Tech Wrap Queen

The South London raised Eddie Opara jokingly admits he should be a Chelsea Futbol Club supporter but actually roots for Tottenham who's motto "To Dare is to Do" has become a way of his design life. Eddie is one of 25 Partners at the world-renowned design firm Pentagram which has created some legendary and popular pieces of work including most recently, Saturday Night Lives opening title sequence.  

After this wrap session, be sure to check out the Pentagram episode Eddie mentions on Abstract: The Art of Design, featuring partner Paula Scher. 

Immediately upon meeting, speaking, and hearing Love Beach you cannot help but fall in love with first, her name of course, but also the person. 

As the VP of Brand at Blavity, Inc.,  the largest network of platforms, experiential, and lifestyle brands serving the multifaceted lives of Black millennials,  Love is responsible for brand management and leads the creative & digital production teams. 

In this episode Love shares her very personal candid stories of navigating life & her career paths,  finding success being an executive of strategy, and how Blavity, as well as herself, are both thriving during the pandemic.  

In this special edition of Tech Wrap Queen, the recent viral sensation, Ashkia Trujillo aka Self Made Warrior,  takes us on a journey through Native American & Indigenous Tradition, Heritage, and Culture. A video shot by PhotoJournalist Sharon Chischilly, of him dancing on a downtown street in Alburgque, New Mexico after elections results were announced, has been viewed over 5million times.  

In the midst of the celebration, with cars bumper to bumper and honking horns, Ashkia jumped out of his vehicle with a Red Chicago's Bulls hat in hand and danced a Men's Northern Traditional Pow Wow dance and won the hearts of a global community. 

This month is Native American Heritage Month and this episode is rich in culture, emotions, and much learnings.  For All. 

Mike Nicholls- Founder, Creative Director, Designer, Graphic Artist, Editor in Chief & Mastermind behind  UMBER MAGAZINE magazine drops life and career gems as he shares his personal & professional journey from the East Coast to the West Coast while schooling the Royal Court on the importance and beauty of Print Media. 

A staple of the Oakland Black creative community and beyond, @thisisumber visually tells the stories & captures vivid imagery of the Black diaspora in music, design,  culture, movement, and more.  If you have ever felt, read or just flipped through an Umber Magazine, you know that you are experiencing a unique piece of print media.  If you haven't yet, you will want one after listening to Mike's energy, laugh, and passion for his craft. 

LISTEN. If you are a UX Researcher, Designer, AI enthusiast, heck if you just want to hear from a Powerhouse Black Woman in these UX, HCI, Design streets from the South Side Chicago,  you definitely want to tune in to this Energy, Knowledge and Real Talk packed Wrap Session with Principal Creative Director Ovetta Sampson. 

We talk Design Research, how knowing what NOT to design is important, her career journey to the world-renowned design firm & genesis of design thinking IDEO to a Design Leader at Microsoft and the importance of supporting each other as Black Women in Design Research. 

All of this built on Ovetta's mission which she shares- to WIDEN THE NARRATIVE.

In this wrap session, Sabry Tozin takes us through the pressures he encountered during college to the pressures & successes of being a Black Silicon Valley Executive.  He drops gems on life and career lessons learned from having a different perspective on failure,  shares insights on leadership,  Jordans,  and makes us laugh reminiscing about throwback video games like the classics Command & Conquer and Galaga. 

Get ready to be Inspired

KAI FRAZIER Founder and CEO of KAI XR, a VR EdTech company, takes us on an incredible candid personal journey from her days in DC working with several museums such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, all the way to the tech streets of Oakland where she is now building the most inclusive and accessible, educational VR platform where kids can explore, dream, & create.

KAI has created VR experiences with the Obama Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery to Jennifer Doudna at UC BERKELEY, one of the scientists responsible for the scientific breakthrough CRISPR which was recently awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

So many Gems in this Wrap Session. Enjoy. 

In this energy-packed inaugural episode of Tech Wrap Queen,  Renee "The Queen" Reid introduces listeners to the journey they will be on as she prepares to take them through the soon to be released Episodes of Season 1 of Tech Wrap Queen; wrap sessions on the intersecting worlds of Tech, Design & Culture.