way for everyone to code, no
Leading home building company, Taylor Morrison, has introduced a first-of-its-kind fellowship program to create impactful change across the public sector. In case it may come as a surprise, many board rooms remain irreflective of society today. According to reports, only 6.2% of directors are Black, compared to 13.4% of the country. The lack of diversity in the critical decision-making rooms is one of the direct reasons why many voices in the workplace go unheard. Taylor Morrison’s new initiative is looking to change that. Effective last week, the company’s fellowship program will offer board training
Employee resource groups (ERGs) are a powerful force behind many organizations. According to a report, 90% of Fortune 500 companies have implemented ERGs into their workforce to help support their wider DEI strategy. As a result, these groups – which employees often lead – have become essential to helping businesses stay on top of their DEI commitments. Black History Month can be a reflective time for organizations to look inwardly and examine their DEI strategy for the year ahead. To support HR teams and leaders seeking to learn more about
Kanarys, Inc. has raised $10.5 million in a seed funding round, making co-founder and CEO Mandy Price one of fewer than 20 Black woman founders to receive over $10 million in funding. Making history isn’t anything new to Price. In 2021, the entrepreneur became one of 93 Black women to raise $1 million in capital funding. The recent funding round brings Kanary’s total capital to date to approximately $10.5 million. The series A funding round was led by Seyen Capital and included Portfolia Rising America, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Revolution’s Rise
Twin sisters, Masego and Matlhogonolo Mphahlele, are the brains behind new digital X-Ray glasses aimed at improving the healthcare backlog in South Africa. After taking a close friend who sustained an injury to the hospital, the Mphahlele sisters devised an idea to create a product to make getting a scan 10x easier. At that moment, the X-Ray Glasses project was born. The powerful pair came together to design a product that would allow medical practitioners to modernize how they carry out scans. Additionally, the twins are also focusing on creating another
The discourse around Black hairstyles being seen as “too Black” for professional settings has grown over recent years but it’s 2023, why is hair discrimination still a thing? To help remove the negative connotations placed around natural hair and professionalism, Dove has partnered with LinkedIn and The Crown Coalition to make hair discrimination in the workplace completely illegal. Dove’s partnership with LinkedIn will help shed some light on The Crown Act, legislation prohibiting racial discrimination based on natural textures and protective hairstyles. The act, fighting to make hair discrimination illegal nationwide,
It appears everywhere you go; artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be the only two words on everyone’s lips. From the rise in AI-powered chatbots to the new era of computer-generated art, it’s hard to turn a blind eye to – what could be – the future of technology. However, according to a new report by Slate, AI still has a long way to go before it is considered an adequate extension of human intelligence. AI’s Inability To Create Realistic Hands Slate journalist, Heather Tal Murphy, investigated AI’s inability to create hands and found something
To commemorate Black History Month, we have been spotlighting the pioneers in tech who have paved the way for up-and-coming Black technologists. From completely revolutionizing the technology world to creating the everyday tech items we can’t live without today. As a collective, this group has helped inspire a whole generation of Black professionals in tech. So, let’s meet them. Marie Van Brittan Brown How safe would you feel if home security systems didn’t exist? Well, thanks to Marie Van Brittan Brown, that isn’t something you have to worry about. Marrie Brown is
