1
00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:03,960
Speaker 1: I'm with Lucas and this is black Tech, Green money.

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,080
Speaker 1: Ruben Harris is co founder and CEO at Career Karma,

3
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: which builds itself as the easiest way to find a

4
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,600
Speaker 1: job training program online. Shell Oldeness lead at Google's Tech

5
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 1: Equity Collective, which creates energizing past into tech for black people. Together,

6
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 1: they're launching the Black Genius Academy, the software initiative to

7
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,840
Speaker 1: demystify fast growing tech career fields and support black talent

8
00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,800
Speaker 1: and identifying technical education programs that prepare him to enter

9
00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,920
Speaker 1: the industry with no prior experience required. So I asked

10
00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,320
Speaker 1: talk about the need for technical proficiency relevant to the

11
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 1: impact of artificial intelligence.

12
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that this is a probably one of

13
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,640
Speaker 2: the most exciting times in history where I think technology

14
00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 2: is creating new roles that never existed before, which increases

15
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 2: the demand and the need for not only education, but

16
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 2: also education that can train you at a rapid rate.

17
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,880
Speaker 2: And what's more important than just education that can train

18
00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 2: you in less than a year, You need a community,

19
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 2: right you know, you and I known each other for

20
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 2: a long time, and so it's important to have a

21
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,120
Speaker 2: network of people that cannot only help you understand how

22
00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,760
Speaker 2: to apply that training to either your day to day

23
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,800
Speaker 2: work or whatever you're trying to create, but also people

24
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,200
Speaker 2: that can help you actually get into those spaces that

25
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,360
Speaker 2: you're going to need either to get a job or

26
00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,080
Speaker 2: to raise funding or things like that. And so I

27
00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,880
Speaker 2: think that what's awesome about this moment outside of the

28
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,759
Speaker 2: jobs and entrepreneurship is if you have an opinion or

29
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,160
Speaker 2: a vision for what you want to see in the world,

30
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,000
Speaker 2: you have the opportunity to actually make those dreams into

31
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:50,600
Speaker 2: a reality.

32
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 1: Rachelle, let's narrow this in why should black people be

33
00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: a focus? Like where is the gap that says, you know,

34
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,920
Speaker 1: we need to do more to onboard black people to

35
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:03,160
Speaker 1: technical proficiency.

36
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:06,000
Speaker 3: So if you look.

37
00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:11,639
Speaker 4: At the current representation of the black community in tech,

38
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,679
Speaker 4: whether it's in big tech or whether it's in tech

39
00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:20,320
Speaker 4: entrepreneurship or more specifically in technical roles within the tech ecosystem,

40
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 4: the numbers are dismal.

41
00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 3: It's it's it's it's low. And so when you think.

42
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,440
Speaker 4: About innovation that is coming out of tech and it

43
00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 4: impacting our everyday lies, it's and it's problem solving for

44
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:36,840
Speaker 4: our communities and for the rest of the world, it

45
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:42,200
Speaker 4: is imperative that the Black that the Black imagination, that

46
00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:48,440
Speaker 4: the Black design and architecture of solutions is present and prevalent.

47
00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,960
Speaker 3: And so it is important to make sure that we.

48
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,520
Speaker 4: Are looking specifically at the Black community that has been

49
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,360
Speaker 4: so traditionally marginalized within this country and as well as

50
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,200
Speaker 4: around the world. And so I think that when you

51
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,639
Speaker 4: start problem solving for the black community, you actually are

52
00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:10,519
Speaker 4: problem solving for so many other communities that are underrepresented

53
00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,920
Speaker 4: or have not had their fair opportunity.

54
00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:15,600
Speaker 3: And so I think that that.

55
00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,600
Speaker 4: Is where we want to start, and that's where we

56
00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,000
Speaker 4: want to focus in and making sure that that.

57
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,040
Speaker 3: Innovation is there.

58
00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 4: And what I always say is that the Black community,

59
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,320
Speaker 4: whatever we touch, turns the goal. Right, so when we

60
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,960
Speaker 4: touch music, when we touch the arts, right, when we

61
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,920
Speaker 4: touch anything, it turns the goal.

62
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,840
Speaker 3: So when we touch technology.

63
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,240
Speaker 4: All pieces of the tech ecosystem, it's going to turn

64
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,560
Speaker 4: the goal. Which means that the tech ecosystem hasn't even

65
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,680
Speaker 4: seen its full potential because the Black community has not

66
00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,360
Speaker 4: been at the helme of building and designing our technology.

67
00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want you both of you to chime in

68
00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,040
Speaker 1: those but I'll start with you Rachelle. You know Historically,

69
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,280
Speaker 1: we've had these conversations about particularly young people, and specifically

70
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 1: young Black people have not always seen that there's an

71
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,800
Speaker 1: opportunity for them in technology, and they consume at by

72
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,120
Speaker 1: and large. You know, we're the highest consumers of social

73
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 1: media and et cetera, and we don't always realize that

74
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,640
Speaker 1: there's somebody on the other side building it. And is

75
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: that changing?

76
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:20,800
Speaker 5: I'll start with you show, but I like both of

77
00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 5: you chiming on this.

78
00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 3: Is it changing? I want to say yes, Is it

79
00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,000
Speaker 3: changing fast enough? No? Right?

80
00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,160
Speaker 4: Like, I think that the goal is for not not

81
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 4: only for young people, right, because I think that in

82
00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,760
Speaker 4: our society we're always zoning in on a young person.

83
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,479
Speaker 4: It's not about age, it's about will, It's about desire, right,

84
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,840
Speaker 4: It's about somebody's hunger and curiosity. And so I think

85
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,360
Speaker 4: that Black people in general, we are consumers, and so

86
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,039
Speaker 4: we need to understand that not only do can we consume,

87
00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,320
Speaker 4: but we can actually build in design. And so I

88
00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 4: don't think it's happening rapidly enough because I think there's

89
00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:02,040
Speaker 4: an exposure gap.

90
00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:02,520
Speaker 3: Right.

91
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,280
Speaker 4: So, in the academic setting we talk about the achievement gap.

92
00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:07,960
Speaker 4: In the black community, there is the exposure gap you

93
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,120
Speaker 4: can't be which you can't see, and so many of

94
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 4: us don't. We don't see ourselves and technology because one,

95
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,240
Speaker 4: there's just not a lot of us, but indeed we

96
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,600
Speaker 4: also can't imagine ourselves there, right, Like it took me

97
00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:23,479
Speaker 4: a long time and I'm working in tech to be like,

98
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,960
Speaker 4: so what does the software engineer do? Like or what

99
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 4: does an AI engineer do? And like, so we have

100
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:35,120
Speaker 4: to spark that imagination and people to first understand what

101
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,760
Speaker 4: are the opportunities and then be able to see themselves

102
00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,200
Speaker 4: in those opportunities and to see other people in those

103
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,520
Speaker 4: opportunities and so and like you said, like get curious

104
00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,000
Speaker 4: about like how is this being built?

105
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:48,279
Speaker 3: Who is designing this?

106
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,160
Speaker 4: Like who's behind and not just social media but everything

107
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 4: we touched is technology? Right listening to this podcast right,

108
00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,520
Speaker 4: like who's behind the engineering and making sure that this

109
00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,320
Speaker 4: shows up on our screens, it shows up in our ears.

110
00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,599
Speaker 3: And so I it's.

111
00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,200
Speaker 4: Happening, right because there are amazing black people who are

112
00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,359
Speaker 4: doing don't work already, but it's not happening at the

113
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,280
Speaker 4: rate that we want to see that it is.

114
00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,480
Speaker 3: So it's truly globe changing.

115
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:20,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I love the way you find the question

116
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,120
Speaker 2: from a consumption perspective, because we are seeing a transition

117
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:31,760
Speaker 2: from being consumers to producers. That's happening, it's active. We're

118
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:36,440
Speaker 2: seeing the numbers change, but by and large, our community

119
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,920
Speaker 2: its consumers. With that said, we love being at the

120
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,159
Speaker 2: forefront of things. We like I got that in you,

121
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,200
Speaker 2: I like that late, I got the latest. You ain't

122
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,520
Speaker 2: seen this before, you know. So we like to be

123
00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,440
Speaker 2: at the forefront of things, and we like getting access

124
00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,359
Speaker 2: to these things. And even if we're exposed to the

125
00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,880
Speaker 2: roles that exist and we see people that are in

126
00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,880
Speaker 2: these positions and how to get there, the playbook isn't

127
00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,200
Speaker 2: fully established, right. You need to know more than just

128
00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,000
Speaker 2: the education program in order to get there. It's kind

129
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,760
Speaker 2: of like typing access to a basketball court or a

130
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,000
Speaker 2: field or like material like you can that's like the

131
00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:16,840
Speaker 2: training programs. You can get access to that, but that

132
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,840
Speaker 2: still doesn't get you into NBA. Right. There's like a

133
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,200
Speaker 2: lot of other pieces that go that are involved other

134
00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,920
Speaker 2: than just education, which is why the community and the

135
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,440
Speaker 2: scouts and all these other things are are really important

136
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,360
Speaker 2: to understand. And I think what Rachelle said about the

137
00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,920
Speaker 2: pace matters, where like the things are happening slowly, but

138
00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 2: I would I would also add a piece about like,

139
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,480
Speaker 2: it's not happening as fast as we want it to be.

140
00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,560
Speaker 2: It's not happening as fast as it needs to be

141
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 2: because even if we want it to be faster slower,

142
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,640
Speaker 2: the truth is and the reality is is if we

143
00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,480
Speaker 2: don't change, we're going to be left behind.

144
00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,520
Speaker 1: That's the fast So so what stands in the way

145
00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:01,520
Speaker 1: of speed in that regard?

146
00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:03,640
Speaker 5: What obstacles are still present?

147
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,400
Speaker 2: So I think like one of the things that's important

148
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,960
Speaker 2: to understand is that you know, when you think about

149
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,680
Speaker 2: like the cycle, you have to know what are the

150
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,840
Speaker 2: career paths. You need to know what are the skills

151
00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,080
Speaker 2: that are required to get into the career path. You

152
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,440
Speaker 2: need to find the training programs that get you into

153
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,520
Speaker 2: that type of resource. You got to understand how to

154
00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,400
Speaker 2: finance it. You have to Once you understand how to

155
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,800
Speaker 2: finance it, you have to figure out which one is

156
00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:37,439
Speaker 2: adaptable to your learning style. When you are in a

157
00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:40,280
Speaker 2: role to something that's adaptable to your learning style or

158
00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,440
Speaker 2: your preference, you have to figure out how to complete

159
00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 2: the program. There's a lot of people that start things

160
00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,959
Speaker 2: that don't finish it and it's not because you're not motivated.

161
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,800
Speaker 2: Maybe something happened in your personal life for you haven't

162
00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,800
Speaker 2: figured out the right schedule, and you can't go to

163
00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,800
Speaker 2: school full time because you got to drop somebody f daycare.

164
00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,280
Speaker 2: And even when you complete the program, the hardest part

165
00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,720
Speaker 2: for most people is actually not the education or the training.

166
00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,520
Speaker 2: It's the job search. And the reason why the job

167
00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:12,319
Speaker 2: search is so hard is because career navigation isn't about education.

168
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,679
Speaker 2: Career navigation is about psychology, and the job search is

169
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,240
Speaker 2: like a sales process where the majority of your results

170
00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,880
Speaker 2: are going to come from a small percentage of your efforts,

171
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,199
Speaker 2: which means that you are going to get rejected probably

172
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,200
Speaker 2: from most companies or schools that you apply to, and

173
00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,760
Speaker 2: you have to be willing to push through that change

174
00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 2: and through those potential doubts that you have about yourself

175
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:41,880
Speaker 2: in order to understand that rejection is just redirection towards

176
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,880
Speaker 2: the destiny that you were supposed to go towards. And

177
00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:46,720
Speaker 2: then once you're in, then you've got to figure out

178
00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,040
Speaker 2: how to stay in and then repeat the cycle again

179
00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,400
Speaker 2: to continue growing your career. So like that's essentially the

180
00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:59,319
Speaker 2: career continuum. And because of technology, the option of past

181
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,600
Speaker 2: is growing exponentially. So it's kind of like what Jays

182
00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,640
Speaker 2: said around like there's like a million ways to do it,

183
00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,360
Speaker 2: choose one right where it's like, it's not just about college,

184
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,680
Speaker 2: it's not just about boot camps, it's not even just

185
00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,360
Speaker 2: about Google career certificates. There are all kinds of training

186
00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:16,600
Speaker 2: programs that exist that might even be taught by an

187
00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,600
Speaker 2: individual on YouTube, and you don't know where to pick,

188
00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,920
Speaker 2: and you could just get costs in this paralysis by analysis.

189
00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would add to that that What comes to

190
00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,160
Speaker 4: mind is Beyonce is you know, okay, people, let's get

191
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:36,920
Speaker 4: information right, And so I think that one, you expedite

192
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,560
Speaker 4: things when everybody's in formation, right, And so I think

193
00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:46,040
Speaker 4: that's that's important, right, How do we get our community information?

194
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,080
Speaker 4: So I think that when you look at certain spaces,

195
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,040
Speaker 4: whether it's an Afro tech or a career crome or

196
00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,920
Speaker 4: a tech equity collective, it's getting information, but it's also

197
00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:01,440
Speaker 4: getting information right. Is that we traditionally our community has

198
00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:07,640
Speaker 4: just been the information trickles down to us slower. And

199
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,640
Speaker 4: so I think what also comes in is how we

200
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:15,880
Speaker 4: receive information right. Sometimes it's not designed for us, it's

201
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,760
Speaker 4: not curated for us. It's not in a language we understand,

202
00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,599
Speaker 4: and not to say because we speak multiple languages, so

203
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to say.

204
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:24,160
Speaker 3: We don't understand it.

205
00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,000
Speaker 4: I think it's important that it's like was built for me,

206
00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,720
Speaker 4: by me, with me and mine designed by me people

207
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,679
Speaker 4: like me, thinking about my lived experience.

208
00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,439
Speaker 3: And so I think that when you get.

209
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 4: Your community information information, you get your community the information,

210
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,480
Speaker 4: and you curate that specifically for the community, it's going

211
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,559
Speaker 4: to help expedite things, right because I think a lot

212
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:50,560
Speaker 4: of us and what Ruben was saying, what I also

213
00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,680
Speaker 4: think about is the paradox of options.

214
00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:53,160
Speaker 3: Right.

215
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,360
Speaker 4: When all these options are in front of us, sometimes

216
00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:56,119
Speaker 4: it's hard.

217
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,360
Speaker 3: To like make a move and so we're at a pause.

218
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,360
Speaker 4: But when you have something that is synthesizing information that's

219
00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,319
Speaker 4: giving you the community that you need, and you know

220
00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,520
Speaker 4: it was built for you in mind, it's quicker to

221
00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,640
Speaker 4: be like, I cool, let me, let me make some moves.

222
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,080
Speaker 3: And so I think that that's important.

223
00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,000
Speaker 2: So so Ruben that that that information information was born,

224
00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,240
Speaker 2: call it out.

225
00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,280
Speaker 1: So so Ruben hit me via text a couple of

226
00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,360
Speaker 1: weeks ago, it was like, y'o, we're working on something

227
00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:34,080
Speaker 1: with Google Initiative.

228
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:34,640
Speaker 5: And we got to talk about this.

229
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 1: So I'm like, you know, say, let's that's super easy,

230
00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,000
Speaker 1: too easy. Let's to have this conversation. So I want

231
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 1: you to introduce Ruben what you're doing with Career Karma,

232
00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,000
Speaker 1: partnering with the Tech Equity Collective.

233
00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, show, do you want to go straight in Twitter?

234
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:53,240
Speaker 2: I was born. Maybe we'll go straight into.

235
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:55,000
Speaker 5: And we can then we can move back around.

236
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:59,120
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So to get together, we're launching something called

237
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,920
Speaker 2: the Black jeam Academy. The Black Jean's Academy is an

238
00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,160
Speaker 2: app that gives an action plan to the people that

239
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,240
Speaker 2: are listening to the Black Tech Green Money podcast right

240
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,679
Speaker 2: now and all over the world that want a career

241
00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:14,560
Speaker 2: in tech. So you can log into it on your phone,

242
00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,160
Speaker 2: in your computer. You can quickly get access to reskilling

243
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,560
Speaker 2: and up skilling resources, coaching support, and a network of

244
00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,720
Speaker 2: people and organizations that are going to help you navigate

245
00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,160
Speaker 2: your career. So we're actually going to start with five

246
00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,040
Speaker 2: thousand people and our ambrision is to grow it to

247
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,440
Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of people and have

248
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,320
Speaker 2: at least ten other companies in the tech equally collective

249
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 2: to train people over the next few years. We're starting

250
00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:47,360
Speaker 2: with training people in cybersecurity, design, software engineering, but we're

251
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,040
Speaker 2: also going to be introducing some of the most updated

252
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,199
Speaker 2: technology training that isn't even tied in college, directly to

253
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,199
Speaker 2: aspiring black technologists. And so, like you said before, the

254
00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:00,400
Speaker 2: Black Jeans Academy is was created by Career Common to

255
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,080
Speaker 2: Tech Every Collective, which is a Google initiative to not

256
00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,640
Speaker 2: only provide funding for skills training like we talked about before,

257
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,079
Speaker 2: grow with Google certificates and boot camps, but also give

258
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,000
Speaker 2: black people access to a network of companies and organizations

259
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,000
Speaker 2: that are committed to empowering them throughout their career.

260
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,160
Speaker 1: And so you were on stage this last year, twenty

261
00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:25,760
Speaker 1: twenty two at afro Tech and this magical thing came

262
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,200
Speaker 1: out of it as a result of you being an

263
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:28,800
Speaker 1: Afro Tech.

264
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:29,360
Speaker 5: Is that correct?

265
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,840
Speaker 3: That's right, It didn't quite go like that. Go ahead,

266
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:35,680
Speaker 3: let me jump in.

267
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,320
Speaker 4: So so one, I just I do want to start

268
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,720
Speaker 4: a little bit. I'm going to go back a little

269
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 4: bit right about like what about tech.

270
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:46,280
Speaker 5: Acquity collecttion yea, yes, please, let's do that.

271
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,080
Speaker 4: Started by Google, right, and we use we use some

272
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:55,200
Speaker 4: words very specifically because that's important. But so TC in

273
00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:59,720
Speaker 4: short is a Google initiative to accelerate Black innovation and

274
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:02,280
Speaker 4: TAC and so one of the things that we talk

275
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:08,080
Speaker 4: less about is representation and really about bringing the innovation right.

276
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:13,720
Speaker 4: We want black ideas, we want black black design.

277
00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:17,359
Speaker 3: In this tech space, and so we do that by

278
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:18,320
Speaker 3: three ways.

279
00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,280
Speaker 4: Right, We work with other industry partners, right, so Google,

280
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,640
Speaker 4: we yes, we're starting it, but it's we want other

281
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,240
Speaker 4: partners to join us in this work. Another way is

282
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,200
Speaker 4: that we believe in creating holistic career pathways, right, And

283
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,880
Speaker 4: so that's really important when we think about the whole

284
00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,960
Speaker 4: black lived experience. And then we want to demystify right

285
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,560
Speaker 4: as you were saying, well earlier, we want to demystify

286
00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,080
Speaker 4: this idea of tech and what it takes to make

287
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 4: it too and make it through tech.

288
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:47,880
Speaker 3: And it's really started after the.

289
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,720
Speaker 4: Murder of George Floyd with Googler's coming together that says

290
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,680
Speaker 4: Google needs to do more, the industry needs to do more,

291
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:58,119
Speaker 4: specifically in the area of racial equity and economic empowerment.

292
00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,800
Speaker 4: And so we do believe that like closing the economic

293
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:06,080
Speaker 4: empowerment gap is means that we need to widen right,

294
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,240
Speaker 4: the opportunity right, and to also make sure that.

295
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,200
Speaker 3: People are getting the skills that they need.

296
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,400
Speaker 4: And so when I jumped into this role, there was

297
00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 4: some heavy hitters in the tech space, Ruben Harris being

298
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,880
Speaker 4: one of them, and I was like.

299
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:20,760
Speaker 3: Yo, I got to meet him.

300
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 4: Like TBC, we really do believe in building not in

301
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,800
Speaker 4: a silo, but building with people. Right, there's dope people

302
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,160
Speaker 4: on the ground that's already doing amazing work. So how

303
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,280
Speaker 4: do we amplify or integrate into that work and then

304
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,400
Speaker 4: work together to incubate new ideas? And so I was like,

305
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,920
Speaker 4: I got to meet Ruben Harris. So I went, you know,

306
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,760
Speaker 4: like everybody, I went to career Karma dot com a

307
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,240
Speaker 4: little email to the info at. I got no reply, Right,

308
00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,280
Speaker 4: It's okay. I like, get up Ruby in the DMS

309
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,080
Speaker 4: and I was like, hey, you don't know me, I

310
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:53,560
Speaker 4: know you in this new role.

311
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,600
Speaker 3: Let's wrap right. No reply. So I was like all right, cool,

312
00:16:58,680 --> 00:16:59,320
Speaker 3: no problem.

313
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,560
Speaker 4: So I was at Afrotech and I was like, oh,

314
00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:03,640
Speaker 4: this brother is going to be on the stage.

315
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,320
Speaker 3: I'm going to position myself and this was very quite sar.

316
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,040
Speaker 4: I positioned myself in the hallway at afro Tech where

317
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,240
Speaker 4: everybody was like coming through, and so I'm just sitting

318
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,040
Speaker 4: there on my laptop and I was like, I'm going

319
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,080
Speaker 4: to meet this Reuben guy. I don't know when, I

320
00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 4: don't know how, but I'm gonna meet him.

321
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:20,359
Speaker 3: And so he's walking.

322
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,480
Speaker 4: He's got an entourage, right, like a whole whole entourage

323
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,760
Speaker 4: like slack out, and I'm like.

324
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,640
Speaker 2: I was there. I was there.

325
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:36,000
Speaker 3: Entourage. So I'm like, excuse me, trying to get through.

326
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,640
Speaker 3: Just need to talk to Rubenarus. He's stopped.

327
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,879
Speaker 4: I was like introduced myself and you know, I you know,

328
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,159
Speaker 4: I spent what is techic, We collected what we're working on,

329
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:47,880
Speaker 4: we exchanged information, and.

330
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:48,760
Speaker 3: We jump on the line.

331
00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:51,159
Speaker 4: Uh finally, you know, about a week later, and I

332
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,199
Speaker 4: was like, yo, I've been You're a hard person to

333
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:53,600
Speaker 4: get to.

334
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:55,560
Speaker 3: And so we actually have this conversation.

335
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,560
Speaker 4: I'm like, let's dream right, Let's think about what is

336
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,679
Speaker 4: missing in this space for the black community.

337
00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:04,680
Speaker 3: And so we dreamed, right, and.

338
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,000
Speaker 4: What we dreamed together was the Black Chenius Academy, right

339
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,880
Speaker 4: as Rumen shared, which is our tech career explation.

340
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,359
Speaker 3: And so we really, you know, some of the key

341
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,280
Speaker 3: things that we want to do there is like demystify

342
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,360
Speaker 3: this industry right, get people in.

343
00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,919
Speaker 4: We want people to be prepared to be like the

344
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,280
Speaker 4: learner so that they can seek succeed in a technical education.

345
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,040
Speaker 4: And I think we want people to have that community, right.

346
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,639
Speaker 4: Like the beautiful thing that about afro Tech right or

347
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,760
Speaker 4: other spaces is like I've got a community. We're growing,

348
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,760
Speaker 4: building and figuring out together. And that's also what tec

349
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,720
Speaker 4: aspires to be is just another community into in addition

350
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,560
Speaker 4: to all of the dope things that are happening across

351
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,359
Speaker 4: the US and beyond, for us to come together to

352
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,560
Speaker 4: get the tools that we need, we can all.

353
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:52,960
Speaker 3: We all win.

354
00:18:53,400 --> 00:19:01,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a better story than the one that I heard.

355
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:04,359
Speaker 2: No, I love it.

356
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,440
Speaker 1: I mean, and to be coming up on afro Tech

357
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,679
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three back in Austin this year, I mean,

358
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:11,639
Speaker 1: you just talked about the why it's important to be

359
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,440
Speaker 1: in the room and to be present, you know, because

360
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,800
Speaker 1: every we all get dms, and you know, my dms

361
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,720
Speaker 1: are full of people who want to speak at afro Tech,

362
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 1: who want to do stuff, and it just it's hard

363
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,439
Speaker 1: to keep up, you know, not to come not to

364
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,760
Speaker 1: help you out, but to help you out, Ruben, I mean,

365
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,159
Speaker 1: I get it like you, just it's hard to filter

366
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,399
Speaker 1: through what's you know, the noise and what's the actual

367
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,560
Speaker 1: signal through through those different channels. And so I'm happy

368
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:36,480
Speaker 1: for you guys for putting this really important work together.

369
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:37,760
Speaker 5: I did want to ask you.

370
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:42,520
Speaker 1: So it's described as a technical career discovery platform that

371
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,920
Speaker 1: equips aspiring black talent with the rest resources, knowledge, and

372
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 1: et cetera to identify, enroll, and succeed in technical skills education.

373
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,480
Speaker 1: I want to talk about that word specifically aspiring, because

374
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 1: so many of us don't know enough to aspire to

375
00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: be in these technical roles. And so I don't know

376
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,240
Speaker 1: if this is a party of a mission, but how do

377
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,400
Speaker 1: you also bring awareness?

378
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,359
Speaker 5: Also it set adjust to the people who are already aspiring.

379
00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:13,959
Speaker 4: So if I can take that one, will I think

380
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 4: you called it out right. So within Tech Equity Collective,

381
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 4: we've got well, we say we've got three audiences. We

382
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,399
Speaker 4: got the tech user right, and the tech user is

383
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,000
Speaker 4: a person who's got the technology in their hand right

384
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,360
Speaker 4: or they're using it every day and they haven't yet

385
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,320
Speaker 4: thought about like not only can I consume, but I

386
00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,760
Speaker 4: can also build? They haven't thought that far right, until

387
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 4: we're targeting them right to actually get to see themselves

388
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,840
Speaker 4: and to start to get curious about tech. And then

389
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,879
Speaker 4: we have what we call the tech curious, right. And

390
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,880
Speaker 4: so the tech curious audience, they're.

391
00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:45,680
Speaker 3: Like, I cool, I'm feeling this little tech thing.

392
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:50,679
Speaker 4: Heard about little afro tech, right, like what's this software engineering?

393
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,400
Speaker 4: But they're also like, I want I want to learn more, right,

394
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,280
Speaker 4: and so they're looking into the educational programs, they're looking

395
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,679
Speaker 4: into the certificate programs right. So they're they're curious and

396
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 4: they're dim acting on this curiosity. And then we have

397
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,399
Speaker 4: what we call the tech aspiring right, who are like,

398
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,119
Speaker 4: all right, I got the skills, I'm building a community,

399
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,840
Speaker 4: I'm out here hitting the payment, I'm grinding, like put me.

400
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,159
Speaker 3: In coach, right, like help up level me.

401
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,359
Speaker 4: And so another program that Tech Equity Collective have is

402
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,040
Speaker 4: called tech Prep with MLT Management Leadership for Tomorrow, which

403
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 4: is a form with career coaching program and so TC

404
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,160
Speaker 4: we aspire to hit people at all those different pathways,

405
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 4: whether you go from a tech user to your tech

406
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,480
Speaker 4: curious to tech aspiring to when you become that tech

407
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 4: professional and then you become that tech executive. But we're

408
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,600
Speaker 4: zoning in right now on that for Black Chain's academy,

409
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 4: we're zoning in on that user and on that tech

410
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 4: curious who's Like I didn't, I never thought about this, Like,

411
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,119
Speaker 4: I don't know what's out there for me until we

412
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 4: want to put that in front of them. I mean,

413
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,400
Speaker 4: when you group them all together, they're all aspiring, right,

414
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 4: And I think that even Rubin, you know, he's doing

415
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,360
Speaker 4: high stuff. I am, you know, I'm still aspiring, right,

416
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,000
Speaker 4: Like we're never we're we're never at our final destination yet,

417
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 4: and so we should all consider ourselves asperantees. But yeah,

418
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:16,200
Speaker 4: but for BGA, we're definitely focused on those who who

419
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:17,439
Speaker 4: you know, have to tack.

420
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,840
Speaker 3: Them are exploring the possibilities.

421
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,479
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ruben, something else for you, Ruben, So this you

422
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: know we've been I mentioned this earlier in this conversation

423
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: about we've been preaching that you know, engineering or some

424
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,200
Speaker 1: sort of technical skill, it should should be happening even

425
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 1: at the elementary or high school level. And ironically, like

426
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 1: in the last several months, a lot of companies have

427
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: been letting go of engineering talents in so many places

428
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: that we said, oh, this is going to be a

429
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: safe job, future proof job. So my question for you,

430
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:50,760
Speaker 1: because I know you spend a lot of time thinking

431
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 1: about certificates in you know, two year programs and these

432
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:58,440
Speaker 1: sorts of things professional degrees. Are people in those roles

433
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 1: most affected by being terminated or let go or being

434
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:05,399
Speaker 1: looked over?

435
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 2: Okay?

436
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:10,119
Speaker 1: Or can you demystify those technical certificate degrees and et

437
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 1: cetera in their actual career opportunities?

438
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,400
Speaker 2: You know, I think I think it's a great question.

439
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,080
Speaker 2: I think when we think about wisconstant in this world

440
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,600
Speaker 2: other than death and taxes, it's changed. Like what we

441
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:29,000
Speaker 2: said before, I think that we're transitioning from a four

442
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 2: year and forty model where you you know, maybe go

443
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 2: to college for four years, which most of the world

444
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 2: doesn't go to, and then you work for forty years

445
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,159
Speaker 2: and you stay in one job forever, maybe two or

446
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 2: three at most, to you know, the half life of

447
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 2: a skill being one to two years, and whatever you

448
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 2: learned this year might last you at most four years.

449
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 2: But you need to transition from a mindset of not

450
00:23:53,680 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 2: just reskilling and upskilling, but continue continuous skill development. Like

451
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 2: when we first started to your point, you know, it's

452
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 2: just like, hey, get access to these driver reskilling programs

453
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 2: that will train you in the year to get you

454
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 2: into a job. And let's say a soft engineering you

455
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 2: get in there, it's going to pay you and you're

456
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,560
Speaker 2: going to be doing great for a very long time.

457
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 2: You can you can never get comfortable. And one of

458
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 2: our guiding principles that career coma is is always always

459
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 2: be learning. And so understand the way that you learn,

460
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: how to get connected to a community of people, how

461
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 2: to articulate what you know, how to apply what you

462
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 2: know in whatever it is that you want to do,

463
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,920
Speaker 2: and rather than waiting for that moment, you know, obsessed

464
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,360
Speaker 2: about what's happening within that field, so that as new

465
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 2: things come out, new techniques come out, you are growing

466
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 2: along the way to ask yourself whether you want to

467
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 2: stay in that role or shift. So, for example, soft engineering,

468
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 2: you mentioned it earlier, like if you're a soft engineer

469
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 2: and you're not learning what's going on in AI, it's

470
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 2: probably that's just probably gonna sell, right, But it's the

471
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,480
Speaker 2: same thing. And in sales, for example, like on sales,

472
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 2: you know, if you are still picking up the phone

473
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 2: and dialing and not understanding what's going on with salesforce

474
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 2: or outreach or chili Piper or all these other like

475
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 2: tools call center tools that are necessary in order to grow.

476
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,119
Speaker 2: It's gonna you're gonna be left behind. Same thing with

477
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 2: HR right back in the day. You know, you just

478
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 2: have like this normal manual recruiting and leveraging, you know,

479
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,439
Speaker 2: nonprofits and for profits and partnerships, but you have to

480
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 2: use tools like workday and others in order to update

481
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 2: yourself internality. So the long story, short Out says, is

482
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,640
Speaker 2: focus on continuous skill development, the relationships that you need,

483
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,879
Speaker 2: your learning style, and connecting with the right people that

484
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 2: can get you to where you want to go.

485
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 1: Rachelle, you know, one thing that helps our communities is

486
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: those success stories of people who look like us, come

487
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: from where we come from, happy experiences that we've had.

488
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 5: Talk about how you leverage those success stories.

489
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 1: Those people who are inteching have found their way to

490
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 1: help make them relatable to people that you're trying to inspire.

491
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 3: Absolutely.

492
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,200
Speaker 4: I think it's versus about variety and diversity of success

493
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,119
Speaker 4: stories success stories is that sometimes people lean on the

494
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,640
Speaker 4: success stories that seem really nice and glossy, right like, oh,

495
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 4: I went to this school and I got this degree,

496
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 4: and I worked at this company, and not right I

497
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 4: think at Tech Equity Collective, we're thinking about the diversity

498
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 4: of stories, the diversity of experiences that got you there. Right,

499
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,679
Speaker 4: We're thinking about people who don't necessarily have that.

500
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 3: Traditional four year degree background.

501
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 4: We're thinking about people who might have grown up like

502
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 4: I think one brother we brought to the stage where

503
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,400
Speaker 4: we are at another event, his brother was homeless, right,

504
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 4: Like this brother was homeless coding in his car, right.

505
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 3: Like another We have other sisters who were.

506
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 4: Who never ever touched college, right, but like now they're

507
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 4: excelling as program managers and engineers.

508
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 3: And so we want people to.

509
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 4: Truly step outside of their their own limitations, right to

510
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,880
Speaker 4: see themselves there. So when we think about success stories,

511
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 4: we're thinking about people who have worked in big tech,

512
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 4: people who have started tech companies, people who have worked

513
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 4: for black led tech companies. We're thinking about people who

514
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,160
Speaker 4: did boot camps, people who went to community colleges.

515
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 3: We're thinking about people who are self taught.

516
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,199
Speaker 4: And so we just we feel that there is a

517
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,479
Speaker 4: responsibility to identify stories.

518
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,400
Speaker 3: Of people who who.

519
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 4: Have just explored all the different all the different pathways.

520
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,840
Speaker 4: And so how we pull those stories is we pull

521
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 4: those stories from people who are doing our programs, people

522
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 4: who are working with our partners such as a Career

523
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 4: Karma or a Black Ambition or other organizations that we support.

524
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 4: We do that by asking we keep it. We keep

525
00:27:58,119 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 4: it one hundred with people in our program.

526
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 3: So I think.

527
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 4: Another thing about TEC, it's also about mindset shifting as well.

528
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 4: When you think about these programs, it's like we're shifting

529
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:13,680
Speaker 4: people's mindsets from saying I can't to like maybe I can,

530
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 4: to a darn su or can right, And so that's

531
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 4: that's important. So those are the stories that we're that

532
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 4: we're building, we're pulling out and I think lastly, it's

533
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 4: so easy to pull out stories of people who came

534
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 4: in with super confidence, who were like I knew I

535
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 4: was gonna be great.

536
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 3: I was gonna be great the day I came out

537
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 3: the womb.

538
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,880
Speaker 4: No, we want people who are like, I didn't know

539
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 4: I was afraid right, I didn't think I had it right,

540
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 4: so that they can also show the evolution in their mindset,

541
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 4: the evolution and their their learning, and the evolution in

542
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 4: building the community that they now have that helped get them.

543
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 3: There.

544
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: One more thing that I wanted to add to your

545
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 2: other questions. You asked me, is that there's a name

546
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 2: that we used that at least I personally was playing

547
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 2: with for career coming up before it existed, which kind

548
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 2: of highlights the community and the mentor and the coaching

549
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 2: side of things. And you'll know why I didn't choose

550
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 2: this when I say it, it was social security. Right.

551
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 2: So when you think about like job security, it's not

552
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 2: necessarily even in your skills or you know, you know

553
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 2: what you actually know how to do, or what you've

554
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 2: done on your resume. It's your network, right. So, like,

555
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 2: like because you have such a strong network of people,

556
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 2: and I can like be like, hey, well I'm ready

557
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 2: to drop something and I know you got the platform.

558
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 2: I could just text you and it's like it's done.

559
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,200
Speaker 2: It's done. Deal, right. So, like, once you have that

560
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 2: community of people that got your back, you got that

561
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 2: job security or that that security for whatever it is

562
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 2: that you want to do in the future, whether that's

563
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 2: raising money or building whatever it is that you want

564
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 2: to do, so that there's something else to keep in up.

565
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 1: I think about so often when we are starting to

566
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,480
Speaker 1: acquire or thinking about starting to acquire technical skills up.

567
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: When I start with you on this so often there's

568
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: you know, there's an unsurety about where to start.

569
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 3: You know.

570
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: So if you think about five years ago, the conversation

571
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,440
Speaker 1: was about machine learning, and then it was about blockchain,

572
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: and then it went from blockchain to generative AI. So

573
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: now but like it's like the ball is constantly moving

574
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 1: and me coming in the game, Like what do I

575
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 1: want to do when I come? But every time I

576
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: get settled on something, the pucket somewhere else. How do

577
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: you have that conversation for people who are you you

578
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: are trying to encourage, so like, you know, lean into

579
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 1: that desire to get technical, technically skilled when it's such

580
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 1: a volatile, you know, conversation.

581
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 2: I think now that employers are all over the world

582
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: are prior tesching skills for some initiatives I think is

583
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 2: important and for individuals that are seeking training to align

584
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 2: with job training programs that are getting directly informed by

585
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,560
Speaker 2: the skills that employers are looking for. So what I

586
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 2: mean by that is historically there is an assumption that

587
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 2: if you just go to college, your skills will be

588
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 2: aligned with what employers are demanding. And I think after

589
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 2: the pandemic hit and it forced not only colleges, but

590
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 2: one point five billion learners to go online. It accelerated

591
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 2: not only the format of training going online and schedule

592
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 2: like from a part time in the full time, but

593
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:49,720
Speaker 2: also the other types of options that people have and

594
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 2: going back to what I said, in order to filter

595
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 2: where you want to go, I think making sure that

596
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 2: it's not only aligned with the skills that employers are demanding,

597
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 2: but also making sure that the format of the format

598
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 2: of the training is in the shorter amount of time

599
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 2: so that you can actually get into the job faster

600
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 2: than normal, so that once you're in, you're able to

601
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,239
Speaker 2: keep pace with what's going on. Because if you, to

602
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 2: your point, sign up for a two year or a

603
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 2: four year program, by the time you're done with the program,

604
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 2: the world's different, right, So that's just and and if

605
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 2: you are going to be signing up to a two

606
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 2: year four program, can still make it very clear, like

607
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 2: I'm not anti college, try to be doing internships or

608
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 2: or some type of work experience where your own side

609
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 2: project on the own way you can apply it in

610
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 2: the real world, so that you are making sure that

611
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 2: whatever it is that you're doing year by year or

612
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 2: every six months is aligned with what the customer and

613
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 2: employers are demanded, you.

614
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 1: Want to chime in on every show.

615
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 3: I think so yes. Plus one to that. My my

616
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 3: thought is also.

617
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,200
Speaker 4: It goes back to mindset, right, Like we have to

618
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 4: be agile thinkers, And I think that so it's not

619
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 4: only about like the programs right, but just under and

620
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 4: having a clear understanding of how the world of tech works.

621
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,280
Speaker 3: So many times in the Black community, we are.

622
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 4: On the peripheral, right, We're on the outside because we

623
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 4: don't know the inner workings. Right. We're like, okay, so

624
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 4: I just got the machine learning, I got this down.

625
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 3: This is it.

626
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 4: But if you don't have the inside knowledge of how

627
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 4: this industry is working right, and the agility and the

628
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 4: volatility that is just president required, then then you won't

629
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 4: know how to adjust. And so I think that you know,

630
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 4: what we aim to do with Black Chinese Academy is

631
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 4: not just get you ready for the skill and for

632
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 4: the job, but to get your mindset ready, to become

633
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 4: a hungry learner, to become incredibly curious, to become confident

634
00:33:58,760 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 4: in yourself that.

635
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 3: When the game changes, you can change with the game, right.

636
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 4: And I think that there are just those those skills,

637
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 4: whether you want to call them soft skills and mindset

638
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 4: skills that our community needs to keep up right. And

639
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 4: sometimes when I notice is that like we get flustered,

640
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 4: we're like, oh my gosh, I can't do it.

641
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 3: Well, you could do anything you put your mind to.

642
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 3: Put your mind's got to be right.

643
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 4: And so that's I think that's something that we're also

644
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 4: focused on as well.

645
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,280
Speaker 1: And so so often in our community, and the people

646
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,799
Speaker 1: that you're targeting, they're the first and might be the

647
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: only in their community, their family, their neighborhood that is

648
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 1: getting these skills and getting this kind of exposure. How

649
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 1: do you build those wrap arounds so they're supported.

650
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,919
Speaker 3: That's a that's a great question. I think that.

651
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 4: So one one way is I think everybody wants to

652
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 4: network with the Rubens and the wheels of the world,

653
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 4: right like Rubens will as y'all are busy, Right, you

654
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 4: should build your networking community with the people who are

655
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,440
Speaker 4: right alongside you, trying to learn with you, right, who

656
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 4: are in the trenches together, And so we don't necessarily

657
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 4: need to always.

658
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 3: Look up to people. We could just look to our

659
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 3: left and right.

660
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 4: And so I think that's one way, right, the people

661
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,319
Speaker 4: who are growing with you are there when in tech

662
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 4: equity collected when we think about holistic, right, let's just

663
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:29,359
Speaker 4: keep it real, Being black in America can be really hard, right,

664
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 4: And so it's not just going out here and like

665
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 4: I'm going to apply for a job and I'm going

666
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,359
Speaker 4: to get educated. No, you still got to deal with

667
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 4: some biases and prejudices, some rules and policies that are

668
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 4: attacking you and your family. And so we do think

669
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 4: about we think about mind like mindfulness. We bring that

670
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:53,280
Speaker 4: into the conversation mindfulness when we and some other programs

671
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 4: we're thinking, we have wellness sessions and we're talking about

672
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 4: how to take care of your person and then you

673
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,319
Speaker 4: are hid in the pavement and trying to find that

674
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 4: new role or where you're you know, really powering through

675
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 4: a certain technical course. I think we where we can.

676
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 4: We want to be able to provide some financial relief.

677
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,720
Speaker 4: So a part of black Chain is Academy. For those

678
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 4: who complete the complete the academy, they will have an

679
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 4: opportunity to.

680
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 3: Apply for a full scholarship to.

681
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:28,520
Speaker 4: Go to a coding to a software engineering boot camp,

682
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,840
Speaker 4: or a cybersecurity boot camp, as well as apply for

683
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,840
Speaker 4: to get access to certification programs. And so we know

684
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 4: that you know, financial barriers are also will and so

685
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:41,720
Speaker 4: we're thinking about that as well.

686
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 3: And then I think the last thing is that we're

687
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 3: bringing in a slew of other partners.

688
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 4: Right, So, as I stated earlier TC Google, we do

689
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 4: not believe that we can do this work alone. We

690
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:55,520
Speaker 4: actually know that we cannot do this work a role alone.

691
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 4: And so this is a call to our industry partners,

692
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 4: to other organizations to come help us amplify this work

693
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 4: and provide the tools to the tools to this community.

694
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:09,320
Speaker 4: Are we going to get it perfect?

695
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 3: No?

696
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 4: Are there going to be some areas that we, you know,

697
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 4: may miss. But that's also the beauty of what we're doing,

698
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,520
Speaker 4: because we're like, well, tell us, great, you want to

699
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 4: kill This is truly built for you by you. But

700
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 4: I think to start its community building and making sure

701
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,320
Speaker 4: that we're getting people some some form of financial relief.

702
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:35,839
Speaker 2: And just to piggyback on that, and I'll speak from

703
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 2: our own perspective, is that she mentioned when the game changes,

704
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 2: you gotta change with the game. Right, So we're at

705
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 2: a place where student loans.

706
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 5: She's had a couple of bars, way a couple of bars.

707
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 2: She had to say it, say it again, us to

708
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 2: the fire right when the game changes, got change the game.

709
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,719
Speaker 2: In case you didn't hear, you gotta play defense and

710
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 2: offense right like called that said, well like when you

711
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 2: when you when you hear something like that. And student

712
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 2: loan forgiven. Student loans are like in the one point

713
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 2: eight trillions, and people are talking about student loan forgiveness.

714
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:11,160
Speaker 2: Don't sleep on what she just said. We're transitioning into

715
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 2: a world of also employer funded education, employer provided training,

716
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 2: like employers embracing skills first initiatives which didn't exist before.

717
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,040
Speaker 2: When when career comma was first, I mean tuition reimbursement

718
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 2: has existed. This is different than tuition reimbursement. She's saying.

719
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 2: There's options where they will pay for the education. That

720
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 2: is very different than like deferred tuition or income share agreement.

721
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,440
Speaker 2: And there's other employers that are in the technically collective

722
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 2: that are also thinking about this. So again, this is

723
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 2: a Google initiative that is bigger, that is bringing not

724
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,319
Speaker 2: just other for profit for organizations, but also nonprofits like

725
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 2: MLT and others that are mission driven have the same goal,

726
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 2: but we're not working together and Career comm to be

727
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,880
Speaker 2: the group for it. So that's what Black Chenius Academy

728
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 2: is bringing together for you guys.

729
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,319
Speaker 1: And so lastly I want to I'm gonna let both

730
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,160
Speaker 1: of you chime in on this. I'll let you go first,

731
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 1: Ruben the how do you measure success? And I want

732
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: you to answer this two different ways. One from a

733
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 1: business perspective, like you know, maybe it's inputs and outputs

734
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,879
Speaker 1: or whatever however you want to do that, but also

735
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,280
Speaker 1: what does it mean to you? Because there's a reason

736
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: you do this work when you could be doing all

737
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 1: sorts of other kinds of work. And so, like you

738
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,919
Speaker 1: to your true north, how does this find success where

739
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 1: you at the end of the day you'll be like

740
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 1: that was worthy.

741
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:40,920
Speaker 2: It's a good question. It's a great question because I

742
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 2: want to help a billion people in ten years, and

743
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 2: so I can give you like the technical answers of

744
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,520
Speaker 2: you know how many people are active in their action plans,

745
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 2: and how many people actually completed the program, and you

746
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,680
Speaker 2: know how many people are signed up to courses, and

747
00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 2: even how many people are eventually going to get jobs.

748
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:02,040
Speaker 2: But what we're doing is bigger than jobs. What we're

749
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 2: doing is bigger than starting companies. Success to me is

750
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 2: not only all of those things that I just mentioned,

751
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 2: But for people to have the tools and the skills

752
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:19,359
Speaker 2: to realize and manifest their purpose into this world and

753
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,239
Speaker 2: make the world a better place. That's that's success to me.

754
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 2: But it's also all there are things I said too.

755
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 3: I agree.

756
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,720
Speaker 4: I mean, so our North Storry I Tech Equity Collective

757
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 4: is to double the number of black engineers in the world.

758
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 4: And so but I think what Rubin said, yes, we

759
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 4: want to make sure within the next couple of months

760
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 4: of launching, we want to get five thousand learners on

761
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 4: and complete it through the academy.

762
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 3: But when I really think about, like what.

763
00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 4: Success means, success for me is, and I say this

764
00:40:54,040 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 4: all the time and within our TC doors, is I

765
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 4: want nobody. I want no Black person to ever have

766
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,120
Speaker 4: imposter syndrome. It's not a real thing. It shouldn't be

767
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 4: a real thing in our community. The amount of tenacity, persistence, grit,

768
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 4: and just scrappiness necessary for us to thrive and excel

769
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 4: in any industry, including in tech. When we get the education,

770
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,040
Speaker 4: where we get the skills, where we build the community,

771
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,160
Speaker 4: and when we eventually get the roles, whether we build

772
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 4: them ourselves right, whether we go to companies that were

773
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,920
Speaker 4: built by us. Like, there's a number of ways to

774
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,680
Speaker 4: enter in the tech ecosystem, but when we get there,

775
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:45,440
Speaker 4: we have the true confidence that we belong there and

776
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 4: we have everything it takes to excel and to thrive

777
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,280
Speaker 4: and to be impactful, not just for ourselves and our families,

778
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 4: not just for our community, but for the world. And

779
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 4: so for me, that's what success looks like when like

780
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,799
Speaker 4: black people were coming in and we're like, yeah, I'm

781
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:15,760
Speaker 4: supposed to be here, so yeah.

782
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

783
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect Podcast Network and i Hied Media.

784
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,440
Speaker 1: It's produced by Morgan DeVaughn and me Will Lucas, with

785
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:28,640
Speaker 1: additional production support by Sarah Ergan and rosemclucas.

786
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 5: Special thank you to Michael.

787
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: Davis, Vanessa Serrano, and Mayamol Drew. Learn more about my

788
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:37,400
Speaker 1: guests and other tech distructors an innovators at afrotech dot com.

789
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 1: Enjoying Black Tech Green Money, Share with somebody cook at

790
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 1: your money, Peace and love,