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6 episodes with sherrell dorsey
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3 episodes with sherrell dorsey
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3 episodes with sherrell dorsey
2 episodes with sherrell dorsey
“Everybody likes nature, even though we're watching it slowly degrade away. And that's the big challenge of our time,” says linguist software engineer Jeffrey T. Reed, a research affiliate with the Cry Wolf Project. Following his talk at TED2025, Reed sits down for a conversation with host Sherrell Dorsey on how listening to sounds like bird chirps and a wolf's howl connects us with the world around us — and how AI technology can help us further understand these natural phenomena. To watch Jeffrey's 2025 TED Talk, click here!Want to help shape TED's shows going forward? Fill out our survey!Become a TED Member today at ted.com/joinLearn more about TED Next at ted.com/futureyou Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“The whole Substack ecosystem is about more power because it's based on those relationships between the publisher and their subscribers, or the video maker and their viewers,” says journalist and Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie. Following his talk at TED2025, McKenzie is in conversation with Sherrell Dorsey to discuss how the media landscape has changed, and how new platforms like Substack allows independent creators to challenge traditional broadcast media – and build trust with their following.To listen to McKenzie's TED2025 talk, click here: Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Castbox.Want to help shape TED's shows going forward? Fill out our survey! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is an episode from the podcast TED Tech, hosted by Sherrel Dorsey. We're sharing it with TANGOTI listeners as part of a feed swap with them, exchanging two episodes that address similar topics but land in very different places. We hope you enjoy it. What if AI could bring the past to life? In this episode from the podcast TED Tech, host Sherrell Dorsey shares a talk from cartoonist Amy Kurzweil about how she helped train an AI chatbot on her late grandfather’s archives, allowing her to connect with a family member she never met — and discover family history she never knew. Backed by her own original drawings, she reveals the profound impact art and AI can have in keeping memories alive.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What does it mean to embrace all your passions, even when they don't seem to align? Sherrell Dorsey shows how embracing multiple interests can be empowering. As the founder of The Plug, the first daily newsletter for Black tech startups, Sherrell has made her mark on the tech world. Beyond her tech expertise, Sherrell is also a dancer, writer, and content creator.In this episode, Tulaine and Sherrell discuss embracing multiple identities, the future of technology, and how to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.Follow Tulaine on:InstagramLinkedinXProduced by the New Profit and Hueman Group Media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Each Sunday, TED shares an episode of another podcast we think you'll love, handpicked for you… by us. Today: an episode from TED Tech. From the construction of virtual realities to the internet of things host Sherrell Dorsey guides you through the latest ideas from TED Speakers, uncovering the riveting questions that sit at the intersection of technology and society.What happens when the data-driven capabilities of AI are combined with human creativity and ingenuity? Shining a light on the opportunities this futuristic collaboration could bring to the workplace, AI expert Shervin Khodabandeh shares how to redesign companies so that people and machines can learn from each other. After Shervin's talk, hear from Sherrell on the potential promises (and pitfalls) of AI-work integration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Each Sunday, TED shares an episode of another podcast we think you'll love, handpicked for you… by us. Today: an episode from TED Tech. From the construction of virtual realities to the internet of things host Sherrell Dorsey guides you through the latest ideas from TED Speakers, uncovering the riveting questions that sit at the intersection of technology and society.What happens when the data-driven capabilities of AI are combined with human creativity and ingenuity? Shining a light on the opportunities this futuristic collaboration could bring to the workplace, AI expert Shervin Khodabandeh shares how to redesign companies so that people and machines can learn from each other. After Shervin's talk, hear from Sherrell on the potential promises (and pitfalls) of AI-work integration.
#235 Over the last decade, ‘girlboss' culture has convinced us that we're superwomen who can have it together all of the time. But that's not always the reality, and we're ready for open conversations that embrace the REAL qualities that lead to success!Today, we're welcoming award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and author of “Simplify The Hustle,” Sherrell Dorsey for an in-depth conversation on how to simplify your approach to success through reframing productivity, prioritizing self-care, and creating space for yourself to win and reach your goals beyond just hard work.We Also Talk About…Sherrell's journey finding balance as a serial entrepreneurThe keys to building and distributing wealth amongst communitiesFirst-generation entrepreneurship and the challenges of building a business from the ground upThe difference between leveling up and selling outIntention-setting and how to practice self-care as an entrepreneurWhat it means to simplify the hustle and embrace efficiencyResources:Follow Sherrell on Instagram @sherrell_dorseyRead “Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us” by Sherrell DorseyRead “Simplify The Hustle: A 21-Day Guide to Balancing Work With Ease & Intention” by Sherrell DorseyKeep in touch with Balanced Black Girl:Shop limited-edition Balanced Black Girl merchWatch on YouTube @BalancedBlackGirlFollow on IG: @balancedles @balancedblackgirlpodcastFollow on TikTok @balancedlesVisit our website at balancedblackgirl.comSubscribe to our newsletter, Mirror NotesSponsors:NPR Black Stories, Black Truths | In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths you'll find a collection of some of NPR's best podcast episodes celebrating the Black experience. Listen here.Lipton Green Tea | Drinking two cups of Lipton Green tea daily an easy hack to support your well-being. Try New Lipton Green Tea!Nike | Find your feel with Nike Bras & Legging that deliver supportive flexibility and comfort for whatever your day brings. Shop now at Nike.comDelta | Delta Air Lines helps you feel at home, even if you're 30,000 feet above it. Learn more at delta.com.Vionic Shoes | The Vionic Vitals collection has the best essential styles for everyday wear to get you ready for the season. Use code BALANCEDLES at checkout for 15% off your entire order at www.vionicshoes.com when you log into your account. One-time use only.Equip Health | Equip offers wraparound support for anyone experiencing disordered eating. Schedule a free consultation at equip.health/balancedblackgirlPlease note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
VertueLab's Aina Abiodun chats with Sherrell Dorsey about financing climate innovation with a justice lens, place-based investing, and worforce development. For more and a link to the video go to: https://impactalpha.com/plugged-in-the-opportunity-in-local-climate-innovation-with-vertuelabs-aina-abiodun-video/ And, check out our profile of Aina: https://impactalpha.com/aina-abiodun-vertuelab-centering-community-in-climate-tech-in-the-pacific-northwest/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha/message
On this week's Agents of Impact Podcast, Sherrell Dorsey chats with Olivia Watkins of Black Farmer Fund. The fund aims to meet the modern needs of Black farmers and food entrepreneurs with affordable capital and technical assistance. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha/message
Sherrell Dorsey speaks with Bright Ventures' Lenore Champagne Beirne. about how she's working to build an inclusive economy through capital, community, and coaching. Champagne Beirne founded Bright Ventures as a strategic advisory and executive coaching service prior to expanding to include an early-stage fund. For more: https://impactalpha.com/plugged-in-lenore-champagne-beirne-bright-ventures/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha/message
Google's chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker joins journalist and host of the "TED Tech" podcast Sherrell Dorsey for a conversation on fostering belonging and opportunity in the workplace. Learn more about how companies can sustainably promote diversity, equity and inclusion — and why you should aim to "add in," not "fit in." After the interview, Sherrell digs deeper into what it means to feel valued in the workplace.
[APPLICATIONS OPEN!] | Are you building a high growth business in tech healthcare, AI, media entertainment, or consumer goods and services? If so, we'd like to help you scale. Don't miss your chance to win $1 million, capital coaching, and access to an amazing community of diverse innovators! Apply for the 2024 Black Ambition Prize competition now Imagine a world where Black and Hispanic innovators are provided with the resources, mentorship, and backing to thrive without any interruption. In just 3 years, Black Ambition Prize has not only invested in nearly 100 entrepreneurs but has also offered support to over 750 innovators. During this time, the initiative has also granted nearly $6 million to founders dedicated to reshaping the landscape of industries such as product development, healthcare, media, and web technology, influencing their trajectory, mindset, and performance. In this episode, we take a glimpse into the mind of Felecia Hatcher, visionary CEO of Black Ambition, as she sits down with Sherrell Dorsey, Founder of The Plug, to some exciting light on the impact and future of Black Ambition Prize as well as what to expect from the lineup of entrepreneurs and leaders for Season 2 of the So Ambitious Podcast. You will also uncover the intricacies of her transition from founder of Black Tech Week to CEO of Black Ambition Prize, steering the organization into an epoch of empowerment for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs and founders. Join in on the conversation and discover the ground-breaking path to uninterrupted Black Ambition that Felecia Hatcher is forging today. KEY POINTS (1:33) - Felecia's journey to CEO of Black Ambition (4:20) - Celebrating 100 Black Ambition Prize winners & 750 entrepreneurs supported in 3 years (5:41) - New opportunities for HBCUs and the next cohort of the Black Ambition Prize (7:20) - What to expect in Season 2 of the So Ambitious Podcast QUOTABLES “Every entrepreneur is different as a result of the pandemic. And so there's new challenges, new opportunities that have sprouted up that we as an organization also have to make sure that we're supporting them at the highest level.” - Felecia Hatcher “We should be allowed to tell successful stories about Black and Brown people as well their most ambitious moments.” - Felecia Hatcher RESOURCES Sherrell Dorsey IG | @sherrell_dorsey [APPLICATIONS OPEN!] | Are you building a high growth business in tech healthcare, AI, media entertainment, or consumer goods and services? If so, we'd like to help you scale. Don't miss your chance to win $1 million, capital coaching, and access to an amazing community of diverse innovators! Apply for the 2024 Black Ambition Prize competition now Felecia Hatcher IG | @feleciahatcher Black Ambition IG | @blackambitionprize So Ambitious is produced by EPYC Media
Google's chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker joins journalist and host of the "TED Tech" podcast Sherrell Dorsey for a conversation on fostering belonging and opportunity in the workplace. Learn more about how companies can sustainably promote diversity, equity and inclusion — and why you should aim to "add in," not "fit in."
Google's chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker joins journalist and host of the "TED Tech" podcast Sherrell Dorsey for a conversation on fostering belonging and opportunity in the workplace. Learn more about how companies can sustainably promote diversity, equity and inclusion — and why you should aim to "add in," not "fit in."
Google's chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker joins journalist and host of the "TED Tech" podcast Sherrell Dorsey for a conversation on fostering belonging and opportunity in the workplace. Learn more about how companies can sustainably promote diversity, equity and inclusion — and why you should aim to "add in," not "fit in."
I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce you to an amazing guest in today's episode - Sherrell Dorsey, tech innovation journalist and the incredible founder of The Plug. Here's the thing, she's not just your run-of-the-mill founder and author; she's a true powerhouse. She's a data and storytelling expert and hosts the Road to Reinvention podcast. But let me tell you, the reason Sherrell's here today isn't just because of her impressive list of accomplishments – it's because she's an incredible human being. You can Google her to find all the gold stars, but what truly sets her apart is her inspiring journey of impact and reinvention. Today, we're going to dive deep into the concept of purposeful impact and how to embrace change along the way – something I believe is incredibly important for all of you tuning in. Tune in to hear how Sherell is gracefully navigating her path of reinvention, and discover some valuable lessons about living intentionally, practicing self-care, and building authentic connections in our ever-changing world. Sherell gets real about her recent decision to step down from her own company and dive headfirst into the thrilling journey of self-discovery. She shares how she's redefining success in her life, focusing on deeper connections and acts of kindness. Sherell's story is a big reminder that success isn't just about the fancy titles; it's also about the love we give and receive. So, grab a comfy seat and join us for this heartwarming conversation. KEY POINTS - Sherell's recent decision to step down from her role at The Plug - The personal journey and self-discovery she's embarking upon - Redefining success beyond traditional notions - The importance of deeper connections and acts of kindness - Insights into living intentionally and practicing self-care - Building authentic connections in an ever-changing world - Lessons on growth, evolution, and finding one's purpose QUOTABLES “I realized I don't want to be a costume of myself.” - Sherrell Dorsey “It doesn't have to be that you have to make this massive pivot or do this entire 360 or ditch everything you've built. Sometimes it's just about, with what I have, how can I be more intentional?” - Jessica Hurley “Reinvention is important. We do not have to stay in the same space. But grace is still required for that process. So I hope you give yourself some grace.” - Sherrell Dorsey Sherrell Dorsey Instagram | @sherrell_dorsey LinkedIn | @sherrelldorsey Love what you're hearing? Follow Jessica Hurley and share the love! IG | @jessicahurley__ Rich In Real Life is produced by EPYC Media Network
Host Brian Walsh shares highlights from this week's agents of impact call, “The employee-ownership edge,” which explored the range of opportunities for investing in the conversion of companies to worker ownership. Plus, the headlines. RSVP for next week's LinkedIn Live with Sherrell Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7112932484064968705/comments/ The call replay: https://youtu.be/Kii-53LJR8U?si=xyuQNO5-vdb0r0XD&t=4 Check out all of these stories and more on https://impactalpha.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha/message
Host Brian Walsh shares highlights from this week's agents of impact call, “The employee-ownership edge,” which explored the range of opportunities for investing in the conversion of companies to worker ownership. Plus, the headlines. RSVP for next week's LinkedIn Live with Sherrell Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7112932484064968705/comments/ The call replay: https://youtu.be/Kii-53LJR8U?si=xyuQNO5-vdb0r0XD&t=4 Check out all of these stories and more on https://impactalpha.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha-briefing/message
What happens when the data-driven capabilities of AI are combined with human creativity and ingenuity? Shining a light on the opportunities this futuristic collaboration could bring to the workplace, AI expert Shervin Khodabandeh shares how to redesign companies so that people and machines can learn from each other. Hear more after the episode from our new host, Sherrell Dorsey, on the potential promises (and pitfalls) of AI-work integration.
Remote work, while redefining the workplace landscape, seems stuck behind endless video conference calls that hinder free-flowing conversation and collaboration. In the 21st century, is that really the best we can do? Digital anthropologist Josephine Eyre makes the case for embracing the metaverse as an immersive meeting place that could help reignite creativity and communication. After the talk, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey shares thoughts on the future of big tech in the workplace. If you'd like to hear more ideas on how tech is transforming humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
(Airdate 3/10/23) Sherrell Dorsey is an American data journalist and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a subscription news and insights platform serving as the business intelligence source for Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and ecosystem leaders across the country. The Plug was the first Black business publication to be syndicated on the Bloomberg Terminal. www.tpinsights.com https://www.theblacktecheffect.com/
Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother's steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal boundaries and savor the beauty of private moments. In this personal talk, she draws on three generations of family wisdom to remind us that "a private life makes a public life worth living." After the talk, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey dives into some of the dangers of oversharing on social media. If you'd like to hear more ideas on how tech is transforming humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
From the return of nomadic living to a climate-disrupted world, author and global strategist Parag Khanna has some predictions for humanity. Get a fascinating glimpse at the future as he tackles an urgent question: Where on Earth will eight billion humans live in the uncertain times ahead? This conversation, hosted by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. After the interview, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey highlights the importance of investing in young talent as science and tech continue to advance. This is an episode of TED Tech, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. For more episodes, follow the podcast wherever you're listening to this.
Creating functional prosthetics at a fraction of the cost of imported tech, bionic innovator and TED Fellow Enzo Romero shares a groundbreaking model for designing 3D-printed assistive technology sourced from recycled materials -- built in and for his native Peru. Hear how Luke Skywalker's bionic hand in Star Wars inspired Romero to pursue mechatronics engineering and help people with disabilities and limited resources fully live again. After the talk, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey expands upon the benefits of manufacturing more -- with less -- and how that may transform global access to these life-changing devices. If you'd like to hear more ideas on how tech is transforming humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
What happens when the data-driven capabilities of AI are combined with human creativity and ingenuity? Shining a light on the opportunities this futuristic collaboration could bring to the workplace, AI expert Shervin Khodabandeh shares how to redesign companies so that people and machines can learn from each other. After the episode, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey dives deeper into the potential promises (and pitfalls) of AI-work integration. TED Tech is another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. To hear more ideas on the intersection of tech and humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
As digital assets like cryptocurrency and NFTs become more mainstream, design thinker and head of Instagram Adam Mosseri believes that creators are uniquely positioned to benefit. These blockchain-enabled technologies could remove the need for a "middleman" in the form of large social media platforms, allowing creators to more freely distribute their work and connect with their audiences. He explains how this new age of the internet will give way to "the greatest transfer of power from institutions to individuals in all of history." After the talk, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey digs into what blockchain and cryptocurrency could bring to the creator economy. If you'd like to hear more ideas on how tech is transforming humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
"If we can unlock the full potential of our cities, we can minimize the price the planet pays for hosting us in our growing numbers," says Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, UK. Rees notes that while sustainable infrastructure already exists in many parts of the world -- like electric buses in Colombia and freshwater reserves in Singapore -- major investments could make similar innovations more far-reaching and successful. He highlights the pivotal role of city mayors in advocating for a "worldwide network of efficient decarbonized cities" that will bring the world closer to its climate goals. After the talk, hear our host Sherrell Dorsey dig deeper into how cities can make sure the future is equitably sustainable.
Digital public servant Amanda Renteria has seen that the millions of people who rely on government welfare services are often discouraged from seeking them out, frustrated by long lines and unnecessarily complicated processes. At Code for America, a project supported by The Audacious Project, Renteria is helping develop human-centered technology that "respects you from the start, meets you where you are and provides an easy, positive experience." She details the four factors that hinder effective delivery of government benefits and explains Code for America's plan to bring user-centric, digital-first social services to more than 13 million Americans and unlock 30 billion dollars in benefits for low-income families. After the talk, TED Tech host Sherrell Dorsey and co-founder of Promise, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. highlight the importance of tech that's designed for the people it's helping. If you'd like to hear more ideas on how tech is transforming humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this.
"What if you could control digital devices using just the power of thought? That's the incredible promise behind the Stentrode -- an implantable brain-computer interface that collects and wirelessly transmits information directly from the brain, without the need for open surgery. Neurotech entrepreneur Tom Oxley describes the intricacies of this breakthrough technology, which is currently enrolling participants in human trials, as well as how it could help restore dignity to those with disabilities -- and transform the future of communication. This is an episode of TED Tech. Stay tuned after the talk to hear host Sherrell Dorsey talk about the promise and potential of technology when it comes to serving one of humanity's greatest needs: connection. For more ideas on the intersection of tech and humanity, follow TED Tech wherever you're listening to this. "
Digital public servant Amanda Renteria has seen that the millions of people who rely on government welfare services are often discouraged from seeking them out, frustrated by long lines and unnecessarily complicated processes. At Code for America, Renteria is helping develop human-centered technology that "respects you from the start, meets you where you are and provides an easy, positive experience." She details the four factors that hinder effective delivery of government benefits and explains Code for America's plan to bring user-centric, digital-first social services to more than 13 million Americans and unlock 30 billion dollars in benefits for low-income families. This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change. After the talk, hear our host Sherrell Dorsey and co-founder of Promise Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins highlight the importance of tech that's designed with the people it's helping in mind.
In need of a brief yet illuminating lesson on the obsession with NFTs? Elizabeth Strickler breaks down the acronym and explains the fundamentals of non-fungible tokens, sharing how these digital assets are changing the landscape for artists and content creators looking to cash in on their creations -- in and out of the metaverse. Stay tuned after the talk to hear thoughts from author QuHarrison Terry and our host Sherrell Dorsey on NFTs and equity. from author QuHarrison Terry and our host Sherrell Dorsey on NFTs and equity.
What happens when the data-driven capabilities of AI are combined with human creativity and ingenuity? Shining a light on the opportunities this futuristic collaboration could bring to the workplace, AI expert Shervin Khodabandeh shares how to redesign companies so that people and machines can learn from each other. Hear more after the episode from our new host, Sherrell Dorsey, on the potential promises (and pitfalls) of AI-work integration.
Sherrell Dorsey is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, The Information, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. In 2018, she was named an inspiring woman in tech by CNet, and most creative people in business by AdWeek in 2021. Prior to launching The Plug, Dorsey served as a marketing manager for companies like Uber and Google Fiber. She holds a Master's degree in data journalism from Columbia University. She is the author of Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us published by Wiley. This episode is for you if: You want to learn how Sherrell built a digital news and insights platform The Black Innovation Economy fascinates you You value journalism and want to find a community who does too You are juggling many ideas, and want to grow one first Connect with Sherrell Sherrell's website: www.sherrelldorsey.com The Plug's Website: www.tpinsights.com Twitter: @Sherrell_Dorsey Instagram: @sherrell_dorsey LinkedIn: Sherrell Dorsey Connect with Naomi Website: naomihaile.com Instagram: @naomiahaile Twitter: @naomiathaile LinkedIn: Naomi Haile
With so many initiatives telling minority communities they're not represented, not included, and not able to make a particular income, what if we could flip the narrative and say, “What if someone could give you the upper hand?" Tune in as Sherrell Dorsey, founder and CEO of The Plug, gets the conversation started for families and communities traditionally not included in the dialogue around tech and the future of work. As the CEO of a distinctive black tech news and insight platform covering black pioneers in tech, venture capital, and work policy, Sherrell is changing the idea of who gets to be an innovator and genius and where these conversations exist. Don't miss Sherrell's tips for anyone interested in launching a company in tech and why it's time for the black and brown community to take the upper hand. KEY POINTS: - Who is Sherrell Dorsey? - What inspired “Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us”? - Technology is truly about making creating efficiencies - How the pandemic positively and negatively affected the world of work - Why we need the “Upper Hand” - Bridging the gap of the innovation language barrier QUOTABLES: “Journalism has been intellectually lazy about shaping and building out that narrative of what is a black technologist. What's a brown technologist? What's a female technologist looks like, that's not in a tokenization kind of way.” “When I thought about what is my goal, I want people to feel like they are empowered to participate in the future of work. That they wouldn't be a victim of it.” GUEST RESOURCES: Check out The Plug and sign-up for weekly briefings at: tpinsights.com Learn more about Sherrell Dorsey at: sherrelldorsey.com IG | instagram.com/sherrell_dorsey Find the “Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us” on Amazon and where all books are sold! Have career and leadership development questions? Email Kimberly at podcast@manifestyourself.com Learn more about Kimberly Brown and download a free career strategy template at kimberlybonline.com Read the book “Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning Into a Career You'll Love” at nextmovebestmovebook.com Follow Kimberly on social media: IG | @kimberlybonline - instagram.com/kimberlybonline FB | facebook.com/kimberlybonline Twitter | twitter.com/kimberlybonline LinkedIn | linkedin.com/in/kimberlybonline Your Next Move is edited by Instapodcasts (visit at instapodcasts.com)
In Episode 79, Sherrell Dorsey, Founder & CEO of The Plug and Author of Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us, dives into an insightful conversation with Melinda about the future of work and strategies for supporting inclusive innovation. They discuss important ways for people from marginalized communities to thrive and actively take part in the tech-driven economy, whether that is by reskilling, upskilling, fighting coded bias, or getting started in tech.About Sherrell (she/her) Sherrell Dorsey is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, The Information, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. In 2018, she was named an inspiring woman in tech by CNet, and the most creative people in business by AdWeek in 2021.Prior to launching The Plug, Dorsey served as a marketing manager for companies like Uber and Google Fiber. She holds a Master's degree in data journalism from Columbia University. She is the author of Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us published by Wiley.Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!For more about Change Catalyst, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you'll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.Connect With Sherrell Dorsey On SocialLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherrelldorsey/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sherrell_Dorsey Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherrell_dorsey/ Connect With Us On SocialYouTube: youtube.com/c/changecatalystTwitter: twitter.com/changecatalystsFacebook: facebook.com/changecatalystsInstagram: instagram.com/techinclusionLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/changecatalystsProduction TeamCreator & Host: Melinda Briana EplerCo-Producers: Renzo Santos & Christina Swindlehurst ChanCreative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Change Catalyst logo and photos of Sherrell Dorsey, a Black woman with black hair in twists, silver and green statement earrings, and a yellow suit; beside her is the blue book cover of UPPER HAND: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us; and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]Support the show (http://patreon.com/changecatalysts)
As it's International Women's Day, I wanted to do something a little different and hand the episode over to some of the amazing women I have had on the show and I will link to each of their original episodes in the notes below.Today, we have Shellye Archambeau, Rana el Kaliouby, Sherrell Dorsey, Soraya Darabi, Eileen Burbidge, Yodit Stanton, Donna Auguste, Megan Smith and Dr Catherine Breslin and what follows is the one piece of advice they'd offer their younger selves.First up is Dr Catherine Breslin - an AI and Machine Learning Scientist who managed the Cambridge-based AI Alexa team that, among other things, worked on technology that enabled the automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding behind Amazon's Alexa. Full episode here.The next guest is Donna Auguste from episode 16. Donna was the first African-American to enter the PhD program at Carnegie Mellon researching AI before she went on to lead the Newton engineering team at Apple. She then cofounded and sold her own software business for $147 million. In this clip, Donna offers some advice to a Donna in her twenties. Full episode here.Then there is Eileen Burbidge from episode 20 – Eileen is an esteemed early-stage VC, co-founder and Partner at Passion Capital and was awarded an MBE from the Queen in 2015 for services to business. Eileen also was an advisor to both our Prime Minister and London Mayor. In this clip, Eileen revisits the traits instilled in her from a young age. Full episode here.Next up is Megan Smith – an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and tech evangelist who has been at the forefront of pioneering tech for all of her career from General Magic, Google, and as CTO to President Obama. She is currently founder and CEO of Shift7. In episode 13 Megan talks about learning from history and how we can change the structures to allow for a more inclusive and equal world. Full episode here.And then there is Rana el Kaliouby co-founder and CEO of Affectiva - a software company which builds AI to understand human emotions and cognitive states by analyzing facial and vocal expressions. The company was spun out of the MIT Media Lab and was recently sold for over $70 million. In episode 10, Rana and I discuss how to deal with doubt and the importance of believing in yourself as a founder. Full episode here. Buy Rana's book Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology here.Next up is Shellye Archambeau from episode 4. Shelly's career includes a Silicon Valley CEO, Fortune 500 Board Member, Advisor and Author. She was one of Silicon Valley's first African American female CEO's and pioneered a path in tech for others to follow. In this clip, she shares some great advice on how to put yourself first. Full episode here. Buy Shellye's book, Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms here.Then there is Sherrell Dorsey from episode 31. Sherrell is founder and CEO of The Plug – an online news and insights platform covering black tech founders, companies and ecosystems and in this clip, she tells her younger self to relax a little and not be so focused on climbing that ladder we all find ourselves on. Full episode here. Buy Sherrell's book, Upper Hand: The Future of Work for The Rest of Us here.Next up is Soraya Darabi –entrepreneur and investor. Soraya is co-founder and General Partner at TMV – a venture fund which focuses on investing in purposeful startups reimagining the future. And in episode 26, she shared her startup journey before becoming an investor and how having a chip on your shoulder isn't always a bad thing as a founder. Full episode here.And the final clip is from Yodit Stanton – co-founder and CEO of OpenSensors which is a technology company that provides advanced data-based solutions for workplace optimisation. In this final clip from episode 24, Yodit summarises what I have heard a lot of successful founders say which is the importance of savouring the moment in the crazy, wild ride, of your startup journey. Too many of us are rushing to get to the finish line, wherever that is, without really taking in what we have achieved and why it's important. A great lesson for us all really. Full episode here. Finally, I wanted to leave you with a quote from Admiral Grace Hopper, a pioneer in computer programming as well as United States Navy admiral – it's an amended version of a quote by John A Shedd in his 1928 book, Salt from My Attic.Hopper's version reads, “A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for.”I think it sums up the entrepreneurial spirit so well. Founders refuse to stay in their comfort zones – they go out and they build, despite the barriers and despite the naysayers and that's why they inspire me so.Happy International Women's Day!This special episode was hosted by me Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter and edited by my long-time editor and project collaborator Jolin Cheng.
Today's guest is Sherell Dorsey, founder and CEO of The Plug – an online news and insights platform covering black tech founders, companies and ecosystems. She is also author of the book, Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us.In this interview, we discuss what she was like growing up - from having a technophile grandfather who inspired and encouraged her to use tech, to her entrepreneurial spirit which was somewhat shaped when, as a child, she joined her mother in boardrooms. Sherrell was also heavily influenced by the black and brown role models she found herself surrounded by whether they were from church, through programmes like Technology Access Foundation co-founded by Trish Millines Dziko and/or held senior positions in business and her community. Sherrell always had a strong work ethic and started internships at Microsoft as a teenager. To get the internship, she had to pull a computer apart and then put it back together before identifying bugs in the software!We also talk about her book, Upper Hand, how she had the idea for The Plug and what it took to get it off the ground, as well as how persistence, being consistent and a sprinkling of serendipity has shaped her life.I was really inspired by Sherell and know you will be too. ------Sherrell Twitter / The Plug / Instagram Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of UsDanielle Twitter / Instagram / NewsletterEpisode edited by Jolin Cheng
She's an author, CEO and Founder, and she's crazy gifted at storytelling. She's Sherrell Dorsey, the talent behind The Plug, a digital news platform reporting on the Black innovation economy. Media companies are built on storytelling, yet very often there's a disconnect and brands get it horribly wrong. But not Sherrell. This is her superpower and one she's monetized through her subscription-only digital news and insights platform. Adam gets into the weeds of why lazy reporting on black founders created an opening for Sherrell's empire, why helping readers connect to stories beyond the usual cast of characters matters, and how quality journalism is at the heart of The Plug's product. You'll hear Sherrell's pricing strategy for her unique database of subscribers and her expert opinion on the future of the media landscape. This is one media podcast you won't want to miss. Media Moves is sponsored by Sailthru who, like The Plug, are building an audience-first platform giving media executives more time to build meaningful relationships with the right people. Learn more here: https://www.sailthru.com/ (https://www.sailthru.com/) Follow Sherrell: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherrelldorsey (linkedin.com/in/sherrelldorsey) Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sherrell_Dorsey (https://twitter.com/Sherrell_Dorsey) Keep up to date with the latest Media Moves news. Follow Adam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamRy_n (https://twitter.com/AdamRy_n) Sign up to the Perpetual newsletter: https://workweek.com/brand/perpetual (https://workweek.com/brand/perpetual)
Sherrell Dorsey has long been fascinated by the tech innovations coming out of Black and Brown communities across the United States. In this episode of Women on the Move, the founder and CEO of The Plug—a subscription-based digital news platform covering the Black innovation economy—sits down with host Sam Saperstein to discuss her background in marketing and technology, her journey with The Plug, and her new book. Early tech immersion Sherrell tells Sam that it was her technophile grandfather who first nurtured her love for technology by insisting that she and her sister spend an hour a day on Mavis Beacon typing courses. That early foray into tech, she says, paved the way for her to take part in a program called the Technology Access Foundation, which taught kids of color in the inner city about technology, computers, and programming languages—and helped prepare Sherrell for high-school internships at Microsoft. Sherrell says she loved her experiences at Microsoft, learning about building tech products and also realizing she could have a place at the tech table. But after high school, with her family expecting she'd go to college for computer science, she tacked in a different direction and studied fashion merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “I got to study the business of marketing within the fashion world, a multi-billion-dollar industry, and [one that] really encompasses so much technology from textile selection and forecasting to the building of an e-commerce business and brand.” Taking those marketing skills with her, Sherrell worked at both Uber and Google Fiber. But while she loved her day jobs, she found herself more and more drawn to understanding the tech world from the vantage point of Black and Brown communities. “I would keep up on industry literature and read about these great profiles of, you know, the Gates' and the Musks and the Zuckerbergs,” she tells Sam. “But I did not see the folks that I was interacting with and engaging with on a daily basis profiled or quoted. And the journalism to me just felt very one-sided. It did not identify genius as looking like, sounding like, feeling like, or coming from communities that looked like mine, but those were the people that I was inspired by.” Transition to journalist and author Sherrell remembers getting up early before heading to her job at Uber or Google Fiber and curating articles about “folks who I find really fascinating.” She was soon writing about Black and Brown tech innovations and submitting stories to publications like Fast Company. “And just trying to show the robustness of communities of innovation coming up with really cool ideas to solve specific challenges that they were facing that were being left out of this mainstream sort of noise,” she says. “Like sure robots are space. [But] here's a guy who's creating an app to exchange vegetables and fruits with neighbors on a more human level.” Soon The Plug was born—with a $10 domain registration and a free MailChimp account. Sherrell built up subscribers one at a time based on her solid reputation as the tech journalist who covered Black and Brown start-ups. “It's just about being consistent,” she tells Sam. “It's about serving my audience well, and beyond that, it was every subscriber truly earned through this sense of trust and through this sense of representative storytelling, and care and adoration, and sometimes, you know, harsh honesty.” Sometimes, she shares, she had to be the one to say, “Hey, maybe this company isn't as exciting as I thought it was gonna be.” That kind of honestly, she says, helped solidify her reputation and that of The Plug. Sherrell's most recent venture is her new book, Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us, just published in January 2022. She describes it as a love letter to her grandfather. Drawing on his experience of moving from Birmingham, Alabama, to Detroit and finally to Seattle where “there weren't a lot of folks who looked like him,” Sherrell wanted to illustrate her own experience along with Seattle's changes, and how that was replicated across the country in a way that left many communities behind. As far as the future, Sherrell says she's excited to have The Plug become “the intelligent source for an inclusive business future.” Transcript here
Data journalist and entrepreneur Sherrell Dorsey is a Seattle native whose story is a powerful testament to the potential of kids in overlooked communities, and to the possibilities that emerge when their paths are cleared. Dorsey is founder and CEO of The Plug, a venture-backed news and insights platform covering Black startups and ecosystems. Her new book is Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us. Read an excerpt from Dorsey's book on GeekWire: Seattle's ‘Motown of tech' changed Sherrell Dorsey's life — now she's passing it along See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to the Danielle Newnham Podcast where I interview tech founders and innovators to learn the inspiring, human, stories behind the game-changing tech we use every day. I am so excited to be back and I have another incredible lineup of guests this year which I can't wait to share with you so don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts so you don't miss out.Just so you know, I am changing things a little bit this year and trialling weekly episodes vs different series so let me know what you think.And as always, I will be talking to really inspiring founders, innovators and investors about a myriad of topics from reimagining education to NFTs, impact investing, accessible tech and the highs and lows of building game-changing products. There's also a big focus on the human side of these stories this year so do hit the subscribe button to be the first to hear each one.Finally, I hope you all had a wonderful break and are raring to go in 2022 – I cannot wait to share these really special episodes with you.
Sherrell Dorsey is the founder and CEO of The Plug, a publication and community for news, insights and analysis on trends in Black innovation. The Plug features stories that show the substantive ways Black people engage with the innovation economy, including analyses of modern technologies.On today's show, Sherrell shares about building an audience and growing The Plug. We talk about sponsorships, The Plug's revenue model, and her background in journalism and how she brings that into her current work. We also talk about choosing a niche, staying consistent, and much more.Sherrell has worked in marketing and consulting for companies such as Uber, Tresata, MarketSource, and Build The Good. Sherrell has also worked as a correspondent for Fast Company, Essence, Next City, and Black Enterprise. She earned her master's degree in data journalism from Columbia University.In this episode, you'll learn: How to grow your subscribers when first starting out Different strategies for monetizing your newsletter The right way to include advertising in your newsletter Tradeoffs between having a team and working as a solopreneur Links & Resources Clay Hebert Monica Melton Farnam Street Shane Parrish Ryan Holiday Daily Stoic James clear Uber Google Fiber Microsoft Fast Company The Root Black Enterprise GoDaddy theSkimm Signal Bloomberg Terminal Business Insider The Moguldom Nation Sherrell Dorsey's Links Follow Sherrell on Twitter The Plug The Plug newsletter HBCU newsletter TPinsights.com Episode Transcript00:00:00 Sherrell:I think that we've gotten into this very fast pace, and this idea of constant information and voices in your head. I don't know that more information is making us a better society. I think that this idea of community and grappling with ideas, calling things out or bringing things to attention, but having something meaningful to say really outweighs just being visible all of the time. 00:00:31 Nathan:My guest today is Sherrell Dorsey. Sherrell is the founder of The Plug, which is a newsletter, and really a publication at this point, about the black tech ecosystems and all the interesting things that black and brown founders are doing in technology and business. She started in 2016, and she's built it up to have a full-time team of five people now.I'm so impressed with what she's built. We get into talking about sponsorships, the revenue model, how she built the audience, her background in journalism, and how she brings that into what she's doing now. I actually grew up in tech and some of the ecosystems that she was a part of that inspired her.We talk about choosing a niche and staying focussed there. We talk about consistency. There's really a lot of things in this episode. I love what she's doing and how she's built this niche business into something that now employs full-time journalists. At a time when a lot of other publications are dwindling, she's growing.So, let's dive into the episode.Sherrell, welcome to the show.00:01:35 Sherrell:Thank you so much for having me.00:01:37 Nathan:I actually want to start talking about experimentation. We're going to jump around a little bit. You like to run a lot of experiments, and you've taken an approach on experimentation where you're doing it at a stage in the business where you have a lot going on. A lot is working. This is a point where I see a lot of content creators freak out and stop experimenting because they're like, “This is what my audience likes. I have to show up in exactly this way.”So, they don't experiment. Even at this level of success, you're like, “No, experimentation is a core part of what we're doing.”Could you talk about that, and some of the experiments that you run, and then your mindset around it?00:02:12 Sherrell:We're constantly challenging ourselves as a team, and trying not to get bored. Part of our experimentation may have more to do with the attention deficit issues that we have as a team, as a collective. Maybe not as much as our audience, but we also assume that they also have attention issues.Let's be honest, there's so much competing for our audience's attention, right? I mean, outside of the inbox, theres social media, there's the day-to-day of all the crazy, all the push notifications. So, for us, experimentation really is at the core of challenging ourselves to face something new and interesting, and really tapping into what.The sort of timeliness of news, and really finding a way to put it into our voice and share some of our opinions as well. Even with running The Plug's weekly briefing experimentation is really even just how I got started. The Plug for me was an experiment. I was getting up at 5:00 AM, pulling together a newsletter, wanting to cover diverse voices in tech.Doing it just as this labor of love, and also nerdiness and curiosity, and it started to grow. Then I said, well, maybe I can do this every single day. Then I did it every day. Then at some point we realized, hmm, are people having inbox fatigue? What if we slow things down and really make people cherish every single sentence that we're writing in our newsletters, and giving them a long and deep side of slow conversations on Monday mornings as they're starting their day.We've seen those questions that we're asking kind of manifest in this idea of experimenting with just our curiosity. We've seen that well, I mean, honestly, Nathan, we're getting 45% to 48% open rates on every single newsletter, and it has been pretty consistent.When we were in the daily phase, we were starting to see those open rates go down. People just didn't even have enough time to read. So, again, we start with the question, “Well, what if, or how do we personally sort of engage with our news and with our information, and how do we create a moment of almost intimacy with our audience and our subscribers?” Where instead of just having the breadth, we can actually have the depth.00:04:40 Nathan:Yeah. I want to talk about the consistency and the schedule later in the episode, but let's go there right now because I think a lot of people, when they're writing their newsletter, they struggle with how often to send. And, you know, if you look at someone like Seth Godin who publishes every day and has done it for, I don't know, decades at this point, it's like, oh, I should be like Seth Goden and publish every single day or send out, you know, a newsletter five days a week.But one that's incredibly hard to maintain. And then two, I think you'll see exactly what you're talking about. The engagement and interest drops off, too much of a good thing is still too much. What do you think about that?00:05:18 Sherrell:I think that we've gotten into this very fast paced. I mean, I, you know, Twitter became a thing when I was like exiting undergrad and this idea of just constant information and voices in your head. Was kind of standard and status quo. And I feel as though now we really wanted to hyper focus on how do we get people to sit with ideas and thoughts before we kind of bombard them with just more information.And I don't know that more information is making us a better society. I think that this idea of community and grappling with ideas, you know, calling things out or bringing things to attention, but having something meaningful to say really outweighs, just being visible all of the time. I think especially with the newsletter, with the newsletter, you're telling stories, you are bringing ideas to the forefront, you're surfacing news and information for people to kind of ruminate on.And then we can kind of hit people later on in the week, which we do with here's opportunities to engage further. Or did you check out this data set that we've pulled together that will allow you to look at. How HBCs are graduating, like the top black engineers in the country. And so for us, it's about what is the value that we're providing to our audience?Why, why would they want to continue to open the email instead of just, let's be there for the sake of being there, you know? And it's like, it's like small talk at networking events where like people are pushing their business card on you. And you're like, I don't ever want to 00:06:50 Nathan:Okay 00:06:50 Sherrell:You ever again in life.And we definitely did not want to be that like pushy networker. We just wanted people to be able to sit with us, have a cup of coffee, have a tea, and just, you know, Really, really, connect with us and our work. And so, thus far, you know, like I said, we really saw our open rates increased drastically going from the daily into that weekly and it being meaningful.And our managing editor, Monica Melton, who was our first employee at The Plug has really, really ramped up subject lines and experimenting, in AB testing that has been so beneficial in terms of how the newsletter is being received.00:07:36 Nathan:Well, that's something that you just can't do when you're on a daily deadline. I'm trying to rush out on that scale, or you have to have a much larger staff to be able to bring that level of thoughtfulness and testing to each piece of content.00:07:50 Sherrell:So true. So very true. I mean, you know, we've always sort of operated and I think most startups, you kind of have to do more with less. And I think from the standpoint of delivering higher value really wanted our team to be able to think through, well, what should that Monday newsletter say? What are the opportunities that we can really present to our audience that are thoughtful?Even during our editor, our weekly editorial call, like we, we, we really deep dive into what are some of the top issues? What do we think about it? We really get to massage it out and be thoughtful. And I don't know, even if we had a larger team, maybe we would do more, maybe, maybe less. General newsletter, maybe more profiles would be really nice.And we've recently launched a new newsletter as well. it's kind of the niche of the niche. our incredible HBCU innovation reporter recently launched an executive newsletter for those who are recruiters, HR professionals who are really trying to understand how do historically black colleges and universities play a role in the future of work and just breaking down stats, breaking down the kinds of patents that are being developed, breaking down the kind of research coming out of these institutions ways in which to engage with faculty, new entrepreneurship centers, all of these like really incredible stats that you don't really hear on a daily basis.So that now that is a subset where now we have increased the cadence of our newsletters, but we've created that for a very specific niche within the niche of audience that we serve.00:09:26 Nathan:You said something about it's almost the environment that your newsletter is received into of your app. Like telling someone slow down, this is be thoughtful. This is a thoughtful part of your morning. Like have your cup of coffee, have your tea. And I'm realizing that as a newsletter creator myself, I often don't think about like, I'm not asking.The reader to get in a state of mind to engage with my content or get in a physical space. And so this is it's interesting, I haven't thought about before and it would change the approach to the content and it would for sure change the approach to the writing because instead of going okay, punchy headlines quick, this is for the busy professional, reading it on the subway, you know, like that's one style and it sounds like you're hitting in a completely different style, I guess.Tell me more about that. And then the other aspect of it is what are the ways that you reinforce that message to your readers? Cause it's one thing, if you think in your editorial room and conversations, but that you have to actually translate that to the reader so that they feel it as well.00:10:31 Sherrell:Yeah, we just didn't want to be forced to speed up. honestlyit was who I always liked this idea of, of slower journalism. I grew up such a reader like my mom and I get up on Saturday mornings and go to Barnes and noble when like bonds. And like when we actually went into bookstores, right.She would like leave me in the kids' section. And I would just like, get a mountain of books and just sit and read. And I always think about that opportunity of like just saying. And reading and in sitting and like digesting ideas and information. And when I think about some of my favorite newsletters, I think about, the, the Farnam street blog and, and Shane Parrish, Paul Jarvis used to write an incredible newsletter.There's just so many incredible writers and thinkers that create these kinds of long form pieces. I think, right in holiday and the daily, it does a really interesting sort of long form, you know, he does, he definitely does like the, the Daily of course, cause it's the daily. but these kinds of newsletters that really made you think about the world around us and sort of the new ideas that are emerging and.I felt as though, as we were starting to deep dive into this Nisha space, of course we cover black and brown innovators, future of work, future of business, inclusive business ideas that are highly data-driven. You have to really sit and think about what this data means when it means within your work. And it's not just like a flash in the pan, series or subsets of ideas.It really is how do I take this and apply it to my work and everyday capacity. So we didn't want to just give like bullet points of actions. It was more of, you have to apply this in your world in your way. And so I wanted to kind of recreate that to an extent. and as I mentioned before, you know, experimenting with.Subject lines and titles and flow. And I mean, even just organization of information, you know, there's always sort of the backend analytics that you can take a look at. What are people actually clicking on? What kind of things do they care about? serving our audience, a great deal to understand what they want to hear more about.I know that there are a lot of investors who subscribed to us who are always looking at our startups to watch section, and just the fact that people are able to kind of read this very long email and find a section that resonates with them and decide to take an action from that. That for us really demonstrates kind of a metric that we did not even anticipate going into this.And that really has to do with listening to our audience, quite frankly.00:13:11 Nathan:Yeah, that's good. I have more people will take that approach. cause I think. Now you say that and noticing that trend in a lot of these newsletters, like Shane Parrish, or like James clear, some of these others that have been going for a long time and built these substantial audiences is there's a level of intentionality that really makes it unique in that way.Let's go back. And, now that we've gotten into some of the tactics and the high-level things, let's talk about, you know, actually starting The Plug. So you started in 2016, is that00:13:39 Sherrell:I did. I started at 2016 as a labor of love. I had been writing freelance. I was working in tech, so I am an alum of Uber, as well as Google fiber, Microsoft and high school. I like worked, as an intern and like tech was always just such a big part of my life. And I grew up in Seattle. So it's like, go figure of course, like the girl that like grew up in Seattle is like a tech person.So, so it was always a huge part of my life. And what was really cool about my experience in Seattle is that I was trained in coding and network administration and all these really cool programming language and languages from a woman who was a retired software engineer from Microsoft, who like converted a storefront.And she was like, I want to teach inner city kids like about technology because. I'm female, I'm brown, I'm gay. Like there's not many folks like me in this space. And like, I want to create back in this space. And so my experience was just so unique. And when I got into the workforce and the conversations that were happening in media did not include voices from folks like myself or from Trish who started the center that I went to.And the folks who kind of raised me while I was at Microsoft, who were from all kinds of backgrounds and all kinds of experiences and like would burn me like, remember back in the day when you were burning, This amazing mentor who like she was like, burn me, like all of the Mo like the brand new heavies, most Def like all of these, like really amazing like albums.And, you know, at the same time, like teach me about like walking through this space of tech in a very male dominated field. And so when it come to the workforce and the media was kind of always a grandizing like all of these men and their ideas about the future, I was like, well, I've met some really like dope, you know, women engineers, or really dope, like black software developers and test engineers.And, I shared, you know, office spaces with, you know, incredible like female engineers from India. And I just did not see that like thought leadership component coming from these different facets of society. And I was like, well, you know, I want to start covering communities outside of these kinds of normal technical.Right. And I also was just walking through the world in living in places like New York city, living in Charlotte, North Carolina, even Bridgeport, Connecticut random. And just really finding these genius ideas and people in business leaders who were kind of unsung to a degree, but were working on really hard challenges and finding some success.So I had been kind of freelancing and, and writing for fast company, the route black enterprise and sharing these things. And I started to kind of become known as like, oh, like she's like the black girl Tector list. Who's like trying to cover everyone. and so at some point, you know, I got to a point where like, I really want my own column.I really want my own column. And you know, I think editors thought like, okay, your writing is okay, but it's not like, great.And like, this space is kind of cool, but like, that's just not what we do. And so, you know, I was like, okay, I'm going to spend my $10. I go daddy and buy my domain name. And I'm, you know, people were already calling me like The Plug, like, you know, where everything is, whoever went is, you know, what's happening, what's going around.And so I just started like this newsletter, I just went for broke and it was like, I'm going to create this daily newsletter. I'm going to get up at 5:00 AM every day and let's see what happens. It wasn't a business yet. Nathan. It was just an idea. Like, let's see if I can kind of create an environment where we are covering, you know, innovation from the perspective of communities of color, startup leaders, VCs, and grappling with like really interesting ideas and trends.And then also sourcing storylines from around the web. So that went on for about a year and a half. but about six months in is when I got like, we got our first corporate deal and I was like, oh, you want to give me money for this? Hm. I wonder what I can do with this. and, and that really enabled me to really get started and bring on some freelancers to help support the production of the every day.And at some point we decided, you know, following grad school, like let's, let's go for the school throttle and see if we can really build a substantive business here.00:18:15 Nathan:So, what did it look like that first year to grow subscribers? Right? Because going from maybe let's just talk the first three months going from buying a domain on GoDaddy to the first hundred, the first 500 subscribers. Like what was that process?00:18:31 Sherrell:Yeah. Well, first I like spammed, my friends and family was like, you better subscribe. so that was,00:18:36 Nathan:Which I highly endorsed as a strategy, like legitimately, because going from zero to a hundred is so hard. If you're like, no, I will only do it. people who come in through major publication or like, I dunno, what 00:18:48 Sherrell:Yeah00:18:50 Nathan:Your friends.00:18:50 Sherrell:You've got to like breakThe rules and you just have to like go literally go for broke, you know? And so that first hundred, you know, it was really looking at the audience. I had sort of built through my reputation of covering this beat. Over the last few years, like a few years prior. And so, you know, those were people who were immediately bought in, friends and family.I asked people to push up a newsletter very frequently. I was like, shamelessly plugging The Plug and like, Hey, you know, if you like this, like share it with your friends, share it with your colleagues. it definitely was not easy. It was a, it was a kind of one by one getting people bought in. And of course I had the power of social media, you know, on my side.Whereas had I started this like years prior, like in, in, in college before Twitter became a thing or Instagram or Facebook, perhaps I wouldn't have had as much visibility. some things that also helped to supercharge quite honestly, was like sharing across LinkedIn, just from a professional capacity standpoint.I was still freelance writing as well. So it allowed me to share, you know, Sherrell is like the creator of The Plug and you can sign up here at the bottom.00:20:02 Nathan:It changes your byline.00:20:04 Sherrell:I was able to, yeah. I was able to really leverage my, my byline. but it was a lot of pushing. It was a lot of, it was a lot of like asking people to share and to subscribe all the time.00:20:15 Nathan:Yeah. I was talking to someone, a friend who has a book coming out right now. And I asked him like, how's it going? He was like, oh, it's a lot of work. I'm doing a lot of begging right now. You know? And I was like, yep. That's Write of like, Hey, will you share this? Will you, do you know anyone who could subscribe?Will you subscribe? and a lot of the people who end up like getting traction and making something are the people that are willing to do that. And then the people who are like, you know, I tried this new venture, I put it out in the world and it just didn't resonate. And so I shut it down and moved on after three months or whatever.It's like, you dig into their stories and they're the ones who weren't willing to, you know, as long text all their friends. And so it just takes that level.00:20:55 Sherrell:Absolutely. I mean, three months is hardly enough time. I mean, you almost need like a solid two to three years to really, really like solidify yourself. The right conversation, get in the right rooms, build it, that level of credibility. I know some people who are able to do it very quickly. I think you're, you know, you're leveraging relationships, you're leveraging interviews and it's nonstop.You're nonstop promoting yourself. And you know, I'll be honest, Nathan, there's a bit of discomfort, in promoting yourself constantly. I think also like as a woman, I had to get very, very comfortable. I think that's something I had to learn in tech of, you know, watching like my male counterparts, like constantly talk about how great they were.And like, I was always so uncomfortable the exact same demeanor. but I had to find my own way to talk about the work that I was doing and what I found interesting. And the more that I did that, I found that again, you know, folks were just subscribing because I asked they actually cared about what I was doing.And even to this day, We are full fledged, you know, running media company. And we have people who were literally those early subscribers who have been with us since the jump. So when we have typos or when we've had titles in the past, or we've had a glitch or an email accidentally without, I mean, these folks didn't berate us or like drag us online, they were just like, Hey, just want you to know this link doesn't work.And I hope you're well, like I've been following you for years. Like I get those emails like every single week. And it is so incredible to really know that like, people have been rocking with you from your early days when you were less sophisticated, less refined, you know, and, but still they, they understand the intent.And they've seen that throughout the process of you growing your, your business, that you have been intentional. And I think that that's the value that they find.00:23:00 Nathan:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. what about, well, was there a point in there either three months in or two years in or something where you were wondering, is this working like, should I keep going on it or was it just steady progress without any self doubt?00:23:17 Sherrell:Wish that I was the most confident person ever. I mean, fine. Find me someone who was just like, yes. I mean, you know, maybe Elon Musk, talking that he knows that everything he does is going to turn to gold. I definitely am not one of those, those individuals. I definitely, would have moments of discouragement, you know, you know, we talked about open rates, right.And I think, you know, sort of like as you're ramping. Your open rates look really good because your list is, is smaller. And then as your list grows, your open rates change and fluctuate. And, and if you're not familiar with, with that, it's really rough. You know, especially when you're still just learning the tools, you're still learning the techniques of AB testing or you're learning the tools of how to really create a captivating subject line or a captivating headline overall.And so, you know, when, as we continue to grow or you see the unsubscribes, right, like unsubscribes are still deflating. Even now years later, Maven is like, oh my gosh, like, why would you leave me? You know, it's like a breakup, you know, you're like, why would you ever leave me? And honestly, most people just get overwhelmed.And we, what we saw was transitioning to that. Weekly versus the daily. We've seen significant drops in unsubscribes. You know, folks, folks have time to actually read us. They don't feel overwhelmed with seeing our name in their inbox every single day. but there are, there are challenges for sure. You know, I think that, you know, I think that when you start to kind of compare yourself against sort of others emails or their newsletters or seeing their growth and the tactics that they're using, and also knowing sometimes you don't have the resources, you know, we didn't put money into Facebook ads or any other kind of platform.Everything for us had to be organic and it had to be intentional. And without having a huge marketing budget to try to get across certain milestones. And sometimes that can be discouraging if you're like, oh wait, like they're lists maybe twice the size of mine and they've not been doing this as long.And they've been able to put in the resources to kind of move the needle, or, you know, even in wanting to kind of stay intentional and practice this idea of slow journalism and slow information. When you see others who are like quick flash in the pan and, and they've grown exponentially, but it's also like, okay, we have some of the most engaged readers ever.You know, again, people who will show up will continue to show up to our events when we do something in person, or kind of contribute and show up to our virtual launches and things like that. And so I had to always kind of refocus on who my audience is and who has really stayed and stuck with us and the value that we deliver because the outside comparison will definitely.Kill any kind of confidence that you may have and, I think overall we had to get out of the game of becoming like the wonder kid company that sells to some major entity 12 months in, I think there was just this huge rush, especially with media newsletters of like, oh, you build this up, you work, work really hard.And then, you know, the New York times comes and purchases you, right? And like it's kind of far and few between. And if we're playing that race, you know, if we're playing that kind of game, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's not necessarily the right north star and being rushed into this idea of what success looks like.We have to really redefine for ourselves and what, like our core values have been. And we have to revisit that time and time again, and really just focus on delivering the best value that we can deliver.00:27:04 Nathan:Yeah, it sounds like you have a long time horizon, which I think is really, really important because so many people are. They're focused on like, okay, this has to work in the next month, the next three months, the next two years. And you just, you burn yourself out. Like I I've been working, in six weeks.It will be the new year. And I will have been working on convert kit for nine years and like, realizing that I was like, oh, this takes a long time. And you get those best compound results over. It's just a lot of time.00:27:33 Sherrell:It takes a while. Good things. Take time. And it's really hard. you know, I'm a millennial and everything where we want it to have everything like yesterdayandwant it tolikeRight. I mean, yes, of course, absolutely. Like, that's why I don't cook. Right. Like Uber eats me please. So, it humbles you to really understand.I always, I always say, you know, like we're understanding our own minds right now. we had to kind of go through our mature, our maturation phase of who are we? What is our content and our work stand for who is our audience? You know, having to kind of make those shifts and adjustments as we grew, the newsletter that we started is not the newsletter that we have today.We. We are going to have this highly kind of consumer driven newsletter. And as we started to look back at emails and names and titles, we kind of quickly realized, yes, our folks are kind of on the, on the periphery of like being consumer based. But these are people who hold really interesting titles at top tech companies, or they are, you know, coming from vaping companies.And so it really allowed us to see and understand, well, our content is helping to inform and give intelligence to these people who are going into work everyday, making decisions. It's not just information for information sake. We have to fundamentally cater to a very different audience than, than how we started.And I'm honestly very proud of that evolution. And I'm also proud of the time that it's taken, even for me to evolve as a. I mean, I went from me and my laptop and wifi to now having four full-time employees and 10 contractors that help us to build this thing, like every single day. And so that's fundamentally over this time, horizon has been a transition and an evolution across the board, and I'm sure who you were and where you started nine years ago is fundamentally different than what you have built as a company today.But you need each of those steps, right? It's that kind of crawl to walk, to run, to fly sort of phase. And I think we're just working on practicing more intentionality. And now I have more brains. I have more, more hands, more ideas in this that makes it better every single day. And I, and I just try my best to like, honor that.00:30:03 Nathan:I love that. Yeah. It's exactly what I think of it as what's a journey that I can go on that will make me a different person. By the time I get there, like what's the, not the easy path, but what's the thing that I can undertake where it's like, I, the only way to accomplish that is by becoming like leveling up and becoming a different person.And, and it sounds like you're on a similar journey.00:30:27 Sherrell:Absolutely. I mean, I don't know how you do this and you, and you don't change or transition. And I mean sure. Would it have been nice to get that early win, whatever that looks like, and then kind of had the clout to say, oh yeah, I sold my first company and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, yeah, sure, man.But that would have come with its own, you know, challenges. I mean, I, you know, went to grad school during the process and, you know, had to hire a managing editor to help the flow. So it was like getting up super, super early to go to class and like run the newsletter and deal with clients like in between class transitions and homework.And, you know, deliverables was not an easy feat, but I needed that time to help me become the leader that I am today and the journalist than I am today. And also to build the kind of network and relationships that would help us continue to grow into thrive. And I think more so now, and I, and I'm not sure if this is true for you as well, Nathan, you know, it's less about just general execution and more about.What room. So I need to be in where I can learn and kind of see my business differently and see the opportunities in a way that are effective. I mean, we've always run a remote company and I've always wanted to run a remote company. And now that we're remote and I have. Folks across time zones, you know, it is how do we continue to produce at an excellent level, but then also like be, you know, be sensitive to different time zones.And when we move an all hands meeting, how that kind of affects the workflow for the week, or, you know, some of my team members are juggling full families. And, told you earlier, you know, that we are our two-year-old director of mayhem with like, he has like three teeth. He's like, you know, one of our favorite employees, sometimes like, you know, he calls it like 7:00 AM and just wants to chat and you have to be available for those conversations.And so, you know, again, you know, I think, I think this whole entire process is a growth journey and sometimes your north star does change. You know, I think that when I first started out, it was like, yeah, like we want to be just as great as this. You know, we want to be just as great as kind of these superstars that, you know, had access to a great deal of funding.Well, here was the thing they think when I was in grad school, I went to school for computational journalism. I went to journalism school at a time that there was a 40% reduction in staff of actual journalists. Like the industry itself was like, we're dying, come on a Janice. Right. And watching these major publications that were like dominant leaders, completely lose their valuations and have to sell for pennies on the dollar compared to what they raised in venture capital.And so the other component to Nathan was that I realized I can't compete on resources cause I hadn't raised any money. Then we were doing strictly revenue. Advertising and sponsorship checks, and then eventually reintroduced subscriptions and subscriptions giving access to more premium content and developing an entire sort of newsletter experience and product experience that would cater to the subset of folks who wanted more and shared with us that they wanted more.And so I think the slowing down also enabled us to listen a lot more to our audience about who they were, what they were looking for, what they wanted. And it put us into a great place, even though it kind of felt like, okay, folks where they knew about us, but, you know, once the pandemic kind of shot off and our work was just out there and everyone's online, they're like, oh wait, like The Plug like has been doing this work for a very long time.Like their stuff is really dope, like that really catapulted us. And so I'm lab that we had built up such a body of work and reputation. So that once we started to kind of get this influx of subscribers and this influx of folks paying for the premium membership, we were ready. We already had things that they could tap into that were of excellence.And so, it is, it's definitely a journey all the way.00:34:46 Nathan:So on that journey, well, so you have tens of thousands of subscribers now for The Plug. What were some of the inflection points in growing that audience? Was it perfectly linear or were there some things, you know, certain stories that took off where you added hundreds of thousands of subscribers in one go.00:35:03 Sherrell:Yeah. I mean, doing our work in public has been such a great benefit to us. I think before we were kind of in this closed community space, we just want to talk to our audience in there. well, we had to create greater opportunities and we learned this through a survey to our, to our subscribers. And they said, listen, like we love this work.And folks would email me or email our managing editor and have conversation, but they're like, we want more conversation like amongst each other. we want to know who else is subscribed here. And so we had to do a lot more of our work in public, really engaging people across social media, because that really is just where people are, you know, whether it's frequently or infrequent.That was kind of where audience, also wanted to engage either with myself or with our team members. And so pushing out our articles, creating, very engaging data visualizations to really show the prowess of our work and our reporting. a lot of our work has gone viral. A lot of our data, our data sets and visualizations have gone viral.It gives, it's given us an opportunity to, again, like teach and allow people to grapple with information and sort of how that information plays a role in sort of some of the challenges people of color in tech have faced and also the opportunities and trends, that are on the horizon as there's more distribution of access to capital and access to.And so doing that work in public and having clear stances and, continuing to host conversations, bold conversations, courageous conversations in public have really drawn more attention back to our original work back to our original newsletter. And so, and so again, experimentation, right?I mean, I would love to say we have this grand strategy. Most of it was listen, we're doing really dope things. We need everyone to see what we're doing. And so we've just, we've just refined it. you know, a lot more, we've ensured that our team has access to the tools to build out charts and graphs and things like that.00:37:09 Nathan:Yeah, that's good. So a lot of content creators, you know, come into it from some other path, like I'm a designer turned blogger, right. but you really came to it from, I mean, you're a journalist, you went to school for journalism and you have this tech and data background. And so I'm curious as you work, you know, these really data-driven stories and you bring like true journalism.Each of the stories, what's something, well, I want to go two different directions, which always makes for a terrible question. one is, I, I'm curious for more of your process, like, you know, are you finding the data and then uncovering the story within it? or does it, you know, you hear a great story and that leads you into the data or does it, is it both directions?00:37:53 Sherrell:It's definitely both directions. I mean, sometimes just being out and about whatever that looks like these days, you come across really interesting stories. we're always engaging on social media and listening in to conversations and sometimes like that sparks, like. But mostly we are driven by a question and just the curiosity of, Hey, I wonder what's going on with this, or I saw this opportunity, but what does this actually mean?And then it kind of finding the dataset and end, or having to build out our own datasets and then being able to tell a story from that. And the cool thing is that, you know, numbers can tell one side of a story, or, or they can tell multiple stories. And so the great thing is that it's a constant feedback loop that's going on in the way in which we identify, find or even presented.A lot of our readers are really, really great at even just sharing like, Hey, you know, I live in Oakland and like, this is what's happening here with this particular company or organization, or, you know, I stumbled across this thread and just wanted to get your thoughts. And then we're like, oh, Hey, you know, maybe we should, maybe we should kind of think through this and, and what data exists, where can we kind of go and find more insights?And then also, you know, on the weekends, I like long walks on the beach and reading a lot of research papers.And so,so like sometimesit helps to spark ideas and I'm sure that, you know, as someone like yourself, who's also a creator and, you know, someone who loves to read really great work, having a multifaceted array of content around you all the time, whether you're listening to it, reading it, watching it, it also helps to spark new ideas on how to, as we say, as journalists, like how to enter a story from like the back door, right.Not everything on its surface is what it is, but when you have an eclectic mix of content and, like I subscribe, you know, to, to things that are kind of way outside of my purview from tacking day, And that helps me to kind of think about other spaces and industries. I had a great conversation with a founder a few weeks ago, who was talking about these like warehouses.She has a data software company that like maps, supply chain and food and food ingredients as well. And she was just talking about how, like, there's so many entrepreneurs, like in the state of Georgia who owned these like warehouses and manufacturing facilities and how like, you know, no one's talking about these hundred million dollar plus companies that employ a hundred plus people.And they're doing really well because everyone kind of wants to be on social media, like selling their product. And they're the ones that like, ensure that products actually get made. And I just thought like, that is so fascinating. Like I wonder, you know, regionally, like where are the manufacturing plants in a, in a country that has shipped so much of its, you know, manufacturing overseas.And so just the curiosity of it. All right. It's just the curiosity of, interesting conversations that we try to bring to the forefront.00:40:58 Nathan:That makes sense. Is there a story that you've worked on that. Or that you've worked on a published, broken in some way that has changed the conversation. Like one of these that's gone viral. and I'm sure there's plenty, but a favorite that you'd want to share.00:41:11 Sherrell:Yeah, I actually, this was a surprise, piece that went viral. this was, following the murder of George Floyd, last year. And I happen to be, on Twitter as I started to see a lot of tech CEOs, speak out and really address this issue on police brutality, and justice. And, you know, I had mentioned, you know, I'd been working in tech for a few years and you know, it's not like this was an anomaly, right?We we've seen this happen in play out, unfortunately, in so many different ways, but I had never really seen corporate leadership or, even just tech leadership really speak out. And so I started documenting the public statements that were coming across my timeline and really scraping Twitter to kind of see which brands which companies were making these states.And also kind of comparing that across the board of what their diversity equity inclusion results were saying about their commitments to, black and brown workers who was actually in leadership roles, who was actually on the board and really getting a sense of our companies kind of here for the moment.Or are they actually kind of living what it is they say their, their actual core values are.And again, this was kind of a, project that I just want it to be able to have ready and to have something to say for the following week and decided with my team, well, we're going to need some additional help so that we don't miss out on any conversations that.May have happened. And so I allowed the database to kind of be open for people to contribute to. And I started creating a visualization, really creating a timestamp of when companies were speaking out against, sort of against just the general timeline as like the country sort of erupted in protests on a national level.It went viral immediately. and again, without intent, I was really trying to do some research and also just kind of share, like, here are some of the companies that have made statements and here's the timelines. it went viral and it was overwhelming. I started getting messages across the board from CEOs, from recruiters.I even had. Folks who I'd worked with in previous years, reach out to me like they were like in Amsterdam, they're like, you know, your, database your visualization, like we're, it's at our all hands. And like we're talking through, 00:43:44 Nathan:Sorry 00:43:44 Sherrell:Our statement will be. I started getting signal messages and for those who are unfamiliar signal is like the private messaging app and encrypted and all of that.And I mean, people are sending me company emails and I mean, it was a great time be a journalist in that moment. And to really like, experience the wave of like what journalism should be in terms of, public service. It was also a very hard time, as you can imagine. as, as it was the middle of a pandemic, I'm at home by myself, with my plants in my wifi feeling somewhat powerless and just feeling like this is how I can contribute to the conversation into the movement and what really spurred out of that.And this idea of transparency as well as accountability. And, a year later we were able to work in partnership. The Plug was able to work in partnership with fast company to do an evaluation out of all of the commitments that had been made and all of the sort of, public statements and kind of PR moments where have companies now come when it relates to inclusion and diversity justice.And so it appears now. And so there's much more, practice around evaluating those commitments, and asking companies to be much more transparent. And I think some policy as well, that is, that is kind of getting started in DC around how reporting on equity and inclusion should be commonplace for all employers And so, so that I feel very proud of, from our work, in terms of helping to spark that movement. And there were other folks who started building very similar databases in their specific industries. So from beauty to music to gaming, just across the board. and again, that was unexpected. I felt like there are stories that I like thought were going to go viral.Cause they, I thought they were really dope to me and people enjoy them, but this one definitely took off. And, I'm very proud of, of the work that we did. And I'm proud of the, the interns that we also had to, who, who stayed up with me for 36 hours to kind of get as thorough who could,00:46:00 Nathan:Yeah.00:46:00 Sherrell:As well.00:46:02 Nathan:Yeah. When you're leading with data, that way the data has to be correct. It has to be accurate. that often is hard to do on a tight time on like that.Let's talk about the business model for The Plugin. so you mentioned, you know, paid memberships as well as sponsorships. if you're sharing it, what's kind of the split maybe percentage wise between, you know, revenue from sponsorships or memberships and then any other 00:46:24 Sherrell:Yeah, I guess so. So memberships or subscriptions really make up about 25% of our total revenue. That's something that we're looking to actually increase. Our biggest goal was not to be wholly dependent on advertising response.00:46:37 Nathan:Yeah.00:46:38 Sherrell:But advertising sponsorships still does very well for us. And the great thing is that because we have a very specific audience, we are really able to capture advertisers and sponsors that are, you know, providing products, tools, and solutions to that audience in a meaningful way.And so those relationships have been really, really strong for us. and then we also have, licensing. So, we do original reporting, you know, as, as, as mentioned. And, we syndicate on the Bloomberg terminal, and that parts came about in April. and so all of the Bloomberg terminal subscribers folks across financial industry also receive our work and, you know, Bloomberg pays us annually, you know, for that particular access.We've also had prior relationships with folks. Business insider and mobile dumb. that's a very small percentage of our total revenue, maybe about 10%, you know, advertising and sponsorships really make up the core. and then also, I mean, this isn't necessarily like earned revenue, but, grants have been really, really critical to part of our growth is.I think, especially we haven't taken on a lot of venture capital. you know, we've, we've raised a pre-seed round last year, which allowed us to bring on some employees. And so we've wanted to be very intentional with the way in which we took on capital, in order to grow. And, fortunately we've been able to participate in really great, journalism based accelerators, which have provided really cool grants and have allowed us to do things like spend on advertising, do website redesigned and audits and bring in, you know, a chief marketing officer.And so, so I'm, I'm still very proud of that because even though grants aren't necessarily considered revenue, like there's still work involved to apply to.00:48:36 Nathan:Yes.00:48:37 Sherrell:So the ROI is really strong. and it also means that I give up less of the equity in my business, and we're able to use those dollars, effectively.So that's the breakdown.00:48:47 Nathan:Yeah. like working with sponsors, what's something. You know that, you know, and understand now that like you wish you knew two or three years ago where you're like, 00:48:56 Sherrell:My God. 00:48:57 Nathan:Pull aside server out to use it it's three years ago and be like, let me give you a little advice. What would you say?00:49:02 Sherrell:It's just so many things. My gosh, I just wish we had like a full day, day, maybe like a nice hearty drink. you know, honestly, just did not know what I was doing in the beginning. kind of took whatever. I think because we never tried to compete on numbers, we tried to compete on value, demonstrating that.And, and being able to articulate that to sponsors, is always kind of an ongoing challenge. you know, and, and knowing the leads the lead times as well. We're very fortunate in that. So much of our revenue from advertising is typically inbound. So we haven't had to do a lot of like chasing. and, and as you know, like just pitching, it just takes a while.And if you don't have the team, the staff to kind of manage that process, it can get a little crazy. but one thing I will say is really identifying, the assets early on and sort of being clear about the metrics that you can deliver. I think a lot of times, you know, we're kind of only measuring, like click through rates or things like that.We did a lot of like virtual events before that became commonplace in the world. we really should have, created full packages that helped us to both expand our brand, and also really highlight, the core product of our partner.But I think we could have been a bit more judicious in terms of who we partnered with and why, and sort of how that was going to be a best fit. And then also, the retention as well, selling not just for that time, but really looking across the spectrum of opportunities to continue that relationship and continue that inflow of cash, every quarter or, you know, every year.Again, we, I think we got some really good lucky breaks, but I think overall we've had to be a bit smarter about overall inventory, and ensuring that, that, you know, we're, we're keeping more than we're having to go out and pay.00:51:05 Nathan:Yeah. So when you're talking about packages, is that like saying, Hey, you're sponsored the newsletter for three months and these events that we're doing, and like, you'll be a title sponsor across all of this, rather than saying, you know, we chart our CPM on the newsletters, this, and so a single slot00:51:21 Sherrell:Yeah, absolutely. I think that, we've had to measure against like, what is the actual work involved in integrating a particular advertiser into our emails? you know, a, a CPM kind of works well when you have a significant subscriber list. Right? And so I think that that kind of delivers tremendous value, but for us, because our newsletter, you know, isn't the tens of thousands versus hundreds of thousands.You know, we've had to really charge based on value and engage with. And sort of caliber of our audience, and really also tie that into how do we reinforce messages so that your ad or your promotion or your call to action is not lost in the sauce? right. So whether it be through like dedicated emails, a, an IgG live or a LinkedIn live conversation, the biggest thing for us is really being able to deliver value to our audience at the end of the day.And not just like, oh, like here's like a random sort of like product, we should buy it more. So, you know, how do you, like we, we've had some financial institutions that have, advertised with us and their goal has been to recruit. More companies into their accelerator programs or things like that.So there's really a strong use case that you can easily sell to advertisers at this level where they're really looking for much more than just like the banner ad. they're also looking for engagement. so how do we create engagement opportunities that fit our brand and also give, an opportunity for that engagement piece amongst our readers, who also want to kind of get to know each other.And so creating those kinds of moments, we're able to sell those as packages versus kind of that one-off like here's a banner ad go a God, give us a report later. so, so, so a little bit more00:53:21 Nathan:Yes.00:53:21 Sherrell:But you, you kind of build for longevity.00:53:24 Nathan:Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. I want to talk about the, the team side of things. Cause a lot of people start, you know, it's relatively easy to start a newsletter these days and it's just them for a period of time. And then it gets to the point where you realize, okay, I've built something bigger than myself.And sometimes people scale up really fast and then they find that that's really challenging and really unsustainable, you know, if you have a down couple months with, sponsorships or whatever your revenue stream is. so it's just hard. So when did you really think about bringing on your first team member and how did you go about like methodically scaling up the team, to what happen.00:54:02 Sherrell:I could say like the first nervous breakdown.00:54:08 Nathan:I should, I should lead with that question going forward. When was your first nervous breakdown? As a creative,00:54:14 Sherrell:Right?00:54:15 Nathan:Will have a story.00:54:16 Sherrell:Absolutely.No. It really, I really looked at, where I was feeling too exhausted to do the kind of work that I wanted to do, because I was kind of in the weeds of the newsletter also feeling like, okay, what's going to make people stay subscribed. What's going to make them feel like The Plug continues to be interesting on the nose and giving me something that no one else is going to give me.And that's hard to do consistently when you're by yourself, because you have great days. You have not so great days. You have, sometimes you get sick. Sometimes you need to fly to back home for a friend's wedding. And it's like, your level of concentration has to really, really scale through other people who are talented, if not more talented, to really bring you to the next level of your work.And so. Once we sort of were able to take on a little bit of capital from an angel investor. I brought on our managing editor, to really take over that process of the newsletter and to really help ideate with me where the newsletter was, where it should go. we really benefited from being in different sorts of, journalism accelerators, as I mentioned earlier, because we also got to learn from other news teams and newsrooms about the anatomy of a strong newsletter and sort of thinking through the entire process from start to finish of how we build out our newsletter.And then of course getting feedback and doing more surveys and collecting the data from our audience on what they were looking for. So again, constant experimentation, but also being open to, to realizing like, okay, this is good, but how do we go from good. And just even now, as we've had one of our reporters launch the HBCU newsletter, you know, we kind of talk through the shifts of that as well.And sort of know this is a completely different newsletter compared to our weekly briefing. and so it takes on a different tone. It takes on a different feel. It has a different kind of, objectivity that we kind of want to ensure, continues to serve in, in feed our audiences. So, everyone on our team is in some way connected to building the newsletter.We have a section in our slack, called editorial and everyone just tosses, really interesting articles they bred or tweets, or just Abe. I found really interesting into that and it helps us to really like brainstorm like what the newsletter should be. And the cool thing is that it really has. Gives you an insight into the minds of your team members to see like, well, what are they reading, right?What are they subscribed to? it that they find interesting? So we're all contributors, you know, at the end of the day, and it's helped so much because it's not just all on you as a leader, right? Like we have to continue to grow the business. We have to hire more people, make sure that money comes in so that everyone can like, you know, get paid and by crispy cream or whatever it is, they buy with their money and, and continue to, to find ways, to grow even just the subscriber list, which has its own kind of marketing needs.But yeah, it really came from that breakdown of like, I'm getting sick of this and I want this to be great, but I've reached my capacity on the day-to-day basis and I need other people to help chime in to make this great.00:57:43 Nathan:Yeah. I like that. Working with the team. It's just remarkable and wonderful. I know a lot of people who like their whole dream is to be a solo entrepreneur and they set up, you know, they're publishing and everything they do so they can run it just themselves. And it's a highly profitable business and I have a ton of respect for them, and that's just not at all what I want.Cause I want a team exactly what you're talking about to produce a newsletter and to put all of this content together. And you can just do so much more with the team. So anyway, I'm preaching to the choir here.00:58:13 Sherrell:Well, I get it. Like, I was such a huge fan of like Paul Jarvis has company of one. And I think initially that's kind of the direction I was going in. but I realized like I didn't want to just do this. I wanted to produce really strong visualization. I wanted to produce really strong, original content and also do, you know, live conversations and host events and, and, and just really like create.Opportunities for touch points and the ways in which people learn and engage, which isn't always like through reading. Right? Some, some of it is audio. Some of it is, is visual. So, totally hear you. I mean, I think that we all would like some kind of like automated system that works like kind of perfectly.But I find that I also learned so much from having a team and people who think vastly different than I do. And, and, and people who are bringing new ideas every week, it keeps, it keeps the work exciting.00:59:10 Nathan:Yeah. And I think that, what I love about Paul's work is that he's pulled together all these examples to say, Hey, if you want it, this is something that's available to you. You can, you know, and then people could look at it. So yes, that's what I want. Or they can, you know, like so many people, you know, in your early career where that mentor for you or something else.We can have those examples, as well.I want to wrap up with that, related to goals for the next year. My friend Clay Hebert likes to ask this question of, “If we were to meet a year from now with a bottle of champagne, what would we be celebrating?” What's the thing that you're working towards that you hope to accomplish in the next year, that we'd sit down and celebrate?00:59:54 Sherrell:That's such a great question. I really love champagne, so I want to get this right, so that this happens.I think for us, it is launching at least two additional newsletter verticals. One hyper-focused on climate and green tech, led by innovators of color.Secondly, sort of a more essay exposé from thought leaders in this space, that becomes a regular cadence for us.That's kind of one of my major goals. I think also, secondarily, that we really have a full fledged functioning team, growing by maybe four additional team members, which would include researchers as well as additional journalists. Again, we're fully remote, but we are producing great work at a very, very high level.We're also seeing that reflected in the kind of partnerships and advertising that we have. That, for me, as a leader I have effectively curated an incredible team, and we're doing the work that we said we wanted to do, and it's having impact and it's setting a standard, and we're in all the rooms that we want to be in.Those were lots of things, Nathan.So, a year from now I expect champagne.01:01:15 Nathan:Sounds good. We'll make it happen.Well, where should people go to subscribe to The Plug and follow everything that you're doing?01:01:21 Sherrell:Absolutely. Head over to TPinsights.com. We're also TPinsights across the web, and you can always come hang out with me as well on Twitter, because that is where my life starts and ends every day.01:01:37 Nathan:Sounds good.Well, thanks for coming on, and we'll have to make a plan for that bottle of champagne.01:01:42 Sherrell:Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me, Nathan.
Sherrell Dorsey, founder and CEO of The Plug discusses Black innovation, Black owned media, and how consistency is key to any start up.
Sherrell Dorsey, founder of The Plug, joins host Monique Aiken. The Plug launched a new site this week, and will be co-hosting next week's Agents of Impact Call. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/impact-alpha-briefing/message
Sherrell Dorsey, founder of The Plug, joins host Monique Aiken. The Plug launched a new site this week, and will be co-hosting next week's Agents of Impact Call. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/impact-alpha/message
Quite honestly journalism is all about curiosity, at the end of the day. I think, you do this work again, we consider ourselves part of the ecosystem, and helping to tell the stories. - Sherrell Dorsey Today's guest is Sherrell Dorsey, founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Sherrell has also served as marketing manager for companies like Uber and Google Fiber, and has a Master's in data journalism from Columbia University. In this episode, Sherrell sits down with the team to discuss her innovation journey, what she's learned about the industry, what she's most proud of, and much more!
Creativity, problem solving, and the improvement of early technologies have all stemmed from Black history. We now see it in the networks of Black technology entrepreneurs, and in the advent of safe spaces for the development and incubation of emerging concepts. In this cultural moment, Black folks are hyper focused on innovating and building a future that is safer by design — and evermore equitable. Resources: Black Girls Code tEQuitable Engineering Projects for Kids
In this episode, join us for a powerful conversation with Sherrell Dorsey, the Founder & CEO of The Plug, a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. We discuss the impact of contextualizing moments by pulling together datasets to make great stories and how to use data to make decisions, prove worth, and expose the truth. In June 2020, The Plug released a report that spurred headways by using data to call out corporations that made statements against racial and social injustice in America. As the report surfaced throughout social media streams, Dorsey's inbox flooded with Black employees concerned about racial injustices in their companies and were now using her platform's data report to confront their organizations. Tune in to learn more!
My next guest is Sherrell Dorsey. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. The Plug and WURD have partnered to highlight Black tech and innovation within the Philadelphia community by pooling together their resources to create greater impact through storytelling. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Sherrell Dorsey.https://www.moneymakingconversations.comhttps://www.youtube.com/MoneyMakingConversationshttps://www.facebook.com/MoneyMakingConversations/https://twitter.com/moneymakingconvhttps://www.instagram.com/moneymakingconversations/Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
My next guest is Sherrell Dorsey. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. The Plug and WURD have partnered to highlight Black tech and innovation within the Philadelphia community by pooling together their resources to create greater impact through storytelling. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Sherrell Dorsey.https://www.moneymakingconversations.comhttps://www.youtube.com/MoneyMakingConversationshttps://www.facebook.com/MoneyMakingConversations/https://twitter.com/moneymakingconvhttps://www.instagram.com/moneymakingconversations/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
My next guest is Kika Wise. Learn how the assisted gentle stretching process can free your body from pain and stress from the Founder of Kika Stretch Studios. She is a former professional dancer turned entrepreneur, franchisor and wellness educator. Kika Stretch Studios helps clients maintain youth and vitality with designed tension relief that aids in increased flexibility and overall ability. Kika Wise is a businesswoman on a mission to educate millennials and other generations on how to preserve self and pursue franchising. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Kika Wise. My next guest is Chris Gaston. CEO of Family First Sports Firm, represents Sacramento Kings, De'Aaron Fox. Chris Gaston founded Family First Sports Firm with his wife, in 2019. Their agency Family First focuses on empowerment, economic growth, and black excellence. Their agency represents De'Aaron Fox, of the Sacramento Kings. Gaston has signed the largest contract in Sacramento Kings franchise history (5 years/163 million) and secured $4 million for Damyean Dotson in the toughest free agent market in NBA history. --Gaston made his way in the industry through player development working with many of the top players in the NBA, College, and High School. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Chris Gaston. My next guest is Kenny Lloyd. CEO and President of TAVA Lifestyle, “At TAVA We Truly Care About Your Health,” a direct sales wellness company. Tava Lifestyle is a global network marketing company offering health and wellness products, including nutritional supplements, energy enhancements, and more. Kenny started Tava Lifestyle with the mission to change lives by helping individuals earn an additional income all while living a healthy and active lifestyle. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations an HBCU grad of Tennessee State University, Kenny Lloyd. My next guest is Sherrell Dorsey. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. The Plug and WURD have partnered to highlight Black tech and innovation within the Philadelphia community by pooling together their resources to create greater impact through storytelling. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Sherrell Dorsey.https://www.moneymakingconversations.comhttps://www.youtube.com/MoneyMakingConversationshttps://www.facebook.com/MoneyMakingConversations/https://twitter.com/moneymakingconvhttps://www.instagram.com/moneymakingconversations/Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
My next guest is Kika Wise. Learn how the assisted gentle stretching process can free your body from pain and stress from the Founder of Kika Stretch Studios. She is a former professional dancer turned entrepreneur, franchisor and wellness educator. Kika Stretch Studios helps clients maintain youth and vitality with designed tension relief that aids in increased flexibility and overall ability. Kika Wise is a businesswoman on a mission to educate millennials and other generations on how to preserve self and pursue franchising. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Kika Wise. My next guest is Chris Gaston. CEO of Family First Sports Firm, represents Sacramento Kings, De’Aaron Fox. Chris Gaston founded Family First Sports Firm with his wife, in 2019. Their agency Family First focuses on empowerment, economic growth, and black excellence. Their agency represents De’Aaron Fox, of the Sacramento Kings. Gaston has signed the largest contract in Sacramento Kings franchise history (5 years/163 million) and secured $4 million for Damyean Dotson in the toughest free agent market in NBA history. --Gaston made his way in the industry through player development working with many of the top players in the NBA, College, and High School. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Chris Gaston. My next guest is Kenny Lloyd. CEO and President of TAVA Lifestyle, “At TAVA We Truly Care About Your Health,” a direct sales wellness company. Tava Lifestyle is a global network marketing company offering health and wellness products, including nutritional supplements, energy enhancements, and more. Kenny started Tava Lifestyle with the mission to change lives by helping individuals earn an additional income all while living a healthy and active lifestyle. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations an HBCU grad of Tennessee State University, Kenny Lloyd. My next guest is Sherrell Dorsey. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. The Plug and WURD have partnered to highlight Black tech and innovation within the Philadelphia community by pooling together their resources to create greater impact through storytelling. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Sherrell Dorsey.https://www.moneymakingconversations.comhttps://www.youtube.com/MoneyMakingConversationshttps://www.facebook.com/MoneyMakingConversations/https://twitter.com/moneymakingconvhttps://www.instagram.com/moneymakingconversations/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
On the pilot episode of Diverse Disruptors, "The Plug" Founder Sherrell Dorsey sits down with Tarik Moody to discuss her work to establish a premium news service dedicated to sharing stories from the Black innovation economy.
Sherrell Dorsey is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a subscription-based digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy.
Sherrell Dorsey is the founder & CEO of The Plug, a subscription-based digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Sherrell shares how she developed the confidence to turn her freelance reporting on Black tech news and her side newsletter project into a data-driven platform and why she made the decision to pursue it. For this episode and more, join the Building Black Podcast community at www.buildingblackpodcast.com.
Sherrell Dorsey is the founder and publisher of The Plug, a publication focused on the Black innovation economy. While it started as a morning newsletter she did before going to work, it has now morphed into a media company with original reporting, data, research, events and podcasts. In this show, we discussed a variety of important topics, but a few things jumped out... On quarterly, not monthly pricing This was an important topic to me. The Plug's membership is sold quarterly or annually, but not monthly. As she said, this runs counter to the habit so many of us have formed paying for subscriptions every month. In her mind, though, a month is just not a long enough time to form a relationship. By extending it to a quarter, she feels that The Plug has enough opportunity to demonstrate value to a reader. It's an important distinction because if we look at when most subscribers churn, it's after the first month. By extending to a quarter, you have more time to form a habit with them and, ideally, keep them engaged for much longer. On not charging a CPM For most media companies, charging a CPM is how they do things. But in niche media, it's harder. As Dorsey explained, because they don't have scale, they need to price things based on value. Whether it's their podcasts, newsletter sponsorships or other content initiatives, they try to determine how valuable a sponsorship is worth to a partner and then work on pricing from there. On being diversified Although we didn't explicitly talk about this, The Plug generates revenue through advertising, events, membership fees and has received grants to create new content initiatives. This embodies a core ethos of successful media companies. Those that are overly reliant on a single source—or a single property—carry more risk than those that are well diversified. While The Plug has gone on to raise some money, it's clear in our conversation that Dorsey continues to think very diligently about not overextending the business and ensuring there are multiple streams of revenue.
In this episode of Tech Intersect, I speak with Sherrell Dorsey, a data journalist, social entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of The Plug, a distinctive, Black tech news and insights platform covering Black innovators in tech, venture capital, future of work policy, and more. Sherrell has scaled her new media startup to thousands of subscribers, hundreds of paid members and she's raised over $500,000 in equity-free capital. Amazing.Sherrell shares her poignant personal journey, how she's been doing in the midst of the devastating impacts of the pandemic, and her phenomenal professional ascension … from working for designers and content marketing firms at the intersection of commerce and social media to finding her true shine in tech journalism. She's contributed to Fast Company, The Root, Next City, and many others. And recently, she launched a season one of The Clark Street Project, A narrative episodic podcast that details the evolution of Black business news and entrepreneurship coverage and the journalists who've led the charge. One of the most empowering moments to listen out for is when Sherrell reminds us that the pandemic hasn't changed the mission for Black innovators and entrepreneurs. And she offers some strategies for not only surviving but thriving as we prepare for the fourth industrial revolution and future of work in the tech world. If you're listening to this on the release date, November 3rd, 2020, then I hope you've already voted, are on your way, or are in line and listening to pass the time. Get. Out. And. Vote. Our collective future depends on our individual participation in democracy. Let's make anyone who's ever been disenfranchised proud. SPONSORED BY ADVANTAGE EVANS™ ACADEMY There's a more cost effective and time-efficient way to reach your leading-edge learning and earning goals, to put you ahead of the stiff competition to create opportunity and generational wealth in this fast-paced, tech-driven economy. You need skills. Credentials. An advantage. And I can help! I empower underestimated life-long learners traditionally locked out of tech and finance to take control of their financial futures and participate in the new digital cash economy safely, legally and confidently in a welcoming space so they can stay ahead of the curve and create autonomy, opportunity and generational wealth in the fast-paced, tech-driven world. Ready for your advantage? Learn more about From Cash to Crypto™ at AdvantageEvans.com. Guest social assets: Links: TPInsights.comTheclarkstreetproject.comContact:Questions and requests: hello@techintersectpodcast.com Follow: Twitter @AtTechIntersect Instagram @TechIntersect Web: http://www.TechIntersectPodcast.com Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/gKqDyP Rapternal Music (Regulate and The Rabbit Hole) by Notty Productions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Produced by Tonya M. Evans for FYOS Entertainment, LLC, and Stephanie Renee for Soul Sanctuary, Inc.Support the show (https://tinyurl.com/techintersectvip)
We love when we get to dig into the stories of Black women who’ve demanded fair pay since...childhood and built thriving businesses serving their community from scratch. That’s right, childhood. Today’s guest, Sherrell Dorsey (@sherrell_dorsey), the founder of The Plug Daily - started getting paid from a little girl, and hasn’t accepted anything less than her full worth since. But that doesn't mean that it's Easy Street. There are real sacrifices and stretched checks that go along with entrepreneurship. And Dorsey's business - The Plug Daily - is a service that “investigates and reports on Black tech trends, stories, and breaking news with a rigor and analysis you won’t find elsewhere.” Data, diversity and quality journalism are the foundational tools Dorsey employs to make sure underserved and under-covered entrepreneurs and their companies get the shine they deserve amidst the technology boom. Keep listening to hear Sherrell’s story. #UnBossed PodcastUnBossed Host: Marquita Harris (@marquita_harris_)Executive Producer: Tiffany Ashitey (@misstiffsays)Producers: Ashley Hobbs (@ashleylatruly) + Shantel Holder (@shadesofshan_)Bookings: Marquita Harris, Tiffany AshiteyAudio: Anthony Frasier (@anthonyfrasier) + Josh Gwynn (@regardingjosh) Music: Gold Standard Creative (@gscdotnyc)Designer: Imani Nuñez (@profoundly_imani)
CEO & Founder of The Plug Sherrell Dorsey joins us to discuss how understanding traditionally marginalized histories helps bring people closer together, the importance in finding joy in work and its centrality to our collective success, and what we can all do to help support each other during our current crises. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
August 13, 2020 is Black Women's Equal Pay Day. We’ve armed ourselves with the education, experience, and energy to break glass ceilings and now it’s time our paychecks and growth track in our careers reflect as much—no excuses, no delays, no holds barred. On this episode, we're bringing you a full Black Women's Equal Pay Day compilation episode featuring Minda Harts, Juliette Jones, Lauren Simmons, Sherrell Dorsey, Arian Simone, Arlan Hamilton, and Dia Simms. Get your notebook and get inspired! UnBossed Host: Marquita Harris (@marquita_harris_)Executive Producer: Tiffany Ashitey (@misstiffsays)Associate Producers: Ashley Hobbs (@ashleylatruly) + Shantel Holder (@shadesofshan_)Bookings: Marquita Harris, Tiffany AshiteyAudio: Anthony Frasier (@anthonyfrasier) + Josh Gwynn (@regardingjosh) Music: Gold Standard Creative (@gscdotnyc)Designer: Imani Nuñez (@profoundly_imani)Social: Miranda Johnson (@randa_writes)
Today's guest on #MWL is Sherrell Dorsey. We discuss data and transparency, as well as her Black tech news publication, The Plug. Learn more at http://tpinsights.com/
Sherrell Dorsey is a data journalist, social entrepreneur, and speaker. She is the founder and CEO of The Plug—a distinctive, Black tech news and insights platform covering Black innovators in tech, venture capital, future of work policy, and more. Sherrell has grown the new media startup to thousands of subscribers, several hundred paid members and raised over $500,000 in equity-free capital. She holds a Master's degree in data journalism from Columbia University, and also founded BLKTECH Interactive—Charlotte's first inclusive startup hub advancing Black technologists and entrepreneurs. Sherrell chat’s with Will Lucas about the why perspective is important when creating narratives around data like consumer trends and Black progress and innovation, and how to monetize content.
Kelly interviews Sherrell Dorsey, founder of The Plug on topics ranging from how to network in a new community to why slowing down to listen is a good career strategy when you're starting out. Learn how Sherrell is "fancy frugal" as it relates to her professional development (along with her concept of a personal content stack) and the intentionality she applies to mapping out her own leadership progression. This conversation will transform how you choose to think about your career advancement, which is critical these days when career paths are often non-linear and networks are more essential than ever.
Cory talks with two black women in tech to see what tech companies have done and still need to do to address racial inequality. Sherrell Dorsey, a journalist and entrepreneur and the founder of The Plug, has been cataloguing the responses from tech companies showing support for the black community. Sarah Kunst, a venture capitalist at Cleo Capital, explains the importance of firms funding more diverse founders.
This episode was recorded during a global pandemic that forced Sherrell to forego all her travel. For these reasons, she spent a quiet afternoon with us from her Atlanta home. Sherrell Dorsey is the Founder of tpinsights.com, an advocate for minority entrepreneurs, and data journalist from Columbia University. She has been featured on media outlets across the globe for her thought leadership and ability to paint the picture using data. She went from finessing her way into jobs that allowed her to manage social media throughout college - to writing $15 articles for tech companies - to running a successful business that works with top brands we have all come to know. In this episode of Too Be Blunt, we talk about Sherrell’s upbringing and the story she wants the world to hear. She takes time to give grace to her mother and her childhood as she credits “the weird and nerdy” as the most memorable parts of her life. We discuss how she went through a period of uncertainty -she spent time on the beach wondering for 3 months what next steps to take. We talk about what companies to watch as we head into the “New Normal” and the light that has been shined on issues that marginalized communities have been facing for centuries. Sherrell talks about her mission of helping people receive access to basic necessities such as broadband internet and the approach we should be taking with the youth. She believes in a world where we all have access to resources that make living life possible in the new age. We spend time talking about the confidence she came to realize she has and how it has helped her find her tribe. “I deserve to be in every room” Welcome to Too Be Blunt. We look forward to sharing our vulnerability with you in hopes that it encourages you to go on your own journey of self-discovery.
Welcome back to another episode of the square pizza podcast, a podcast about making the good things about school, even betterToday's episode features our interview with Sherrell Dorsey, the Founder of The Plug & BLKTECHCLT.In this episode, we cover:Sherrell's favorite movieher experience working in the Connecticut public education systemgrowing up in Seattle why she doesn't own a car the founding of BLKTECHCLT & creating a space to celebrate black technologists and entrepreneurs and so much moreWe hope you'll take some time to learn more about Sherrell and her work supporting black entrepreneurs and her passion for education. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sherrell_DorseyThanks to everyone that has taken a moment to rank the podcast and leave a review. To support Sherrell and her passions:visit Intechcamp.org for people to support kids of color in STEM. If you are looking for talent, please have them email us at hello@blktechinteractive.comSupport the show (http://Scherm.co)
Hello everyone & welcome to the Tech Thinking Aloud Podcast. Each episode, we bring tech articles to life by reading them aloud and discussing their importance to the tech community and the world. We're your hosts, Heather & Jim O'Neill. Today's article is The Rise of Black-Owned Co-Working Spaces by Sherrell Dorsey. It's featured on The Plug. ----- Get in touch with Sherrell Sherrell's Website Connect with us podcast@pixelsforhumans.com
In this week’s #DataTalk, we chat with Sherrell Dorsey about her love of data, technology and passion for improving inclusion and diversity in tech. She started coding when she was 14 years old at the Technology Access Foundation in Seattle -- and spent her summers in high school as an intern at Microsoft, learning how to manage labs and build software. She later founded BLKTECH Interactive and ThePLUG to encourage more diversity in tech. She also earned her Master's in Data Journalism from Columbia University.
In this episode of the Advent Coworking Podcast, we present the May 2019 edition of Advent's signature quarterly event, F*ck Up Night. Hear speakers Carrie Cook, Sherrell Dorsey, and Davita Galloway discuss their personal and professional fuck ups and the lessons they learned. Listen as they discuss finding, creating and taking up space, as well as the importance of social equity, not reducing who you are to make someone else comfortable, and not becoming a martyr.
Guest Sherrell Dorsey, founder of The Plug Newsletter and BLKTECH Interactive, shares strategies to make diversity and inclusion initiatives intentional – from employment and culture in an organization to holistic and systematic change.
ThePlugDaily.com Founder and CEO Sherrell Dorsey joins us to discuss this groundbreaking report, and the role of HBCUs in shaping the black tech economy.
This week we have the opportunity to chat with superstar, Sherrell Dorsey on her journey as a women in tech and how she has build an tech ecosystem that leverages talents from all disciplines. She brings knowledge, advice and passion!
On this episode, we sat down with Sherrell Dorsey and Brittany Box to learn about the upcoming HACKATHONclt and its impact on Charlotte. We also learned the history of West Charlotte High School and learned about the ACC tournament from Supportive Guy.
On this week’s episode of Secure The Seat, I interview Sherrell Dorsey. She is Data Journalist. Entrepreneur. Inclusive Ecosystem and Smart Cities Strategist. Sherrell runs BLKTECH Interactive—North Carolina’s first hub supporting over 2,000 entrepreneurs and technologists of color across three cities. She is also the founder of daily tech newsletter, ThePLUG, covering founders and innovators of color. Her work has been featured in Inc., Bloomberg, VICE, The Root, and other notable publications. Connect with Sherrell at www.sherrelldorsey.com.
In this week’s episode I chat with data journalist and entrepreneurs, Sherrell Dorsey. Sherrell is the founder of The Plug which is the first daily tech newsletter covering black founders and business leaders and the founder of Black Tech Interactive, North Carolina’s first hub supporting over 2,000 entrepreneurs and technologists of color. In this episode we chat about how Sherrell’s upbringing prepped her for entrepreneurship, how working in the corporate world inspired her to create a space for black tech news, how she has handled frustration and disappointment as a female founder of color and more. Rate the show and leave a review on Apple podcast!
OVERVIEW Sherrell Dorsey is a social entrepreneur. She is a recent graduate of Columbia University’s School of Journalism and the CEO and President of BLKTECHCLT an initiative creating an inclusive ecosystem of dope startup founders, committed leaders, and engaged citizens moving North Carolina forward. She is also the founder of The Plug Daily, the first daily tech newsletter covering founders and innovators of color. With features in Fast Company, The Atlantic’s City Lab, The Root, Next City, and many others, Sherrell has covered high-profile founders, investors, and business trends at the intersection of sustainability, innovation, and equity. Sherrell has been a featured speaker and moderator, hosting panels and fireside chats with Steve Case, founder of AOL; Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe; Daymond John, ABCs SharkTank; and Ben Jealous of Kapor Capital. Her experience in tech includes internships at Microsoft, serving as a marketing manager at Uber, and on a contract project with Google Fiber. She also serves as WCCB TV’s tech expert and hosts an inclusive quarterly technology event series called #BLKTECHCLT. Give $1 to MarketShare's 100,000 Founders Campaign http://bit.ly/kingstreetmarket/ Sherrell's Social Media & Web: twitter.com/Sherrell_Dorsey instagram.com/sherrell_dorsey linkedin.com/in/sherrell-dorsey-922a656 medium.com/@Sherrell_Dorsey blktechinteractive.com/ theplugdaily.com/ No Blueprint & AmbassadorStories Social Media: instagram.com/ambassadorstories/ twitter.com/AMBStories facebook.com/NoBlueprintPodcast/ ambassadorstoriesllc@gmail.com Support + Merch paypal.me/AmbassadorStories patreon.com/AmbassadorStories ambassadorstories.bigcartel.com/ Official Websites: NoBlueprintPodcast.com/ AmbassadorStories.com/ Extra! Sherrell Dorsey on TAF Presents: This Is The Work Podcast https://soundcloud.com/user-680051220/taf-presents-this-is-the-work-podcast-sherrell-dorsey-1 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/taf-presents-this-is-the-work-podcast/id1342476918?mt=2 Shelf Life Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-805652645 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shelf-life/id1384712118?mt=2
In this episode of Depth & Candor, Sherrell Dorsey candidly shares how she built ThePlug despite the usual obstacles of fear, overwhelm, and lack of time & connections. You’ll love this episode if you’re curious as to how this young, black woman built a company catering to black millennials in an industry notorious for being predominantly white and male. Sherrell also shares her insights around balancing work and inner peace, and what she envisions for her life in the future. Resources Mentioned: The Plug Data is Plural Fast Company Geekwire Tech Crunch Bloomberg Wall Street Journal Tech Podcast NPR Tech Podcasts Try audible for free: Audibletrial.com/depthandcandor Connect with Sherrell: Subscribe to ThePlug Connect with ThePlug on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Connect with Sherrell_dorsey on Twitter or Instagram SherrellDorsey.com Depth & Candor is for the ambitious millennial who wants to learn how to live a vibrant life. Follow Hiwote Getaneh as she explores how to be more productive and engaged, personally and professionally, with expert interviews, international adventures, and paradigm shifting real talk. If you are interested in learning how to travel more, attain financial success, feel fulfilled in your career and build transformative relationships, this podcast is for you. Want more from me? Depth & Candor Instagram: @hiwote.g
Name: Sherrell Dorsey Title: Founder, ThePLUGDaily.com Location: New York, New York Educational Background: B.A., International Trade and Marketing, Fashion Institute of Technology M.S. (2018), Data Journalism, Columbia University This Episode: Sherrell shares her journey as a lifelong learner and her mission to create a business that serves the community. Through ThePLUG she helping to change the narratives surrounding the black community in tech. We dive into how having a strong team has allowed her to balance school and business. The most transformative change for her has been realizing that leadership takes an extraordinary amount of self evaluation. What do you value? How purposeful you are with your journey? Books: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business x Gino Wickman The Innovation Blind Spot: Why We Back the Wrong Ideas and What Do We Do About It x Ross Baird Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit x Krista Tippett About Sherrell: Since learning to code at the age 14 Sherrell Dorsey has not slowed down in the tech industry. She is a noted technology writer and social entrepreneur. She is also the founder of daily tech newsletter, ThePLUG, where she leads content strategy, business partnerships, and growth of the only newsletter dedicated to highlighting the significant voices of black founders and business leaders in the news. Since launching ThePLUG in April 2016, she has 300% month over month growth and has no plans of that slowing down. With features in Fast Company, The Atlantic’s City Lab, The Root, Next City, and many others, Sherrell has covered high-profile founders, investors, and business trends at the intersection of sustainability, innovation, and equity. Sherrell also frequently speaks at tech conferences across the country and has an unmatched ability to inspire, connect and push the tech scene forward. She has had roles in powerhouse tech companies such as Microsoft, Uber, and is currently on contract at Google Fiber.
Episode 2 of Black Tech Unplugged features Sherrell Dorsey, a noted technology journalist and social entrepreneur. She is founder of the daily tech newsletter, ThePLUG, where she leads content strategy, business partnerships, and growth of the only newsletter dedicated to highlighting the significant voices of black founders and business leaders in the news. Full show notes: https://blacktechunplugged.com/2017/07/13/ep-02-black-tech-unplugged-sherrell-dorsey-unplugged/
On this episode of the Blacks In Technology #BITTechTalk podcast we sit down with Sherrell Dorsey, Founder of ThePlug daily, a source for daily black tech news and Founder of Black Tech Charlotte, an interactive event designed to immerse black tech entrepreneurs, professionals, venture capitalists, and enthusiasts in the Charlotte, NC. startup ecosystem
On this episode of the Blacks In Technology #BITTechTalk podcast we sit down with Sherrell Dorsey, Founder of ThePlug daily, a source for daily black tech news and Founder of Black Tech Charlotte, an interactive event designed to immerse black tech entrepreneurs, professionals, venture capitalists, and enthusiasts in the Charlotte, NC. startup ecosystem
Sherrell Dorsey is a natural beauty expert, beauty writer, speaker, creator of OrganicBeautyVixen.com Sherrell developed the concept of Organic Beauty vixen after doing a lot of reading and soul searching on what beauty meant to her. She came across stories and images of women from all around the world, including her grandmother Carol, who practiced beauty rituals passed down from their ancestors who used the earth as a way to maintain their skin and hair. As a believer in using safe, non-toxic, natural and organic personal-care products, Sherrell wanted to follow the idea of non-traditional beauty and become an expert in organic skin care. In her new EBook- Eco Glamorous Sherrell shares how to re-connect with the earth through safe, non-toxic beauty products and solutions in addition to being a journey in discovering ourselves as goddesses of the natural earth. "I like to say that I show brown girl’s how to live beautifully in an eco-glam way". www.organicbeautyvixen.com
Due to the fact that Sherrell Dorsey the Organic Beauty Vixen was unable to join us for this show, I took this opportunity to share some of my personal experiences on my natural hair journey. Join us for Part 2 of this Natural Beauty series which will include an interview with Ms. Dorsey is recorded live Friday 9.14.12.
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