Black Womxn Create

Meet Victoria “Tori” Bell. She manages Internal Community building efforts at Facebook and lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

Tori is most proud of founding and leading the employee resource group "Black Women at Facebook" in 2017. Black Women at Facebook aims to support the development of those who identify as Black Women at the company. To-date they have chapters across the globe and serve as the industry leader in the intersectional employee resource group space. 

Prior to Facebook, Tori was an early employee at Jopwell, a Diversity and Inclusion technology platform where she had the opportunity to participate in the Y-Combinator incubator program. During her time at Jopwell, Tori helped to build and scale the campus ambassador and undergraduate hiring programs. 

A graduate of Agnes Scott College and a native of Wichita, Kansas, Tori is passionate about fostering community and creating spaces for women and people of color to thrive.

On this episode we discuss: 

• Growing up in Kansas and passion for racial justice
• A shared love for Traceee Ellis Ross
• The conception of Black Women @ Facebook
• Building a relationship with Sophia Amuruso and creating a Diversity Equity and Inclusion course for Business Class
• Common misconceptions on diversity, equity and inclusion 
• Active allyship

You’ll want to listen through the episode for some great music, show, and business recommendations. This is Tori Bell on Creating Community and Building Intersectional Spaces.

• Tori Bell Instagram
• Business Class Website
• Business Class Instagram
• Sophia Amuruso Website
• Sophia Amoruso Instagram
• Abraham Hicks Website
• The Daily Podcast
• Danielle Young Instagram
• Quick Hire Website

Meet Jovanna Youssef, the daughter of immigrants, a retail tech enthusiast, and current product marketer + customer strategist at Rent the Runway.

She’s inspired by technologies that make people’s lives easier, do things more efficiently or provide access and opportunities for women. Throughout her career she has consulted for Fortune 500 companies, worked with startups, and launched global features touching millions of people. 

From a young age, fashion has been at the center of her world thanks to her mom who she credits for her love of fashion. She’s excited about the future of fashion and retail and especially how technology will amplify and evolve the industry.  

She’s particularly passionate about helping women break into the technology space and increasing diversity in tech.

You are in for a great conversation on: 

• Taking opportunities where you can learn
• Working as a product manager
• Finding inspiration from leaders and peers 
• Defining personal style 
• Practicing self-care in challenging times 

This is Jovanna on Creating A Career in Product Management and Defining Your Personal Style.

Meet Ariel Belgrave, a health and fitness coach, a sponsored Under Armour athlete, a fitness instructor, and the CEO of Gym Hooky, a wellness brand focused on helping busy women build healthy habits. Through her signature program, The L.E.A.N. Method, she's helped thousands of women around the world move more and eat better.  Ariel's work has been featured across various platforms, including Women's Health, Shape Magazine, Essence, PopSugar, Huffington Post, and Buzzfeed.

Before pursuing her fitness business full-time, Ariel worked as a corporate professional. She began her career in finance at JPMorgan. After 4.5 years on Wall Street, she took the leap to join the tech industry in Silicon Valley.  Her tech career began as the first employee and Program Director at dev/color/. Ariel soon made her way over to Facebook where she worked as a Senior Program Manager in Human Resources for 3 years.

She recently left Facebook to focus on building and growing her fitness business, Gym Hooky, full-time.

Ariel is a proud wife and 2011 graduate of Boston College where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and played D1 rugby. She is also a native of Brockton, MA.

On this episode we discuss:

• Stepping out of your comfort zone
• Building TRUST and staying consistent with your brand 
• Determining your worth and accepting nothing less
• Showing up in the ways the work best for you 

Follow Ariel:

• Gym Hooky
• Instagram

Follow BWC: 

• Website 
• Instagram 

Our next guest is LA-based writer, actor, and producer Aliza Pearl. Aliza is a proud Afrolatinx that explores identity through scifi, comedy and genre storytelling.  

Of African-American, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Caribbean heritage, Aliza explores identity and split cultural ties through scifi, comedy and genre storytelling. Having grown up with little to no scifi protaganists that looked like her and her family, she has been repurposing her own writing and acting career to become laser focused on helping to bring underrepresented voices to the forefront of scifi and genre media. Her past experience includes writing  for Nerdist News and comedy sketches at Nerdist.

Aliza’s latest project Blood of the Void premiers July 6th on Twitch. The all-Klingon, Star Trek Adventures tabletop RPG show features a Black/Asian cast. 

On this episode we discuss becoming a proud Afolatinx, pivoting from music production to theatre and breaking stereotypes in sci-fi entertainment. 

Are you working on a project? Do you just have an exciting update? Let us know! Share the news at [email protected].

Aliza's Instagram Aliza's Twitter Aliza's Website Black Womxn Create

Meet Joy, member of Hella Creative. Hella Creative is the force behind #hellajuneteenth. They believe that, "now more than ever, we must recognize Juneteenth as a time to collectively reflect on our past, take action in our present, and build towards our future.”In just two weeks, they gained support from over 181 companies including Twitter, Square, Nike, Mastercard, Adobe and more. These companies publicly commit to honoring Juneteenth as a paid holiday. The initiative was profiled Fast Company, the Huffington Post and Atlanta Journal- Constitution.

On this episode we discuss: 1) what Juneteenth is and why it matters, 2) how to empower people and organizations to recognize the holiday, and what happens when Juneteenth is over.  Hella Juneteenth

You asked and we answered. Here is everything you need to know about starting a podcast! Rosa talks about tools, interview formats, and thoughts on creating alone vs. with others. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe!

Libsyn

Anchor

Microphone

Headphones

Adobe Creative Suite

Plann

We’re back for Season 2!

This week we are talking to Arlan Hamilton about her new book, It’s About Damn Time. Arlan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital. 

Backstage Capital is a fund that is dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech among founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders. 

Arlan's book, It’s About Damn Time, drops in just hours! In this episode we talk about Arlan’s hidden talents, the real reason she flew to Silicon Valley and started a venture capital fund, and  why it's about Damn Time. 

This is Arlan Hamilton on Turning Your Story into Your Greatest Advantage. 

Book: https://www.itsaboutdamntime.com/

Backstage Capital: https://backstagecapital.com/

Your First Million: https://yfmpodcast.com/

Twitter: @arlanwashere

Meet Kimberly Gant, a Web & Digital Marketing Manager and Freelance designer & Digital Strategist at All that is Kim.

This Florida native took a leap of faith and created her own lane in once she discovered what work she was passionate about. Kim stands out to me as someone who seeks learning opportunities and creates thoughtful work. There is something to be said about honoring the process.

On this episode, Kim and I talk openly about refining creative interests, making the most of limited resources, being authentic and confident in new spaces, and breaking out of the social media bubble.

Learn more about Kim's work at www.allthatiskim.com and @allthatiskim on Instagram and Twitter.

This week we sat down with Amanda Pericles, a Speech Language Pathology Graduate Student and Creator & Owner of AfroLatinas.  Afrolatinas is a community that celebrates diversity & beauty among black women of Latin American descent.

In this episode, Amanda and I talk about uplifting Black & AfroLatinx narratives, juggling different life roles, overcoming financial and academic challenges, and building a supportive/ dynamic community. 

Afrolatinas - @afrolatinas Amanda - @youraverageafrolatina Elizabeth Acevedo (Author of Poet X) - @acevedowrites