WEBVTT - Hope on the Horizon 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.560 Good morning, keeps, and welcome to wik f Daily with 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.919 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.919 let me start out today with saying, at the time 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.439 of this recording, we still do not know the charges 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.480 for Donald Trump that will come out later this afternoon 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.599 at around two fifteen, Donald Trump will be arraigned and 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:39.360 then we will know after he knows how many charges 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.400 he is up against in New York. But I want 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:49.080 to say this, fucking cable news man, like mainstream media, 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:54.840 just stays fucking up, And at this point you got 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.560 to say to yourself, is it a fuck up? Because 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:02.400 it just is deliberate. So first, let's start off with 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:09.080 sixty fucking minutes deciding to give precious airtime to a 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:14.920 white nationalist, anti Semitic, transphobic piece of trash like Marjorie 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.080 Taylor fucking Green, who used her time on sixty Minutes 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.720 to refer to Democrats who stand for gender affirming care 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:32.320 for transgender kids as being pedophiles, right, And all the 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:36.759 journalists supposed journalists Stall could say in response to that 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:42.160 was can you just not name call bitch? This is 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:46.679 not elementary school, right, Marjorie Taylor Green is not an 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.320 elementary school, nor is she a preschooler. She knows exactly 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.000 what it is that she's doing and what your network 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.160 decided to do, what CBS decided to do, what sixty 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.400 minutes decided to do, was what the New York Times 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.480 did back in the nineteen thirties with fucking Hitler when 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.440 they decided to give him an entire expose around his 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:11.799 long walks in his better Home and Gardens section, right 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.679 as he was shipping people off to Auschwitz and other 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:20.080 concentration camps. You have Marjorie Taylor Green getting airtime is 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.120 if she is normal. Do you know how many other 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.040 members of Congress that are actually doing fucking work, that 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:33.040 are actually trying to save this country from a fascist takeover. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.240 You know who could have been on sixty minutes, Jamal Bowman, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.000 the representative who was shaming his Republican counterparts for not 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.560 taking any actions. As we watch every fucking few months, 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:52.880 another classroom of students be slaughtered by aar fifteens that 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:59.839 the Republican Party wears as essential flag pins on their lapels. Right, 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.720 Jamal Bowman stood in the rotunda at the Capitol shaming 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:14.359 his Republican counterparts for their inaction. We'll do everything, bulletproof backpacks, 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:19.120 bulletproof whiteboards, fucking teaching little kids how to army crawl 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.960 at the age of three, but they won't do anything 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:29.640 about the guns because, as the Tennessee fucking representatives said, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.680 we're not gonna fix this. Criminals are just gonna crime. 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.520 That is the person that deserves a time slot on 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.880 sixty minutes, not a fucking white nationalist piece of trash 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.840 like Marjorie Taylor Green, who had to, by the way, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:52.000 be warned by the New York City mayor Eric Adams, 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.000 because she tweeted and said she gonna find herself flying 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:58.160 to New York for Trump's arraiment. I don't know whether 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:03.360 it's on a broomstick or not, right finding herself lying 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:07.280 to New York, and Eric Adams said to her, don't 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.640 be bringing your violent, insightful ass here and thinking that 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.760 you're gonna rabble rouse and everything is gonna be okay, 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:18.960 because it ain't. We all hands on deck here. And 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.520 I cannot stress enough, folks, I cannot stress this enough 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:29.880 that the fact that New York has all officers hands 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.000 on deck, the fact that New York has been building 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:37.320 up barricade since Donald Trump's initial lyon ass tweet on 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.000 his broke Ass Truth social where he said that he 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.679 was going to be arrested just you know, from figment 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.640 of his imagination, just so that he could once again 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.360 grift off of his followers. They've been all hands on 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.080 deck because they don't want to be caught flatfooted in 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.520 the way that the FBI, the National Guard, the DC 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.440 Metro Police, Capitol Police, and the rest of them decided 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.840 that they weren't going to do shit even as they 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:08.119 were watching these groups like the Oath Keepers, the Proud 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:12.040 Voice of three Percenters organized in plain sight because you know, 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:17.280 all but they're white, so they're not going to harm anybody. Okay, 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:24.800 checks history books anyway, it should be covered in the 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.320 way that it's like Donald Trump is being investigated by 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:34.880 the Department of Justice, not only for stealing government documents, which, 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.359 by the way, the Washington Post also came out with 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:43.839 new reporting that said that there is way, way, way 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.120 more evidence that points to the fact that Donald Trump 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.440 was obstructing justice, was combing through said documents and deciding 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.400 what he was going to bring back, what he was 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.880 going to send back excuse me to the National arc 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:05.760 kives in what he was gonna keep right. So we 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.160 also have found out recently with an interview that he 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.920 did with Sean Hannity where Sean Hannity tried to give 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:16.080 Donald Trump an out and say, well, you weren't going 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.440 through those documents yourself, right, like you have staff and 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.039 blahlah blah, and He's like, no, no, it was well 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:26.480 within my right. And not only that, but then says 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.440 that Nixon took documents and was able to sell them 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:35.120 back to the United States government for millions of dollars. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.560 Hook line and sinker, folks, Donald Trump is going to 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:44.120 tweet his ass and talk his ass into an orange jumpsuit. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:48.480 And I'm like, go ahead, keep going. Let that ego 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:53.960 continue right and checks that god willing your ass can't cash. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.240 But as it stands right now, folks, we are waiting 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.040 to find out if there are in fact thirty counts 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.960 or more against Donald Trump that could cover everything from 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:12.320 the money payments to Stormy Daniels, tax fraud as well 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.960 as business fraud, an accounting fraud at all of those 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.440 different types of charges. So we will keep our eyes 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.680 open for that as well as it seems that the 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.480 Jack Smith side of things are also heating up. Just 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.400 hoping that the Department of Justice was also paying attention 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.600 not only to Donald Trump's interview on Hannity about the documents, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.960 but also his farce of a rally in Waco, Texas 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.440 where he was using footage from January six, you know, 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.160 the thing that he incited people to violence and who 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:49.680 went to jail for. We're in, for folks, a very 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.920 wild week, and I just want you to know that 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.440 we here at Woke A Up. We'll have our finger 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:59.240 on the pulse move in all week long. And so 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.280 also make sure to follow me if you do not, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.680 on all of the socials at D two cents on 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.800 Instagram and on Twitter, d E E. T w O 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:14.960 ce NTS and Danielle Moody underscore on TikTok. While that's 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:21.000 still a thing. Coming up next my conversation with Sophia Mohammed, 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.040 who is the interim CEO of Black Girls Code. We 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.640 will switch gears a bit and talk about, you know, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.360 other news and uplifting things that are happening in our 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.440 schools as opposed to just you know, talking about the 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.800 shootings that happen in our schools. There are good things 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:46.240 that happen there too, and Sophia Mohammed will share that next. Folks, 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:51.040 I am very happy to welcome to woke F for 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:56.479 the first time, the interim executive director of Black Girls Code, 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:01.240 Sophia Mohammed. Sophia, before we jump in, I want to 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.880 give you the opportunity to tell folks who may not 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:10.600 know a black Black Girl's Code what the mission is 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:16.040 of your organization. Sure first, Danielle, thank you for having 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:20.640 me and thinking of Black Girl's Code. Black Girl's Code 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:28.000 is an organization that puts black girls first in tech education, 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:34.319 and it puts black girls first in also cultivating other 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.440 parts of their girlhood so that they can be confident 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.920 in in how they show up if they choose to 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.720 show up into the tech space later in their life. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:53.319 So we create our own culture responsive computer programming curriculum 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:59.080 where students learn technical skills through cool projects that are 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:03.280 connected to their personal experience, their identity, the things that 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.400 they care about right and also with instructors that they 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:11.280 connect with. And in addition to the technical skills, we 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.120 do activities to cultivate their confidence and their empowerment and 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:20.160 their self love, focusing on the whole child, for example, 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.600 you know, wellness activities providing opportunities for our students to 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.240 engage with other women who come from maybe similar backgrounds 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.559 as them, you know, just creating safe space for them 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.880 to develop the relationships and sisterhood with other members of 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.520 our programs as well. I love that, And you know, 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.960 I have always had just a warm place in my 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:49.200 heart for organizations that are particularly targeted at black girls 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:56.160 and getting them into fields that are traditionally closed have 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.480 been closed to black people. And we know that STEM 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.199 is really an important part of our education and an 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:10.760 important part of getting a well paying job and into 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.280 a field that is growing, but that has largely been 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.800 dominated by white males. And so before we jump in 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.320 into where we find ourselves in the bubble of tech 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.200 right now, I kind of want to ask you what 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.120 it feels like to be the executive director of an 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.360 organization with black girls in the title at a time 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:39.720 in our country where diversity and inclusion and equity, particularly 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.600 as it pertains to black people, to black indigenous people 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:49.720 of color, is being targeted in our schools in curriculum 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:54.600 and erasure that is happening and what it means and 0:11:54.720 --> 0:12:01.480 how you've been dealing with this climate. Well, it's been 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:06.560 a heavy topic on my mind and on the mind 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.600 of a lot of educators, a lot of folks in 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:15.480 this space, and in fact, so I was. So I'll 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.560 go back a little bit. I was a teacher. That's 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.480 how I started my career. Although I was a former teacher, 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.000 I always say I'm a forever educator, even though I 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.000 even though I left the classroom, my heart has not 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.280 left the classroom, and my passions and my work continues 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:40.920 to be an educational equity and being a forever educator. 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:47.680 The lack of diversity, the cultural erasure or just lack 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:54.800 of existence of our history and curriculum, particularly stem curriculum. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.280 It's something that has been on my mind since my 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.400 first you're teaching, right, That's why when I was in 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:06.200 the classroom, whether it was teaching sixth grade math or 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.680 pre calculus on a high school level, or whatever the 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.520 case was, like, I remember thinking to myself adjusting my 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.640 lesson plans to make it more relevant and more inclusive 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:26.560 to my students. I remember adjusting problem sets so that 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:32.079 the context was not about farming and golf, but rather 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:38.960 everyday experiencing my students in a Brooklyn know about like 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:44.240 writing the subway or a familiar event like West Indian 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.480 Day parade, right, like things that like it's familiar to them, 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.560 so that and passionate about and interested about, so that 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.480 when they are doing the technical like hard math, like 0:13:55.720 --> 0:14:00.360 you know, like hard math things, it just like clicks, right. 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.559 And there's also a level of connection, um that they 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.160 feel with the content and like application that they feel 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.959 with the content. So those are those are the type 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.520 of like practices that I was doing as a teacher, 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.200 and a lot of teachers, a lot of transformational teachers 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.680 and educators doing the classroom to be culturally responsive, to 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:26.239 be inclusive, to be intentional. U in there as educators, 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.920 right and here we are right and yes, there used 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:36.480 to be more of that happening right um. But that 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.760 that unfortunately is not by itself, does not move the 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:46.480 needle when it comes to creating diversity and inclusivity um 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:52.400 in the tech industry or any industry that's predominantly occupied 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.880 by white male populations. Right is, we have to take 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:04.000 a multi a multi pronged approach to fixing this issue. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.720 And we also need to fix this issue not because 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:11.040 like not because it's just for the sake of fixing. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:14.520 It's because actually inclusivity and diversity and having a variety 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:17.560 of different perspectives at the table when you are solving 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:22.320 a problem, or when you are when you're inventing something new, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.280 or when you are improving something like actually makes the 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:30.080 product better. It actually like is beneficial for all people, 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.040 all stakeholders, all customers, you know, not just a group 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.640 of just one group of people. So I think those 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:38.480 are the type of things that are on my mind 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.720 then that I lean on when I do this work 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.360 here at Black Girl's Code. It's like all of the 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.680 things that you say. It was one of the reasons 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.800 why I initially had gone into teaching as well, because 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:58.720 I believe that, you know, education is the great equalizer 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:03.000 that it is is the place where you receive you know, 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.080 kind of the keys to equity is with a robust, 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.400 challenging education, but one that is applicable right to you 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.360 in your life. And I find that where we are 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.600 right now in a country is you have a party 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.400 that is working to create a permanent underclass, that is 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.600 working to create a permanent working class. Because if we 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:30.640 were to create access and you know, apply curriculum in 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.640 a way that is of interest, that is of excitement, 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.640 but is also relevant, right, and that is not centered 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.880 around whiteness. Well, then guess what you create A whole 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.200 lot of access and a whole lot of opportunity that 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:49.280 I believe is not wanted. I want to switch gears 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:53.520 and talk about how this applies to what we're seeing 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:59.040 that is happening in the classrooms with diversity and inclusion, 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:03.320 and what we're seeing mirrored in the tech industry right now. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.680 So I don't know how many companies now that are 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:13.560 a part of big tech have announced major layoffs, tens 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:18.199 of thousands of people from engineers and software people you know, 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.800 throughout their companies that are being laid off. And of 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:27.080 course it's being said, well, this is largely due to inflation, 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.320 and you know, the fear is around recession. But what 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:36.359 is happening, it seems, is that it is the diversity 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:42.040 and inclusion and the elements that we're helping to diversify 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:47.600 this very white, very sis, very heteronormative culture, this very 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:52.400 fat culture. To diversify it is what is being hardest hit. 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.000 So I wanted to give you an opportunity to speak 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.919 to what you are hearing and seeing as it pertains 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.280 to these matters of layoffs and what you are thinking 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.879 with regard to the future of tech and the possibility 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.439 of diversification there. See, one of the things that I 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.720 am learning about the different layoffs I'm hearing about or 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:22.440 I'm reading about, is every company has its different reasons. Right. 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.679 For some companies is because they've invested so much money 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.399 on a particular project and did not really think about 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:34.359 the long term you know, impact of that investment. And 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.280 now we're you know, hitting a financial you know challenge. 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.119 Then it's it's it's hitting the bank. Right. There are 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.920 some companies where, uh, you know, maybe their investments completely 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.560 went down. So there are different reasons to why layoffs 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:55.480 are happening across our nation and our Black Girl's code. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.840 What we are making sure to do are our goal 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:05.800 and our aim is to to prepare black girls so 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:10.239 that they have choices in entering and or staying in 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.080 certain in companies if they choose to get into tech, 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:20.160 right and also to um be able to uh well 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.480 that to go back a little bit, I think that 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.680 a lot of companies also had a season, especially during 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:31.480 UM twenty twenty era, right, we're like, oh, we need 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.840 to diversify, we need to diversify, right, And they were 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.080 hiring left and right, but actually did not have a 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.480 plan to actually how to keep folks in their companies. Right. 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:51.600 So it's one thing to hire and bring historically marginalized 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.639 folks in your company, but you need to have a 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:59.720 plan to make them feel and make them like valued, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.000 to make sure that they are growing, make sure that 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.400 there is an opportunity for them to take on leadership 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:11.000 and senior leadership roles in the company. So if God 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:18.439 infrastructure and that system for retaining talent, specifically talent of 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:24.320 people of color or historically marginalized folks, then whether layoff 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:26.880 or not, your diversity is going to go down over 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.880 time because there's not a plan to sustain that diversity. Right. 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.720 And I think about this summer of twenty twenty, which 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:36.720 was you know, as many it said, oh, it's the 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.160 great racial reckoning, and it's the great racial uprising. And 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.680 I had said on this show and many others that 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:50.760 it was like a resistance internship for many people, for 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.879 many white people in this country that they took up 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:55.879 for the summer, and then by the time that the 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.880 fall semester rolled around, it was just like, oh, well, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.440 I can't really do that elective right now, right, so 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.520 it's over. And similarly that was matched by a lot 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.720 of companies, both in tech and outside of tech, that 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.960 we're in a rush to create the diversity, equity and 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:19.240 inclusion roles, these d EI roles, but not think about 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:25.760 the infrastructure that was needed and the culture change that 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.560 was needed, not to be done just by one person 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:32.280 that was needed to retain people. So can you speak 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.120 to because you touched upon it. But retention is really 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:40.720 important because it isn't enough for organizations like yours to 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:45.680 train up the next generation of STEM and tech leaders 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.960 if in fact they're entering into spaces where they find 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:54.879 themselves as the only one right right. While black girls 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:59.080 code mission is to educate like black girls, to you know, 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.679 equip them with the technical and soft skills to be 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.480 able to have a choice in entering right these spaces. 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:09.080 There's also a lot of responsibility that the tech spaces 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.000 have in order to one receive black girls and black 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.560 women and a diverse group of people into their companies, 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.080 it is also the responsibility to train them and to 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.760 help them grow. And like I said, make them feel seen, 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:27.320 valued and empower and feel like a community is they 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.440 have a community in the in the tech industry. So 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:34.919 like it is not just the responsibility of of black 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:39.080 women to train themselves up to like be competent and 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:44.040 be competitive into into the workspace. No, like how many 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:50.760 times we have so many qualified, overqualified women, um black 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:55.560 folk who may don't get the job or don't stay 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:59.480 at an organization, not because of their lack of because 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.440 of their short coming, but because the system, the environment 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:04.280 itself has a lot of issues that it just was 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:08.879 not ready for their leadership and their authentic self, you know. 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.959 So the tech industries have a lot of responsibility. I 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:17.360 think schools also have a lot of responsibility. Yes, their 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:23.639 organizations like Black Girl's Code, who provide these extracurricular supplemental education. 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:30.919 But quite honestly, like preparation for quality STEMP preparation and 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:36.480 computer programming education should really begin and continue throughout somebody's 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:41.040 educational career. Just like how we have we take math 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.760 classes every single year, right, like you take science every 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.920 single year. How powerful would it be if computer programming 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:54.520 and like really specific technological skills were embedded and infused 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:59.359 in the curriculum kindergarten up until you know, whenever you 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:05.399 graduate dairy school, right secondary education. There's also a responsibility 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:09.560 for our toy and our entertainment industry to be able 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:13.680 to put all types of people with technology, right. I 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:16.760 always share the story of when I am I have 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:21.680 a seven year old niece who is going on seventeen 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:26.760 and and you know, for you know, her birthdays or 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:31.639 for the holidays, when I'm at stores buying gifts and 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:35.720 I go to the sections, the girls sections, or whatever 0:24:35.760 --> 0:24:37.520 the case may be, Like I you know, there are 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:40.600 a lot of toys and entertainment that has to do 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:42.880 with makeup and has to do with care and has 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:46.000 to be which is all great, okay, and I'm gonna 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:47.720 buy it for her, And if when I was a kid, 0:24:47.760 --> 0:24:52.240 I love those two and I wish there were also 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:57.560 a lot of choices for like STEM related toys or 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:03.760 like construction related toys like cars and airplanes and other 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:08.960 things like that could also tell my knees through the 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:12.320 toys that she plays, that she can do STEM and 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:16.560 that she can be a technologist. So like even the 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:20.120 entertainment industry, the toy industry, whatever you want to call it, 0:25:20.160 --> 0:25:25.840 like feeds into this narrative right that only a certain 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:29.040 amount of certain types of people belong in that STEM space, 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:34.560 and others are not included. Yeah. Going into the toy 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:41.520 section for my friend's children and god daughter and what 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:47.720 have you is probably my most frustrating shopping time because, 0:25:47.880 --> 0:25:50.040 I mean, for the life of me, I couldn't understand 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:52.960 why you needed to make legos passed out. Oh my god, 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:57.920 I like I could. I couldn't understand why things that 0:25:58.160 --> 0:26:05.120 were new right gender neutral needed to be feminized or 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:09.440 made to be masculine. I didn't like I and it 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:12.760 is it is a training. You know. You have people 0:26:12.800 --> 0:26:15.359 on the right talking about indoctrination, and I see no 0:26:15.440 --> 0:26:19.080 better indoctrination than the toy I absolutely, at any given 0:26:19.119 --> 0:26:23.200 place to tell young girls and young boys, you know, 0:26:23.440 --> 0:26:25.520 this is how you need to act, This is what 0:26:25.560 --> 0:26:28.920 you need to like in order to fit into these boxes. 0:26:29.040 --> 0:26:31.879 With a short amount of time that we have left, 0:26:32.480 --> 0:26:37.680 what is your hope for black girls code, but also 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:43.760 for black girls that are looking outside of the box 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:47.520 that they have been placed in in terms of getting 0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:51.919 excited and invested in STEM and in careers that have 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:56.000 not traditionally been open. Yeah, a few things I have 0:26:56.280 --> 0:26:59.399 in my hope and dreams for black girls code and 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:05.760 just girls and general. First is when you try something new, 0:27:06.359 --> 0:27:09.120 When you try something new for the first time, it's 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:12.600 always going to feel hard and uncomfortable and you know, 0:27:12.760 --> 0:27:19.080 a little difficult, and you can do it right, like coding, 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:26.600 computer programming, stem topics. Anything can be hard and you 0:27:26.640 --> 0:27:31.399 can do hard things. Mu. So don't be afraid of 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:34.639 a little bit discomfort. Don't be afraid of a little 0:27:34.720 --> 0:27:38.200 tug and pull when it comes to you know, uh, 0:27:38.240 --> 0:27:40.600 you know, working on a project and you have a 0:27:40.600 --> 0:27:43.320 moment of failure, like, get back up and try again 0:27:43.600 --> 0:27:46.840 until you feel more comfortable with that process of failing learning, 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:49.119 failing learning, failing learning. But because at the end of 0:27:49.160 --> 0:27:53.439 the day, you're growing through that through that process, and 0:27:53.440 --> 0:27:55.800 that's also life. It's not just coding. That's just like 0:27:55.920 --> 0:28:01.000 literally life, right, um So I want I hope that 0:28:01.320 --> 0:28:07.160 all girls, and specifically black girls like have embrace and 0:28:07.240 --> 0:28:10.600 like understand that mindset and can apply that mindset and 0:28:11.000 --> 0:28:14.000 their daily life and you know it will trickle to 0:28:14.200 --> 0:28:19.199 their education and their career path as well. My second 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:26.879 hope is for black girls to have choices. I think 0:28:27.000 --> 0:28:33.159 the biggest I think, the biggest form of freedom that 0:28:33.640 --> 0:28:36.040 one can feel. I know, the biggest sense of me 0:28:36.160 --> 0:28:39.000 that I can feel being an immigrant coming to America 0:28:39.040 --> 0:28:41.440 when I was nine. The reason why I came was 0:28:41.520 --> 0:28:44.240 because my family and I came was because we wanted choices, 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:49.600 right yea. And for Black Girls Code, And what I 0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:52.240 hope for black girls is you can come to Black 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:55.120 Girls Code events and workshops for years and if you 0:28:55.280 --> 0:28:57.840 don't want to go and tech, it is okay because 0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:01.160 that is your choice. But as you're not going into 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:04.600 tech because you don't want to, not because you cannot, 0:29:05.160 --> 0:29:08.920