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,
Tara Reed is a true tech rebel. She’s a Black founder who travels the world working from her laptop, building tech companies and teaching others how they can do the same. Tara runs a multi-million dollar school teaching people how to build apps, without needing to know how to code. Her TED talk went viral, inspiring unlikely entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses. We had the opportunity to speak with Tara about her entrepreneurial journey, Apps Without Code, and her advice to other founders. This interview was edited for clarity Tell us a
Growing up as a child of immigrants had its struggles. I could see my parents’ difficulty adjusting to a new country, culture, and language. I didn’t want to have the same challenges, so I got into a habit of not mentioning my heritage. While doing volunteer work, I learned a lesson. I shared with colleagues that I grew up in the U.S., but one of them realized I was leaving out vital details, my heritage. With a sparkle in her eyes, she wanted to know all about my home country and its culture. Her
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
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss the volatile crypto world, investor influencers and a new generation of Black wealth, embracing crypto to ‘catch up’ (18:00) They also break down:– Andreessen Horowitz’s big payout and his Clubhouse predictions (0:51) – Are we monetising our hobbies at the expense of our happiness? (8:11)– The rise and fall of crypto (14:00)– Spy threats on social media (22:22)– Vulnerability, trauma and sharing our stories online for engagement, but at what cost? (28:32) Sponsors Moveable Ink is hiring: www.pocitjobs.com/company/page/11192Flatiron Health is
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
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss confessions of an overnight millionaire and rapper turned VC Nas reported to make $100 million off the Coinbase IPO (0.50) They also break down: Ghana hosts the new headquarters for Twitter (5:50) Twitter offers $4 Billion for Clubhouse (10:45) Which tech company scares you the most? (14:42) Amazon prevents workers from unionising in Alabama (17:04) The cultural influence of DMX (21:36) BLM and transparency issues, how do we hold non-profit organisations accountable? (22:40) Sponsors Postscript is hiring a Senior DevOps Engineer! Check
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
As of 2019, according to a report by the Nation Center of Women in Technology and Information Technology, Black women make up 3% of the computing jobs in the United States. While there are many aspects that come in to play, such as having the access and resources to learn or having a psychologically safe work environment to thrive in, a big factor can also be attributed to not having enough resources to feel that they can be successful as a Software Developer. Today we’ve put together a list of
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
