The Melanin Unicorn Podcast
Welcome to the Melanin Unicorn podcast. A new dynamic and thought-provoking show that will take us all on a journey of exploration, inspiration, and enlightenment. I am dedicated to celebrating Black women's power, resilience, and unapologetic brilliance.
The Melanin Unicorn Podcast
Tech's Hidden Powerhouses: How Black Women Are Creating Their Own Tables
When less than 3% of the tech workforce looks like us, every Black woman in technology is both a pioneer and a revolution. Though Silicon Valley wasn't built with us in mind, we're transforming it through sheer brilliance, determination, and a perspective that cannot be replicated.
This episode celebrates the Black women changing the face of technology—from coding to user experience design, from data science to startup leadership. We spotlight trailblazers like Kimberly Bryant of Black Girls Code who created vital pipelines for our future innovators, and Dr. Timnit Gebru whose ethical stand against AI bias shook an industry giant. These women exemplify why many of us are creating our own spaces rather than trying to fit where we were never meant to belong.
The journey into tech often begins with self-teaching, boot camps, or career transitions—all while juggling full-time jobs and family responsibilities. Yet what sets Black women apart isn't just our resilience but our approach: we create products with overlooked communities in mind, designing for financial literacy, health equity, and social justice. This human-centered approach makes our contributions not just valuable but essential to an industry that desperately needs our perspective.
Finding community is crucial for thriving in tech spaces. Whether through mentorship relationships with other Black women, tech collectives on platforms like Meetup and LinkedIn, or conferences like Afrotech and the Black Women in Data Summit, these connections provide the support needed to navigate challenges unique to our experience. When we show up for each other, the momentum only grows stronger.
Ready to disrupt the tech landscape? Remember that your voice, your ideas, and your innovations belong in this industry. Share your tech journey with us on Instagram @TheMelaninUnicornPodcast—we're here to celebrate and support your path forward. Because when Black women lead in tech, we don't just code—we transform.
hey, hey, hey, tribe, and welcome back to the melanin unicorn podcast. You know the podcast where I amplify the stories, the voices and the power of black women that are redefining every industry that they find themselves in, one innovation at a time. I'm your host, kerry, and today's episode is dedicated to the dreamers, the coders and the tech bosses, and our episode title is Black Women in Tech. From Silicon Valley to startups, from data science to design thinking, are making the most undeniable moves in a field that wasn't built with us or for us. And yet here we are disrupting, innovating and leading. Check that. Now let's start the show. You know, tech is a field that has never been welcoming to us, and the fact that Black women make up less than 3% of the tech workforce in the US. Do get in. We change the game, but it is not without its challenges. Right, we do change the game and let's be even more clear and transparent. More clear and transparent anything that Black women put their hands to turns into something incredibly brilliant, and that is a fact. That is a fact. So you know, for Black Girls Code, it was created by a fellow queen named Kimberly Bryant, and she her thought process was creating that pipeline for the next generation of coders. Now I won't get into what went down. Unfortunately, it up on Harriet Tubman's internet. Okay, because we're just talking about our fellow sisters' brilliance and foresight in creating Black Girls Code.
Speaker 1:And then you have Dr Temnick Gebru, and please forgive me if I have butchered your name. She is a pioneer researcher in AI ethics and the thing with this queen, our fellow queen, is that she had the courage to challenge the biggest players in the industry on bias and accountability when they wanted her to roll over and not tell the truth. She would not. She would not. She spoke about again the dangers of AI. And don't get me wrong, there are some positive things about AI, right, but Dr Gibru, who understands the AI ethics, put out that warning because, you see, google wanted her to retract what she said. They wanted her to act like she didn't see any of the challenges that was going on. Her group that was in Google working on the AI. She saw the different things that were not correct and so, because she refused to retract and because of the team that she worked with would not retract as well, google fired her. Google fired her and those lying buzzards said she resigned, which she did not, and I do believe that she sued them and I am almost certain that she won her lawsuit, her case against them, but I'm not 100% sure, but nevertheless, but nevertheless, she told them exactly what they did not want to hear.
Speaker 1:And again, I talk about the mediocrity, the fragility with white men, and the CEO of Google is Indian, and so I don't need to even go into that, because you already know what I did not say, you already know what it is, you already know what the answer is, and so I say all that to say this is why we, as Black women, are doing our own thing, why we. This is why we are creating our own things, and the proof is in the pudding, because, if you look at the many, many Black startups, black owned startups and black owned companies that are being created and rolled out, they are headed by black women. They are headed by Black women because we understand that we are not trying to fit in to a culture that is so beneath us. So beneath us, their intellect is not on par with ours. So, of course, we outpace, we outdo, we are creative, we are doing all of the things. So, of course, when we go into their spaces, they want to suppress and quiet our voices and they want to steal from us. But I say this, and I'm going to end this section of our talking point Stop trying to fit in into a place that you were never supposed to fit in, to. Stop trying to put a circle into a square Just stop. You are uniquely created, you are uniquely gifted, and so it is time for you especially my sisters in tech it is time for you to step out and do your own thing.
Speaker 1:And what is that being innovators? For many black women wanting to enter into tech, it always begins with a thought, then it turns into a belief, then we have to have the faith that we can indeed do it, and then it becomes a resilience for us. So maybe you're thinking about switching careers, or you've been self-teaching yourself through YouTube or Coursera or Coursera, coursera, or you have decided to enroll in a boot camp. Maybe many of you are already working a full-time job and you have families. You may be married or not have children, so we are working twice as hard, and let us understand this that it is not easy and it often goes without recognition, but I'm here to tell you and encourage you to still do it If this is what you want to do, if this is your heart's desire.
Speaker 1:Now, for many, many people, for many women Black women sometimes it's a financial thing. So you look at the cost of boot camps and you're just like, okay, learn coding. Or they go into the Coursera course, they look up the courses through that platform and, again, there is nothing wrong with doing that, because one thing about us Black women when we want to do something, nothing will stop us. But what I do want to caution you with, because this is sometimes we, as Black women, we get caught up in this. We do all of this research, research, research, looking, looking, writing stuff down, but we don't make a move to actually begin to learn. So what I have done is that I will look up something that I'm interested in doing and I will not spend a lot of time going through all of the research and reading up on everything, because what it does is it causes us to procrastinate, and procrastination, believe it or not, is fear.
Speaker 1:So if you want to get into tech, do it, just do it and I take myself as an example, right. You know, wanting to transition into the user experience design space was not an easy thing, right. I did manage to find a boot camp that was not pricey at all and it could have just been because it was during COVID the course, and the boot camp was okay. Honestly, it wasn't the greatest, but I took what I learned from them and from there, and then I looked up other things because I knew that there was just there was still just like a gap, because what people don't realize is that these boot camps, a lot of these boot camps, depending on what it is. So let me just say that it is more of a foundational principle than anything else.
Speaker 1:So, when you need to do like real world stuff, a lot of times the bootcamp does not prepare you for that. but there are organizations out there who are looking for people to help them in those different areas, whether it's UX or whether it's coding and no, it's often not paid work, but what it is, is something that you can add into your portfolio piece, because a lot of times. You know people create their portfolios, but it's just full of make-believe projects. But when you're applying for jobs, depending on okay, you know the person that's looking at your portfolio they want to make sure that these are real-world projects and how you were able to solve whatever the problem was the client had. So that's just. I just want to put that out there, okay, and I'm also learning how to code websites, but using platforms, you know, like Squarespace and Spotify. Right, because you can change the codes in platforms like that, you can easily go into the back end and change the code of those websites.
Speaker 1:And you know what? My story isn't a solo story. I'm not an anomaly are many black women who are learning these things, and you know tech is what they want to get into. Tech is their jam, okay, so I just want to let you know that you have the vision. I know you do, but we also know that that isn't enough. We need the access, we need mentorship and we need equity, and so that is my homework for you to begin to look for those things you can get on groups like Meetup, right? Well, you go to the platform Meetup, I'm sorry. So you go to the platform Meetup and wherever you live. You can type in your city and your state and then you look for groups that are catering and are made specifically for Black women looking to get into tech Okay, and sometimes you may not find a solo Black women group on the platform meetup, right.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it just may be Black people in tech. That is still a group that you can join and so you get in and you see if, yeah, this is what I was looking for. Looking for like access, looking to learn, do they have workshops? Right? Looking for mentorships and getting equity. Now let me just say a little thing on mentorship, okay, because I've seen some crazy stuff with people wanting a mentor and I've also seen, like, mentors be put off about how they are approached. So, again, do your research. If you are looking for, if you have your eyes on a specific person that you would like to receive mentorship from, please do your research and don't pounce on these women, these women, because you, you, you like, throw, you throw people off and you scare them, right. So there are plenty of black women who do want to mentor. They want to mentor other black women, but there's also a correct way to reach out to someone reach out to your fellow sister about mentorship. So just be smart about that, okay, be smart, be discerning, because you don't want to scare off a person that you are looking at to be a mentor for you.
Speaker 1:We, as Black women, we bring more than just our enormous talent, community building and creativity in ways that shape more inclusive and innovative products. We are the ones that are designing the apps that serve our overlooked communities, our overlooked communities. We are building the platforms for financial literacy, health, equity and social justice, because we code with culture in mind, and that's not just tech. Right, that is transformation. When Black women lead, perform better, and why is that? Because we have total understanding of what is going on, what the problem is and how to solve it. We make products that are more human centered. That is our gift. That is our gift.
Speaker 1:And the problem is with these companies that oftentimes Black women are trying to get into. They don't understand any of that. They don't understand it and they don't know it. So, when Black women go into these all-white spaces and they are using their voices to say this is not it, this is not going to work, you know, when they're trying to develop products and things like that, they are met with hostility because they think they know and they do not know. They don't know because they're on the outside. We know because we're on the inside, and so I know that at one time there was a big, big push. You many, many of our people got in there and then they realized that this was not what they thought it was, because you have to understand that those big tech companies do not have people that work there, that know what they're doing. Many of them are in those companies and in those positions because of who they know, not what they know. It is because of who they know, and this is why we are all witnessing in real time the total collapse of these tech giants, because it is nepotism. So when you are trying to get into these companies and I'm talking about my black sisters when you're trying to get into these companies, this is what you're up against. You are not up against and working with or for people who know what they're doing, because they do not, because they do not.
Speaker 1:And so oftentimes, if you see the stories, if you read the stories, you see how our sisters have been burnt out, because this is what they are faced with day in and day out and why we see our sisters collectively resigning in mass. Now, I also know the current time and this demonic administration have been targeting black women as well. Right, but I also know that God created a plan. He has already created a plan. A plan, he has already created a plan and that is why so many of our fellow sisters are flourishing. Yes, it's scary when you are suddenly laid off again due to this demonic administration, but I am telling you what I know, and I can only tell you because I have experienced things and God has always made a way for me. He always had the next thing waiting for me, just like he has the next thing waiting for me, just like he has the next thing waiting for you.
Speaker 1:And so when you say, oh, I want to get into tech, that is the Lord leading you into tech, because he has great plans for you in that arena, has great plans for you in that arena. That's why we know all of the things, because God has implanted and poured into us the things that nobody else outside of our culture knows. That's why the attacks that many of you who are in tech right now have experienced or are experiencing because they know that you know or are experiencing, because they know that you know. So God has, wherever you are right now and I'm talking about my sisters who are already in those spaces and places Just know this it is all preparation. Understand that it is all preparation because God is doing and setting up things just for us to go into and to dominate. So be of good cheer and be of good courage, have faith and believe, because God is leading you. And again, for my sisters who want to get into tech, and you have that thought that you feel like, oh, it just came out of nowhere. No, no, no, no, no, that was God planting the seed into your soil. So get ready and let me tell you something God will lead you into how and who to learn with. So do not worry, and because I want you to remember this, we are all made for this because God has given us the blueprint to do it. So let's talk about moving forward and where do you want to go from here?
Speaker 1:Okay, so we touched on mentorship a little earlier, and so mentorship really does matter, and I know, and I know Black women have said that they have been mentored by, you know, white men, and they've been mentored by white women and they said that they have great mentorship relationships with them. And I'm not taking anything away from you, you know, because they have been serving that mentorship role and purpose in your life. So, you know, I'm not, you know, talking about that. I'm talking about mentorship where Black women are helping other Black women grow in the tech spaces, because it's not just oh, you know, it's so nice to have a Black woman mentor me. No, it's necessary. It is necessary, you know you, you want to know that, whomever you're sitting across from, who looks like you, whether to grow in tech.
Speaker 1:And also, our next thing is how representation fuels aspiration, because, remember, it can never only just be about you. You have to look at the generation that is going to be coming after you. Okay, when we do things, it should never be that okay, it's just me, it's for me and no one else. No, no, when you are doing these things, you must always look and remember the generation that is coming up after you. Our little black girls see tech founders that look like them. It opens up new worlds for them and then they see that they can do anything. They see that they can do anything and that they are not just limited to doing the things that they see in their families or in their environments.
Speaker 1:The need for safe spaces is key and a necessity, and it is the lifeblood tech collectives, whether you join groups on Meetup or LinkedIn or Slack groups. We need the community to thrive, because we are not an island all by ourselves. We need the community to grow, to learn, to create, to build for the next generation that is coming up after us. Again, it's never about just you. And now we have these Black Tech conferences right that are just springing up everywhere, and I love to see it.
Speaker 1:So let me tell you, let me give you a few, that I found that's happening this year. So you have Afrotech, which will be happening in Houston, texas, from October 27th through the 31st. You have the BFUTR Global Tech Summit, which is held in Toronto, canada, on November 6th through the 7th. November 6th through the 7th. You have BattyCon, which is August 7th through the 9th, but at the time I couldn't find the location. They just had to be announced. Then you have Black Is Tech Week, that is, august 11th through the 16th, held in downtown Houston, texas. Then you have the Black Data Processing Associates Conference, august 13th through the 17th, held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, georgia. Then you have Black Women in Data Summit, september 12th through the 14th, held at the La Meridian Atlanta Perimeter in Atlanta, georgia. And then you have GovTechCon 2025, held September 11th through the 13th at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Forest Heights, maryland. These were just a few that I found In Forest Heights, maryland. These were just a few that I found, and so my thing to you is we need to keep showing up, we need to keep speaking up and we need to keep lifting each other up, because those conferences that I just talked about is important, because our black tech conferences are only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it's going to be spread out, and so when we are showing up for these conferences, then you'll have people in other states, other countries, and it's just going to keep going, and so that's what we're doing, right. We are spreading out and the momentum is only going to keep growing.
Speaker 1:To my fellow sisters that are in tech whether you are a coder, a strategist, a designer, a founder, a mentor I want to say thank you and I am so grateful for you, am so grateful for you. You are not way and you feel like there are sisters who are looking to enter into tech and sisters who are already in tech, please share this episode with them. You can follow me on Instagram at the Melanin Unicorn Podcast. I would love to hear from you, whether it be a DM, if you feel so inclined, or in the comments, where you are going into tech. Or you are already in tech, into tech, or you are already in tech. Drop it in the comments. Let us cheer you on. And if you have resources for those who are looking to get into tech, please share with your sisters. With your sisters. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe, because this podcast will help our other sisters find us.
Speaker 1:I also wanted to bring up a podcast that I have followed for many years. It wasn't by a woman, it was by a brother. His name is Maurice Cherry. I'm pretty sure many of you have heard of him. His podcast is called Revision Path is called Revision Path and after many years of spotlighting Black men and Black women in all types of design fields tech, animators, data scientists he ended the podcast last year, march 11, 2024. He said his goodbye, he signed off. Go back, look him up on Spotify, apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform that you currently stream from I'm pretty sure he's on the other ones.
Speaker 1:Don't quote me, though. Such an incredible podcast, because it really opened up my eyes, and so many other encouraging and just an innovative podcast. So, if you get the chance, it is called the Revision Path and it is by Maurice Cherry, and it is by Maurice Cherry. I want you to know that you are not here by accident and that you belong in tech, no matter what anybody says. No matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody thinks. If you want to be in tech, I'm telling you you belong there. Now I want you to have the most incredible, amazing and innovative day, because that is the day that you deserve. I love you and, until our next episode, take care of yourselves. Bye.
