Tech Forward

Hello listeners! Welcome back to Tech Forward. On this week's episode, I'm speaking with Lauren Wesley Wilson, President and CEO of ColorComm, Inc. From its humble beginnings as a luncheon in 2011 for women of color in the communications industry, ColorComm has grown into a professional community of over 40 thousand women. Lauren is also a Contributor to Forbes and has a column which covers women of color in business. Today on the show, we'll be talking about her journey launching and growing ColorComm, and the state of affairs for women in communication and tech.

Despite the fact that the communications industry is female dominated — women make up 70% of the workforce in that space — the executive leadership positions are overwhelmingly held by men. When their careers stall, many talented women end up leaving the industry for higher paying jobs in other sectors. In an effort to change this, ColorComm offers a variety of programs and services for members, including panel discussions on how women of color can lean in, financial funding, and business development. ColorComm is active in 7 cities with members all over the country, and teams within each city to manage and execute these programs.

Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google partner with ColorComm in order to diversify their hiring and retention. With their massive talent pool, it's easy for ColorComm to push back against the false and pervasive narrative of the pipeline problem. "We say, 'Here are the people you say you can't find.' [...] And while our partners are really focused on increasing diversity, a lot of people just aren't sure what to do. No one group has the answer as far as diversifying companies. People who want a more diverse workforce need to invest in it."

When it comes to the progression of ColorComm over the last 7 years, Lauren stresses the importance of being willing to evolve in order to succeed. "We built this organization by listening to people's needs, the challenges they faced, and being open to changing things. We started one way, but those needs have changed since we started 7 years ago." Another key component to success has been the feeling of a mutually beneficial community, where senior members learn from junior members, not just vice versa.

This sense of community has also been key to Lauren's own professional journey. "Everything I've shared, I learned from having conversations with other people who've done these things before. [...] Speak up, and don't be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help doesn't mean that what you do isn't good enough. " She echoes this sentiment when offering advice for women of color looking to enter or advance in a male dominated environment. "Build your resources both internally and externally. Hiring and promoting are collective decisions — cultivate relationships with people who can advocate on your behalf when it's time to move upwards."

Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your story and your insights on the show this week. As ColorComm continues to grow their offering, it will be so exciting to see where the future takes you. Thank you, also, to all of my listeners. See you next week!

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Hello Listeners! Welcome to the first bonus episode of the Tech Forward podcast. In this mini episode, you'll hear a brief overview of the host's journey through the world of tech and why she started this podcast. Thank you for listening each week and supporting the show!

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Tech Forward! For this week's episode, I'm thrilled to share my conversation with Jessica Bell. Jessica works as a web developer for the Washington Post, primarily on front end and Javascript projects. She is also highly active in the DC tech community: she's the Chair of DC ACM, as well as an active member of DCFemTech and Women Who Code DC. Throughout the year, she helps people learn the basics of coding in web development by teaching at General Assembly. As if all that weren't enough, she also hosts and produces a podcast, DC Tech Stories, which features local tech workers. We'll discuss her unique journey into the world of tech, her experience at the Post — which has been recognized for its inclusive engineering team — and how she's making her mark in the DC tech scene.

Jessica came to DC after completing a degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University. After hitting a plateau in self-teaching, she enrolled in the General Assembly bootcamp, and began her first full-time developer role afterwards. Of her work at the Post, she says, "I have both the mission of working in a news environment, and the culture of diversity. The Post has done a good job of opening up their recruiting pipeline in an intentional way."

Jessica attributes the success of diversity and inclusion at the Post to small, but significant differences. The recruiting team works hard to ensure the Post's social media takeovers are reflective of diversity, and highlight all the voices within the organization. They have also examined their hiring requirements and the language they use in their job postings, in an effort to stop qualified people from self-selecting out prior to the application itself. The interview process for engineers has been reworked as well, such that bootcamp graduates — not just computer science graduates from traditional universities — can display their skills. All of these steps, along with strong partnerships with advocacy groups, have helped to get diverse talent in the door.

While many San Francisco graduates might have been inclined to remain in the Bay area, Jessica is quick to sing the praises of the DC tech scene. "I have met so many people — men, women, black, white, people who are queer, every identity you can think of — who all care so deeply about the other people in this scene. And that gives you a lot of hope and strength. I think that is a little bit unique about DC. It's a great place to get started because it's such a diverse city. It isn't perfect, but you can come here and see smart, ambitious people from all backgrounds being recognized for their accomplishments."

She is similarly quick to decry the traditional narratives of the tech world, which inspired her to start the DC Tech Stories podcast. Having met so many examples of developers who didn't fit the narrow tech narrative, she's passionate about opening up that story to the "cool, different, inclusive, and interesting" reality of tech. You can listen to DC Tech Stories wherever you listen to podcasts, or just check out the website.

Jessica, thank you so much for coming onto the show, and for all the work you're doing here in DC and beyond. Thank you, also, to all of you out there listening. See you next week!

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Welcome back to another great episode of Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I'm excited to share my conversation with educator and entrepreneur, Angela Lee. Angela is both Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Dean at Columbia Business School, and the founder of angel investment network, 37 Angels. With her commitment to education, it's no surprise that she is a sought-after expert for many news networks, and has been invited to advise decision-makers at the highest levels, including Prime Minister Trudeau. We discussed her work fostering teaching excellence at Columbia Business School, how she launched 37 Angels, and her mission to activate female investors.

At Columbia Business School, curricula have evolved to reflect a shift in graduate employment. Whereas graduates once primarily pursued careers in finance or consulting, many of them now go into technology or entrepreneurship. As Chief Innovation Officer, Angela has a threefold mission: faculty excellence beginning with orientation, curriculum strategy, and technology innovation for both in-class an online learning. Though women comprise 35-40% of students in the classroom, participation is still 80% male. Angela has worked extensively to overcome that disparity, from working within clubs to help women be more vocal, to training faculty in leading a diverse classroom. Through tools like SeatGen, which measures student participation and identifies possible bias in the instructor, they have data-driven ways to overcome biases and encourage diversity in participation.

From the day she accidentally began angel investing a decade ago, Angela has had what she calls a "shadow career" of investing in startups. "I have a very high personal bar of what it means to understand something," Angela notes, and her desires for a network of like-minded people to invest alongside as well as a "soup to nuts" educational platform for investing were the seeds of 37 Angels. In this investment bootcamp, participants learn the fundamentals of angel investing, from financial and governance terms, to venture math, portfolio strategy, and the real world application of said skills. Though she built 37 Angels from a personal need, there was clearly a need for this bootcamp in the market: some long-term angel investors have even asked to take the bootcamp in secret!

The membership network at 37 Angels consists of 80 investors who have invested in 49 companies over the last 5 years. As the only angel network that guarantees a response to founders within 4 weeks of application, 75% of the founder testimonials are from founders that 37 Angels ultimately chose not to fund. Their transparency and efficiency have been heralded as "a breath of fresh air" in the venture community. Though their primary focus is on female investors, the portfolio ultimately matches the pipeline: by activating these investors, they will organically invest in more women than the average angel network.

Angela, thank you so much for coming onto the show this week and sharing all the work you do. Thank you as well to all of you out there listening. See you next week!

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Hello, listeners! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Tech Forward. This week, I spoke with Omari Edwards. In addition to serving as a board member at leading technology proficiency non-profit Mouse and founding K-12 STEM enrichment program Technology for {You}th, Omari is also the founder of image-based analytics platform Beak. We discussed his different experiences as a black man at both Morehouse College and the University of Pennsylvania, and the unconventional journey of Beak from inception to present day.

Omari spoke highly of the mentors in his early life, both in his family and in school. These role models instilled in him the confidence to seek out schools he might not have otherwise considered. He attended historically black Morehouse College for his undergraduate studies, and UPenn for his M.S. in Systems Engineering. While he loved both schools, the largest difference between the two was a top tier but purely academic experience, versus a more holistic one. UPenn had all the benefits of an endowment in the billions — state of the art classroom tech and up-to-date facilities — but at Morehouse, "there was a different type of learning that went beyond the academic. Seeing the historical names of Black people on the campus buildings, as a minority, you knew you were standing on the shoulders of giants."

Omari got the idea for Beak while writing tracking software for an email marketing platform. This small, proprietary bit of code allows companies to track user activity online and show appropriate advertising. To Omari, the idea of being able to personally track his own emails was enticing, and so he released the first iteration of Beak with little fanfare. Much to his surprise, a few years later he discovered emails from large organizations who were using the platform in a way Omari hadn't anticipated: tracking internal company memos.

Beak, in its current form, is a SaaS platform that allows companies to track and analyze content they share online: images, emails, web posts, ads, and more. What sets Beak apart from other analytics platforms is that it is image-based, rather than Javascript based. Since many sites such as Craigslist don't allow Javascript, but do permit images, this gives Beak a competitive edge. Users select their tracker type and can get started in 3 steps or less. After collecting data, they can view analytics and download reports from Beak.

Between its inception and now, Beak has grown piecemeal but, as Omari says, "Every piece worked. Over time you develop a sense for what your users want." This unconventional journey happened in part because Omari insisted on bootstrapping the business so as not to diminish creative control. "We were able to make decisions that investors might have opposed, but which worked out long term. We knew we could make it to the point of self-sustainability."

Having witnessed firsthand the lack of racial and gender diversity in the STEM fields, Omari is also passionate about giving back to his community in the form of youth outreach. Through Technology for {You}th, he has created a curriculum for K-12 students to learn how to code. Currently, 7th and 8th grade students in the program are learning at a level that surpasses college equivalent Advanced Placement high school programs. "It's been an interesting ride, and we're in it for the long haul."

Omari, thank you so much for coming onto the show. I'm excited to see how Beak and all of your other ventures continue to grow, change, and serve their respective communities. Thank you also to all of my listeners for tuning in. See you next week!

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Hello and welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners. For those of you in the US, Happy 4th of July! I hope you enjoy the day off, whether you go out and get some sun or unwind with family and friends. Today, in light of the holiday, we're going to do something a little different. Instead of bringing on a special guest, I'm going to go over some of the highlights and common themes from the first 15 exciting episodes of the show.

We've covered a lot of ground since we launched nearly four months ago in mid March. Though our guests have come from a wide variety of backgrounds, career trajectories, and current roles, many of them have expressed similar struggles and insights about the tech world. Since we'll be digging into many of these themes further in upcoming episodes, let's recap.

• Allie Burns and Andreas Freund shared their thoughts on why the diversity problem exists, as well as some of the reasons why there is a persistent funding gap for underrepresented founders. Along those lines, Caroline Hofmann touched on why it benefits companies and society as a whole to solve that problem.
• Martha Hernandez discussed barriers to fundraising for women of color, and the need to find alternatives to the traditional fundraising process.
• We heard from Janet Wu about the importance of building a diverse team, and Angelica Coleman confidently debunked the pervasive myth of the "pipeline problem." Courtney Bass brought up the idea of culture "fit" versus culture "add" in diversity recruiting.
• In terms of the recruiting process itself, Stephanie Lampkin reminded us how prevalent our biases can be, to the point where even someone's name can influence hiring decisions.
• Finally, Lisa Cuesta, Hayley Leibson, and Jarrid Tingle all shared pertinent advice for anyone looking to enter the tech sector, regardless of position.

I'd like to thank all my guests so far for coming onto the show to share their stories, advice, and insights, as well as all of you who tune in every week. For my newer listeners, I do hope you'll go back and listen to some of the brilliant people who have been on the show so far. You can find past episodes featuring entrepreneurs, investors, tech industry leaders and diversity champions on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. Regular episodes resume next week, so see you then!

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Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I spoke with Damion Wright, Head of Talent Acceleration at Intuit, Inc. In this position, Damion works with his team to build out the strategy and delivery for Intuit's internship, new college graduate, and diversity programs for US Inside Sales. Damion first came to Intuit in a sales role, having 15 years of sales leadership experience, and moved organically into his current role, where he is highly involved in the growth and professional development of recent college graduates.

Known primarily for their financial software such as Quickbooks, Turbotax, and Mint, Intuit has been on the list of best companies to work for in the US for the past 16 years. Intuit also has a reputation for diversity and inclusion, having secured a spot on Fortune's "Best Workplaces for Diversity" in 2017. Damion and I discussed the strategies Intuit uses to attract and retain a diverse workforce, and how they've become leaders in inclusivity among the major tech companies.

Part of what sets Intuit apart is a conscious commitment to their core values, fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture. "We're a company of 8 thousand people who function like a family. Everyone accepts one another for who they are, there's no judgement. You can bring your whole self to work." In forming partnerships with organizations such as Girls Who Code and Code2040 (among others), Intuit targets those that have the best fit culturally. "We're always working to ensure that this is a relationship — not just a partnership."

The diversity in Intuit's workforce stems in part from the fact that their employee base mirrors their customer base, creating an unmatched synergy between company and customer. They also deliberately showcase diverse talent from within the company at diversity events. Not only does this highlight Intuit's commitment to diversity, it also creates a space for better dialogue. "We're able to relate, and to answer the tough questions that people might not ask of people who don't look like them. People want to be around people they can relate to."

Affinity groups are another factor in Intuit's success with retaining diverse talent. These employee networks — including the Mosaic group for those of African ancestry and the Pride network, among others — are open to anyone within the company. "It doesn't matter what part of the company you're in, you can connect with people all over the company through the affinity groups. [...] Every group is represented at each Intuit site. They put a lot of time and money in to ensure that these networks are supported."

Damion, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing these insights in to what makes Intuit a diversity leader in the tech sector. Thank you also to my listeners for tuning in this week. If you'd like to get a hold of Damion and learn more about Intuit's diversity programs, you can get in touch with him via LinkedIn. See you next week!

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Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! On this week's episode, I spoke with Lidiane Jones, the VP of SW Product Management at Sonos, a leading smart sound system company. For over 15 years, Lidiane has worked in product management for a wide variety of products related to consumer productivity, machine learning, and much more. Over the course of her career, she has gained a reputation for building diverse, dynamic, and high-performing teams. In her current role at Sonos, Lidiane leads her team as they work to improve customers' lives through great listening experiences. We discussed her career trajectory, and her advice to women looking for mentors and sponsors.

Even though she loved coding from a very young age, Lidiane's transition from tech-focused roles to her position as VP of product management was an organic one. Realizing that she spent much of her energy on the what and why of the products, considering everything from the angle of customer experience, Lidiane met with some product managers and loved the work. Now, she and her team create crisp, prioritized road maps for products that are grounded in the company's strategy and direction.

As a Latina woman in the tech sector, Lidiane has been deliberate in selecting professional environments where she could thrive while still being herself. It's easy to see why this career trajectory led her to Sonos, a nontraditional, product-driven, and highly inclusive tech company. The fact that she received a job offer from Sonos when she was 7 months pregnant signaled to Lidiane that this was a company aligned with her style and values. "It was very telling for me in terms of culture and environment. You can read a lot from those early interactions."

Environmental fit plays a role not only in personal success, but in building a support network of both peers and leaders. Lidiane's advice for early and mid-career women is to cultivate a broad mentorship network of people of all genders, career stages, and roles. "Earlier in my career, I was more conscious of being the only woman in the room. I had a male colleague with a similar working style to mine, but he was so much freer to share his ideas. I wondered why I was blocking myself, and then I started to take the leap to be more vocal in these discussions."

As far as finding these connections, Lidiane values organic and authentic connections that will last beyond a single job or role. "You can spot the people who are invested in your success. They're the ones who catch you before or after a meeting for a cup of coffee. People will see your strengths outside of a single meeting or project, and you'll find something of mutual interest as you get to know each other."

Lidiane, thank you so much for joining me on the show this week and sharing your keen insights into mentorship and sponsorship. To all of my listeners, thank you once again for tuning in to the show. See you next week!

Hello listeners! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Tech Forward. This week I spoke with Sage Salvo, artist, scholar, social entrepreneur, and founder of Words Liive, LLC. Named among the top 3 EdTech startups at the 2016 South by Southwest Education Conference, Words Liive is a 21st century education technology firm dedicated to eradicating illiteracy across the world — particularly in marginalized urban and rural districts. The Words Liive app, currently in beta, is a "platform as a service" (PaaS) technology which allows for the instantaneous development, discovery, and sharing of literacy-based lesson plans that integrate popular music.

Upon entering the teaching world as part of a PhD program, Sage noticed many of his students lacked necessary skills in business and communication. In an attempt to find the root of the problem, he began volunteering with local high schools and fell in love with the teaching process. At the same time, he saw how tying student performance to educator incentives left students at a critical disadvantage. Words Liive grew out of these experiences, and started out as a low-tech partnership between Sage and the teachers. Working closely together, they created lesson plans that gave students the chance to, in Sage's words, "perform their brilliance." Though they had success with these strategies, Sage knew it was necessary to pivot to the world of tech in order to scale.

Sage built the beta by working with a team of talented computer science and engineering majors at Harvard Innovation Labs, but chose to implement in the DC area. "There's a pervasive thought that you have to physically pack up and go where the investors are. That's a distraction. At the end of the day you need customers. That's why we came back to DC — for the relationships. It made more sense to iterate with customers than to relocate to a place where I might get a seed investment."

Currently focusing on literacy, the Words Liive algorithm matches concepts from songs with district-level and even individual classroom-level curriculum to generate a lesson plan. "Contemporary songwriters have evolved from Shakespeare, from T S Eliot and Edgar Allen Poe. They're using the same techniques." While the platform leans heavily towards hip-hop due to the genre's intense literary roots, it features extensive customization options. By polling students on their musical preferences at the classroom level, teachers can responsively repackage lessons as needed.

Moving forward, Sage plans to partner with educators on a statewide level for a larger rollout, and anticipates a complete product release to hit app stores in mid-2019. For all of you educators out there listening, you can participate in the ongoing beta here. Sage, thank you so much for the work you're doing, and for coming on the show. Thanks also to my listeners for tuning in. See you next week!

Hello and welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week I spoke with Jarrid Tingle, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Harlem Capital. An early-stage investment firm, Harlem Capital in on a mission to diversify the landscape of entrepreneurs receiving venture funding by supporting women and people of color. As stated in the Forbes feature, the ultimate goal is to fund 1000 founders from diverse backgrounds over the next 20 years. Jarrid and I discussed how they aim to attain that goal, the impetus behind Harlem Capital, and his advice for minority entrepreneurs seeking venture funding.

When Jarrid and his friends started angel investing as a side project, they quickly realized that only a small percentage of venture capital and angel funding went to women and entrepreneurs of color. They saw an opportunity to make a huge change in the industry by focusing on early stage investing, since many of the female and minority led businesses weren't in the asset class that larger firms targeted. Jarrid and his 3 co-founders made the bold and unapologetic decision to start their own firm, and thus Harlem Capital was born.

Harlem Capital is committed to transparency, measurable goals, and inspiring their peers to join their mission. "There's always a lot of competition in this field, but we're actually better off if more people start funds with similar missions to ours. We don't just want to take over the market, we also want to grow the pot." The clear, concise messaging of "1000 founders in the next 20 years" is part of that push, as well as an affirmation of long term engagement.

Jarrid has a wealth of advice to offer minority entrepreneurs in search of venture funding:

• Balance confidence and self awareness. It's important to display a high level of passion and confidence as a female or minority founder, but also to be aware of, and honest about, any weaknesses. "Don't get defensive. [Potential investors] are going to ask you a lot of questions. See this for what it is — interest, and a chance to improve — and not a personal attack."
• Build a well-rounded team. If you personally lack core competencies such as marketing, human resources, or analytics, seek out someone who fits that role.
• Know the process, know your numbers. Fundraising can take longer than many people anticipate, but proving your commitment by investing your own money provides a strong signal to investors. A high level of knowledge about both your own business and that of your competitors will also boost investor confidence.

Along with funding businesses where they can add value, Harlem Capital is creating a diversity portal via surveys on their site. This database of founders from diverse backgrounds will make it easier for women and founders of color to find investors dedicated to diversity. In addition to reducing friction in the process, this will also give the team a sense of the true landscape of diverse founders across the US.

Jarrid, thanks again for coming on the show! I can't wait to see where you and your team take Harlem Capital in the years to come. Thanks for tuning in, listeners, and see you next week!