Tech Forward

Hello listeners, and welcome to another exciting episode of Tech Forward! This week, we're rebroadcasting my covnersation with award-winning comedian Ana-Marija Stojic. Over the last several years, she’s participated in numerous comedy competitions, and been featured in the NBC Showcase at the Women in Comedy Festival Boston 2018. She was also a recipient of Netflix's 2018 Diversity of Voices fellowship at the Banff World Media Festival. On her latest project, “Artificial, the Podcast,” Ana-Marija will be joined by a unique co-host: a functioning AI chatbot. Today, we’ll be talking about her plans for the show, what it’s like to co-host with a chat bot, and some of the important topics they plan to tackle together. A self-described nerd, Ana-Marija has always been fascinated by the idea of collaborating with artificial intelligence. In recounting the inspiration behind the show, she touches on the story of a  chess tournament that paired humans with robots. Rather than the “top” performers of each category, the winning duo consisted of a human and a robot who worked well together. “I’ve used this approach when working with anyone, human or AI. The success of a collaboration is based on the least amount of friction.” Together on the show, Ana-Marija and her co-host will tackle politics and the human paranoia towards artificial intelligence, all through a lens of comedic absurdity. So what makes this format a good fit to uniquely and effectively address such important topics? According to Ana-Marija, the answer lies in the powerful combination of comedy and imagination. “Comedy is the best way to get people’s guards down and get them thinking about alternatives, really challenging their beliefs. ...Suddenly, anything is possible. Everything is based on the limits of our imagination. If you can expand someone’s imagination, you can change the world.” Currently, she sees her target audience as a mix of comedy lovers and AI enthusiasts, and hopes to someday evolve the podcast into a fully produced talk show. While the process of crowdfunding to get the show started was a stressful one, Ana-Marija came away from the experience with valuable feedback from potential investors involved in the AI community. The proof of concept video, which she shot just days after our interview, was a key missing piece that has since played a role in moving the project forward. Ana-Marija has also been quick to adapt the project over time, and incorporate new information in the show’s evolution. She realized fairly early on that the campaign’s success could not be accurately measured by the amount of money raised, and shifted her focus to engagement with the idea and the content around it. Ana-Marija, thank you so much for coming onto the show to share your fascinating project with our listeners. I can’t wait to see where this podcast takes you and your co-host. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, we're rebroadcasting my conversation with Aishwarya Balaji, Founder and CEO of Impact Chain Lab. By using blockchain technology, Impact Chain Lab is focused on building equitable communities around the globe. Aishwarya became interested in the disruptive power of blockchain in her previous roles as a consultant and leader at Build Academy, and now identifies ways to apply this technology to create solutions in the global development landscape. On this episode, we discussed her entrepreneurial journey, and the various ways Impact Chain Lab uses blockchain technology to drive positive social impact. As someone who knew from a young age that she wanted to go into business, Aishwarya’s entrepreneurial spirit is imbued with her natural curiosity and affinity for calculated risks. Her role as employee #1 at Build Academy gave her real time insights into the process of building a company from the ground up. That, combined with her firsthand experience in the venture capital and angel investing sphere, played a significant role in the creation of Impact Chain Lab. Aishwarya noticed that while support for impact investing has been growing, that increased interest has so far not been reflected in the flow of capital. With Impact Chain Lab, Aishwarya wants to use blockchain to funnel funds to social enterprises in a meaningful way. Impact Chain Lab’s main focus right now is a project called Bystander, which Aishwarya summarizes as “a cross between Reddit and Wikipedia.” Bystander allows users to retain and to benefit from the digital assets that they create — a power that users of the largest crowdsourced platforms generally lose the moment they hit “submit.” Users on Bystander can share and discuss information around a variety of topics, and when the community decides that information is valuable to them, individual users are rewarded for collecting and sharing high integrity, reliable data. “On our platform, the people producing the data are also the people consuming it.” Currently, the team at Impact Chain Lab is more than 50% female — which Aishwarya says was an intentional choice. “I’d like to keep building a team that is very diverse in all ways. In building any company, and especially a consumer facing one, it’s critical to have people on the team who represent the people you want using the platform. I want to make sure that we do that.” Her advice to other entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their team is to hire slowly. “Bring in people who are aligned with your business goals as well as your personal mottos and morals.” Aishwarya, thank you so much for joining me on the show to talk about your work with Impact Chain Lab and some of the exciting potential of blockchain technology. Thank you as always to our listeners for sharing and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! For this week's rebroadcast, we're featuring my conversation with Leslie Jump, founder and CEO at DifferentFunds, which is the first platform designed and built for investing in venture funds. Leslie has spent the bulk of her career building, advising, and investing in new companies, both in the US and worldwide. Most recently, she served as a Partner in Sawari Ventures, LLC, a Cairo-based early stage venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs across the Middle East and North Africa. Today, Leslie will share her inspiration for launching DifferentFunds, and how she’s helping a diverse network of more than 800 funds access the resources they need to support entrepreneurs globally. DifferentFunds began as Startup Angels in 2013, with the initial goal to match angel investors with startup investment opportunities. Eventually, however, Leslie and her team realized something critical: venture capital has a math problem. While the vast majority of venture funds have a median size of $60 million, most investors don’t consider funds under $100 million. What was really needed was a product that would allow the two sides of the marketplace to interact and transact with each other. On the DifferentFunds platform, qualified individuals and institutions can find, research, and invest in venture capital funds. The platform has a database of 900 highly diverse US-based firms, investing in everything from AI, to blockchain, to robotics, and more. In Leslie’s words, “Our job isn’t trying to guess who’s going to be the top of the top performers. We’re not trying to find the needle in the haystack that is the “best possible” fund. We’re building the haystack.” The diversity on DifferentFunds is also reflected in the makeup of the funds themselves: 65% of the funds have a woman, a person of color, or both at the helm. Rather than a unique outlier, Leslie asserts that the diversity is a reflection of reality, and the fact that, both in the US and globally, society is shifting towards true multiculturalism. With multiple studies showing that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams, performance is a key benefit to highlight to the limited partners. “You want your investment to be high performance? This is how. These folks have a propensity to outperform others, they see opportunity where others might not. They are dialed in.” Venture capital is a young industry, which has historically relied on pattern matching in lieu of true business intelligence. Leslie and her team are aware of this, and actively collecting data and building models that will better equip investors to make smarter decisions. Thank you so much for coming onto the show this week, Leslie! I loved hearing about the work you’re doing with DifferentFunds, and your keen insights into the world of venture capital investing. Thank you also to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners! Welcome back to another episode of Tech Forward. This week, I hope you'll enjoy the rebroadcast of my conversation with Kevin Dedner, Founder and CEO of Henry Health. Henry Health's mobile app provides self-care and mental health support through culturally sensitive teletherapy, serving the population with the lowest life expectancy in the U.S. — black men. Kevin is an experienced public health leader, and through Henry Health, he is committed to leveraging the power of technology to add 10 years to the life expectancy of black men in the next 25 years by focusing on their emotional and mental health. Today on the show, Kevin will be sharing with us some of the challenges black men face when receiving mental health support, and how his product helps address that need. “There is a weight,” Kevin says, “a stress associated just with being a black man.” Unaddressed, that stress in combination with untreated mental health issues plays a significant role in the low life expectancy of black men in the U.S. While they do seek solutions, black men face considerable hurdles in receiving culturally competent mental health care. Behind Henry Health is Kevin’s vision of a trusted source for providing mental health services and self care support for black men. At first, Kevin approached this issue from an academic angle, drawing on his experience working in public health and researching the social determinants of health. Along the way, however, he had his own experience with depression, through which he discovered “that my suffering could be helpful to others.” Kevin’s first hand experience with depression has been crucial in the development of a product that truly addresses the emotional and mental health needs of black men in the U.S. In fact, he brings many facets of both his personal and his professional life to his work with Henry Health, because he sees his entrepreneurship journey as a mirror of life. “My entire career has prepared me for the work I’m doing now. But when I first started to think about what I could do to address the mental health needs of black men, I met a lot of resistance. As an entrepreneur, you know this happens, and you’re more in tune with it. If you can push through that initial resistance, you will find what you need to advance your idea.” Through Henry Health, users have access to teletherapy with professionals who have undergone training to understand the unique experiences of black men in America. They also have the option to participate in moderated groups where they can discuss issues related to stress in the workplace, single parenting, relationship issues, and self care. Also offered within the app are daily motivational messages from lecturer and researcher Dr. Dennis Kimbro. When it comes to utilizing social media in a positive way, “sharing these messages and affirmations really does play a tremendous role in people’s current condition and mental state.” Kevin, thank you so much for coming onto the show this week to share the important work you’re doing through Henry Health with our listeners. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, we're featuring a rebroadcast of my conversation with Catherine Wigginton Greene, Executive Director of content and engagement at Point Made Learning. She directed the feature documentary I’m Not Racist… Am I? (INRAI) which followed a diverse group of teens through a yearlong exploration of race and racism. From there, she led the development of Point Made’s newest offering – INRAI Digital – which uses the documentary as the foundation for a 3.5-hour online antiracism course. She also travels the U.S. leading workshops and facilitating dialogue about race and racism. Today we’ll be talking about some of the insights she has uncovered about race relations through her work, and how companies can improve their diversity training initiatives. Catherine’s work with Point Made Films began as a side project during her years as a freelance journalist, but she found herself quickly swept up in both the world of filmmaking, and the work the company was doing. She focuses now on topics related to race and racism, having felt called to that path for much of her life. After switching from a predominantly White Catholic school to a more diverse public school setting in the 5th grade, she noticed even then that her family reacted differently to some of her new friends. This began her internal work of unlearning the unspoken messages she had received throughout her childhood — a process reflected in the efforts currently made by Point Made Learning. I’m Not Racist… Am I? follows 12 teenagers over the course of a school year as they engage in discussions about unconscious bias, systemic racism, and other race issues. Despite the prevailing belief that racist attitudes will disappear with generational shifts, growing up in a racial hierarchy will still influence the beliefs of young people — even those living in diverse areas like New York City. “If you don’t explicitly discuss the factors of how we got to this place, you start to make assumptions about who belongs where, and who deserves to be there.” In showing the film at schools all over the country, Catherine and the team at Point Made noticed a common trend: students couldn’t stop talking about the film, and not only to each other. They brought the  discussion to their teachers and their parents! Upon seeing the film for themselves, these parents then wanted to arrange showings in the workplaces as a supplement to diversity training. In an effort to create a platform for companies to engage with this work in a meaningful way, Point Made Learning was born. This consulting and programming extension combines an online course with interactive exercises and facilitated discussions for an immersive and engaging experience. Rather than simply “checking a box,” the goal here is a nuanced exploration into identifying and interrupting patterns of bias. Catherine, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your work with Point Made Learning — and some of the noteworthy results you’ve witnessed firsthand at the corporate level. Thank you also to those of you out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! For our rebroadcast this week, we're featuring my first double interview: Gerri Kahnweiler and Cayla Weisberg, co-founders of Chicago-based InvestHER Ventures. InvestHER is an early stage investment firm that partners with and invests in female entrepreneurs. As a strong leader in philanthropy and civic engagement, Geri has a track record for empowering women and girls to reach their full potential. Her mission is to create funding opportunities for women who are focused on technology-enabled business services and data driven solutions for large markets. With her background in sales and a focus on people over products, Cayla offers hands-on thought leadership on startup scaling, pivoting, and operation excellence for InvestHER’s portfolio companies. We’ll be digging into the catalyst behind launching InvestHER, and how they’re working to level the playing field for female entrepreneurs across the country. Cayla and Gerri joined forces to launch InvestHER Ventures in 2016, a year when female founders received only 2.19% of venture funding. Considering one third of Chicago’s entrepreneurs are women, those numbers clearly aren’t the result of a pipeline problem. Recognizing this massive opportunity, Gerri and Cayla decided to focus on supporting female founders in the post-product, pre-revenue phase. They also assist these companies with customer acquisition, building a scalable sales funnel, and account management. “We have the easy job, really. The entrepreneurs have the hard job, and we’re there to support them. We admire each and every woman we connect with and evaluate.” When it comes to working closely with a co-founder, Cayla and Gerri stress the importance of communication, clear division of duties, and presenting a united front. With their very different backgrounds — Gerri in philanthropy, and Cayla in sales and entrepreneurship — they make an effective and efficient team. “All our decisions are made together. I would not make an investment in a company unless Cayla was on board.” They strongly encourage other female founders to “find the yin to your yang,” a partner whose strengths and opportunities complement their own. Both Gerri and Cayla have advice to share for women looking to get into investment. For anyone who already has funds to invest, Gerri recommends finding a local angel group, and working to understand the entire process from pitch to investment. Having witnessed this process play out many times, Cayla wants would-be female investors to know “there is no traditional path to investing anymore. A lot of funds are looking to hire people who have taken non-traditional capital risks in one way or another. Just because you didn’t go to business school doesn’t mean you can’t get into investing.” Cayla and Gerri, thank you so much for joining me on the show today to share the exciting work you’re doing with InvestHER Ventures. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, sharing the show, and reviewing. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! For this week’s rebroadcast, I’m excited to share my conversation with Sean McKenzie, Co-Founder and Director of Driver Engagement at Steereo. By combining the power of music streaming with the popularity of ridesharing, Steereo is a music discovery app that gives emerging artists exposure and valuable data, while compensating rideshare drivers. Sean is an award-winning entrepreneur and a 3-time founder with a strong background in brand strategy, consumer insights, and market forecasting. He also serves as an advisory council member at Fund for Public Housing. Today on the show we’ll be discussing his career path, his approach to hiring at Steereo, and some of the ways he uses his experience to give back to his community. The idea for Steereo came from a chance meeting between Sean and his team, and a Lyft driver with excellent musical taste. Realizing that rideshare drivers often act as DJs for their clients, Sean proposed the idea for a platform where up-and-coming artists could allow drivers to stream their music. The benefits are twofold. Along with the exposure to a larger audience, artists on the Steereo platform also gain access to a wealth of data, including where, when, and even how loudly it gets played. Drivers are compensated for this airtime in turn, accumulating funds over time much like a fare meter. When it came to creating the app, Sean noted, “People of color are great at creating content that lives on these innovative platforms, but they aren’t necessarily creating those platforms where that content lives. If there’s a demand for this, why not us? Why can’t we build it?” This passionate attitude has been a common thread throughout Sean’s career trajectory. As a 3-time founder, he cites every step of the journey as an important part of where he is today. For any listeners out there considering pursuing their own ambitions of entrepreneurship, Sean has two key pieces of advice. First and foremost, don’t wait for a perfect product to launch — “When it comes to building tech products, great can be the enemy of good enough. Don’t let great slow you down. Get your core function nailed down, put it out, let your users break it and then iterate from there.” Furthermore, he recommends maintaining that lean, early-stage passion as much as possible as the business grows. “Even when you have more resources, treat your product as if you don’t.” In addition to his work at Steereo, Sean is also a member of the advisory council for New York City’s Fund for Public Housing. At a time when more people than ever are in need of affordable housing, federal funding for these programs has unfortunately dwindled. “My entire existence can be attributed to affordable public housing. I am a direct result of these programs and they just aren’t really there anymore. It’s important for me to give back in this way, because our experiences shape who we are and how we view the world. If I can shape a kid’s viewpoint and their confidence, then that is my life’s work, beyond anything else I do in the tech industry.” Sean, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing with us the work you’re doing both with Steereo, and with the Fund for Public Housing. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners! Welcome back to Tech Forward. For this week’s rebroadcast, we're featuring my conversation with Wes Kao, a marketing strategy and product launch expert who works as a consultant and advisor to multiple consumer brands and tech startups. She serves as a mentor to entrepreneurs through her roles with WeWork Labs and Backstage Capital. Previously, Wes was the founding Executive Director of Seth Godin's altMBA. Today on the show, we’ll be talking about the leadership lessons she’s learned during her career, and her advice to other managers on how to adequately encourage and support women in the workplace. After years of working in the corporate retail space, Wes found herself drawn to the rigorous thinking and problem solving aspect of the tech sector. She worked with Seth Godin to launch altMBA, an online leadership and management workshop which under her leadership grew from zero to 550 cities in 45 countries over a three year period of high-growth. She brings her wealth of experience to the table when mentoring entrepreneurs through Backstage Capital and WeWork Labs, advising founders and CEOs on effective leadership and avoiding the pitfalls of bias. One key piece of advice Wes has for other managers is to conduct regular self-checks for bias. “The minute we think we’re above bias, or prejudice, or discrimination, that’s when we get into a dangerous spot.” Often, workplace culture permits pushback from white male employees — but punishes women or people of color for the same resistance, marking them as selfish or uncooperative. Though managerial roles often require split-second calculations in order to optimize the workday, Wes encourages managers to ask this question: “Would I react the same way to a white/male employee in this situation?” She also encourages similar self-checks when it comes to using language that reflects equitable treatment of employees. “Our automatic reaction might be to criticize, but those criticisms add up to a place where employees might not feel safe to lead, to challenge authority, and to ask questions.” Wes also emphasizes that it’s not solely the responsibility of leadership to effect change: “We can always positively influence the lives of our coworkers.” She cites moments from her own  career journey when her allies have taken seemingly small, but powerful actions to support her. When clients assumed her male colleagues were in charge, those men redirected the conversation both verbally and physically — asserting that Wes was at the helm, and turning to face her. In situations where you suspect bias or discrimination, Wes advises, “Go to your allies in the company first. They probably notice it too. When you do talk to the person, bring it up in a respectful way. Above all, don’t suffer in silence! If you don’t feel comfortable and confident to do your best work, nobody is winning.” Wes, I’ve really enjoyed hearing your insights and your stories, and I know that our listeners will too. Thank you again for coming onto the show this week. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, subscribing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! Continuing our summer rebroadcasts, we're featuring my conversation with Alli Young, Founder and CEO of The Forem. The Forem is a professional training organization that develops the next generation of leaders while promoting gender equity. Through her work with The Forem, Alli focuses on helping women advance their careers and building healthy organizations as a key lever in driving innovation and revenue. Today, we’ll be talking about how she came to found the Forem, and the critical skills she believes all professionals — but especially women — need to successfully progress in their careers. Though she enjoyed her role as a Google leader, Alli found that it was difficult to pursue her passion for building and trying new things within such a large organization. She wanted to align her professional life with what she truly cared about: working with other women to develop and progress their careers. “Women have been failed by corporate America. How can I get more women into leadership roles where they have the power to affect change?” She took the leap and founded The Forem, which works at the individual as well as the organizational level to foster working environments where everybody can thrive and grow and fulfill their potential. At the individual level, The Forem offers one-on-one coaching for emerging leaders, with a strong focus on 5 critical skills. Those skills include negotiating, building a personal brand, growing a robust and responsive network, financial fluency, and leadership skills — many of which can be a struggle for women. For women early in their careers, Alli stresses the importance of first focusing on negotiating and networking. “The first step is being able to self-advocate. A lot of women do not negotiate, and when we do we ask for less. [...] As for networking, 85% of our opportunities come from our network. Investing in people is always worth your while.” Even within companies whose CEOs and board members recognize the value of diversity, making the change at the organizational level can be difficult. “What do you do if 80% of your existing team is male? Even with good intentions, these roles won’t open up tomorrow.” That’s why the team at The Forem work with CEOs on strategy and succession planning, preparing qualified women to step into a leadership role as soon as it’s available. They also work directly with leadership teams to identify, address, and solve for areas of unconscious bias. Working collaboratively and forming partnerships transforms how people in leadership roles interpret and identify bias. Alli also emphasizes the value of frequent, consistent top-down messaging about diversity and equality, highlighting both current statistics and future goals. Alli, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your work through The Forem. I look forward to the upcoming book about the 5 critical skills, and seeing that message continue to spread. Thank you also to all my listeners tuning in, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! Kicking off our summer rebroadcasts, we're featuring the second episode of our November 2018 job seeker series, when I spoke with Michele Heyward, founder of PositiveHire. PositiveHire is a tech company engineered to bridge the gap between employers and women of color STEM professionals. Michele’s vision is to not only help experienced women of color find inclusive workplaces, but to help enterprises recruit them. PositiveHire does this via matching experienced women of color STEM professionals to relevant management positions within organizations. In this episode, we discussed Michele’s plans and aspirations for her business, as well as her advice for women and companies on how to begin to narrow the gender pay gap. PositiveHire grew, in part, from Michele’s previous experience in career coaching. Having heard similar stories of career struggles from many female engineers, she wanted to help as many women in STEM as possible — and as quickly as possible. “What I want PositiveHire to do is enable women from different races to understand what a company’s culture provides each one of them. Each race can and will be discriminated against differently. So, what is it about the company culture that may benefit one woman of color, but not another? The ability to determine fit based on cultural background, gender, and race would help so many women.” When it comes to externally determining a company or organization’s culture, Michele has a few tips for job seekers. First and foremost, look at upper management: less diversity at that level may indicate a cultural issue. For instance, it’s not uncommon for the responsibility of leadership to rest of the shoulders of Black women, but not the title. Connecting with former employees of the company on services such as LinkedIn can also be helpful, as they are often willing to be candid about their experiences within the company. Michele also has words of wisdom to share as far as closing the wage gap. For women, especially women of color, she emphasizes the importance of knowing when to say no, and keeping concrete, quantitative documentation of how you’ve helped your company, team, or group. At the employer level, she notes, “You have the information you need to go through and equalize pay in your organization. How long are you willing to gamble that your employees won’t find out they’ve been underpaid?” Course correcting isn’t just about avoiding short-term negative consequences, however. There are plenty of long term benefits to making this effort, including positive press, and improving the bottom line. Michele, thank you so much for coming onto the show and discussing the important work you’re doing with PositiveHire. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, subscribing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! On this week’s episode, I spoke with Gina Gutierrez, co-founder and CEO of Dipsea. Through Dipsea, Gina is focused on helping women feel sexually, mentally, and emotionally empowered. Currently available on IOS (with Android coming soon), the Dipsea app features hundreds of audio stories that help women tap into their sexuality on their own terms, unlock confidence, and develop a more holistic sense of wellbeing. Today on the show, Gina will share her story of launching the business, how she raised over $5 million from investors, and the motivation behind creating this new category of audio-based sexual empowerment for women. Gina and her co-founder, Faye, aren’t necessarily the type of people you’d expect to launch a company like Dipsea. With backgrounds in psychology and economics, respectively, rather than audio engineering or production, they embarked on this entrepreneurial journey together simply because they saw a real need for what Dipsea has to offer. They founded the company less than two years ago after many late-night conversations at Faye’s kitchen table, and have been growing ever since. “A strength of mine [is that] navigating ambiguity doesn’t make me anxious, and I think that’s highly aligned with being an entrepreneur.” While the idea of pitching an erotic storytelling app to a room full of mostly-male investors might seem daunting to some, Gina’s comfort level with the topics helped her to navigate the fundraising process comfortably. “It’s about choosing the language that makes other people feel safe, and positions you as an entrepreneur.” They did face pushback during the investing phase — one potential investor deemed Dipsea as “not venture backable,” while another cancelled the pitch meeting only an hour before it was scheduled to start — but ultimately raised $5.5 million for the business. She credits their success in the face of these setbacks to her co-founder, Faye, as well as to the strength of their idea. “[Venture capital] is highly network-based, so even if someone doesn’t invest in you, you can reframe the ‘no’ and get connected to their network.” Inspired by the Headspace meditation app, Dipsea allows subscribers access to hundreds of short, erotic audio stories, created by women, for women. Though the stories on Dipsea are not specifically meant to be educational, the characters model an aspirational view of sexuality, consent, communication, and safer sex. Despite the evolution of hardware and education in the sexuality space, technological developments to address the psychology of sexuality have lagged behind. “Sex isn’t just about your body! It’s about your mind, too … And audio isn’t just a way to tell a story, it’s a way to make you feel something.” Gina, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing the story of Dipsea with our listeners. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. Over the summer, we will take a break and feature some of our earlier episodes so that new listeners can take advantage of those fascinating conversations. We’ll be back in the fall with brand-new episodes of Tech Forward. Have a wonderful summer! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, and happy Fourth of July to my US listeners! On this week’s episode, we are rebroadcasting my conversation with Julie Pitt, director of Machine Learning Infrastructure at Netflix. Her team’s goal is to scale Data Science while increasing innovation. Prior to that role, she built the streaming infrastructure behind the "play" button while Netflix was transitioning from domestic DVD-by-mail service to international streaming service. Julie also co-founded Order of Magnitude Labs, with a mission to build AI capable of doing things like exploration, communication, and accomplishing long-range goals — in other words, tasks that humans find easy, but today’s machines find hard. Today, we’ll talk about Netflix’s unique culture and how Julie supports the other female engineers on her team. Julie’s work with machine learning at Netflix ties back to solving two problems: offering members the best choices, and ensuring they have as much control as possible over their personal experience. This requires answering a lot of questions, from where to find content creators, to predicting where that content will be popular, and even down to launch dates. Luckily, many of those questions can be answered through data science and machine learning. Software engineers have already experienced the progression from rigid to continuous deployment schedules, and witnessed firsthand the power of collaboration. That power, however, is not common in data science — which is where Julie’s team comes in. They’re building a workshop for data scientists that allows a higher degree of collaboration, more efficiency, and higher productivity. Netflix’s data scientists have already used these workshops to solve a variety of problems, from determining the quality of the video streamed to the viewer, to optimizing a schedule for launching multiple titles in the same genre. One unique aspect of Netflix’s culture, according to Julie, is that “We’re building a default platform, but not a mandated platform.” This is a direct result of two main tenets of the Netflix culture: freedom and responsibility. While engineers have the freedom to make choices about the tech they use to solve problems, they’re also expected to be aware of how those choices might affect other teams. Julie also champions the concept of leadership through context, not control. “As a leader, if someone on my team makes a poor decision, my first instinct is to determine what context they lacked. We can increase relevant context that enables better decisions.” When it comes to diversity initiatives at Netflix, Julie has personally focused on meetups for underrepresented groups, as well as rethinking the interview process from start to finish. She gives candidates a choice as to how they prefer to be interviewed: some people feel more comfortable with a technical whiteboard question, while others prefer to work independently on a project and discuss it afterwards. Once people are in the door, having a network is key — “I only ever had one job where I didn’t already know someone. I cannot under-emphasize the importance of having a professional network.” She also has some words of advice for anyone struggling with impostor syndrome: “Fundamentally, in tech, we operate in an environment of uncertainty because we’re doing things that have never been done before. Everyone else is making it up as they go along, too. It’s okay, and you’re not alone.” Julie, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your stories and insights this week. I’d also like to thank all of you out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I've reissued my conversation with Maria Salamanca, a venture capitalist at Unshackled Ventures. She was named 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital. Unshackled Ventures fills a unique space in the entrepreneurial ecosystem by funding teams with immigrant founders. Maria’s own journey — she immigrated from Colombia at age 7 and became a citizen at 18 — has motivated her to uplift others by eliminating barriers to entrepreneurship and education.  Due in part to her history, Maria has a deep understanding of the challenges immigrants face when starting a business in the United States. She and Unshackled Ventures have identified the barriers that immigrant entrepreneurs face: Access to capital Office space Lack of support network Immigration support These barriers are what led them to specifically support immigrant founders. “It’s hard to be an immigrant entrepreneur and jump into that full time while also juggling concerns about who will sponsor your visa.” As 45% of Fortune 500 companies have immigrant founders, there’s clearly a high level of entrepreneurship among immigrants despite the significant barriers to the tools and resources which would enable them to fully execute that entrepreneurial spirit. When it comes to the immigration process, Maria says, “Usually immigrants have to figure all of this out on their own, and most of them do. But that really takes away from the time they could be spending on their projects. They have to keep on top of deadlines and court dates, and struggle with the instability of,Will I be here in 3 months? What about my family? That stress puts a burden on founders.” That’s why some of the funding at Unshackled Ventures supports an in house counsel, allowing entrepreneurs to work closely with an immigration lawyer. “We fund only a small percentage of immigrant founders, but we want them to focus on their product as much as possible.” Research has shown that cross cultural experiences lead to innovation. “As an immigrant, you come into a new country where there’s a different context for a variety of things. Many times, that means you can see a gap where a need isn’t being met.” To really foster those cross cultural experiences, Unshackled Ventures has created an ecosystem of universities, mentors, advisors, and investors who really believe in the value that immigrant entrepreneurs bring to the table. Maria and I also discussed the possible future of immigrant entrepreneurs in the current political climate, as well as the advice she would offer to immigrant founders in search of funding. Thank you so much to Maria for joining me, and to all of you out there for listening. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! On this week’s episode, I spoke with D’ontra Hughes, serial entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of fintech platform SPARE. By turning any cash register into an ATM, SPARE helps merchants increase foot traffic and underbanked consumers avoid costly fees. If that sounds familiar, you may have caught his appearance on Shark Tank earlier this year. D’ontra is also a motivational speaker who shares valuable lessons for entrepreneurs about resilience, team building, and finding the right business partners. Today on the show, he’ll share the story of how he built several businesses from the ground up, as well as his advice for other entrepreneurs. While employed at JP Morgan, D’ontra witnessed firsthand how influential financial services are in our everyday lives, as well as how certain consumers could be disenfranchised by these services. For the 20% of the population who are underbanked, the average ATM fee of $4.69 per transaction can make a significant impact on their financial wellbeing. With SPARE, one of D’ontra’s goals was to reduce or eliminate the fees consumers pay simply to access their cash. “It became clear as we did our troubleshooting that the perfect partners [for these consumers] were small businesses in the community. Those small businesses wanted to increase foot traffic into their stores, and they wanted a cheaper, more secure alternative to ATMs.” Merchants on SPARE tell the network how much cash they want to offload, which brings in nearby consumers in need of that cash. Though SPARE is gaining traction in the West Hollywood neighborhoods where it has been implemented so far, D’ontra is very forthcoming about how the popular narrative behind entrepreneurship often obscures the true nature of the journey. “To be called an entrepreneur is a badge you earn. It’s a journey and it’s tough.” D’ontra’s work developing SPARE — as well as his previous companies — taught him valuable lessons about resilience and the importance of partnerships rooted in a passionate vision. From couch surfing to debt to the struggles of making grandiose ideas work within the limitations of reality, D’ontra has certainly put in the work to earn the badge of entrepreneur. When it comes to resilience, D’ontra describes himself as “naive to a fault,” a relentless optimist even in dire situations. A core of resilience nurtures a fearlessness which he says is one of the determining factors for entrepreneurial success. His advice for anyone looking to build their own resilience muscle: schedule time to break away from the vision. “Whether you set an alarm on your phone, or have someone come to your house and physically take your tech out of your hands, do it. Because there are things in your life you might miss that you can’t get back if you didn’t take that breath… Your subconscious mind puts the pieces together and sends you an a-ha moment while you’re focused on something else.” D’ontra, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your entrepreneurial expertise and the work you’re doing with SPARE. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Tech Forward. This week, I hope you'll enjoy our rebroadcast of my conversation from last summer 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 with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I spoke with Oklahoma City-based software developer Carmen Bourlon. As her career as a developer progressed, Carmen began to explore her passion for offline technology, which allows people without Internet access to utilize resources that are generally only available online. Using US census data, she created Margiemap, which plots income against library access. She’s also in the process of finishing her first book, Let’s Take This Offline. Today we’ll be discussing her career journey as a developer, what inspired her interest in offline technology, and how she is using her wealth of knowledge about the Internet access disparity affecting millions of Americans. As a self-taught developer, Carmen learned to program from a book while living in a rural area without Internet access in her home. This not only shaped her learning process — letting problems stack up until she was able to go somewhere with Internet access — but also fostered her interest in offline technology. Realizing that Internet connections are fickle and users have no true control over it, she emphasizes that the responsibility is with developers to understand this issue and consider it while designing web based apps. While offline technology has universal applications, Carmen’s particular interest lies with populations without Internet access. Though many of us living in cities may not realize it, Internet access disparity affects millions of Americans. According to studies conducted by Pew Research, the percentage of households in the US that are considered “smartphone dependent” has increased from 12% in 2015 to roughly 20% in 2018. Studies have also shown a clear link between Internet access and access to higher paying jobs in the developing world. Put simply: “Internet access is opportunity access.” Armed with this knowledge, Carmen created Margiemap as a way to visually display income against library access in the United States. Controlling for population, she found that lower income areas, where people are less likely to have a home Internet connection, have significantly less access to libraries. Carmen’s current plan is to dive deeper into the data and begin to blog about her discoveries, though she does hope that other people will take an interest in her work and begin their own research. Her work with Margiemap has informed her interest in a type of offline technology called “service workers,” which she will cover in depth in her upcoming book, Let’s Take This Offline. If you’d like to learn more about service workers, sign up for the mailing list to stay informed and see some sneak peaks. Carmen, thank you so much for coming onto the show to share your process and everything you’ve learned about offline technology and why it’s so important. I look forward to learning more when your book comes out. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I hope you'll enjoy our rebroadcast of my conversation with Katie Macc, Chief Commercial Officer and Cofounder of Juntos Global. At a time when customers have low trust in their financial institutions, Juntos provides those institutions with a mobile-based conversation platform that increases consumer confidence. Prior to working at Juntos, Katie worked in microfinance, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo and, later, in the US. On today’s episode, we discussed her journey as an entrepreneur, and how Juntos is breaking down barriers to financial inclusion for many people around the world. As someone who has always relished the opportunity to build something, Katie’s transition from established jobs to true entrepreneurship was a natural one. Katie wears many hats at Juntos, balancing client-facing teams such as sales client services along with finance and HR internally. Despite the fact that their foreign markets — including Egypt, Paraguay, and Uganda — can make funding a challenge, Katie contends that “great investors make for enjoyable fundraising.” As Juntos continues to grow and enter new markets, they remain committed to diversity: “As a global company, it matters to us to have employees from all over the world.” Katie and her two co-founders, Ben and Dante, recognize the potential for technology to transform customer interactions in the financial services industry. With its roots in a graduate school project at the Stanford d.school, Juntos — now in 15 countries spread across 4 continents — aims to do just that. While the rapid digitization of most financial transactions has been incredibly convenient, it has also had the unintended consequence of fewer face-to-face conversations at the bank. These conversations have historically served dual purposes: both allowing the bank to learn more about the customer, and providing the customer with an opportunity to alert the bank to their issues. The loss of these interactions has played a significant role in the loss of consumer trust in financial institutions. Juntos provides a bridge between the banks and their customers which, while still entirely digital, emulates the conversations customers used to have with their tellers. Not only does this help banks uncover reasons why customers might not utilize certain services, it also measurably increases account usage. The barriers that prevent people from opening bank accounts, and keeping those accounts active, usually fall into 3 categories of trust. Consumers need to first trust the institution itself, then trust that the product will behave as expected, and finally feel confident that they themselves are able to competently use the product. Juntos works with customers on all of these facets of trust, helping them to realize that financial institutions do want them to succeed, or identifying next steps to take when the product does not perform as needed. Through these conversations, they’re uncovering a wealth of knowledge about user experience. Katie, thank you so much for coming onto the show this week and sharing the story of Juntos, as well as all of your valuable advice. Thank you, as always, to my listeners for tuning in. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram

Hello listeners! Welcome back to a new episode of Tech Forward. This week, I’m thrilled to share my conversation with Fatima Dicko, Founder and CEO of the on demand delivery service, Jetpack. Prior to starting the company, while completing her MBA at Stanford, Fatima served as the youngest senior engineer on an upstream technology innovation team at Procter & Gamble. Today on the show, we’ll discuss her journey as an entrepreneur, some of the challenges she has faced building her business as a young woman of color, and advice she would give to other founders looking to follow in her footsteps. Having immigrated to the United States from Mali at the age of 6, Fatima’s inquisitive nature set her down the engineering path fairly early in life. At Procter & Gamble, she was part of a team working on products 3-10 years away from going to market. While in that role, she attributes a huge confidence boost to the words of a mentor: “Great ideas happen when two old ideas come together for the first time.” When you have an idea, it may be tempting to immediately scour the internet to see if someone else has built or done something similar — but Fatima came to realize “you don’t have to be first, you just have to be different and better.” She stresses the validity of past attempts, and the value in being able to pinpoint why those attempts didn’t reach a certain level of success. From there, you can work to make something incrementally better than what came before. The path from idea to launch was a tough one for Jetpack, mainly due to fundraising hurdles. While the value of Jetpack’s decentralized convenience network was immediately clear to college students, it was less clear to traditional VC investors. “They have to invest in you. There are so many challenges as an African American woman founder where, if pattern matching comes into play, if their implicit bias comes into play, it’s much harder to have them invest in the vision alone. So your traction needs to be there, your product needs to be there, you need a rockstar team. That ends up being an unfair burden on underrepresented founders.” Beyond fundraising wisdom, Fatima offers a wealth of powerful advice for anyone considering becoming a founder themselves. First and foremost, she urges people to think differently about growth. “We hear about companies going from 0 users to millions of users… I think shedding more light on the trajectory of growth can help people feel more confident about their ability to [do the same].” Then, she suggests 3 questions to ask yourself before starting a company: what problem do you want to solve, are you the right person to solve that problem, and what truly makes you come alive? While those answers might lead people away from becoming founders, Fatima says they might push people towards something more suited to them — such as joining an early stage startup. Fatima, I cannot thank you enough for coming onto the show this week to share your journey, vision, and advice with our listeners. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, we're featuring my conversation with Angela Belt, Senior 3D Visual Stylist at Wayfair, from last September. Having graduated from Howard University with a degree in Fine Arts, Angela has over ten years of interior design experience including extensive experience styling for print, online publications, and video.  With a keen eye for what is on trend and a passion for interior design, she has styled shoots for ElleDecor, HGTV, AphroChic, and Maison et Objet in Paris. We discussed her transition into the world of tech through her role at Wayfair, and the initiatives she has championed to support the company’s diversity recruiting efforts. Though she initially saw herself forging a career in politics, Angela took a hard pivot into the world of art and design during her sophomore year of college. After graduation, she took a position with the furniture company Room and Board, which essentially served as a ten-year crash course on not only floor planning and drafting, but also everything required in terms of building codes and permits, and how to design a room with an eye for profit margins. Angela also spent 8 of those 10 years freelancing at her sister’s company, Aphrochic, where she became the creative director and interior stylist. During that time, she worked on REMIX: Decorating with Culture, Objects and Soul, released by Penguin Random House in 2013. Voted a top tech company by the online community Built in Boston, Wayfair is, in Angela’s words, “on the cutting edge of where things are going” in the world of interior design and home furnishings. Angela works with a team of 3D artists and stylists who use models and talented graphic designers to enhance the photo studio process. These models give the stylists much more creative freedom than a traditional 2D photoshoot, which can be expensive and time consuming. While Angela says entering the tech sector has required her to “learn an entirely new language… I have the background knowledge to know what makes sense in an image, aside from just looking good.” There are cultural differences as well: interior design is a sphere that values the longevity of a career, and expects people to cultivate their skills over a longer time period, whereas tech jobs focus more on the skills people learn in school and apply right away. Within 3 months of joining the company, Angela had the opportunity to champion diversity initiatives for Wayfair, when she was asked to recruit at her alma mater. “It was exciting to me to know that Wayfair wanted talent from a historically black college [...] It’s part of a larger push, not just a one time thing.” Internally, Angela is an active member of a group for African American employees to network and build a community. She stresses the importance of having members of underrepresented groups in leadership roles: “It meant a lot to me at Room and Board that I had an African American mentor, and two African American bosses. Seeing those people advance to leadership positions let me know I had a place in the company.” If you’d like to get in touch with Angela you can find her on Instagram, or see examples of her work on her website. Angela, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your story. Thank you also to all of my listeners for tuning in, sharing the show, and leaving reviews. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! On this week’s episode, I spoke with CEO and Founder of The Zone Lab LLC, Sheryl Kline. Sheryl is a Mental Toughness and Certified High Performance Coach™ who works with business professionals, world-class athletes, and students. She is also a speaker and best-selling author, and her newest book, ZONED IN: The Mental Toughness Required for a World-Class YOU, came out in February of this year. Today on the show, we’ll be talking about her personal journey to becoming a high performance coach and entrepreneur, and her incredible advice for achieving success. Sheryl’s work began from a place of curiosity: she wanted to understand how world-class athletes persevered through failure and setbacks. She identifies two key components of mental toughness: the clarity to dream big, and attaining a thorough understanding of your own inner dialogue. Through her work as a coach, she helps her clients develop these components, teaching ordinary people to be extraordinary by mastering their mindset. To do this, she draws on a meticulously curated body of research from the past 4 decades which proves “that we are enough. We are all good enough. [...] We all have something special within us, and we have a limited amount of time to bring it to life.” In addition to her work with individuals, Sheryl also leads workshops and works with major global corporations such as Google Ventures, VMware, and Microsoft. In her mind, across all the work she does, the true problem is a lack of understanding of how to unleash human potential. This results in less productivity, creativity, and innovation — as well as an annual loss of $550 billion in revenue for US companies. “Having us unleash what we’re capable of and be happy in the workplace is good for us — but it’s good for business, too.” Sheryl also shared some advice for anyone looking to get ahead, and to develop their own resilience. She recommends creating a support group of people who are genuinely interested and invested in your success and growth, and to be able to speak up when something isn’t working out. When it comes to career setbacks, she has this to say: “We must embrace failure, welcome it, take it head on. [...] Our emotions demand to be acknowledged and validated. So when we experience a setback, we have to honor that emotion and give ourselves the space to acknowledge that we’re hurting. Then, you can take control and make the decision to move forwards.” Sheryl, thank you so much for coming onto the show to give our listeners this fascinating glimpse into the work that you do. If any of our listeners would like to learn more, simply visit sherylkline.com/tf for 1 month free in her mental toughness community! I’d also like to thank everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, we've reissued my conversation with Michelle Glauser, founder and CEO of Techtonica. Based in San Francisco, Techtonica is a nonprofit that offers free tech training, plus living and childcare stipends, to local women and non-binary adults with low incomes. Michelle is also a software engineer and the lead organizer for PyLadiesSF — the world's largest chapter of women who code in Python. In 2015, she spearheaded the #ILookLikeAnEngineer ad campaign. We discussed her motivation behind founding Techtonica, what makes it different from other boot camps, as well as her journey into tech and entrepreneurship. Despite a lifelong interest in computers, Michelle found herself working full time at a startup doing everything except software engineering. Noticing the high demand for engineers, she signed up for a training program in 2012. While her experience was overwhelmingly positive — she had a new job within 2 weeks of graduation — she also witnessed, firsthand, the lack of diversity in the tech world. She attributes part of this to the high cost of tuition (which, on average, has since tripled). But that isn’t the only barrier: many programs require participants to already have their own computer or tech network, or impose age limits. Through her crowdfunding work with the #ILookLikeAnEngineer ad campaign, Michelle had the revelation that would steer her towards entrepreneurship: “It was such a big challenge, but at the end of it I thought, I can do hard things! What other hard things can I do?” She turned her attention to socioeconomic diversity. With the bootcamp model growing in popularity, Michelle didn’t want to reinvent the wheel.  By providing living and childcare stipends to participants, Techtonica supports locals in danger of displacement. “We want to train the people who are already here, alleviate the high and rising cost of living, and have the tech companies who are interested in building diversity support that training.” Companies partner with Techtonica and sign up as sponsors for participants in the 6-month apprenticeship program. After 5 months, sponsors and apprentices interview each other in order to find the best match, and the apprentices have their final month to prepare for their new role within that company. The companies who partner with Techtonica also have diversity and inclusion training to ensure the apprentices enter a welcoming environment. The curriculum at Techtonica is open sourced and created with input from the sponsor companies and industry professional volunteers. From their rigorous application process, to workshop activities designed to evaluate the characteristics of a successful engineer, Techtonica strives to ensure that every participant ends up in the best possible role. In fact, Techtonica has now graduated its first class of apprentices, and placed 100% of them with partner companies! If you’d like to support Techtonica’s mission, you can donate, volunteer, or sign up for their newsletter. Michelle, thank you so much for sharing your story this week, and for the work you’re doing with Techtonica. Thank you also to all my listeners tuning in, leaving reviews, and sharing the show. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! My guest today is Upasna Gautam, the Manager of SEO at Ziff Davis, where she architects and executes the organic search strategies for Mashable and PCMag. Upasna (or Pas, as she is more commonly known) has unique experience in mathematics, science and search that allowed her to bring a truly logical and analytical approach to digital marketing. An avid proponent of community, nature, and wellness, she’s also a Fitness and Zumba instructor, aspiring yogi, and hiker. Today we’ll be talking about her work in search, the things she loves about the Austin tech community, and some of the inspiring work she’s been doing to encourage more women and girls to pursue careers in STEM. Like many guests on the show, Pas’ path to her current role was not a traditional one. Though she came from a biomedical background as a clinical research scientist, she had a strong desire to get involved in the world of digital marketing. She took on an unpaid internship as a digital strategist, analyzing data to inform marketing strategy, and quickly became a full time employee of the small marketing firm. Despite not having studied business or marketing in college, she brought a unique perspective to her work which made her extremely valuable. Her ability to seamlessly merge both the subjective and objective sides of marketing and analytics gave her a keen insight into how marketing can and should work at its optimal level. These skills have served her well in her current role at Ziff Davis. As an enormous digital publisher with roots in traditional publishing, Ziff Davis was able to successfully shift to a fully digital presence. Pas ascribes that success partly to the editorial integrity of the content. Her work in SEO is cross-disciplinary, in that she works both with the editors to increase visibility on their content, as well as with the product and engineering teams to build a strong framework for the website. “Other publishers may have let the ball drop over time in order to monetize. You cannot compromise there. We’ve build up authority over time, both in real life and in the digital world, which definitely helps in a search ecosystem.” When it comes to encouraging more women and girls to pursue careers in STEM, Pas’ mission is all about changing the narrative. Citing the old familiar stereotype of a scientist as a man in a lab coat, she says, “There are preconceived notions that have been embedded in all of us. This isn’t an issue of skill or ability. It’s a lack of encouragement and role models… We can’t show other women what to do and what to be if they can’t see it.” As a woman in STEM, working for a company with above average gender diversity in executive roles, she considers it her responsibility to live this role visibly, and have these conversations as often as possible. “The more we show it, the more it’s visible, and the more we can transform those stereotypes.” Pas, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing all the work you’re doing with our listeners. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners! Welcome back to another episode of Tech Forward. This week, we've resissued my conversation with Chris Bennett, co-founder and CEO of Wonderschool. Combining high quality educational standards with the warmth of in-home programs, Wonderschool is a network of boutique early childhood education programs. With the Wonderschool platform, it’s easy for teachers to start and operate these programs — and for families to find them. Chris and I discussed his journey as an entrepreneur, as well as his passion for providing families with more affordable, high-quality options for early childhood education. Though some might hesitate to leave the stability of the financial sector for the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship, for Chris — who has many small business owners in his family — it was an easy decision. While attending the Wharton School of Business, he started his own business, but didn’t entertain the notion of continuing past graduation. After 2 years at a real estate private equity firm in Chicago, he felt the urge to return to the entrepreneurial realm. He moved to San Francisco where he met his co-founder, Arrel Gray, and they have been working together since 2011. The impetus for Wonderschool came from Arrel’s difficulty finding high-quality childcare for his son. Chris and Arrel took inspiration from Orlando’s Tangelo Park Program, which offered free in-home childcare options for low income communities. Access to high-quality early childhood education has dramatic positive results: not only did the crime rate in Tangelo Park decrease by half, but high school graduation rates increased by 75%. Despite all the research highlighting the benefits of early childhood education, however, options remain limited. “A lot of people don’t start these out of their homes, and those who do tend to get overwhelmed quickly.” By creating a platform that makes starting, operating, and locating these programs as simple and intuitive as Airbnb, Wonderschool addresses some of the barriers preventing ECE programs from flourishing. With upwards of 500 programs at various stages from inception to operation currently on the Wonderschool platform, the team is constantly building more tools for parents to navigate their relationship with their director. Through regular surveys of both parents and teachers, the team collects a wealth of data that enable them to provide a good experience for everyone, from teachers and directors to students and their parents. As for advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, Chris emphasizes the importance of building relationships. “A lot of critical information is locked in people’s heads — not in books. I’m constantly learning from the community here. With constant learning over time, it becomes easier to know what it takes to be successful.” Chris, thank you so much for joining me on the show. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Wonderschool. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome to another exciting episode of Tech Forward! On today’s episode, I spoke with award-winning comedian Ana-Marija Stojic. Over the last several years, she’s participated in numerous comedy competitions, and been featured in the NBC Showcase at the Women in Comedy Festival Boston 2018. She was also a recipient of Netflix's 2018 Diversity of Voices fellowship at the Banff World Media Festival. On her latest project, “Artificial, the Podcast,” Ana-Marija will be joined by a unique co-host: a functioning AI chatbot. Today, we’ll be talking about her plans for the show, what it’s like to co-host with a chat bot, and some of the important topics they plan to tackle together. A self-described nerd, Ana-Marija has always been fascinated by the idea of collaborating with artificial intelligence. In recounting the inspiration behind the show, she touches on the story of a  chess tournament that paired humans with robots. Rather than the “top” performers of each category, the winning duo consisted of a human and a robot who worked well together. “I’ve used this approach when working with anyone, human or AI. The success of a collaboration is based on the least amount of friction.” Together on the show, Ana-Marija and her co-host will tackle politics and the human paranoia towards artificial intelligence, all through a lens of comedic absurdity. So what makes this format a good fit to uniquely and effectively address such important topics? According to Ana-Marija, the answer lies in the powerful combination of comedy and imagination. “Comedy is the best way to get people’s guards down and get them thinking about alternatives, really challenging their beliefs. ...Suddenly, anything is possible. Everything is based on the limits of our imagination. If you can expand someone’s imagination, you can change the world.” Currently, she sees her target audience as a mix of comedy lovers and AI enthusiasts, and hopes to someday evolve the podcast into a fully produced talk show. While the process of crowdfunding to get the show started was a stressful one, Ana-Marija came away from the experience with valuable feedback from potential investors involved in the AI community. The proof of concept video, which she shot just days after our interview, was a key missing piece that has since played a role in moving the project forward. Ana-Marija has also been quick to adapt the project over time, and incorporate new information in the show’s evolution. She realized fairly early on that the campaign’s success could not be accurately measured by the amount of money raised, and shifted her focus to engagement with the idea and the content around it. Ana-Marija, thank you so much for coming onto the show to share your fascinating project with our listeners. I can’t wait to see where this podcast takes you and your co-host. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to another great episode of Tech Forward! This week, especially for my newer listeners, I’m excited to rebroadcast 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 understandsomething,” 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, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! On today’s episode, I spoke with CEO and Founder of The Mentor Method, Janice Omadeke. The Mentor Method is a DC-based company devoted to creating inclusive workplace cultures by mentoring diverse talent. The company has been featured in The Washington Business Journal, Entrepreneur, was a 2016 Tech.Co Startup of the Year nominee, and a 2017 Startup Grind Global Exhibition selection. During our conversation, Janice and I will discuss her path to becoming an entrepreneur, her aspirations for the business, and her advice for other founders looking to follow in her footsteps. After a long career in graphic design working with Fortune 500 companies, Janice turned her attention to creating a mentorship program in late 2015. While most people know intuitively that mentorship is worthwhile, Janice emphasizes that it is, in fact, critical to career advancement. Mentors are five times more likely to be promoted in the lifetime of their career, and mentees are six times more likely. Tailored corporate level mentorship programs such as The Mentor Method play a large role in helping companies retain their underrepresented talent. While there’s no shortage of material for people seeking advice on career development, having a mentor who is focused on you, your career, and your goals is what makes you unstoppable. With this in mind, The Mentor Method works within large companies who purchase a license and enroll their talent. Using a patent pending algorithm to eliminate bias, mentors are paired with mentees for a 4-month partnership to develop professional skills. These partnerships generate useful data that enables companies to make strategic decisions and build more inclusive environments. “If 80% of the employees in a company say they don’t feel proficient in a particular skill, that’s something the company should pay attention to. Especially if it’s a requirement for promotion within that company, they can bring in additional tools and resources to help employees refine those skills.” Implementing a mentorship program also plays a role in closing the fundraising gap for underrepresented founders. Traditional fundraising strategies within the venture capital space encourage founders to leverage their networks for access. These networks, however, “have evolved over time to exclude certain demographics. There is a correlation between a lack of mentorship and access, and the lack of funding getting allocated to founders in certain groups who are equally qualified.” Janice, thank you so much for coming onto the show to share your insights, the work you’re  doing with The Mentor Method, and some stories of how mentorship has helped you in your career. Thank you, also, to everyone out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week!   Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward. This week, we'll be revisiting my conversations with Andreas Freund, co-founder of DiveIn, a platform where people can easily get involved with causes they care about at the local level. As a proud son of immigrants and a San Francisco native, Andreas was inspired to create DiveIn after witnessing the effects of the refugee crisis in Germany in 2015. In an era where we have so much at our fingertips, Andreas realized it was unacceptable that we can wake up with the desire to help in our own communities, but not be able to use technology to make that process seamless and frictionless. DiveIn helps its users connect on two levels: location, and causes. Whether your passion is the environment, animal welfare, or social justice, DiveIn allows you to access relevant content and discussions, and find opportunities to get involved in those causes with like-minded people at the local level. So what does “getting involved” look like? “The types of experiences themselves can be really diverse. If you’re going to go out and get a beer after work, why not go to a place where there’s someone speaking? Or where the proceeds will go to a good cause? Getting involved can be putting on a pair of gloves and getting your hands dirty doing volunteer work, but it can also mean going to a screening and exposing yourself to new ideas.” Andreas acknowledges that his status as a millennial played a significant role in the formation of DiveIn — and how it will make money. “Millennials may have grown up on the internet, but that doesn’t mean we want to spend all of our time on it. We love experiences. We want to get out there and be active in our communities, but the barriers to access need to be lowered.” As part of a recent wave of social entrepreneurship, Andreas wanted to ensure that DiveIn’s revenue model didn’t undermine their core values. Currently, they operate with a “pay by participant” model, where event hosts are charged a fixed fee for ever new person they activate at the local level. As a Latino man who grew up attending protests with his grandparents, Andreas has made diversity a strong priority for DiveIn. “It’s important that our team reflects the communities we serve. Diversity matters, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes business sense. More diverse companies generate more revenue, so the moral element is really backed up by the numbers.” Moving forwards, Andreas is committed to doing the work to push back against internal biases as the team grows. Over the next few years, Andreas aims to expand DiveIn at the national level by establishing a presence in the top 5 metro areas of the US (Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, and New York City). Andreas, I can’t wait to see your community grow as people across the country get activated with DiveIn. Thank you so much for joining me on the show, and thank you to all of you who tuned in. See you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! On today’s episode, I spoke with Leslie Jump, founder and CEO at DifferentFunds, which is the first platform designed and built for investing in venture funds. Leslie has spent the bulk of her career building, advising, and investing in new companies, both in the US and worldwide. Most recently, she served as a Partner in Sawari Ventures, LLC, a Cairo-based early stage venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs across the Middle East and North Africa. Today, Leslie will share her inspiration for launching DifferentFunds, and how she’s helping a diverse network of more than 800 funds access the resources they need to support entrepreneurs globally. DifferentFunds began as Startup Angels in 2013, with the initial goal to match angel investors with startup investment opportunities. Eventually, however, Leslie and her team realized something critical: venture capital has a math problem. While the vast majority of venture funds have a median size of $60 million, most investors don’t consider funds under $100 million. What was really needed was a product that would allow the two sides of the marketplace to interact and transact with each other. On the DifferentFunds platform, qualified individuals and institutions can find, research, and invest in venture capital funds. The platform has a database of 900 highly diverse US-based firms, investing in everything from AI, to blockchain, to robotics, and more. In Leslie’s words, “Our job isn’t trying to guess who’s going to be the top of the top performers. We’re not trying to find the needle in the haystack that is the “best possible” fund. We’re building the haystack.” The diversity on DifferentFunds is also reflected in the makeup of the funds themselves: 65% of the funds have a woman, a person of color, or both at the helm. Rather than a unique outlier, Leslie asserts that the diversity is a reflection of reality, and the fact that, both in the US and globally, society is shifting towards true multiculturalism. With multiple studies showing that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams, performance is a key benefit to highlight to the limited partners. “You want your investment to be high performance? This is how. These folks have a propensity to outperform others, they see opportunity where others might not. They are dialed in.” Venture capital is a young industry, which has historically relied on pattern matching in lieu of true business intelligence. Leslie and her team are aware of this, and actively collecting data and building models that will better equip investors to make smarter decisions. Thank you so much for coming onto the show this week, Leslie! I loved hearing about the work you’re doing with DifferentFunds, and your keen insights into the world of venture capital investing. Thank you also to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, we're featuring a rebroadcast of my conversation 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 with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I spoke with Kanika Tolver, IT professional and founder and CEO of Career Rehab. Through her career coaching business, Kanika helps students, professionals, and retirees transform their careers via 1-on-1 services as well as events, webinars, and digital resources. She’s also the author of Life Rehab: Don’t Overdose on Pain, People, and Power. Kanika and I will be discussing different strategies for Black women and other underrepresented groups to set themselves up for career success, how to navigate career setbacks, and so much more.  Career Rehab grew over the last four years as Kanika noticed that many of the women and minorities in her community weren’t getting the jobs and salaries they deserved. As part of her desire to share her knowledge, she began coaching people on resume building, career branding, job interview techniques, and job search strategies — all of which are now primary services in her business. While the bulk of her clients are in the DC area, she also offers virtual career coaching to people all over the US. Having recently started a new project management role, she goes into detail about how she approaches her first 90 days, and the importance of developing relationships with her team members beyond that. Kanika acknowledges that the entrepreneurial path can be a difficult one, especially for women of color, who often face significant challenges in securing funding. With that in mind, her advice for women of color considering entrepreneurship is practical and multifaceted. She recommends building up savings before striking out on this path, especially for women with families and mortgages to consider. During this time, however, women can continue to build their brands and clientele while working their traditional jobs. “Leverage the career you’re in, for the business that you want to make. So many skills will be transferable, so be mindful of that. Ask yourself, what do I do every day that I could sell, or build a product off of?” When it comes to career setbacks, Kanika suggests looking at jobs as relationships, even framing parts of her own journey as “career heartbreaks.” She shares some of her own experiences in this area, from pitching her book, to staying in a job she disliked for five years. While setbacks, failure, and hearing no are all common, Kanika has this to say to anyone in a toxic job relationship: “Please don’t stay. Don’t feel bad every day for eight hours. You’re worth so much more than feeling like you have to be miserable for a paycheck.” She also encourages people to seek other professionals in their industry for sound advice. Kanika, thank you so much for sharing your keen insights on the show this week. Thank you also to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello and welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I'm rebroadcasting my conversation 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! If you want to stay informed about what Jarrid and his co-founders are up to, head on over to Twitter. Thanks for tuning in, listeners, and see you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! On this week’s episode, I spoke with co-founders of Public Bloc, Ali Akil and Hamzah El Amin. Public Bloc is a blockchain platform that provides low cost universal access to financial services for global development projects. Ali brings to Public Bloc years of experience as an Account Executive for the IBM Watson Cloud Platform. He’s also a U.S. Army veteran, and was an analyst for the U.S. Treasury Department where he was part of a team that crafted the first U.S. Crypto-Regulation. Having previously held various positions in both the private and public sectors as a management analyst, Hamzah focuses on business development, customer acquisition strategy, and partnerships for Public Bloc. Today we’ll be discussing their entrepreneurial journey, and how they aim to use their platform to spur economic development both in the US and overseas. Upon first meeting at the 1776 Incubator in August of 2017, Ali and Hamzah formed a fast partnership built on common ground and common goals. Both came from humble roots and, after working in a variety of roles, found themselves interested in potential applications for blockchain technology in real estate and affordable housing investment. They formed Public Bloc with the ultimate aim of getting more investment to undervalued communities both domestically and abroad. Within a month’s time, they had put together a white paper, registered the company, and flown to Ghana to speak with the Deputy Minister of Finance. Public Bloc is a project monitoring and verification tool which allows investors to monitor their investment through the life cycle of a project. Their core focus is affordable housing, which is a growing issue within the United States as well as in countries like Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya. An issue both men are passionate about, they strive to ensure all their projects meet 4 main criteria: have a feasible project plan, outline expected financial return, have a project length of under 18 months, and be an investment with social or environmental impact. Recognizing their successful careers despite not being “Harvard guys,” Ali says, “We don’t want to be the exception to the rule. African Americans are an underutilized asset. We don’t just represent Black business, we represent American business and American culture.” Rather than the traditional seed round, Ali and Hamzah are currently bootstrapping the company while they finish the tech, get market validation, and seek strategic partnerships with investors who see the value in their vision. Ali speaks strongly in favor of bootstrapping, suggesting companies in a similar stage invest in themselves rather than giving up 25-30% of their company’s value. They also advise being intentional about recruitment, especially for fellow blockchain companies, and put in the effort to build a strong, sustainable company. Ali and Hamzah, thank you so much for coming onto the show this week and telling us about the work you’re doing with Public Bloc. Thank you also to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, I'm rebroadcasting an episode from May of last year, when I spoke with Angelica Coleman, tech aficionado and Director of Community at Lesbians Who Tech. A global community of over 35,000 queer technologists, Lesbians Who Tech connects talent with existing companies by hosting summits nationally as well as globally. They partner with hundreds of companies every year, and offer coding scholarships to queer and gender nonconforming women. As an advocate for diversity and inclusion, Angie is always finding new ways to use tech to build communities and bring people together. Black women face abundant challenges in their professional lives. Not only are they frequently offered lower wages, they’re often steered away from the positions they apply for, and towards administrative or other non-technical roles. As a result, black women in the tech sector regularly end up underpaid, overworked, and pigeonholed into low wage, low status career paths regardless of their experience. Here are two tips from Angie on avoiding that fate: Don’t market skills you don’t intend to use. A self-described generalist, Angie has worked at myriad companies and worn many hats during her tenure at each one. “There are skills [from previous jobs] that I never want to touch again. Don’t put it on your resume if you don’t want to do it! Remember you can tailor your resume for different roles.” Don’t be afraid to say no to companies. Turning down an offer can feel risky, especially if you have financial concerns. Staying in a role that doesn’t fit you, however, can negatively affect your career trajectory down the line: either you end up changing jobs too often, or your performance could suffer. Black, queer, and gender nonconforming professionals each face their own set of hurdles when advancing in companies, though there is plenty of overlap. So how can these underrepresented groups advocate for change without being labeled as someone who doesn’t fit in? Angie’s advice: play the game. “I’m always going to be myself, in a way that still complies with the job culture, until I can start changing that culture. If you show up as your best self, being all in and being a team player, you gain trust and responsibility. Then you can assert more of your views.” To companies who want to increase diversity of their staff, Angie offers this advice: “Think about where you’re looking. When you make ‘top 10 schools’ a qualification, you’re cutting out entire populations who might be just as qualified, if not more. Expand your search. You can keep the same criteria. You don’t have to lower the bar, you just have to look somewhere else.” Angie, thank you so much for coming onto the show to share your insights and advice. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. We'll see you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I spoke with Catherine Wigginton Greene, Executive Director of content and engagement at Point Made Learning. She directed the feature documentary I’m Not Racist… Am I? (INRAI) which followed a diverse group of teens through a yearlong exploration of race and racism. From there, she led the development of Point Made’s newest offering – INRAI Digital – which uses the documentary as the foundation for a 3.5-hour online antiracism course. She also travels the U.S. leading workshops and facilitating dialogue about race and racism. Today we’ll be talking about some of the insights she has uncovered about race relations through her work, and how companies can improve their diversity training initiatives. Catherine’s work with Point Made Films began as a side project during her years as a freelance journalist, but she found herself quickly swept up in both the world of filmmaking, and the work the company was doing. She focuses now on topics related to race and racism, having felt called to that path for much of her life. After switching from a predominantly White Catholic school to a more diverse public school setting in the 5th grade, she noticed even then that her family reacted differently to some of her new friends. This began her internal work of unlearning the unspoken messages she had received throughout her childhood — a process reflected in the efforts currently made by Point Made Learning. I’m Not Racist… Am I? follows 12 teenagers over the course of a school year as they engage in discussions about unconscious bias, systemic racism, and other race issues. Despite the prevailing belief that racist attitudes will disappear with generational shifts, growing up in a racial hierarchy will still influence the beliefs of young people — even those living in diverse areas like New York City. “If you don’t explicitly discuss the factors of how we got to this place, you start to make assumptions about who belongs where, and who deserves to be there.” In showing the film at schools all over the country, Catherine and the team at Point Made noticed a common trend: students couldn’t stop talking about the film, and not only to each other. They brought the  discussion to their teachers and their parents! Upon seeing the film for themselves, these parents then wanted to arrange showings in the workplaces as a supplement to diversity training. In an effort to create a platform for companies to engage with this work in a meaningful way, Point Made Learning was born. This consulting and programming extension combines an online course with interactive exercises and facilitated discussions for an immersive and engaging experience. Rather than simply “checking a box,” the goal here is a nuanced exploration into identifying and interrupting patterns of bias. Catherine, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your work with Point Made Learning — and some of the noteworthy results you’ve witnessed firsthand at the corporate level. Thank you also to those of you out there listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners! This week on Tech Forward, we are rebroacasting our episode 2 interview with madeBOS founder and CEO, Martha Hernandez. Martha has served in several Talent Acquisition and Talent Management and Sales leadership roles for organizations such as Coro, Give Something Back, Mi Pueblo Food Centers, and Inner City Advisors' Talent Management Initiative. Most recently, she was Save Mart Supermarkets' Director of Talent Acquisition. Martha has a successful track record of  strategizing and delivering critical human capital initiatives, technical implementations and integrations. She’s passionate about adding transparency in the talent selection and promotion process, access to opportunity, diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. MadeBOS grew from Martha’s passion for shaping people’s professional growth and development, no matter their starting point or current trajectory. “Seeing people develop, starting in one place and seeing their growth into more influential roles, [...] gave me a personal satisfaction. I wanted more of that.” To that end, madeBOS is an AI driven, career pathing platform that creates economic mobility for entry level workers in retail. “MadeBOS was simply a way for me to replicate that feeling, and be able to implement it globally.” From a lightning bolt of inspiration, to a series of 52 handwritten note cards (really!), to the full-fledged AI platform that it is today, Martha’s journey to implement madeBOS has been a fascinating one. Despite lacking the “typical pedigree” that VC investors look for, Martha’s passion and enthusiasm never flagged. In this way, she has truly lived the process that madeBOS strives to deliver to its users. “Sometimes, we feel stuck. An opportunity might look so big that we quit.” “I think we all have our moments. [...] It’s important to get angry, because that’s a fuel to keep going, passionately. This persistence is also because we haven’t given the world — meaning people in general — an opportunity to do things differently. [...] I’m not making excuses for people who haven’t invested in people like me. It’s just that [Latinx people] arrived to the party late, in terms of resources and access and social capital.” In this episode, we discuss the barriers that Latina and other women of color entrepreneurs face in getting access to funding and other support for their businesses. What specific challenges and fears did Martha face along the way, and how did she overcome them? Listen along and find out. Thank you as always for listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. We’ll see you with a new episode next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I spoke with Aishwarya Balaji, Founder and CEO of Impact Chain Lab. By using blockchain technology, Impact Chain Lab is focused on building equitable communities around the globe. Aishwarya became interested in the disruptive power of blockchain in her previous roles as a consultant and leader at Build Academy, and now identifies ways to apply this technology to create solutions in the global development landscape. On this episode, we discussed her entrepreneurial journey, and the various ways Impact Chain Lab uses blockchain technology to drive positive social impact. As someone who knew from a young age that she wanted to go into business, Aishwarya’s entrepreneurial spirit is imbued with her natural curiosity and affinity for calculated risks. Her role as employee #1 at Build Academy gave her real time insights into the process of building a company from the ground up. That, combined with her firsthand experience in the venture capital and angel investing sphere, played a significant role in the creation of Impact Chain Lab. Aishwarya noticed that while support for impact investing has been growing, that increased interest has so far not been reflected in the flow of capital. With Impact Chain Lab, Aishwarya wants to use blockchain to funnel funds to social enterprises in a meaningful way. Impact Chain Lab’s main focus right now is a project called Bystander, which Aishwarya summarizes as “a cross between Reddit and Wikipedia.” Bystander allows users to retain and to benefit from the digital assets that they create — a power that users of the largest crowdsourced platforms generally lose the moment they hit “submit.” Users on Bystander can share and discuss information around a variety of topics, and when the community decides that information is valuable to them, individual users are rewarded for collecting and sharing high integrity, reliable data. “On our platform, the people producing the data are also the people consuming it.” Currently, the team at Impact Chain Lab is more than 50% female — which Aishwarya says was an intentional choice. “I’d like to keep building a team that is very diverse in all ways. In building any company, and especially a consumer facing one, it’s critical to have people on the team who represent the people you want using the platform. I want to make sure that we do that.” Her advice to other entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their team is to hire slowly. “Bring in people who are aligned with your business goals as well as your personal mottos and morals.” Aishwarya, thank you so much for joining me on the show to talk about your work with Impact Chain Lab and some of the exciting potential of blockchain technology. As a note to my listeners, starting next week, Tech Forward will moving to a new release schedule! New episodes will come out every other Wednesday, and on the weeks in between, we’ll be rebroadcasting some of our earlier episodes we think you’ll enjoy revisiting. Thank you as always for listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. We’ll see you with a new episode on January 30th! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners! Welcome back to another episode of Tech Forward. This week, I spoke with Kevin Dedner, Founder and CEO of Henry Health. Henry Health's mobile app provides self-care and mental health support through culturally sensitive teletherapy, serving the population with the lowest life expectancy in the U.S. — black men. Kevin is an experienced public health leader, and through Henry Health, he is committed to leveraging the power of technology to add 10 years to the life expectancy of black men in the next 25 years by focusing on their emotional and mental health. Today on the show, Kevin will be sharing with us some of the challenges black men face when receiving mental health support, and how his product helps address that need. “There is a weight,” Kevin says, “a stress associated just with being a black man.” Unaddressed, that stress in combination with untreated mental health issues plays a significant role in the low life expectancy of black men in the U.S. While they do seek solutions, black men face considerable hurdles in receiving culturally competent mental health care. Behind Henry Health is Kevin’s vision of a trusted source for providing mental health services and self care support for black men. At first, Kevin approached this issue from an academic angle, drawing on his experience working in public health and researching the social determinants of health. Along the way, however, he had his own experience with depression, through which he discovered “that my suffering could be helpful to others.” Kevin’s first hand experience with depression has been crucial in the development of a product that truly addresses the emotional and mental health needs of black men in the U.S. In fact, he brings many facets of both his personal and his professional life to his work with Henry Health, because he sees his entrepreneurship journey as a mirror of life. “My entire career has prepared me for the work I’m doing now. But when I first started to think about what I could do to address the mental health needs of black men, I met a lot of resistance. As an entrepreneur, you know this happens, and you’re more in tune with it. If you can push through that initial resistance, you will find what you need to advance your idea.” Through Henry Health, users have access to teletherapy with professionals who have undergone training to understand the unique experiences of black men in America. They also have the option to participate in moderated groups where they can discuss issues related to stress in the workplace, single parenting, relationship issues, and self care. Also offered within the app are daily motivational messages from lecturer and researcher Dr. Dennis Kimbro. When it comes to utilizing social media in a positive way, “sharing these messages and affirmations really does play a tremendous role in people’s current condition and mental state.” Kevin, thank you so much for coming onto the show this week to share the important work you’re doing through Henry Health with our listeners. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Happy new year, listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! On this week’s episode, I’ll be speaking with Nesh Pillay, the founder of Press Pillay. With a focus on empathy, equality, and sustainability, Press Pillay is a digital communications agency on a social mission. As a former journalist, Nesh covered international advertising and marketing as a founding reporter of The Drum’s New York team. At Press Pillay, she leverages her knowledge of marketing, PR, and branding from “the other side” as the secret weapon to making her clients successful. Today, she’ll be sharing her experience returning to the workforce after becoming a mother, as well as the lessons she has learned working with tech startups through her agency. Though motherhood had always been in the cards for Nesh, after the birth of her daughter she had to confront many of her own internalized feelings about being a mother in the workplace. As one of only two women on the team, it’s no surprise that she felt pressured to return to work as quickly as possible, even as she struggled with postpartum depression. At the same time, she was being approached for public relations work on the side, and realizing how much she enjoyed it. “I knew I needed to pursue a job that I really loved. [...] For working mothers, if you are in an environment where you don’t feel comfortable just existing, this might not be the right environment for you.” In founding Press Pillay, she has created a PR agency that recognizes the importance of adapting to the digital landscape, and the natural harmony of technology and lifestyle brands. In an age when brands are easily accessible to their customers via social media, Nesh urges companies to be mindful of their target markets, as well as how they approach them. “Consumers want to spend their money on brands that represent them, but if you’re reaching out to diverse customers, you need a diverse team.” The benefits of diversity go beyond just expanding your customer base. Many companies, Nesh says, “have wasted millions of dollars on campaigns that made them look bad.” Having a variety of diverse voices in the room, and a company culture where everyone feels supported in speaking up, can help brands avoid costly PR mistakes. When it comes to attracting a diverse team, Nesh emphasizes the importance of creating an inclusive environment. For example, prior to the birth of her daughter, “during the interview process with some of these younger tech startups, when I asked about maternity leave I got a lot of blank stares. You need to create a workplace where a woman wouldn’t be afraid to get pregnant.” The same goes when hiring for all facets of diversity. She recommends hiring and mentoring initiatives that go beyond the standard search for candidates with 4-year degrees from prestigious schools. Nesh, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your keen insights into PR, marketing, and diversity. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and happy holidays! This week, I'm rebroadcasting the inaugural episode of the Tech Forward podcast. Back in March of this year, I spoke with Courtney Bass, a HR Business Partner at Google, who coaches and advises leaders on team management and motivation. As an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, Courtney has spent her career developing and implementing strategies that both individuals and teams can leverage for meaningful collaboration and growth. Courtney and I covered a lot of ground during our conversation, beginning with examining why diversity progress has been so slow at many of the larger tech companies. At Google, diversity numbers are still well below representative, though they have improved over the years. Why has it been challenging for Google and other tech giants to establish a more diverse employee base? In recent years, Google has made a sincere effort to broaden their recruitment efforts to be better able to get in front of great talent of color, and make a compelling case for what Google can offer. Courtney notes that, moving forwards, one way for Google and other tech giants to increase their diversity would be to increase their presence in places other than the Bay, such as the South and the Midwest. In Courtney’s own words, “We are a very West-Coast-centric company. [...] If you’re not from this area, or don’t want to relocate here, it just may not be an option you’re willing to consider.” The reluctance is understandable. Life in the Bay area is not only cost prohibitive (average apartment rent is well over $3000 per month), but can feel isolating to people of color. Courtney notes that during her time living in the Bay area, she has gone days without seeing another Black person. “It can feel very lonely. For some people of color, moving out to the Bay is a non-starter.” Courtney had a lot of insights to share, and I hope you find our conversation as engaging and informative as I did. We'll be back next week in the new year with a brand-new episode. Thank you so much for listening! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! For this week’s episode, I’m excited to share my conversation with Sean McKenzie, Co-Founder and Director of Driver Engagement at Steereo. By combining the power of music streaming with the popularity of ridesharing, Steereo is a music discovery app that gives emerging artists exposure and valuable data, while compensating rideshare drivers. Sean is an award-winning entrepreneur and a 3-time founder with a strong background in brand strategy, consumer insights, and market forecasting. He also serves as an advisory council member at Fund for Public Housing. Today on the show we’ll be discussing his career path, his approach to hiring at Steereo, and some of the ways he uses his experience to give back to his community. The idea for Steereo came from a chance meeting between Sean and his team, and a Lyft driver with excellent musical taste. Realizing that rideshare drivers often act as DJs for their clients, Sean proposed the idea for a platform where up-and-coming artists could allow drivers to stream their music. The benefits are twofold. Along with the exposure to a larger audience, artists on the Steereo platform also gain access to a wealth of data, including where, when, and even how loudly it gets played. Drivers are compensated for this airtime in turn, accumulating funds over time much like a fare meter. When it came to creating the app, Sean noted, “People of color are great at creating content that lives on these innovative platforms, but they aren’t necessarily creating those platforms where that content lives. If there’s a demand for this, why not us? Why can’t we build it?” This passionate attitude has been a common thread throughout Sean’s career trajectory. As a 3-time founder, he cites every step of the journey as an important part of where he is today. For any listeners out there considering pursuing their own ambitions of entrepreneurship, Sean has two key pieces of advice. First and foremost, don’t wait for a perfect product to launch — “When it comes to building tech products, great can be the enemy of good enough. Don’t let great slow you down. Get your core function nailed down, put it out, let your users break it and then iterate from there.” Furthermore, he recommends maintaining that lean, early-stage passion as much as possible as the business grows. “Even when you have more resources, treat your product as if you don’t.” In addition to his work at Steereo, Sean is also a member of the advisory council for New York City’s Fund for Public Housing. At a time when more people than ever are in need of affordable housing, federal funding for these programs has unfortunately dwindled. “My entire existence can be attributed to affordable public housing. I am a direct result of these programs and they just aren’t really there anymore. It’s important for me to give back in this way, because our experiences shape who we are and how we view the world. If I can shape a kid’s viewpoint and their confidence, then that is my life’s work, beyond anything else I do in the tech industry.” Sean, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing with us the work you’re doing both with Steereo, and with the Fund for Public Housing. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I’m speaking with Mahi Inampudi, Vice President of Product and Technology at Envoy. Envoy creates and manages technology that aims to make the immigration process seamless and efficient for both immigrants and their employers. Having experienced the immigration process firsthand as an employee, employer, and a family member, Mahi’s decision to join Envoy was a very personal once. On today’s episode he’ll be sharing his story, as well as discussing some of the ways Envoy helps companies support international talent. With 18 years of experience in building software, Mahi’s career has spanned a period of rapid acceleration in the development of technology. In his role with IBM, he focused on building social collaboration software for large enterprise companies and later led the web, data, analytics and DevOps teams at Apartments.com. Mahi finds himself inspired by the swift evolution of technology over the last two decades, and that inspiration plays a significant role in his work with Envoy Global. At a time when demand for software engineers is outpacing supply, Envoy strives to simplify corporate immigration both for employees and employers. Immigration processes and workflows are incredibly complex, and — unlike many other aspects of our personal and professional lives — have not changed very much over the last 15 years. Human resources professionals at large companies have to strike a balance between the best possible experience for employees on a sponsored work visa, and the legal costs of the immigration process. Envoy brings critical elements of the consumer experience people expect in 2018 into immigration technology. Their work is informed by an annual immigration trend survey of 400-500 companies, which provides valuable insights into supply and demand, as well as employee concerns and desires. While Mahi cites several challenges immigrants face when relocating — such as cultural differences and the possibility of a language barrier — he stresses, above all, the importance of familiarity with immigration law in order to maintain compliance. Something as simple as a change of job description, working remotely for a period of time, or even a raise can affect compliance. Mahi advises that any company employing foreign nationals leverage technology to assist in complying with immigration laws and changing policies. To that end, Envoy recently built and launched software that allows HR teams to constantly audit for compliance within their companies. The importance of this work cannot be overstated: “Simplifying things lets the employees focus on their primary job, instead of spending time worrying about navigating the process of immigration.” Mahi, thank you so much for coming onto the show and giving our listeners a glimpse into the work you’re doing with Envoy Global. Thank you as well to everyone out there listening, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners! Welcome back to Tech Forward. On this week’s episode, I’m speaking with Wes Kao, a marketing strategy and product launch expert who works as a consultant and advisor to multiple consumer brands and tech startups. She serves as a mentor to entrepreneurs through her roles with WeWork Labs and Backstage Capital. Previously, Wes was the founding Executive Director of Seth Godin's altMBA. Today on the show, we’ll be talking about the leadership lessons she’s learned during her career, and her advice to other managers on how to adequately encourage and support women in the workplace. After years of working in the corporate retail space, Wes found herself drawn to the rigorous thinking and problem solving aspect of the tech sector. She worked with Seth Godin to launch altMBA, an online leadership and management workshop which under her leadership grew from zero to 550 cities in 45 countries over a three year period of high-growth. She brings her wealth of experience to the table when mentoring entrepreneurs through Backstage Capital and WeWork Labs, advising founders and CEOs on effective leadership and avoiding the pitfalls of bias. One key piece of advice Wes has for other managers is to conduct regular self-checks for bias. “The minute we think we’re above bias, or prejudice, or discrimination, that’s when we get into a dangerous spot.” Often, workplace culture permits pushback from white male employees — but punishes women or people of color for the same resistance, marking them as selfish or uncooperative. Though managerial roles often require split-second calculations in order to optimize the workday, Wes encourages managers to ask this question: “Would I react the same way to a white/male employee in this situation?” She also encourages similar self-checks when it comes to using language that reflects equitable treatment of employees. “Our automatic reaction might be to criticize, but those criticisms add up to a place where employees might not feel safe to lead, to challenge authority, and to ask questions.” Wes also emphasizes that it’s not solely the responsibility of leadership to effect change: “We can always positively influence the lives of our coworkers.” She cites moments from her own  career journey when her allies have taken seemingly small, but powerful actions to support her. When clients assumed her male colleagues were in charge, those men redirected the conversation both verbally and physically — asserting that Wes was at the helm, and turning to face her. In situations where you suspect bias or discrimination, Wes advises, “Go to your allies in the company first. They probably notice it too. When you do talk to the person, bring it up in a respectful way. Above all, don’t suffer in silence! If you don’t feel comfortable and confident to do your best work, nobody is winning.” Wes, I’ve really enjoyed hearing your insights and your stories, and I know that our listeners will too. Thank you again for coming onto the show this week. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, subscribing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! Today, for the final episode of our job seekers series, I spoke with Shondra McCray. A web developer and user experience strategist, Shondra recently moved from Texas to the San Francisco Bay Area to explore opportunities in tech. During our conversation, Shondra shares her journey navigating the job search process in Silicon Valley, as well as her advice for others looking to get their foot in the door in tech. After her UX role at Parker University and other jobs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, relocating to the Bay Area in June of this year was a massive shift for Shondra in more ways than one. In addition to the much higher housing costs, Silicon Valley’s professional culture was a stark departure from Texas. Some companies used language in their job descriptions that signaled their desire to hire a man for the role. Others made it clear that they would only consider candidates with an Ivy League education. For anyone looking to enter the tech sector, Shondra stresses the importance of job seekers being honest about their skills — and how those skills might translate differently from one region to another. “I realized when I moved that I could call myself a rockstar developer back in Texas — but not out here. But I’m open to working on skills that will add value to a company.” Shondra also advises job seekers to thoroughly research prospective employers. “Especially with startups here in Silicon Valley, I look at whether they started with a seed round or not, and what round they’re in currently.” When it comes to the interview, Shondra encourages interviewees to make the process a dialogue where both employer and potential employee take turns asking and answering questions. “I like to write down deliverables and things I can contribute, as well as things that I’d want from the company, such as time off and health insurance. I need to know how these companies invest in their employees.” For companies looking to attract talent such as herself, Shondra again stresses the importance of a respectful and engaged dialogue. “Treat your candidates as if their time is priceless, because it is. Show the people you interview that you care about their growth, not just their contributions.” Since moving to the Bay Area, her own interview experiences have been both positive and negative. The best experiences weren’t necessarily ones that ended in a job offer, but those where she was made to feel like a member of the team.    Shondra, thank you so much for coming on the show and giving our listeners this glimpse into the current interview and hiring process. I wish you the best of luck as you continue your career journey. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, subscribing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners, and happy Thanksgiving to those of you in America! Welcome back to Tech Forward. This week, I'm rebroadcasting an early episode for newer listeners. Earlier this year, I spoke with Allie Burns, Managing Director at Village Capital. This global venture capital firm wants to build bridges for entrepreneurs looking to create an inclusive and sustainable world. Having worked with Revolution, the Case Foundation, AOL, Atlas Venture and more, Allie honed over the years a passion for working with young and emerging technologies. We discussed Village Capital’s unique model and goal to broaden access to capital worldwide, and to close the wealth gap for founders from underrepresented backgrounds. Village Capital is on a mission to reinvent the venture capital system in such a way as to truly back the entrepreneurs of the future. “The work we do is united by the principle of getting more capital to more people in more places, to solve the significant challenges in environmental stability and economic inequality.” Seeing as how 75% of venture capital goes to only 3 US states, and most of that to white men, there’s room for significant improvement. Village Capital deliberately sources and recruits entrepreneurs outside of the dominant geographies, both within the US and worldwide at their offices in Mexico City, Nairobi, and India. Village Capital operates with a community based support model, where cohorts of 10-12 entrepreneurs share information and constructive criticism with each other. The peer evaluation method is an attempt to flip the current power dynamic: at the end of the 3 month program, the cohort selects which among them will receive investment from Village Capital’s own fund. The model also connects these entrepreneurs with mentors in order to build a common language on both sides of the table. “If entrepreneurs can think like investors and speak to them in a way they’re more receptive to, we’ll have better matchmaking between investors and entrepreneurs.” In fact, many entrepreneurs return to the program as mentors down the line! In this way, the community built within these cohorts at Village Capital is meant to last well beyond the duration of the program. In their work internationally, they’ve found that only 10% of investment goes to emerging markets, and of that small percentage, the distribution echoes a lot of what we see in the US. “In 2015-2016, 72% of all startup investment in East Africa went to only 3 companies, and 90% went to companies founded by non-local founders.” Companies in emerging markets also have unique problems, such as gaps in the value chain, that make these businesses more challenging to finance. “Traditional venture capital doesn’t know what to do with these types of businesses.” In order to measure near term success, Village Capital has partnered with Emory University to compare companies who participated in the program against a control group of companies who didn’t. “We want to know, are the companies we’ve supported able to access capital and grow their businesses in a more accelerated way?” The answer, so far, is positive: companies who went through the program are raising more than 2.5 times the capital, creating 70% more jobs, and generating 25% more revenue. Big thanks to Allie for joining me on the show this week, and to all of you out there listening. See you next week with a brand new episode!

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! For the second episode of our November job seeker series, I spoke with Michele Heyward, founder of PositiveHire. PositiveHire is a tech company engineered to bridge the gap between employers and women of color STEM professionals. Michele’s vision is to not only help experienced women of color find inclusive workplaces, but to help enterprises recruit them. PositiveHire does this via matching experienced women of color STEM professionals to relevant management positions within organizations. In this episode, we discussed Michele’s plans and aspirations for her business, as well as her advice for women and companies on how to begin to narrow the gender pay gap. PositiveHire grew, in part, from Michele’s previous experience in career coaching. Having heard similar stories of career struggles from many female engineers, she wanted to help as many women in STEM as possible — and as quickly as possible. “What I want PositiveHire to do is enable women from different races to understand what a company’s culture provides each one of them. Each race can and will be discriminated against differently. So, what is it about the company culture that may benefit one woman of color, but not another? The ability to determine fit based on cultural background, gender, and race would help so many women.” When it comes to externally determining a company or organization’s culture, Michele has a few tips for job seekers. First and foremost, look at upper management: less diversity at that level may indicate a cultural issue. For instance, it’s not uncommon for the responsibility of leadership to rest of the shoulders of Black women, but not the title. Connecting with former employees of the company on services such as LinkedIn can also be helpful, as they are often willing to be candid about their experiences within the company. Michele also has words of wisdom to share as far as closing the wage gap. For women, especially women of color, she emphasizes the importance of knowing when to say no, and keeping concrete, quantitative documentation of how you’ve helped your company, team, or group. At the employer level, she notes, “You have the information you need to go through and equalize pay in your organization. How long are you willing to gamble that your employees won’t find out they’ve been underpaid?” Course correcting isn’t just about avoiding short-term negative consequences, however. There are plenty of long term benefits to making this effort, including positive press, and improving the bottom line. Michele, thank you so much for coming onto the show and discussing the important work you’re doing with PositiveHire. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, subscribing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners! Welcome back to Tech Forward. Throughout the month of November, we’ll be releasing 3 episodes as a part of our “job seekers” series, which covers tips, tactics, and resources for underrepresented talent to identify opportunities in tech. Today’s guest is Andrea Guendelman, founder and CEO of BeVisible. BeVisible is a social media career network that connects Latinos and Latinas across the country with companies searching for new talent. For recruiters, BeVisible makes it easy to access a talented pool of individuals whom they already know self-identify as Latinx — something no other platform can do. Together we discussed Andrea’s journey as a tech startup founder, and some of the many initiatives she’s led throughout her career to expand access to opportunities for the Latinx community in technology. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Andrea worked at a Washington, D.C. based non-profit that helped underrepresented talent connect to leadership positions. Upon moving to New Mexico, she realized the extent of the gap between the huge pool of talent and employers looking to fill jobs. Though she spent several years afterwards working as a corporate lawyer, Andrea longed to do something creative. Drawing upon her previous roles making connections between employers and potential employees in underrepresented groups, Andrea founded BeVisible in 2015. On the BeVisible platform, users connect with each other and with employers, tag and search for people by city and industry, and post jobs and upcoming events. What sets BeVisible apart from major career platforms like LinkedIn, as well as other diversity recruitment platforms, is the sense of community. Since first-generation college graduates often lack a background in soft skills such as networking and self-promotion, LinkedIn can be intimidating. BeVisible, on the other hand, is a welcoming community where the focus is on establishing relationships rather than purely pitching to a company. With over 15 thousand registered users gained primarily by word of mouth, it’s clear that people definitely wanted a place like BeVisible. Reflecting on the last few years of creating and launching this platform, Andrea says, “My original plan was to do something creative just for a year, but one thing just led to another. It hasn’t been easy! But I don’t regret it.” Her focus now is on developing version 2 of BeVisible, and refining the business model in order to begin VC fundraising. She’s also currently launching an initiative to source, train and connect the nation’s most talented software engineers to the most progressive companies in the innovation economy. Andrea, thank you so much for coming onto the show today! I can’t wait to see where you take BeVisible in the coming years. Thank you also to all of you out there tuning in, subscribing, reviewing, and sharing the show with your friends. We’ll see you next week for another episode in our job seekers series! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners, and happy Halloween! This week, I'm reissuing a classic episode: my interview with Tina Lee, Founder and CEO of MotherCoders. Based in San Francisco, MotherCoders is a non-profit that’s expanding the tech talent pool by helping women with kids gain the skills, knowledge, and connections they need to thrive in today's digital economy. Tina’s career journey has taken her from management consulting and recruiting roles in the private sector, to philanthropy and nonprofit roles in the public sector. She’s passionate and prolific about the digital economy, especially the changing needs of women and families in a digital, globalized world. We discussed how MotherCoders came to be, and how Tina is helping moms of all types launch their tech careers. Currently, 86% of women will become moms, and with millennials becoming parents, there are more moms than ever with college degrees. As a person with caregiving responsibilities of her own, however, Tina discovered first hand that the free or low-cost and easily accessible options like meetups and workshops were not easy for her to attend. Recognizing a huge opportunity to provide moms with both caregivers and a space to learn, she launched the MotherCoders pilot in 2014. Since then, they have trained over 150 women, both through standalone events as well as a part-time 9 week program. MotherCoders — which serves working moms seeking career advancement, reentering the workforce, and starting down the path of entrepreneurship — isn’t a boot camp or job training program. Instead, it’s a space where moms can integrate their past experiences, skills, and resources with technical skills and contextual knowledge to get them into a role where they will have wage security and advancement opportunities. Providing this support for mothers now also supports their children down the line. Not only do children of working mothers go on to earn more as adults, but studies show children’s academic trajectory compares to that of their mothers. “It’s a great way to inspire the next generation! Why would you not do this for mothers?” The structure of MotherCoders addresses the top 3 barriers for mothers: time, money, and caregiving responsibilities. Along with competitive pricing, they offer a mother-friendly schedule and on-site childcare. With this approach, they provide a welcoming environment for people who have been systematically shut out. MotherCoders is open to all women: “If you’re a woman, and you’re the primary caregiver for a child under 17, you are welcome here.” Moving forwards, Tina’s ultimate goal is to expand MotherCoders to new locations. She wants to design a flexible program with core components that people can adjust according to the unique needs of their local ecosystem. If you’re interested in helping make this licensing model a reality and having MotherCoders come to your city someday, you can donate today. Tina, as a mom myself, I love the work you’re doing. Thank you so much for coming on the show, and thank you to all of you out there listening. I'll see you next week with a brand new episode! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! My guest today is Alli Young, Founder and CEO of The Forem. The Forem is a professional training organization that develops the next generation of leaders while promoting gender equity. Through her work with The Forem, Alli focuses on helping women advance their careers and building healthy organizations as a key lever in driving innovation and revenue. Today, we’ll be talking about how she came to found the Forem, and the critical skills she believes all professionals — but especially women — need to successfully progress in their careers. Though she enjoyed her role as a Google leader, Alli found that it was difficult to pursue her passion for building and trying new things within such a large organization. She wanted to align her professional life with what she truly cared about: working with other women to develop and progress their careers. “Women have been failed by corporate America. How can I get more women into leadership roles where they have the power to affect change?” She took the leap and founded The Forem, which works at the individual as well as the organizational level to foster working environments where everybody can thrive and grow and fulfill their potential. At the individual level, The Forem offers one-on-one coaching for emerging leaders, with a strong focus on 5 critical skills. Those skills include negotiating, building a personal brand, growing a robust and responsive network, financial fluency, and leadership skills — many of which can be a struggle for women. For women early in their careers, Alli stresses the importance of first focusing on negotiating and networking. “The first step is being able to self-advocate. A lot of women do not negotiate, and when we do we ask for less. [...] As for networking, 85% of our opportunities come from our network. Investing in people is always worth your while.” Even within companies whose CEOs and board members recognize the value of diversity, making the change at the organizational level can be difficult. “What do you do if 80% of your existing team is male? Even with good intentions, these roles won’t open up tomorrow.” That’s why the team at The Forem work with CEOs on strategy and succession planning, preparing qualified women to step into a leadership role as soon as it’s available. They also work directly with leadership teams to identify, address, and solve for areas of unconscious bias. Working collaboratively and forming partnerships transforms how people in leadership roles interpret and identify bias. Alli also emphasizes the value of frequent, consistent top-down messaging about diversity and equality, highlighting both current statistics and future goals. Alli, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your work through The Forem. I look forward to the upcoming book about the 5 critical skills, and seeing that message continue to spread. Thank you also to all my listeners tuning in, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello, listeners! Welcome back to Tech Forward. On this week’s episode, I spoke with Betty Ng, tech entrepreneur, author, and founder and CEO of Inspiring Diversity, LLC (“iD”). In order to build more inclusive and collaborative communities, iD works with organizations to drive profitability and sustainability through increased employee inclusion, engagement, and performance. Betty has co-authored “PO-LING POWER™: Propelling Yourself and Others to Success” with her mother (Po-Ling Ng) and regularly speaks on PO-LING POWER™ and other empowering topics. Today, we’ll be talking about the inspiration behind iD, and how this framework helps companies break down barriers to diversity and inclusion. Though Betty was honored as a corporate trailblazer in 2015, she knew she was not pursuing her own vision for her authentic self. “I had a vision to be a successful social entrepreneur, not working in mergers and acquisitions.” Betty’s strength of vision came from her mother, a widowed immigrant woman with 4 young children who obtained 2 master’s degrees and devoted her life to helping her community. She instilled in Betty the belief that anything is possible, regardless of your background, as long as we help one another succeed. This belief was the bedrock for the PO-LING POWER framework and Inspiring Diversity. In developing this framework, Betty says, “All roads led back to my mom.” Each aspect of the PO-LING framework — Priorities, Others, Lead, Inspire, Network, Grow — was a quality that her mother exemplified. Combined with POWER — Priorities, Obligations, Worthwhile activities, Energy, Resources — these acronyms form an evaluation, decision, and measurement matrix to propel individuals and groups to success while managing what matters. This focus on collaboration and working towards mutual success makes the framework a natural fit for any company looking to build a more inclusive culture. The framework provides practical solutions for these organizations through a book, an app, videos of previous success stories, and supporting services such as coaching and workshops. Since changing existing organizational culture can be difficult, the framework is a practical, cost-effective, scalable, and mobile way to measure and track results. Despite the clear business case for increasing diversity and inclusion, many organizations do not see these efforts as imperative to their business. “Diversity events, training, and employee resource groups aren’t enough. Organizations need to put real actions, plans, resources, and opportunities behind their diversity and inclusion efforts. Inspiring Diversity is focused on helping organizations overcome these barriers.” thank you so much for coming onto the show today and sharing your inspiring story. Thank you also to all my listeners tuning in, reviewing, and sharing the show. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Welcome back to Tech Forward, listeners! This week, for the first time, I’m interviewing two guests: Gerri Kahnweiler and Cayla Weisberg, co-founders of Chicago-based InvestHER Ventures. InvestHER is an early stage investment firm that partners with and invests in female entrepreneurs. As a strong leader in philanthropy and civic engagement, Geri has a track record for empowering women and girls to reach their full potential. Her mission is to create funding opportunities for women who are focused on technology-enabled business services and data driven solutions for large markets. With her background in sales and a focus on people over products, Cayla offers hands-on thought leadership on startup scaling, pivoting, and operation excellence for InvestHER’s portfolio companies. We’ll be digging into the catalyst behind launching InvestHER, and how they’re working to level the playing field for female entrepreneurs across the country. Cayla and Gerri joined forces to launch InvestHER Ventures in 2016, a year when female founders received only 2.19% of venture funding. Considering one third of Chicago’s entrepreneurs are women, those numbers clearly aren’t the result of a pipeline problem. Recognizing this massive opportunity, Gerri and Cayla decided to focus on supporting female founders in the post-product, pre-revenue phase. They also assist these companies with customer acquisition, building a scalable sales funnel, and account management. “We have the easy job, really. The entrepreneurs have the hard job, and we’re there to support them. We admire each and every woman we connect with and evaluate.” When it comes to working closely with a co-founder, Cayla and Gerri stress the importance of communication, clear division of duties, and presenting a united front. With their very different backgrounds — Gerri in philanthropy, and Cayla in sales and entrepreneurship — they make an effective and efficient team. “All our decisions are made together. I would not make an investment in a company unless Cayla was on board.” They strongly encourage other female founders to “find the yin to your yang,” a partner whose strengths and opportunities complement their own. Both Gerri and Cayla have advice to share for women looking to get into investment. For anyone who already has funds to invest, Gerri recommends finding a local angel group, and working to understand the entire process from pitch to investment. Having witnessed this process play out many times, Cayla wants would-be female investors to know “there is no traditional path to investing anymore. A lot of funds are looking to hire people who have taken non-traditional capital risks in one way or another. Just because you didn’t go to business school doesn’t mean you can’t get into investing.” Cayla and Gerri, thank you so much for joining me on the show today to share the exciting work you’re doing with InvestHER Ventures. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, sharing the show, and reviewing. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! My guest this week is Rima Reddy, a Principal at XRC Labs, an early stage accelerator dedicated to investing in the next wave of disruptors in the consumer and retail goods industries. At XRC, Rima leads the startup sourcing and diligence process, and participates on the Selection Committee. Prior to XRC, Rima focused on e-commerce and omni-channel initiatives at Ralph Lauren, and served as an Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs. She was recognized by Business Insider as "22 Female Angel Investors Every Startup Founder Should Know," and speaks extensively on the topics of early-stage investing and women in entrepreneurship. Today on the show, we’ll be talking about the support she provides to female founders, as well as her transition to becoming an investor herself. Since the retail industry can be notoriously slow, XRC’s main goal is to bridge the gap between larger, more traditional brands and promising tech startups in order to drive the entire ecosystem forward. Early stage founders complete a 14-week program where XRC helps with all aspects of the business, from messaging and business development to networking with potential clients and being placed on panels. XRC provides founders with a small amount of capital at the beginning, but also assists with the next round of fundraising at the end of the 14 week program, introducing them to angels and VC’s who can take the business to the next level. When selecting startups for their program, XRC looks for founders who are both extremely confident about their business and its mission, and open to criticism and advice. “It’s really the founder that we’re investing in… We watch them pivot, and see if they can take the feedback to make the right move.” They also seek entrepreneurs who solve the problems that larger brands currently face. As of now 60% of the companies XRC works with have a woman on their founding team, and 45% have a female CEO. The XRC community stays actively involved in founders’ journeys after graduation, providing support and hosting alumni events. Rima also supports early stage investors through her work with 37 Angels, one of the largest investing networks in New York. She was drawn to 37 Angels because of their great sense of community, which is very inclusive and woman focused. This sense of ongoing community has played a critical role in Rima’s own career journey. Considering that both of her large career transitions have been all about networking, she strongly recommends that women have as many conversations with other startups and angel investors as possible. Her other piece of advice: “Read a ton! There are so many great blogs about venture capital and angel investing.” Rima, thank you so much for coming on the show this week and sharing the work you’re doing with both XRC Labs and 37 Angels. Thank you also to all of you out there listening, sharing the show, and reviewing. See you next week! Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook