Systemic racism has created a world where I and many other Black people literally have to work twice as hard to get half as much. Since I’ve been able to work, I’ve worked multiple jobs. During summers growing up, I worked in the businesses started by my grandparents in Mobile, AL, and passed down to my father and his siblings. You could find me doing everything from working the register at their BP gas station to preparing sandwiches in my father’s Subway. When I went to college, despite having a full-ride academic
In early June, I wrote to diversity professionals and others advancing workplace inclusion about corporate statements responding to the killing of George Floyd. I did this to discourage companies from releasing PR-type statements that were heavy on buzzwords, light on substance, and unlikely to disrupt racial injustice occurring within their reach. Instead, I wanted corporate leaders to examine practices within their organizations that adversely impact Black talent and use statements to convey how they would dismantle the internal structures and systems that allow these injustices to perpetuate in the workplace. Fast forward
This article was written by Tage Kene-Okafor and was originally published on African based publication Techpoint.africa In 2012, Jesse Ghansah, Prince Boakye Boampong, and Dominic Mensah began trying their hands on a new project, OMG Ghana. Three years later, the project would become a media startup, OMG Digital. At the time, the Ghanaian startup was dubbed the “BuzzFeed of Africa” and as a founder, Ghansah co-led his team into Y Combinator (YC), participating in the accelerator with the likes of Envyl, Flutterwave, Instabug, and Paystack in 2016. Up until 2019, Ghansah remained at OMG Digital but he has now
The “Pipeline” is Blocked At The Top — With the recent uprising against systemic racism in our governmental institutions and society, there has been an increased focus on the on the lack of funding for underrepresented founders. Only 1% of VC funded startup founders are Black, Latinas have received .04% of VC funding, women of color can expect an average of $42k seed funding vs. the average seed funding of $1m, the list of stats goes on. Yet the problem is far deeper than startup founder-level stats. It exists at the other side of
Today marks four years since I joined Google full-time otherwise known as my “Googleversary.” I keep waiting for some sort of graduation announcement or ceremony that would indicate the end of an era and the start of a new chapter, but I suppose that’s not exactly the same, after college. Today, I contemplated finally answering the million-dollar question I get too often “so, what do you do at Google?” But instead, I’ve decided to take some time today to reflect and simply celebrate some of my favorite moments over the
This post was initially published by Abstract! It highlights the career achievements and thoughts of Senior Front End Engineer Andrew McCloud. What personal passions bring you to Abstract? Design communities! I’ve been installing/building software for managing communities of designers since I was in high school. Shoutout phpBB, celerondude, Pixel2Life! In 2010, I attempted to create something similar to Abstract called Pixelcloud, inspired by Facebook’s internal design collaboration tool. What’s one childhood lesson that you still carry with you to this day? I can usually avoid the pain of finding out something on my
Put your money in funds that invest in Black-owned startups Unrest in the streets has made its way to Wall Street. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was photographed kneeling in solidarity with protestors; Morgan Stanley promoted two Black women to high-profile roles; and Citi, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs published inspiring anti-racist messages and pledges. Many financial firms announced donations to the NAACP or similar organizations. These are all commendable efforts, but they won’t address the root causes of structural racism in finance. In fact, in the absence of deeper solutions,
Subscribe To The Techish Podcast On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And Other Platforms. In this episode of Techish Abadesi and Michael discuss: 😱 Why GPT-3 has us shook!🤦🏾♀️ Break down of the recent Twitter hack!🐻 Is Kanye okay?💰 Silicon Valley has money for African startups – if you’re not African Extras: Techish on Patreon: Advertise with Techish: Please rate and review the Techish podcast
Subscribe to the Techish Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And Other Platforms. This episode of Techish is a career special: Abadesi and Michael discuss: Should I have a side hustle? I want to become a product designer but do I need to know how to code? My boss is bothering me now that we are remote! Extras: Techish on Patreon: Advertise with Techish: Please rate and review the Techish podcast
I was one of the first Black investors to be promoted to Partner at a venture capital firm. At the time (2015), I was also one of the youngest, having just turned 31 years old. I have been in the venture industry since 2011, beginning as an intern in Kapor Capital’s inaugural Summer Associates program. I have never seen a wave of pro-Black commentary and actions like the one we are all witnessing today. Over the past few weeks, more people than ever before have aligned themselves to the #BlackLivesMatter
