Black Women Breaking Down the Barriers in Big Tech
Written By: Emma Maxwell
Happy Black History Month! While celebrating the significance of this month, WCS wants to take the time to highlight the numerous contributions to the field of technology from black female entrepreneurs. From revolutionizing the energy industry to reducing inherent bias in artificial intelligence, these women and their visions are changing the landscape of modern technology. Here are some technology companies founded by Black women that you should know about!
ElectricFish
ElectricFish is a climate business focused on finding software-powered energy storage solutions. ElectricFish has a vision of helping disadvantaged communities become more self-reliant by storing energy locally and becoming robust against climate disasters.
Folasade Ayoola, along with her co-founder Anurag Kamal, was honored by Forbes in their 2022 30 Under 30 list. Folasade received her PhD from Stanford University and has since been working there as a Graduate Research Fellow with the Doerr School of Sustainability. She co-founded ElectricFish with the vision of a “decarbonized, resilient, and equitable” future in energy for all communities.
ElectricFish’s trademarked data tool, CoReScore, is a siting algorithm that aggregates data from local power capacity of electric grids, vehicle trip data, and user demographics. CoReScore takes this data and generates impactful locations for new distributed storage products.
ElectricFish also boasts two different energy solutions: 35⁰² and an Optimization Engine. 35⁰² is an energy storage system for electric vehicles. Their Optimization Engine is a smart charger powered by software. They store power from the grid and optimize this storage so that it is available over all hours of the day, allowing full utilization of the battery.
Folasade and Kamal are using software to power the future of sustainable energy with ElectricFish.
DAIR
The Distributed AI Research Institute is an independent, global space for explorations in the field of artificial intelligence. They seek to do research beyond the scope of what private, for-profit companies that encompass the “Big Tech” label influence.
DAIR was founded by Timnit Gebru after she was ousted from Google’s Ethical AI team over raising concerns about workplace discrimination and publishing about bias in artificial intelligence. Gebru sees DAIR as a place where research can be done on how AI is not trained with marginalized groups in mind and how to bring about changes in this culture. Gebru has stated that even while working at Google, the most influential internal changes came when she externally published papers with her findings and then brought them into the company. Gebru sees DAIR as an extension of this process; she hopes that external research in artificial intelligence can influence the direction of development within Big Tech.
Gebru received $3.7 million in funding from groups such as the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kapor Center, Open Society Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation to open the institute.
DAIR is currently composed of 18 researchers and advisors who are based around the globe. Their research is focused on how the trajectory of artificial intelligence development can be pivoted to benefit and uplift marginalized communities instead of ignoring or directly harming them. They hope to “mitigate harms caused by AI technology and cultivate spaces to accelerate imagination and creation of new technologies and tools to build a better future.”
DAIR is seeking to radically change the culture driving current advances in technology and create a world where artificial intelligence is truly a tool and never a weapon.
Black Girls Code
Black Girls Code strives to engage young women of color in computer science education in order to prepare them for a future in technology.
Kimberly Bryant founded the nonprofit after her daughter, Kai, expressed interest in game development as she entered middle school. Bryant quickly noticed that almost every technology program for youth was male-dominated, with very few, if not no, girls of color participating. In 2011, with the help of some of her colleagues, Bryant hosted a six-week session for a dozen students in the basement of a San Francisco college preparatory institution.
From there, Black Girls Code exploded. Following an investment from ThoughtWorks in 2012, the nonprofit was able to expand across the United States and into South Africa.
Today, Black Girls Code hosts both virtual and in-person programs for girls aged 7–17. The curriculum teaches students everything from game development to robotics to artificial intelligence. The organization also runs a YouTube channel where they post coding tutorials and interviews with prominent women of color in technology. Black Girls Code is also starting to build a strong alumni network; the girls they mentored in 2011 are now college graduates. The organization is working to establish and empower women of color in the ever-growing field of technology.
Black in AI
Black in AI is seeking to create a space “for sharing ideas, fostering collaborations, and discussing initiatives to increase the presence of Black people in the field of Artificial Intelligence.”
The organization was co-founded by Rediet Adebe, who is currently a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Timnit Gebru, who also founded the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in 2017.
Black in AI works in three different areas: academia, advocacy, and summer research.
The academic branch focuses on supporting junior researchers as they apply to graduate programs, begin graduate school, and navigate the postgraduate job market. They have a mentoring program that currently serves over 200 current graduate school applicants, as well as a mentorship program that focuses on students who are currently completing a post-graduate program. Their post-graduate network has served over 400 students with the help of 100 mentors.
The advocacy branch focuses on removing barriers that prevent Black people from entering the field of artificial intelligence. They have sought to remove the GRE from admissions requirements at different graduate programs to reduce barriers to entry. They have also sought to shed light on the visa struggles faced by Africans and the African diaspora when going abroad for studies or to attending Artificial Intelligence conferences across the globe.
The two summer research programs seek to expand the participation of Black people in artificial intelligence research. The Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) program is restricted to undergraduate students; the program pairs a student with a world-class faculty mentor for a summer of paid research. BlackAIR is a collaboration between Black in AI and Stanford University for a grant of $1,500. Grant recipients will have a weekly meeting with a research mentor, as well as attend weekly faculty talks, Black in AI talks, and a poster presentation.
Black in AI also hosts an annual workshop focused on the future of artificial intelligence. The workshop features invited talks from notable members of the AI community, a poster session for researchers, and a startup showcase for entrepreneurs. The event seeks to create an inclusive space for Black AI experts to share their ideas and meet fellow researchers.
Black in AI has grown to over 5,000 members in over 43 countries!
DigitalUndivided
DigitalUndivided is a collective that seeks to support Black and Latina female entrepreneurs as they look to expand their success.
DigitalUnidivided was founded by Kathryn Finney in 2013. She saw major potential in startups headed by Black and Latina women that were being overlooked because of the race and gender of their founders. Finney was brushed off by potential investors because of her race and gender, and she knew her experiences were far from unique. She pushed for creating a space that would uplift female founders, and her work has received funding from Google, American Express, Andreesen Horowitz, and more.
In 2016, DigitalUnidivided unveiled Project Diane, a proprietary research initiative into the state of Black and Latinx female founders. It found that a shocking 12 startups that had raised over $1 million in outside venture capital were led by Black women. It further found that there were only 88 startups headed by Black women in the United States.
Since ProjectDiane’s initial findings, DigitalUndivided has devoted itself to opening the world of entrepreneurship to Black and Latinx women through five different programs.
START is a virtual training program for brand-new entrepreneurs. Over 5 weeks, third- and fourth-year undergraduates will learn startup methodology, customer personas, testing assumptions, scalable revenue models, and how to pitch. Students also receive $5,000 to launch their businesses. Big is also a training program for entrepreneurs, but it is targeted at business owners who are almost ready to launch their product.
The Do You Fellowship and the Breakthrough program are designed for founders who already have a business generating revenue and want to take their business to the next level. Breakthrough is specifically targeted towards women-owned businesses with a focus on technology.
The New C-Suite is a partnership with Cosmopolitan that highlights the success of Black and Latina entrepreneurs. The list seeks to amplify the voices of women who have been previously ignored and inspire others to also pursue their ambitions.
