By MassTLC & Matter
The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.
Professionals of color have a very different experience of building a career in Boston, relative to their white peers and colleagues. Throughout the season, we’ve heard stories of these experiences and the work leaders in our community are doing to repair, among other things, our broken talent pipeline.
In our final episode of season 2, our guests investigate issues of equity and diversity as they impact career development opportunities here in Boston (and beyond). Are candidates of color discouraged from coming to a city like Boston to pursue professional opportunities? What work is being done to fix this problem? And how are professionals of color able to find meaningful connection with the city? These questions, and more.
Highlights from this episode:
Thank you for following us on our journey this season as we investigated Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we worked to take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows, and onto the Tech Trail. But the conversation doesn’t end here – keep it going on social and let us know what burning questions you have about equity, access, and the city of Boston.
Boston is a global healthcare innovation hub, but inequality of access to care is a persistent challenge. As we emerge from the pandemic, what are our leaders doing to address these issues and move toward a healthier business and care ecosystem?
In this episode, we’ll hear stories from the front lines about disparity in access, the impact of COVID on the systems that support global health, and the technology that’s moving us forward.
Highlights from this episode:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows — and onto the Tech Trail.
Technology has the power to exclude. Sure, it can (and often does) connect marginalized communities to resources, but many people lack the access necessary to sustain meaningful growth, both professionally and financially. In that way, what technology provides for some communities, it limits in others.
This episode, our guests talk us through a topic that many of us take for granted: access to the internet and the impact of connectivity (or lack of) to our economy and society. We’ll hear about web access as a basic human right, the technology impact of the pandemic on communities of color, and finally how Boston is emerging from this crisis with a plan to improve access, connectivity, and quality of life for everyone.
Highlights from this episode:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows — and onto the Tech Trail.
Education is at the core of equity issues, and the pandemic shone a spotlight on existing gaps and potential solutions.
This episode, our guests investigate inequities in educational opportunity, the challenges for public education during the pandemic and beyond, and the emerging technology that’s helping close persistent gaps. Join us as we explore what the future of education will look like and what responsibility our leaders have in terms of enabling the kind of social mobility that comes with greater access to learning.
Highlights from this episode:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows — and onto the Tech Trail.
The pandemic has drastically changed how and where we work. For some industries, this meant a total shutdown. For others, it was a new frontier of uncertain work-life balance and hiring challenges. Either way, leaders are looking at a work landscape that has permanently changed in many significant ways.
In this episode, we’re addressing something near and dear to the business community: company culture. We know the pandemic catalyzed some seismic shifts, but have we fully realized those impacts yet? And how do we move forward, out of this time of uncertainty, to create inclusive virtual and in-person spaces? Crisis can act as the flame that forges a better future — but what are we, as leaders, doing to ensure that happens? And is this kind of future-forging crisis necessary? Is it inevitable? We answer these questions and more as we investigate the equity issues surrounding workplace culture.
Highlights from this episode:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows — and onto the Tech Trail.
Boston’s Brand Problem is more than an unfortunate reputation. It’s a sad, historical fact, rooted in the lived experiences of countless people of color who have come to Boston (or avoided it entirely) over time.
This episode of On the Tech Trail, we look at Boston’s earned reputation as unwelcoming to people of color through the lens of those lived experiences. Does the city deserve its racist moniker, and can Boston be an incubator for leadership and innovation if it’s true? What steps are leaders taking to stay accountable and to reimagine Boston’s role as a tech hub? These are serious questions that can only be answered by those who’ve lived it and who actively work to fix the problem. So on this episode, we listen — and we let those personal stories of the Boston Brand Problem speak for themselves, uninterrupted.
Highlights from this episode:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows — and onto the Tech Trail.
We recommend you start with this episode. In this preface to the second season, MassTLC CEO Tom Hopcroft tells the story of how we arrived at this season’s overarching themes, and our guests define some key terms that inform the entire season.
In our first season, we heard conversations between leaders in Boston’s tech community, as they maneuvered through the complex realities of the COVID pandemic. But one conversation, between Anthony Williams of Akamai and Susan Hunt Stevens of WeSpire, left us questioning the very notion of Boston’s place as an incubator of talent and social change. Is Boston truly America’s most racist city? Is this just a brand problem, tied up in the city’s unwelcoming reputation, or is it true that Boston is systemically unwelcoming to people of color? And, acknowledging it as a problem, how are we, as a community, working to fight both the realities and the reputation? In season 2, On the Tech Trail, we spoke to 22 leaders in our community to directly address issues of equity, access the so-called Boston Brand Problem.
Here are some episode highlights:
So, follow us on our journey this season as we investigate Boston’s challenges as a microcosm for bigger issues of equity and access. Through topics like access to technology, healthcare innovations, the future of education, and forward-thinking DE&I strategies, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows, and onto the Tech Trail.
What is Boston’s Brand Problem? How did the pandemic shine a light on issues of equity and access? What opportunities for growth and positive change have come out of this past year’s challenges? And how are we, as a tech community, coming together to be leaders in our commonwealth and beyond?
In our first season, we heard conversations between leaders in Boston’s tech community, as they maneuvered through the complex realities of the COVID pandemic. But one conversation, between Anthony Williams of Akamai and Susan Hunt Stevens of WeSpire, left us questioning the very notion of Boston’s place as an incubator of talent and social change. Is Boston truly America’s most racist city? According to a 2017 survey by the Boston Globe, 54% of Black people around the country believed Boston to be unwelcoming to people of color. In what ways is this true, and how are we, as a community, working to fight both the realities and the reputation?
This season, On the Tech Trail, we take Boston’s Brand Problem out of the shadows and directly tackle the burning questions left from season 1. So, join us as we hear candid stories of challenge and transformation from some of Boston’s most influential voices.
Season 2 of On the Tech Trail is brought to you by a joint effort between MassTLC and Matter Communications. Special thanks to everyone who contributed:
Music (“All Systems Go”) was written by Michael Thomas Geiger and Jessie Marie Villa, and performed by Mikey Geiger. To read more of the Globe’s groundbreaking series from 2017, head to https://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/boston-racism-image-reality
A Conversation between David Delmar Sentíes (Founder, Resilient Coders) and Pariss Chandler (Founder, Black Tech Pipeline)
A conversation between Sam King (CEO, Veracode) and Dave Krupinski (Care.com).
SHOW NOTES
A time period of much change. (3:23)
Restore a sense of agency (5:10)
Another year of change (7:43)
A greater degree of awareness, and a stronger response (11:41)
Closing the gap between performance and potential (14:50)
Being a woman leader in tech (17:41)
The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.