A Black woman in tech who has raised over $1 million for her company is considered a unicorn. Those whose companies have been acquired are even rarer. In a time when M&A is the new IPO, the number of black women who have had successful exits is as much a celebration of their accomplishments as it as a measure of the industry’s progress. Acquisitions don’t happen in a vacuum. They are often the result of access to a strong network, funding, social proof, company visibility and knowledge of, or guidance
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? After being raised in Saginaw, MI, I graduated from the prestigious Tuskegee University with a BS in Computer Science. I came to the DC area right after college after landing a Government contracting gig. I did a lot of soul-searching those first few years of my career after I realized Government work wasn’t for me. I eventually broke into the startup world which is much more my cup of tea (I like my tattoos and jeans). After some time, a
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? I’m originally from Lagos, Nigeria. I moved to the US about four years ago to attend New York University. I currently work at LinkedIn as a software engineer on the design systems team. My team creates the building blocks for developers across the company to build their sites. Outside of work I consider myself more of an artist that uses code as a tool. I graduated from the “make your own major” school at NYU, and my concentration was at the
When it comes to fostering diversity and inclusion in your company, either go hard or go home. Seriously. You can’t do light touch diversity and inclusion. It’s not a box to tick, a “nice to have”, or something you can dip in and out of. It requires long-term commitment and a significant investment of your resources. After all, what thing worth having comes easy in this world? I won’t bore you with the overwhelming data on diversity’s positive impact on profitability, McKinsey among a number of other reputable firms have
We spoke to Safia all the way back in Episode 50, and it was time for an overdue catchup to see whats shes been working on. What made you start the projects you’re working on at the moment? My biggest project at the moment is a platform called Zarf. Zarf is a content marketplace where writers can sell a subscription or one-time access to their work. Before I “officially” started working on the project in June, I had been thinking about building a platform like Zarf for a while. I
What exactly do you do? I’m a staff writer at Lifehacker mostly covering technology and productivity news. I write about stuff that helps you get more work done with the tools you have. This could include a productivity app or calendar apps, for example. I also help you find services that assist you in making the most out of technology. What’s been the most interesting part of your journey as a tech writer? It’s been a wild ride, and it has been weird. I know a lot more about the
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,
A few months ago, I received an email that often appears in my inbox. Its usually along the lines of “I’m a college student very interested in getting into tech, but I don’t study computer science, what do I do?”. I don’t consider myself the vanguard of all the necessary knowledge to answer such questions, but I do my best to answer based on my limited experience. Such is the frequency of these emails; I thought it would be smart just to make it into a blog post. That way I can
What made you decide to work in tech? Working in tech happened pretty organically, and was born from several interests I had as a child. Science fiction and video games were popular family pastimes and cultivated my interest in technology early on. My grandmother was the first in the family to get a computer, and whenever we visited, I would lock myself in her bedroom to draw characters in Microsoft Paint based on the stories I wrote in WordPerfect. Once I left New York City and went away to school,
I am a 22-year-old woman in tech currently working as a Junior Data Engineer. Two months ago, I worked in a customer service role, and I was very fortunate to be offered this role as a secondment. I am now almost halfway through my secondment, working with a great team of people. I am learning about programming in Python and SQL and solving problems within Big Data. My life was completely different three months ago, and I am here to share my story with you. My background Just three months
