After struggling to connect with top technologists and designers, Ronnie Kwesi Coleman co-founded Meaningful Gigs two years ago. The inspiration drew from Coleman’s desire to specifically connect Black product designers and developers around the world with better job opportunities. Now – the company has raised $6million. The seed round was led by Stage 2 Capital with participation from Rethink Education, Authentic Ventures, Reach Capital, Marla Blow, Zvi Band, and Michele Perry. Stage 2 Capital partner, Mandy Cole told TechCrunch, “With the shortage of highly skilled talent and the increasing need for diverse
A lawsuit filed last week has accused Google of systemic racial bias against Black employees, saying the company steers them to lower-level jobs, pays them less, and denies them opportunities to advance because of their race. The complaint was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, according to reports. The plaintiff, April Curley, said the Alphabet Inc unit subjected Black employees to a hostile work environment, including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California, campus. Curley said Google had hired her in 2014
Another Black worker is reportedly suing tech giant Tesla, claiming white workers tormented him with ringtones set to sound like incoming-rocket warnings, as well as race-based abuses. According to Mercury News – Marcellous Cage alleged in his lawsuit against Tesla that the company fired him because he reported life-threatening safety violations in the plant. “Mr. Cage was fired for two reasons: his commitment to safety and his race,” the lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court claimed, the paper reported. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Komodo is hiring on pocitjobs.com Vanessa Anderson is a director of engineering for product teams at Komodo Health. In the following interview, you will learn how she got into tech and obtained her first job as a software engineer without a Master’s degree, before eventually being offered a key position in a health tech startup valued at $3.3 billion. Hi Vanessa, What Do You Do at Komodo? I just transitioned out of a senior DevOps role where I was the tech lead of the infrastructure team. I now manage teams
Goodwin has just announced its latest partnership with Meta on a new IP/Tech Scholarship Program for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) planning to pursue a career in intellectual property or technology law. The new program provides $20,000 scholarships to graduating seniors from historically excluded groups who are currently attending HBCUs and will be starting law school in fall 2022. Awardees will spend one week this summer at a Goodwin office, shadowing firm lawyers to learn more about the firm and its practice areas. Each awardee will be
Briana Marbury, executive director of the Interledger Foundation has spoken candidly with POCIT for an in-depth interview. As one of the only Black women leading the major tech philanthropy, she is overseeing a $100 million foundation and the Grant for the Web fund that has already committed more than $10 million to projects around the world. Growing up in Detroit, she witnessed the lack of financial access that many people who were living below the poverty line endured, forcing them to use predatory check-cashing services and now she’s working directly
Less than 1% of investment went to teams of Black entrepreneurs, according to the Extend Ventures report which also noted that across the 10-year period “a total of 10 female entrepreneurs of Black appearance received venture capital investment (0.02% of the total amount invested)… with none so far receiving late-stage funding”. Despite these odds, young Black women founders in the UK are helming businesses and driving innovation in areas as diverse as beauty, e-comm, and real estate, and total a total of 16 Black women have raised funding. Both inside
What are the best Slack communities for Black tech professionals? With so many out there, it’s hard to decide which ones are right for you. So We’ve compiled a list that you should check out. Below is a list of 17 thriving hubs of discussion, collaboration, and innovation spanning virtually all technical specialisms. As a tech journalist getting involved in these Slack communities has helped me learn a lot in a short space of time. Cleveland Tech The Slack community for North East Ohio’s diverse tech community. Developers, designers and tech people of
Taking a trip down memory lane has gotten Nas in a bit of trouble and he’s now facing a new lawsuit with none other than Hip-Hop photographer Al Pereira, who also went into a legal battle with Kyle and Kendall Jenner back in 2017. Pereira has reportedly filed over 450 copyright infringement lawsuits since 2015. After Nas posted a picture of himself, Tupac, and Redman from July 1993 to his Instagram, Pereira filed a lawsuit against him in February for sharing it without permission or licensing the work, according to
Joshua Mundy and Quawn Clark founded Pivot Technology School, a fast-growing Tennessee-based EdTech startup and Isaac Y. Addae, an assistant professor at Tennessee State University, joined the duo as chief strategy officer shortly after. The tech training school is a “Black-owned, fully remote technology education hub that supports minorities interested in technology careers.” Its mission is to “empower minority students with in-demand technical skills, in an industry that historically lacks racial diversity, and build a 100 million dollar business.” The company trains “minorities to get into tech roles and are working with corporate
