There is a long way to go until tech reflects how society does. I’m glad there is the discussion happening, but I’m not sure if the people having the debate have the right people involved. Where are the people from a regular school, that had black, Latino, and LGBT friends growing up? If your network all followed the Stanford, MIT, Google pipeline, I’m not sure you are the right person to lead these discussions. I think you should have a seat at the table because your experiences are super valuable,
I am a Black, queer transmasculine person seeking to pursue a career in web development. I want to be able to build platforms to bring people together and make resources more accessible, especially for marginalized communities. I’ve spent most of my working life at non-profit organizations that empower girls and women; advocate for homeless and at-opportunity LGBTQIA youth; and create safer, more inclusive spaces. Three years ago, I stumbled into the tech world through a gig economy platform; one of my jobs was assembling product for an IoT startup. I
Ten years ago you could probably count on one hand the number of angel investors, let alone funds run by people of color [although it is rare even today to see the profiles of female or minority investors in the likes of TechCrunch or Entrepreneur]. Nevertheless, we are starting to see articles showcasing the increased activity in this space such as: 20 Angels Worth Knowing for Minority Startups 15 Black Tech Investors You Need to Know The List of Black Women in VC 28 Black Founders and Investors Making an Impact
When tackling culture bias in Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important to understand how much we use AI in our everyday lives. There are quite a few applications, and while they all have different names, a few of them are becoming more familiar to the general public. There are fields such as machine learning, face recognition, computer vision, virtual and augmented reality. You can also find artificial intelligence in traffic lights, GPS navigation, MRIs, air traffic controller software, speech recognition, and robotics. The point is, unlike the 90s, when AI
I grew up happy yet humble in Tottenham, London [United Kingdom], one of the most multicultural wards in the whole of Europe where over 90 nationalities co-exist and nearly 300 languages are spoken. I didn’t choose what school I went to as a kid or what kids went to school alongside me, we all just went to the school our parents enrolled us into. I was friends with Stephen who was Christian and from Ghana; Ghasam who was Muslim and from Pakistan; and Lauren who was Irish, white and atheist.
More and more people have been reaching out to me to have the conversation surrounding Diversity and Inclusion [companies ranging from startups to multinationals]. To each one of them, I shared what I will share with you now. The discussion should start with a standard definition of what ‘Diversity’ and ‘Inclusion’ actually means. For me it is as simple as this: Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Diversity is about bringing people together from a wide variety of backgrounds Inclusion is about having their voices heard and acted upon Let’s start with
Behind the ‘Hidden Figures.’ “I counted everything: the steps, the dishes, the stars in the sky” – Katherine Johnson It’s the holidays, and with a huge pool of new film releases, there is one that stands out this year. This film tells the untold story of Katherine Johnson, the Black female mathematician and her peers, or even better, the “black human computers” at NASA. These women played pivotal roles in NASA’s trajectory and yet have been massively overlooked for much of American history. Until Theodore Melfi‘s ‘Hidden Figures’ does well
I would argue that ‘diversity in tech’ is the most discussed topic within the tech industry (if we are not counting when the tech bubble will pop of course). Articles discussing diversity pipelines, company’s diversity percentages, and the newest “director of diversity” infiltrate our timeline every day. As the jobs available in the tech industry continue to soar it is imperative, that those roles are filled people of a diverse background. The benefits of a diverse workforce are no secret. Multiple perspectives, more feedback that is indicative of the general
By Nkem Nwankwo (@NkemNwan) Tech needs diversity as much as diversity needs tech. These days, it seems like new articles covering the topic are published every week, yet there is little progress made. One major reason is the fact that it is difficult to quantify the effect of having a highly homogenous technical workforce. The million dollar question is, does it actually benefit tech companies to have “diverse” technical talent? Marketing is starting to get it. How many times have you seen a powerful, seemingly competent company launch
