This article was first published by Zaria Gunn on Medium. As a black female futurist and artist, I spent time working in VR at Google’s HQ in Mountain View. My team, Spotlight Stories was a part of Google’s R&D lab for hardware called A.T.A.P. (Advanced Technologies and Projects) though the workplace had international diversity, the African American woman population was just me. And though I’ve always wanted to be the first at something, I had never imagined that I would’ve been the first black woman in ATAP eight years after
When Olivia Hylton graduated from the University of Cambridge, she found herself struggling to make friends as an adult in a post-pandemic world. The 26-year-old spoke to POCIT about creating a meet-up app to empower Black women to make friends anywhere they go. Sistren is a digital platform that empowers users to make connections based on interests and proximity, with users able to create a profile, host events, and reach out to others that are local to them via the user directory. Hylton, who had never considered becoming an entrepreneur
The nonprofit social startup digitalundivided has released its latest Project Diane report unveiling the experiences of Latina and Black women tech entrepreneurs. Catalyzing Latina and Black women’s growth Founded in 2012, the Newark-based startup leverages data, programs, and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for Latina and Black women founders at all stages of their entrepreneurial and funding journeys. In 2016, digitalundivided launched the Project Diane Report, the first biennial demographic study that captures the experiences of Latina and Black women tech founders. “Building on the legacy of women like Diane Nash who worked
Edtech startup Kai XR has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to expand its virtual reality (VR) educational resources to one million kids across the US. Kapor Capital led the oversubscribed round, which included Mitchell Kapor Foundation, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, and others. The Oakland-based edtech startup is making education more accessible through inclusive mixed-reality spaces that allow children to explore, create, and learn. From education to innovation Kai Frazier founded Kai XR in 2018. Through her time as an educator in the classroom and in museums,
This article was first published by Jennifer Opal on her blog. Let me introduce myself… My name is Jennifer Opal, I’m a DevOps Engineer currently working for Dropbox Sign. Outside of my day-to-day, I’m a Multi-Award Winning Technologist, Technical Blogger, Keynote Speaker & Neurodiversity & Inclusion Advocate. On top of this, I also sit on the Co-Production Board of a UK-based charity called, ‘Neurodiversity in Business’. You can learn more about me, my work outside of my full time job as a DevOps Engineer & more by checking out my
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.” But can technology and digital education really champion the change women and girls need? In today’s digital age, technology is a powerful tool in empowering women, especially women of color, to access resources and create their own platforms to share their stories and experiences, as well as educate others. We have seen a rise in Black women tech influencers such as Maya Bello, the software engineer who uses TikTok to teach coding, and Hosanna
This article was first published by Quiana C Berry on Medium. Product Management is its own art form – equally an art and science. I often see the PM role lumped into other people management roles. It assumes PM’ery is easy because it is “people management” but it vastly underrates and misunderstands the profession. Although each profession has its own version of “hard”, the PM role is a mix of many roles in one. Here are 4 of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned going from a Anthropology, Biology, Chem
Ernst & Young (EY) Metaverse Lab has announced that it will showcase Ancestral Archives, an interactive AI-enabled art installation created by artist-in-residence Josie Williams to spotlight the work of historic Black leaders. The EY Metaverse Lab program brings together artists and engineers to explore some of the world’s most challenging issues. For example, Williams is a creative and ‘afro-futurist’ working to combat bias and social injustice. Developed in collaboration with EY Metaverse Lab and NEW INC, the metaverse art installation will leverage Williams’ digital experience to showcase how AI and the metaverse can
TikTok-owner ByteDance has launched a new app called Lemon8 that is helping some content creators monetize their work. What is Lemon8? Lemon8 is a social media app centered around lifestyle and community. The content-sharing platform has been designed to help creators monetize their work and reach a wider audience. The picture-based app, described as a fusion of Instagram and Pinterest, first launched in Japan in 2020 and is now available to download in several countries. To help the platform’s expansion, ByteDance has decided to start paying creators to post on the
This article was first published by Shannon Bentley on Medium. I started to learn how to code back in January 2022. It was the moment that I declared myself ready to transition from my interpersonal career of always caring for others’ needs from a healthcare and educational perspective. January was a significant change for the fact that I was taking on learning a skill that was entirely new to me. However, months later — I will be known to take a self-proclaimed sabbatical leave away from learning this skill. How
