Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? I’m currently a full-time software engineer on the Customer Acquisition team at Slack (a collaboration hub for teams) at their headquarters in San Francisco where my mission is to make your working life more straightforward, more pleasant and more productive. Previously, I worked at Accenture’s Liquid Studio as a software engineer and AR/VR intern and as a Front End developer at 80|20 (now Array Digital) back in Norfolk, VA. I’ve been working professionally as a developer since 2015, and I
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? My name is SaaSha Pina; I’m a full-stack software engineer. I’m a second-generation American. My mother is from the beautiful island of Bermuda, and my father is from the beautiful West African island of Cabo Verde. I was born and raised in Boston, MA. I’ve always been a tough, determined cookie that tried to break the stereotypes that my appearance emits. I’m a mixed martial artist, a lover of Xtreme flipping and parkour, and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
How do we find ourselves in a world where there are so many firsts to be had for women of color? There are so few doctors, engineers, filmmakers that reach the level of success and recognition that even some of our other sisters seem to receive. On my level, there are VERY few, in fact, let’s say there ten sisters of color on college campuses leading a vocal and influential charge. Not because they don’t have a voice but because they are overlooked when someone asks, who should lead the
In this piece, I talk about my journey, building a meeting room personality, and Apple’s hostile work environment. #MyFamily When I was younger, I loved reading. I would read on average four books a day. My brother would read to me as I fell asleep. My father would tell me stories in the morning and at night. He was a writer, with passion. Words, sentences, novels— they shaped my childhood. Another thing that subconsciously shaped my childhood was my perception of the working world. My father was a kickass engineer; he
Denise Hamilton is founder and CEO of WatchHerWork, a digital media training platform closing the professional achievement gap for women. It’s February and our focus shifts to celebrating Black History Month. Celebrating history is important, and acknowledging the contributions of Black heroes is critical to understanding the true story of America. I love hearing about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, but I’m equally interested in MAKING Black history and in honoring those who are working every day to expand the boundaries of the Black experience in America. One group
Virtual Reality Virtual reality is estimated to be a multi-billion market, that includes gaming, automotive, architecture and real estate VR walkthroughs, schools and learning labs. While 25–30% of men experience motion sickness from headsets, 75–80% of women are affected due to “postural sway” — essentially the “physical differences between the sexes, such as height and center of balance.” The most attractive market for VR is the $100+ billion gaming market, where despite the stereotypes of teen boys as the main audience, a strong percentage of gamers are women. Women represent
A Black woman in tech who has raised over $1 million for her company is considered a unicorn. Those whose companies have been acquired are even rarer. In a time when M&A is the new IPO, the number of black women who have had successful exits is as much a celebration of their accomplishments as it as a measure of the industry’s progress. Acquisitions don’t happen in a vacuum. They are often the result of access to a strong network, funding, social proof, company visibility and knowledge of, or guidance
First, I want to give credit to this idea to Jeneba who produced Yes We Tech: 161 Black Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter and 185 Women of Color in Tech to Follow on Twitter. My list is not as organized or detailed but has a different circle of users with a little overlap with these previous lists. I hope you can use all three lists to share this empowering narrative of the existence of women of color! Don’t be fooled by your environment, the movies you watch or the news stories you read,
