Some of the people working diligently behind the scenes to develop thought-provoking media coverage and memorable experiences are publicists or public relations (PR) professionals. They are the incredible minds that develop branding strategies, implement marketing ideas and help create experiences for clients’ customers, followers, and their own clients. Tech companies rely on a steady stream of public relations to introduce their products, explain new and emerging concepts, and act fast when crises strike. Here, we’ve made a list of leading tech’s rising PR stars bringing diverse stories to the forefront of the
Black women are 84% more likely to be abused on social media than white women, according to a 2018 Amnesty International study. By 2020, further research by Glitch, a UK charity committed to ending the abuse of women and marginalized people online, found that online abuse against women disproportionately impacts Black women, non-binary people, and women from minoritized communities, all of whom were more likely to feel like their complaints to social media companies were not adequately addressed. Black women in the public eye bear the brunt of online trolling. Seyi Akiwowo, the
On 13 July, coding school Holberton announced that it had agreed to be acquired by the African Leadership Group (ALG). It comes more than a year after Holberton managed to raise $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Redpoint Ventures. Daphni, Imaginable Futures, Pearson Ventures, Reach Capital, and Trinity Ventures also participated in the round, which brings Holberton’s total funding to $33 million. The original promise of Holberton was that it provided students — which it selects through a blind admissions process — with a well-rounded software development education akin to a college education for free.
Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO regularly tops the UK charts, pulling in 6.6 million streams a month and more than £1 million ($1.2 million) a year in advertising. He’s had a roster of high-profile guests, including Molly-Mae Hague, Craig David, Liam Payne and Piers Morgan, and despite this, he still says: “I don’t think of myself as an interviewer or a podcast host.” In an interview, the man who seemingly has it all reveals some truths about his journey. He is, after all, the millennial who dropped out of university
“Focus On Being So Good They Can’t Ignore You”: The Black CEO Who Sold His Startup For Eight Figures
In an industry that lacks serious diversity, Timothy Armoo has beaten the odds. He’s launched a startup, raised investment, hired, scaled, and sold his business. He’s done what every aspiring business owner hopes to do – all at the age of 27. But much like many other founders, particularly those from marginalized groups, his journey has been far from smooth sailing. Armoo founded his social media advertising business, Fanbytes, in 2017, with Ambrose Cooke and Mitchell Fasanya, building it up to employ 65 people. What does it do? The London
This year, six Black chief executives sit atop Fortune 500 companies, making up just over 1% of businesses on the 2022 ranking. Fortune magazine described the figure as “a noteworthy increase” from last year when only five Black CEOs ran Fortune 500 companies. But is it really? While this figure might seem like an amazing milestone to some, there’s still a long way to go. According to Investopedia, only 20 S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies feature a LatinX CEO — or, only 4 percent. That said, that’s still a greater number
Honeycomb is hiring on pocitjobs.com Alayshia Knighten is a seasoned DevOps Engineer with a love of infrastructure and a focus on breaking down technical learning barriers for customers. She recently spoke to POCIT about navigating life in the tech sector as a woman of color and her role at Honeycomb, an observability tool that lets developers quickly make sense of the billions of rows of data needed to fully represent the user experience in your complex and unpredictable systems. Since joining Honeycomb as a Senior Implementation Engineer in October 2020,
After winning $1.3 million in scholarships himself, Christopher Gray founded Scholly, an app that helps students easily find scholarships for college. Scholly was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, landing a deal with Daymond John and Lori Greiner and sparking the biggest fight in Shark Tank history. Scholly has over 4 million users and has helped students raise over 100 million dollars. It was first launched in 2015 with the simple goal of matching students with available scholarships: Input your age, interests, and other demographic information and Scholly would find potential fits. The idea,
Black tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill reportedly turned his employees into millionaires when he sold his startup Global Data Consortium for an undisclosed amount. Global Data, which he launched make in 2012, makes software that verifies the identity of people behind online transactions, an important step in eliminating potential fraud. Though financial details have not yet been revealed, Spruill described the deal to Axios as a “Bronto-level transaction,” which was acquired by NetSuite for $200 million in 2015. When Spruill started the Global Data Consortium he only raised $5 million from investors – this is rather
PagerDuty is hiring on pocitjobs.com PagerDuty is a known global leader in digital operations management, but the company, according to London-based EMEA senior sales director Ross Burrell, is also leading the way when it comes to a good working culture for its staff – particularly those from minority groups. “There’s an open-door policy,” he told POCIT when asked how he’s been able to grow at the company. Ross, a father and an experienced salesman said there’s no hierarchy issue at the firm, no micromanaging or aggression. Instead, you receive a
