For almost six years, I’ve sat in on investor meetings and made deals with startup teams committed to disruption. I’ve seen entrepreneurship in its greatest form, and as an early-stage investor, I’ve been part of getting exciting ideas off the ground and into the marketplace. Uniquely, my career as a founder-turned-investor has been surrounded by nuanced advocacy for social equity and fair opportunities, driving me to relentlessly champion underrepresented voices and create a level playing field for all. Early in my career, I worked closely with the leadership gender gap
A new content series puts HBCU students in conversation with actor Lance Gross, The Lip Bar founder Melissa Butler, and Kimberly Bryant. The three-part series, The Futurist, results from a collaboration between One Solution, Urban One’s branded solution division, and AT&T Dream In Black. AT&T Dream In Black is a platform that recognizes and celebrates an esteemed class of 25 HBCU students making a difference in their community and campus. “The Futurist” The Futurist is a three-part series that pairs HBCU students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and
Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, is spearheading Apple’s commitment to making all its products carbon-neutral by 2030, starting with the Apple Watch. Jackson, a chemical engineer, served as the first African American US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator before joining Apple in 2013. Meet Lisa Jackson Jackson completed a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University. Before Apple, Jackson was appointed by President Barack Obama as EPA Administrator in 2009, making her the
Every year, on the second Monday in October, the US commemorates Indigenous Peoples’ Day to honor and celebrate Indigenous communities’ rich cultures, traditions, and contributions. Here, we shine a spotlight on some remarkable Indigenous leaders who are pushing the boundaries of tech and inspiring the next generation. 1. Robin Máxkii: Tech Creative And Storyteller Robin Máxkii is a tech creative, filmmaker, writer, and student advocate renowned for her efforts to broaden Indigenous participation in tech and education. Máxkii was raised in Houston, Texas, after living in the Stockbridge-Munsee community in
BLCK VC, a nonprofit for Black investors, has appointed two-time founder and investor Robert Gordon IV as its CEO. BLCK VC BLCK VC is a nonprofit organization that equips Black investors with the access, education, and community they need to accelerate their venture capital (VC) careers. Typically, Black entrepreneurs receive less than 2% of overall dollars each year in VC funding. Additionally, by the end of 2022, adverse market conditions led to a 36% drop in overall VC dollars, but Black entrepreneurs saw a 45% decrease in the financing. BLCK
Walgreens Boots Alliance has announced the departure of its CEO, Rosalind Brewer. According to Bloomberg, Brewer was the sole remaining Black female CEO of an S&P 500 company; the last Black woman to lead an S&P 500 company was Ursula Burns, who left Xerox in 2016. Like many retailers, Walgreens faced challenges this year as the demand for COVID-19 testing and vaccines declined, and retail sales experienced a slowdown. Brewer’s departure is part of the company’s transition into a healthcare company instead of a drugstore. According to CNBC, shares of
This article was first published by Rumbi Makanga on Medium. I was asked to give a talk by a London-based company for Black History Month in October 2022. Initially, I was going to title my talk Your Silence Will Not Protect You after the eponymous collection of essays by Audre Lorde and to honour the many silences I have nursed over the years and the vast silences I know countless Black people are forced into in their professional lives. It took a bout of illness in the last days of 2020 to
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com Shannon came to Cummins Inc. a little over 10 years ago from the Aerospace and Defense Industry. “I worked at a solid rocket motor manufacturer, so literally every day, what I did was considered rocket science.” Shannon has her PhD in Chemical Engineering, and she currently serves at Cummins as Technical Advisor for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). “My main role is as a CFD analyst working on projects across the business units, mostly spark-ignited engines. Also, some of the diesel engine projects, it really depends,
Chris Womack has become president and CEO of Southern Company, joining a small group of Black chief executives leading major publicly traded corporations. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company is a prominent energy provider, generating $22.4 billion in annual revenue in 2021, and through its subsidiaries, it serves approximately 9 million customers. Three Decades of experience A 35-year company veteran, Womack previously was chairman, president, and CEO of Georgia Power, the Southern Company’s largest subsidiary. Before that, the Greenville, Alabama native was executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern
Uber’s Chief DEI Officer Bo Young Lee has been placed on a leave of absence following employee complaints about “Don’t Call Me Karen” events which aimed to explore the “spectrum of the American white woman’s experience.” Concerns raised by Black and Hispanic employees prompted Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Chief People Officer Nikki Krishnamurthy to request Lee’s temporary step back while they assess the situation. “We have heard that many of you are in pain and upset by yesterday’s Moving Forward session,” they wrote in an email seen by The
