The not-for-profit organization is raising funds to publish a book highlighting the achievements of 51 Black women in tech to give young people in schools access to role models from diverse communities. Once the book, dubbed The voices in the shadow, is published, TLA Black Women in Tech aims to distribute 300 copies to schools in the UK and Ireland for free. The mission has also been backed by the Digital and Culture Minister, Caroline Dinenage, who said it was important for children to know they can do anything in life. There
Create Lab Ventures has teamed up with Trill or Not Trill to launch the world’s first artificial intelligence Afro-Latina, A. I robot, who made her debut at school systems worldwide on Monday. C.L.Ai.R.A was first introduced through Trill or Not Trill; a Black founded institution to provide innovative strategies and solutions that speak “to the culture.” Founders Jeff Dess and Lenny Williams joined forces with a social venture – Creat Lab Ventures – to continue their mission of providing underserved communities with the resources and skills needed to thrive in the media and
Why Black Workers Are facing a return to office anxiety Ninety-seven percent of Black knowledge workers are not ready to return to offices. As a result, the home has become a safe space for Black workers in the last year, a refuge from racism, crude jokes, and office politics. Working from home has reduced the discrimination and microaggressions [indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group] many Black people say they feel in the workplace, the survey also said. In addition, the need for code-switching is significantly reduced.
In honor of October being Black History Month in the UK, we highlight ten influential Black British women who code and break down barriers. For more Black British Tech stories, see our BHM feature on UK founders from 2017. Charlene Hunter – Lead Software Engineer at Made Tech, Founder Coding Black Females Charlene is the founder of Coding Black Females one of the largest platforms for Black female coders in the UK. Charlene wrote her first line of code at the age of 10 and went on to earn a
August 13 marks Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. This is not a celebration. Instead, it represents the date that Black women must work into the new year to catch up to what White non-Hispanic men made at the end of the previous year. That’s an extra 226 days of work for Black women, who make just 62 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic White men. This translates to corporate leaders attributing Black women’s worth as roughly three-fifths of the value of White men. This pay gap has a devastating impact. It means
This article is a thought piece on the political nature of Black women’s hair in the corporate workplace, and how the progressive tech industry is far from exempt. Written by self developer Mabel, follow her journey on her IG! Here’s a picture of me with braids from last year. The truth is, a lot of thought went into me getting them. “You should never wear braids to an interview; no one will take you seriously!” – My friend was right; society has taught us that to be deemed professional, we
As a naturally curious and confident person, Linda Kamau is no stranger to trailblazing. There were four paths in her all-girls school, and computer science was usually the path least chosen. But for Linda, computers were a passion, and she happily chose computer science to the surprise of her peers. She also had a natural interest in making things better, a talent encouraged by her older brother with whom she would spend time around the house repairing everything from radios to the roof. At many African universities, it is extremely
A recent National Center for Women & Information Technology “By the Numbers” report puts Black women in computing in 2018 at 3% — and this statistic does not make a distinction between technical and nontechnical women in computing. Of the overall U.S. population, roughly 4.5% identify as LGBT. Since it’s incredibly hard to find industry-wide statistics on LGBT folks in tech, let’s take an extremely optimistic view and assume 4.5% of people in computing are LGBT. Combining these two percentages tells us that .00135% of the computing workforce identifies as Black, queer, and
Last week, Black Enterprise magazine published an interview with COO of Facebook and CEO of Lean In Sheryl Sandberg. It was rooted in the fact that Sandberg’s Lean In advice has fallen flat for most women, and more specifically for Black women. The strategy has been criticized by many thought leaders, including Michelle Obama who notably said, “that shit doesn’t work all the time.” And this quote from Mindy Harts, founder of The Memo sums up the basis of the criticism through a racialized lens: “Lean In was well-intentioned and
Arlan Hamilton — founder and managing partner at Backstage Capital — summarized best why investing in Black Female Founders (BFF) isn’t just important, but could produce high yields: “Less than 0.2 percent of all early-stage venture funding goes to Black women, while we make up approximately 8 per cent of the U.S. population and are one of the fastest-growing entrepreneur segments in the country,” Arlan wrote. “It is my firm belief that because Black women have had to make do with far less for centuries, equipping them with early-stage capital that is
