blavity

If it’s one thing that Black founders know how to do, it’s make something out of nothing. During this week’s episode of Black Tech Green Money, viewers get a blast from the past from AfroTech World 2020 with Motley Fool Ventures Managing Partner Ollen Douglass. He gives insight on the keys to fundraising, trends in venture capital (VC) that founders who look like us need to tap into, and more. At Motley Fool, the underlying goal is to help people learn how to invest in the stock market to create generational wealth. “It’s really interesting in the sense that when you think about all the opportunities to create wealth, the stock market, I believe is probably the most democratized access by far,” he explained. “Ameritrade does not care what you look like and they don’t ask. Schwab doesn’t care. There are none of the barriers that you have when [you’re] just like [engaged in] real estate investing and someone has to sell you. I don’t have to call up Tim Cook to buy Apple.”

Bootup has secured new funding. According to a blog post, Bootup — a company that aims to help individuals land jobs in tech — has raised a seed round totaling $2.1 million. The round was led by Kapor Capital, in addition to participation from Lightship Capital, other Black-led funds, investors, and more. “I feel that allocation of capital is the most useful form of activism in a capitalist society,” said Founder and CEO of Bootup, Chandler Malone, in a statement. “This idea was inspired by a conversation with Candice Matthews Brackeen back in 2018 and led to us being intentional about raising from all Black-led funds and angels for our seed round as our work is directly focused on targeting the wealth gap.”

LinkedIn is on a mission to support the Black community. According to information provided exclusively to AfroTech, LinkedIn will distribute $500,000 in grants to digitalundivided and Blavity.org. The contribution will propel LinkedIn’s Black entrepreneurship fellowship programs and provide new economic pathways for the community. LinkedIn will work alongside the selected organizations to uplift the stories of rising entrepreneurs and instill awareness for additional capital and resources year-round. “As a company, we are on a journey to create equal access to opportunity and help drive more equitable outcomes. Our strategic partners are essential in that journey and since 2020, we have donated $5 million in funding and services to organizations that support economic and workforce development within the Black community,” LinkedIn said in an article published. “We selected digitalundivided and Blavity.org because of their holistic approach to developing, supporting and funding...

After nearly two decades at Microsoft, Michelle Bozeman has proven that she gets things done. Since joining Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2019, she’s done just that in her role as a Senior Practice Manager. Officially embracing a new phase of her career, Michelle’s found a role that both challenges and inspires her as she develops consultants at Amazon. “My position today is in professional services. I manage a team of consultants that are early in their careers. I manage a program that is meant to grow them into more senior consultants, and I started doing that with college hires. That led me to a passion that I have mentoring and growing people, which led me to AWS,” Michelle says. Understanding that there’s room for everyone to win, since joining AWS, Michelle says her greatest achievement has been “seeing people grow.” As a manager and mentor, Michelle has been instrumental in developing a new generation of tech professionals . “Watching them come in so unsure of the position,...

Studies show that Black babies are three times more likely to die during childbirth if cared for by White doctors in the United States reports CNN . This shows racial disparities in human health have an effect on a person even in their first few hours of life. Research showed that after Black physicians took charge of the birth, the mortality rate of Black newborns decreased between 39 percent and 58 percent, according to George Mason University Research . On the other hand, that same research revealed mortality rates for White babies wasn’t affected by the doctor’s race on a scale as wide as it is for Black babies. These findings also support prior research that shows that although infant mortality rates have fallen in the past decades, Black children are still more likely to die earlier than their white counterparts. The authors of the study reveal “the findings suggest that Black physicians outperform their White colleagues when caring for Black newborns,” according to CNN . They...

In this day and age of entrepreneurship, seldom do we have voices or representatives that truly encompass building within our communities and providing structure for the next generation to do so. On the inaugural episode of the Black Tech Green Money podcast hosted by Will Lucas, founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., Morgan DeBaun, offers her perspective on having a majority-Black workforce and how, as a people, we should strive to achieve a similar goal within our own startups and businesses. @morgandebaun Instagram In 2014, Morgan DeBaun along with Aaron Samuels and Jeff Nelson founded Blavity Inc. as their solution to the lack of Black millennial representation in media. Under the Blavity Inc. umbrella are the online publications Blavity.com, Shadow & Act, Travel Noire, 21Ninety, and AfroTech.  Blavity also launched the AfroTech conference which serves as the largest Black tech conference in the country. “I need people around us, around our mission, around my employees, around my...

The summit focused on how corporations can combat systemic racism in America. Over 450 attendees logged into the Forward From Floyd virtual summit hosted by Blavity and Edelman on Thursday, June 11th. Blavity Founder and CEO Morgan DeBaun moderated the panel-style event with the goal of creating a dialogue around how corporations and institutions can support the fight against systemic racism. In attendance were employees, directors, executives, managers, and all those willing to be instruments of change in the business and non-governmental industries while on the brink of making history. Guests of the panel were: • Shelley Stewart III, a partner of McKinsey & Company • Stan Little, Chief Experience Officer for United Way • Lisa Ross, COO of Edelman U.S., and • Dr. Uche Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity The guests shared their advice on how businesses, NGOs, nonprofits, media, and medical institutions can spark change internally and fight systemic racism in...

On November 8th during AfroTech in Oakland, Black women techies, entrepreneurs and CEOs gathered together at Scott’s Seafood Pavilion in Jack London Square for the conference’s first annual Women in Leadership Dinner, presented in partnership with Hilton. The event,  co-hosted by Morgan DeBaun, CEO and founder of Blavity, Inc., and Andréa Richardson, Head of Multicultural Engagement at Hilton, converged more than 70 women in tech for an inspirational evening of connection, camaraderie and well-deserved commendation. Over an intimate dinner setting, DeBaun and Richardson spoke about the opportunity for women in tech to continue taking on leadership positions and the importance of extending their network. T he dinner provided attendees the chance to connect and celebrate one another and promote even more advancement for women in the field. AfroTech “Hilton, you have been such a huge support to Blavity for so many years, since the beginning,” DeBaun said in her opening speech. “Thank...

Feeling cute? Using that exact caption for your Instagram photo because you can’t come up with anything else? Well, two HBCU grads have the answer for such a cyber woe with the Caption Any Photo app. The app came to fruition after co-founder JaBre’ Jennings eventually came up with the idea for a class project and created a mock-up of the app. After the app was completed, he and his business partner Juwon Nicholson toured the country with it. “We went up and down the East Coast with it,” Jennings told Technical.ly. Both men attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and have certainly made their alma mater proud. UMES alumni JaBre’ Jennings & Juwan Nicholson have teamed up to create their app “Caption Any Photo”. The mobile app is designed to help users find the best photo captions for social media post. Try it for yourself! Download here: https://t.co/wrzPIHH18c #UMES #HawkPride pic.twitter.com/02eigXxnFB — UMES (@UMESNews) July 16, 2018 Caption Any Photo makes it easy to...

Rapper Nipsey Hussle’s death profiled his charitable efforts and business endeavors as key elements to the late musician’s legacy. An emotional Instagram post from longtime friend and business associate David Gross revealed Hussle planned to expand his businesses past South Los Angeles and open a resort and casino in Las Vegas in 2020. Gross penned the tribute to his late friend Tuesday, and several photos of the two accompanied the caption that detailed their intentions to open The Virgin Las Vegas. “We always planned to tell the story behind these pictures but didn’t get the chance to because we were busy executing on the next idea, and each successive opportunity got bigger and bigger,” a portion of Gross’ remarks read. View this post on Instagram A post shared by David Gross (@david.a.gross) Per his statement, Gross and Nip were slated to become partial owners of the hotel, which The Star Advisor writes is scheduled to open in November 2020. “This is the meeting a couple months...

Detroit high school senior Michael Love is trying to pick a college and has a bevy of choices. Love applied to about 50 colleges and received acceptance letters from 41 institutions, reports WXYZ. As the acceptances rolled in, so did scholarship offers: the Cornerstone Health and Technology student has amassed more than $300,000 in scholarship money. Love’s mom, Micole Ewing, was initially wary of her son applying to so many schools. “I thought he was crazy when he told me he was applying to so many schools,” said Ewing. She changed her outlook as her son kept receiving good news, however. “Every time I open up a letter I jumped up and down, we praised God and everything. I’m super proud of him,” she said. Love struggled at the beginning of high school but was determined to succeed despite discouraging comments from naysayers. “I got told a lot when I was younger I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that,” Love said. “So I just wanted to show people I’m better than what they think I...

Alfred E. Nickson went from growing up on welfare in the rough inner cities of Miami to becoming one of the youngest millionaires in network marketing in the United States. Determined to make a better life for himself and his family, Nickson began his entrepreneurial journey in network marketing at the young age of 19. Within three short years, he became a six figure earner and one of the top sales professionals in his company before building his own brand of nearly 100,000 followers. He specializes in a range of financial services including, but not limited to, credit restoration, credit monitoring, wills and trusts, credit litigation and financial planning. He has proudly helped thousands of people restore their credit, while helping them build financial wealth. In addition to that, Alfred has found tremendous success working as a seven-figure success coach for the last six years, coaching people through workshops and seminars on how to make the most out of their current financial...

Giphy has released a collection of GIFs designed by some of the internet’s most creative Black artists . Artists like Tenbeete Solomon, Aurélia Durand, Edinah Chewe and others are contributing to Giphy’s ongoing dedication to diversity. Their work will be in a partnership with women’s lifestyle Refinery29’s Unbothered’s Instagram, where they will create GIFs that depict Black life and culture. “Giphy allows me to create work I truly believe in, especially covering themes like celebrating people of color and empowering women,” Solomon told Refinery29. This new initiative aims at inspiring other companies to hire Black creatives to produce diverse images. Durand told the fashion and lifestyle site she struggled with being proud of her “Afro heritage,” but she used art to help her break that feeling and empower herself. “Art has helped me to embrace myself and connect with others; I feel empowered when I see that people can relate and see a part of themselves in my visuals,” she said....

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates Shawna Davis and Tiffany Mickel have put a twist on traditional playing cards by printing pictures of history-making black women on their faces. Say goodbye to your typical two through 10, jack, queen, king and ace. Instead, players can find the faces of Michelle Obama, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Madam C. J. Walker, Nina Simone and more. “Cards are a staple in Black households, but we don’t have our own kings and queens on our decks,” Davis said of the duo’s inspiration. “We wanted to create a movement that empowers the African American community of the greatness, [through learning] our past culture and history, and helping players realize the endless possibilities and potential of just being born into the Black culture.” Each woman on the Heiritage playing cards has a story that coincides with their card’s corresponding number. Bessie Coleman, for example, is displayed on the eighth card, which pays homage to the eight-meter...

NASA announced plans to rename a facility after legendary mathematician Katherine Johnson paying tribute to her lasting impact on space exploration. In a February 22 ceremony, Johnson, a West Virginia native, was presented with a building on the NASA complex in honor of her illustrious career. The Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility will serve as a building dedicated to safety programs. ABC News reports the facility houses NASA’s highest-profile missions “by assuring that mission software performs correctly.” For 30 years, Johnson’s calculations were used for some of the most fundamental missions in the early days of NASA. She calculated the trajectories for Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 mission in 1961, John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission in 1962 and multiple Apollo missions before the use of computers. She was deemed a “human computer” whose story became subject of the 2016 film Hidden Figures. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine showered her with...