05. Where Are The Black Girls In Tech?

WOKELAND

When we found out that only 3% of Black women occupy the tech space, we were both astonished and saddened by the statistic. So we kept digging. Turns out, that not only do they only account for 3% of tech roles but those numbers are on the decline. In fact, the amount of Black women in tech is 13% less than it was 10 years ago. Yes, you read that right! But why is that? We needed to know, so we went out to find the factors that were contributing to this. Enter Tamisha Monet and Zakiya Harris: two Black women from deep East Oakland who are killin' it in tech. Tamisha taught herself to code at the age of 10 (inspired by Lil Bow Wow, listen to the episode to find out why) and has since went on to found several different businesses in STEM, marketing, and real estate. Zakiya is the co-founder of Hack The Hood, a non-profit serving underrepresented black & brown youth and introducing them to tech through 6-week boot camps, as well as an independent artist known as Sh8peshifter. They share their personal stories with us as well as the adversities they and many other Black women face in life and career.