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When Lawrence Phillips set out to create Green Book Global, he wanted a platform that would increase confidence and reduce anxiety for Black travelers. After working with Accenture for eight years, Phillips shared how he felt burned out and needed a mental health break filled with traveling. During the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference, the founder and CEO recalled his experience of traveling to over 30 countries across all seven continents, sparking his drive to create his travel review site. Haven’t gotten your ticket for AFROTECH™ Conference 2024 in Houston, TX? Click here. “It was really that in-depth travel experience as a Black traveler,” Phillips said during a panel titled “ Black and Well-Traveled: Centering Black Travelers Through Technology, Presented By Expedia Group.” “ I was going to certain places like, ‘Oh shoot, should I go here? I don’t really know.’ You ask that question, ‘Is it good for us ?’ I would go to blog here or there, and you might have one person say [something],...
Highlighting bias in artificial intelligence (AI) is essential, but equally important is educating people on ways to prevent it. In 2019, Salesforce established its Trusted AI Principles to address the ethical implications of predictive AI and machine learning. By 2023, with the rapid evolution of generative AI, Salesforce deepened its commitment to responsible AI by participating in the AFROTECH™ Conference, where it discussed strategies for prioritizing ethical and inclusive practices in generative AI. During the session, “ Closing The AI Trust Gap: Battling Bias | Presented by Salesforce,” Jackie Chambers de Freitas, Vice President of Agile Delivery and Coaching at Salesforce, shared how Salesforce’s focus on AI began in 2014, when CEO Marc Benioff declared that the company would become an AI-first company. Watch the session here via AFROTECH™ Labs. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH (@afro.tech) “The goal was to transform Salesforce into an intelligent...
Bias is often at the root of protracted issues in society. The insurance industry, for example, isn’t exempt from prejudicial attitudes. Salene Hitchcock-Gear, president of Prudential Individual Life Insurance at Prudential Financial, spoke on the history of exclusion in the 1940s and 1950s during the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference. “Way back when things were first getting started, there were a lot of exclusions on who could be covered for insurance — Black Americans were part of that exclusion,” Hitchcock-Gear said on the Learning Lab stage. “There was a lot of bias around the kind of data that we actually have to use to underwrite, i ncluding race and health. There was a lot of presumption about lifestyle. A lot of things that just did not really lend itself to treating people fairly.” Because insurance products can be critical for financial stability and creating wealth, she shared that Prudential Financial continues to try to modernize and use digital tools to increase access to...
In 2022, only an estimated 11.9% of Fortune 500 board seats were filled by Black board members, per Missing Pieces Report. The alarming statistic is part of why executives like Samuel Bright, vice president and general manager of Google Play plus the developer ecosystem at Google, actively push to advocate for diverse voices to be heard in the boardroom. During the fireside chat “ The Kaleidoscope Effect: Redefining Boardrooms” at the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference, Bright detailed his board service journey including joining TIAA’s board. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, the financial retirement services company is helmed by Thasunda Brown Duckett, who is one of two Black women CEOs to lead a Fortune 500 company. “I’m very fortunate that TIAA has had DEI ingrained in its DNA,” Bright told Kelly Buchanan Spillers, chief marketing officer of Infor at the time, during the fireside chat. “It is when I was joining the board I was joining a diverse board. Also, there’s a very diverse...
Many of the top successful founders all share something in common: sacrifice. Whether it’s sacrificing time, energy, or something else. For Calendly Founder and CEO Tope Awotona, he put his earnings on the line. As previously shared by AFROTECH ™, Awotona drained his bank account and 401(k) to build his scheduling company from the ground up. What’s more, he faced countless rejections along the way when seeking venture capital but kept pushing ahead. “Being a foreigner really helped,” the Lagos, Nigeria, native said, according to Inc . “I grew up in a country where 99 percent of the people looked like me, so race wasn’t something I consciously thought about. It’s good to have that mentality. You can dwell on all the reasons you shouldn’t do something or why it’s harder for you. Or you can just go out and do it.” The hustle and grind led to multi-million-dollar investments, which transformed Calendly into a billion-dollar company. For founders seeking to reach success like Awotona’s...
The journey of building a carbon negative future is going to require all hands on deck. Lisa Dyson, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Air Protein, fully joined in on the mission before she founded her startup. The idea was initially sparked when the scientist visited New Orleans, LA, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “As a scientist, I was thinking about climate science and how climate scientists have been telling us that we’re going to have these weather events that are going to be more intense and more frequent,” Dr. Dyson recalled at the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference in conversation with James White, executive chair of Air Protein and former CEO of Jamba Juice. “And just seeing how that impacted people’s lives, it caused me to want to see how I could be a part of creating a different future, a different reality, and join the many people that are out there, and started working on climate solutions.” Purchase your ticket to AFROTECH™ Conference now! During the fireside chat, Dyson shared how...
For nearly 30 years, Robert F. Smith’s Vista Equity Partners has invested in enterprise software companies. As AFROTECH™ previously reported , in August 2023, Smith announced that the global investment firm had reached over $100 billion in assets under management. “Since Vista was founded over two decades ago, we’ve expanded to 650+ team members operating around the world, built a comprehensive library of enterprise software best practices and much more,” Smith shared in a LinkedIn post at the time. “We’ve also been committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, creating opportunities for individuals who have traditionally been underrepresented.” As a leader championing underrepresented technologists and tech entrepreneurs, Smith was among the speakers at AFROTECH ™ Conference 2023. Joined by Base10 Partners Co-Founder and Managing Partner Adeyemi Ajao, the two founders led the panel titled “ Powering Forward: Creating A Shared Digital Future.” During the...
The AFROTECH ™ community continues to push the mission and discussion of inclusivity in the tech space. As we gear up for AFROTECH™ Conference 2024, let’s dive into a session of the past. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH™ Conference (@afrotech.conference) On the Executive Stage at the 2023 AFROTECH ™ Conference, Kapor Capital’s founding partners Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor were part of the panel “Closing The Equity Gap: C reating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing” — titled after their book, released in March 2023. Alphonzo Terrell, co-founder and CEO of social media platform Spill, moderated the panel, addressing equity gaps in the startup landscape and how to build a more inclusive future. Klein and Kapor shared that the company has invested more than $106 million into over 170 companies, 62% of which are women-led or underrepresented founders , according to their website . In addition, Kapor Capital has achieved an internal rate of...
As technology continues to evolve, it creates new avenues for industries to grow along with it. While controversy surrounds tech being used in music, such as AI-generated songs, it also creates a positive impact for musicians. Among the panels at the 2023 AFROTECH ™ Conference was “From Beats to Bytes: The Convergence of Music and Tech,” moderated by Marc Byers, the former general manager of Motown Records and founder of Protect The Culture. During the panel discussion, Nigerian producer and singer Pheelz and Ghanaian-born songwriter and artist Lord Afrixana discussed the pros and cons of merging technology and music. Pheelz expressed how tech has made the world “small” but also put artists on a “global stage.” For him, this exposure allowed him to watch his hit record “Finesse” blow up in real time via the power of tech and social media , specifically. “I was just at home in a place called Gbagada in Lagos making the song in my room, and I just posted a video with my friend, and...
‘Tis the season for AFROTECH™ Conference 2024! This year, the highly anticipated annual event for Black techies will be touching down in Houston, TX, from Nov. 13-16. The new stages announced are as follows: Cybersecurity Stage On the Cybersecurity Stage, speakers will discuss topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), security, and governance. AI Stage View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH™ Conference (@afrotech.conference) As AI continues to be one of the biggest trending topics in technology, the stage discussions will focus on quantum AI and automation, ethical AI, and regulation across job sectors. Data & Engineering Stage The Data & Engineering Stage is set to provide insight into career development for software engineers, data scientists, product managers, and others. AI Hackathon Speaking of AI, AFROTECH™ is calling on all diverse developers, coders, builders, hackers, and technologists for an upcoming...
Amid the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump is singing a different tune regarding a certain technology. On July 27, 2024, the former president stated during the Bitcoin Conference hosted in Nashville, TN, that he is set on transforming the U.S. into a “Bitcoin superpower,” The New York Times reports. “I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world,” Trump said, per the outlet. He continued, “…America will once again be a nation that protects property rights, privacy, freedom of transaction, freedom of association, and freedom of speech.” At the conference, Trump also claimed that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are part of “an anti-crypto crusade.” Moreover, he promised the conference’s attendees that he would end the “persecution” of cryptocurrencies. “Sadly, we see the attacks on crypto,” he said. “It’s a part of a much larger pattern that’s being carried out by the...
The Israeli government reportedly commissioned a campaign in 2023 that included social media accounts targeting Black U.S. lawmakers. The New York Times reported that, in October 2023, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs paid $2 million to Stoic, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based political marketing firm, to push pro-Israel content on social media at a time when many Americans were concerned for Palestinian civilians during the war in Gaza. The outlet details that Stoic created fake accounts in support of Israel across X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram that focused on over a dozen majority Black and Democrat U.S. lawmakers, including Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. ChatGPT was mainly used to create the fake accounts’ posts, which asked for the politicians to fund Israel’s military, per the outlet. In addition to fake social media accounts, Stoic reportedly created fake websites and articles. In May 2024, NBC News reported...
This Black women-founded company has accepted an acquisition deal four years after its founding. Clutch, a digital marketing marketplace co-founded by Madison Long and Simone May that connects creators to businesses looking for content creation, was acquired by Plaiced, a self-serve platform for advertisers, TechCrunch reports. “The creator economy is growing rapidly, we knew to remain competitive and really be able to take over market share, an acquisition would be the strongest next step,” Long explained, according to TechCrunch. The outlet details that when Long met Plaiced CEO Kaaveh Shoamanesh in May 2024, the idea of his company acquiring Clutch started brewing. Multiple factors came into play to sign off on the deal: Long was on her own, helming Clutch after May’s departure in June 2023, and trying to keep up with the times of the creator industry with generative AI coming into play, TechCrunch reported. So, joining forces with Plaiced was the right fit for Long. “The...
Many people first came to know Keke Palmer as the pre-teen spelling whiz in “Akeelah and the Bee” in 2006. A few months before the drama film’s release, “Madea’s Family Reunion” began showing in theaters. Directed, written, and produced by Tyler Perry, at age 11, Palmer played the role of Nikki, a young girl who became Madea’s foster daughter. Nearly two decades after “Madea’s Family Reunion” was released, Palmer is continuing to show gratitude to Perry for the acting gig. While the media mogul was a guest on the longtime actress’ podcast, “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer,” she recalled the movie set and cast feeling like a family. “Everybody felt like my aunties and uncles and cousins and just family and friends,” Palmer expressed to Perry. “That was a great experience.” Palmer also recalled how Perry went above and beyond when it came to the check she received from the film. “That was the first time that I have ever been in a movie, and it introduced this for me in business,” Palmer...
Da’Vinchi, 28, has been on quite a roll in Hollywood. From shows like “Grown-ish” to “All American,” the Haitian-American actor has been stacking roles. However, Da’Vinchi’s starring role and portrayal as Terry “Southwest T” Flenory on 50 Cent’s “BMF” (or “BMF: Black Mafia Family”) on Starz is his biggest gig to date. Although Da’Vinchi, born Abraham D. Juste, has made a name for himself in the acting world, he is transparent about coming from humble beginnings. In an interview on REVOLT’s “The Blackprint,” the Brooklyn, NY, native was open about the way he grew up. “I grew up in poverty,” Da’Vinchi told host and REVOLT CEO Detavio Samuels. “A very normal situation that most of us grow up in, but of course while you’re in it you don’t really know it because everyone else is like that around [you] until you switch environments. And then, you start realizing the depths of the lack that you were in.” He added, “The poverty that I faced was you don’t have all the meals throughout the...