IT | The Melanin Geek Goddess

Being a young black college student or a young woman that is already out in the field you may be wondering what kind of tips there are out there for you to feed off on. There are a few ways on how Black Women could become successful in the Technology industry. I came upon this YouTube video where three successful entrepreneurial women in the Technology industry gave tips and advance for Black Women. These three Black women are Dana James Mwangi, Kristen Ransom, and Sheena Allen. Dana James Mwangi is the founder of Cheers Creative. Sheena Allen is the founder & CEO of CapWay and Sheena Allen Apps. Kirsten Ransom is the CEO if IncluDe Web Design and Development Agency. Since the industry is predominantly ran by males and whites, they tend to navigate their sleeve in many ways, each of them gives a just of what they must do or what you need to know to get more experience.

A couple of tips that are mention in the video are, there are a million ways to learn about tech: you do not technically need a degree, founding for an app is very hard as a black woman, you have to make sure people will come back to your app, you should find a mentor, not one that is mainly in tech but someone who is doing a good job in whatever career they are in, and no not ask for permission. They were many more mentions in the video if you are already in the field do you have any tips that you can add, and what are your thoughts on the video? I believe these women gave great tips based on Tech and for beginners.

Here is their main page you can get newsletters or more advice from these women:

Dana James Mwangi– https://danajamesmwangi.com/
Kirsten Ransom– https://www.kristenransom.com/
Shenna Allen– https://www.sheenaallen.co/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JO2BKgdcDs

If you look at the technology industry it is predominantly ran by all whites or men. You hardly see women of color that get a chance to acknowledge or get into the industry. According to the Essence Magazine, these are the top ten black women in the technology industry that are making their mark. We all know that in the technology industry it is no secret that diversity is a problem. The percentage of black women that are holding a tech job is 3 percent. These black women that I am going to mention want to encourage other women to follow their footsteps.

Kathryn Finney– Founder & CEO, digital undivided
Ms. Finney digital undivided is to give other Black women tech founders the training, connection, and funding they need to succeed. There are several Black women-led start-ups that has doubled since 2016. Ms. Finney wants us to know that a million-dollar business is not outreach and to keep us Black women to thinking bigger.

Regina Gwynn– Cofounder & CEO, TresseNoire & Cofounder, Black Women Talk Tech
Since more Americans spend more money online on beauty and personal care products, Ms. Gwynn came up with TresseNoire. TresseeNoire is a digital platform that connects consumers with a natural hairstylist. Not only that, but Ms. Gwynn also shows interest in Black Women Talk Tech.

Camille Hearst– Cofounder & CEO, Kit & Head of Product, Patron
Ms. Hearst has had positions at Google and Apple way before being successful and raising $2.5 million to start Kit. Kit is an online community for creatives. Around early of 2018, she agreed that she will sell Kit to Patron which is a membership platform for creatives for an undisclosed amount.

Esosa Ighadaro – Cofounder, COSIGN & Cofounder, Black Women Talk Tech
Ms. Ighadaro explains that you really do not need a tech background to succeed in this field. She states this because she left her career in financial service and banking so she can help launch Cosign. Cosign is an app that makes it easier for people to shop for products using social media. She says that no matter what industry you are in, the technology touches you.

Jasmine Lawrence– Technical Program Manager, Facebook
Before coming to the technical program manager for Facebook, Ms. Lawrence worked at Microsoft and SoftBank Robotics America. She says the increasingly digital world of Black women is positioned to be innovators for our community.

Cierra McDonald – Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Ms. McDonald made a mark by saying gaming is not just for guys. She is a game developer in Microsoft’s Xbox Advanced Technology Group. She makes sure that there is room for other Black women to enter the gaming space too. Since the industry is thriving, with more players joining every day and creators there are a lot of opportunities for creative, technological, and professional growth.

Amanda Spann – Founder, Happii
Ms. Spann has developed tons of apps that included AfriDate, which is a dating app for Black singles. She recently just launched Happii that helps nontechnical entrepreneurs to create apps. Not only that she is also a co-founder of Blerdology which is a social enterprise that organized the first hackathon geared towards African-Americans. She thinks that there are a lot of people that are doing work to not just be tech entrepreneurs’ access to capital but to educate them.

Kamilah Taylor – App Developer
Ms. Taylor was working as a senior software engineer at LinkedIn but has now given all her time to assisting start-ups to develop apps and developing her own. She now meets with more black women who are in leadership positions because she is contributing to the book Women in Tech.

Lauren Washington – Cofounder, KeepUp; & Cofounder, Black Women Talk Tech
Ms. Washington is one of three co-founders of Black Women Talk Tech, which is an organization that supports the next generation of tech founders in our communities. Ms. Washington knew how overwhelming it could be to navigate social media landscapes, she created the app KeepUp to help other companies and individuals manage. “With the push for diversity in tech, people are coming together in order to build each other up, so there’s no better time,” she says. Which means she would love for everyone to be one in tech.

Tishauna Wilson – Computer Science Student
Ms. Wilson is currently a junior at Florida A&M University and has already shaken things up in the industry. She was a part of the McDonald’s 365 Black Awards for her tech project. For her project, she created a self-driving, voice-activated drone and an AI program that detected credit card fraud. Because of her magnificent skills, she won the $10,000 scholarship.

Though there are not as much diversity being noticed in the technology industry us black women can come together to build each other up to and make the industry diverse. These women really made their mark in the technology industry. They have flourished to make sure other black women that are interested in going into the technology world, with faith and courage. Nowadays us women are becoming more vulnerable to doing things that we could not do before for instance, back in the 60’s black women could not vote, but white women could. Men look at us women as if we do not have the same “power” or can’t do anything they can do. What I am trying to say here is do not ever give up. You have every right to do anything you put your mind to no matter what skin color you, and if you are a man or woman.

The Melanin Geek Goddess

Category Archives: IT

Tips for Being a Black Women in Tech

10 Black Women In Tech

Black Beauty