WEBVTT - Jehron Petty, ColorStack 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.600 I think the first thing is first, you can't you 0:00:01.639 --> 0:00:03.600 can't get around this. You have to be good at 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:07.880 what you do, Like you have to invest in learning 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.160 what you're really good at and just doing that to 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.720 the best of your ability. Like that's the one thing 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.079 that that's the one impression that you're gonna make with 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.720 most people, They're gonna remember, did you say what you're 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.960 gonna do? You ran that of event and it went 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:21.600 really well. 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:23.520 You were, you know, on time. 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:26.680 You know, you communicate, Like just be a good whatever 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:27.720 you want to be in the world, Like, just be 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:28.280 good at that. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:35.160 I'm will Lucas missus Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.000 introduce you to some of the biggest names, some of 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.160 the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:39.960 If you're black in. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.440 Building, are simply using texta security you back, this podcast 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:43.879 is for you. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.920 Jeroni Petty is founder and CEO at color. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.080 Stack, the nonprofit Colici organization that helps black lots of 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:56.800 next computer science students. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:57.920 Get degreed and hired. 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.120 When he was at Cornell, he worked as an intern 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.640 at Google and later turned him down for a full 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.280 time gig to start his own entrepreneurial journey. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:08.280 We've had so many. 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.440 Conversations nationwide about the pipeline for black talent and tech. 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.240 I wanted to get an idea of its current state. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.000 To Aran, who works on this issue every day, provides 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:18.640 enough date. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.160 When you look at the data, it's about thirty percent. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.319 You know, back in Latin next, computer science students or 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.679 people make up thirty percent of the population, twenty percent 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.040 of CS grads, and about. 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.520 Ten percent of the industry. 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.280 So there's drop offs at each level where you could 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.760 say not enough students are graduating with CS degrees to 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.440 begin with, but also from the ones that are, they're 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.120 not getting jobs in software right, they're maybe going into 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.840 it or becoming a teacher or doing something that they 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.200 weren't intending to do. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.040 So we're trying to solve. 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:54.320 This like multi layered problem of like access to jobs, placement, retention, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.440 and then even attraction to bring that twenty percent to 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.160 thirty percent right at the onset. 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.600 Do you see enough black students interested in computer science? 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.760 So I studied CS myself, right, So I was a 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.280 csgrad and so when I was on campus, the whole 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.399 reason I started doing this work was because I did 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:17.880 see that I did see the interest but what you 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.360 would find is that even in that intro course. At 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.600 a lot of these universities, the intro course is in 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.400 the intro course, you know, they kind of gotten so 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.519 used to these people that come in and have been 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.720 learning how to study, how to code and program from 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.600 when they were in middle school. So the professors, I 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.880 think have adapted for the wrong reasons and have now 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.640 expected so much prior knowledge where black students, Brown students 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.520 are going into these intro courses and they feel behind, 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.320 and once they get a backgrade on that first test 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.960 or project, they're dropping the class, They're dropping the major. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:53.799 Yeah. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.080 So I was reading something a different interview you were 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.120 doing it. You were talking about your personal mission that 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.919 you found many of your peers owner parts in these classes, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:07.200 weren't doing well in these classes. And you talked about 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.000 this as pervasive and why is that pervasive? Like many 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.840 would say, we just aren't as talented or you know, 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.040 we don't have the proclivity for math and science. Well, 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.280 in your research and in your work, what have you 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.680 found to be the reasons why we are not ready 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.640 for these classes in so many respects? 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.520 Yeah, I think the first thing is definitely, you know 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.560 what I just mentioned about prior knowledge, like if you 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.880 didn't go to if you didn't go to that private school, 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:35.160 right that had CS one on one as a freshman, Right. 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.560 I think public education is just catching up to c 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.600 US education and baking that into the curriculum for high schools. 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.920 But if you either didn't if you didn't go to 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.240 a school that had the coursework, or you had a 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.040 family friend that just was able to expose you to 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.680 that at a young age, you are coming in at 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.120 a college level feeling so behind. So there's that there's 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.400 that mental kind of barrier where you just are not 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.400 as confident when you're going into your first intro course 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.400 and everybody else seems to know everything that's already like 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.200 from day one, you're already discouraged, right. 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:09.360 And then I think some. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:14.280 Other areas within on the campus where students are kind 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.880 of selling themselves short is, for example, office hours. I 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.000 was a TA for a lot of the common CS 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.960 courses at qunell and for whatever reason, you know, a 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.159 lot of students wouldn't go to office hours, right. Maybe 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.640 it's because of the same issue they're facing in classes 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.400 where they feel like if they go to office hours, 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.839 they're just going to be you know, reinformed that they're 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:40.160 like behind or feel like they're dumb for asking questions. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.880 But it's a lot of those small things. We're privileged 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.479 kind of in network. Students already know that like office hours, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.120 office hours are there, I can go talk to the professor, 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:51.320 I can use these resources. 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.240 But when you feel so behind. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.920 And when you're not kind of in these environments already, 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.200 you just don't feel like you can participate in the 0:04:58.240 --> 0:04:58.680 same way. 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.039 With that response, then, is waiting until we get to 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.400 college too late to make sure that we're ready for 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.760 you know, actually getting internships to be able to get jobs. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:12.359 I don't believe so. 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:14.120 I mean I think, you know, shout out to all 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.440 the orgs, Codination America on Tech that are doing that 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.600 are doing work at the high school level Black Girls Code. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.320 I think it does. It is helpful to start earlier 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.440 and kind of get that exposure. But I don't think 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:26.560 it's too late. I think within when you're on a 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:31.279 campus that is already about discovery of oneself and really 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.640 just learning and expanding your horizons. I do think there 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:39.000 is hope where there are students who are still primed 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.520 for pushing their their limits and kind of expanding their 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:47.400 horizons and trying something new. But it does take intentional 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.960 effort at the earliest stage, that first fresh that freshman year, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.799 because once you the way the curriculum and the major 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:55.600 system is set up at a lot of these schools 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.400 is you know, if you try to change your major 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.560 once you're a sophomore juniors, near impossible, right, And so 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.760 you really have to target and support those students at 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.120 the freshman level. And I'll even tell you this from 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.240 when I was at Cornell, when we were doing a 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:14.960 lot of work with underclassmen, we actually started doing events 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.440 that basically made other people who weren't cus feel jealous, right, 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:21.560 like oh, this is so cool, Like you know, all 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.159 my friends are doing this thing and they know how 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:25.080 to they know how Siri works, and they know how 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.880 the algorithms of YouTube and all these different social media work. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.120 And they were like, Okay, I'll do a CS minor, right, 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:32.960 And that's happening at the college. All these are students 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.239 that were pre med, right, but now they're adding a 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:37.000 a CS minor. 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:38.240 So I don't think it's too late at all. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.200 So as an entrepreneur, when you're going through your you 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.560 know idating process of the company. You're going to start, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.360 the organization you're going to start. What was the decision 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.279 making process like for you when you said, you know, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.400 I'm going to target those college students instead of building 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.680 an organization like a Black Girl's Code that actually gets 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.280 them younger, earlier in the process, so that they by 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.560 the time they get to college, they're more prepared. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.440 That's a good question. I think this is the lesson 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.680 that I have for that I learned from myself but 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.640 also try to share with other entrepreneurs, is that, you know, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.160 you don't want to think too much about what you're building. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.640 I think incremental, like solving the problem in front of 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:21.280 you incrementally, you kind of just stumble upon a business, right. 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.600 That's what happened for me my freshman year, I was 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.720 I got an internship at two Sigma, had a really 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.880 great opportunity there. My sophomore year, I came back to 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.400 that internship feeling very discouraged because there weren't other you know, 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.960 black interns there, or I noticed that my friends on 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.400 campus didn't get internships that summer, or weren't doing well 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.000 in their classes or were considering dropping And so I 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.160 said Okay, how can I just solve that problem? How 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.720 can I just get my friends to come with me 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.640 on all these different opportunities you know that I have. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.760 And so that was the problem that I solved, you know, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.320 in twenty seventeen, and then twenty eighteen was I no 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.160 longer have enough time in the day to mentor all 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.840 these students, So how can I scale that by creating 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.160 a community of peer to peer support? Okay, that was 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.600 the problem I solved in twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.000 by building the club, And then from twenty nineteen to 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.800 twenty twenty, it's like, okay, well, how can I provide 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.160 this value to more students on other campuses? 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:12.880 Right? 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.559 And so it was just me incrementally solving the problem 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.720 that was right in front of me. And I think 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.000 that's how everybody should approach, you know, you know, starting 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.400 a company, right, You don't have to build a Google tomorrow. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.000 It's just what's the smallest version of that problem that 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:26.800 you can solve today. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.880 And so to the idea that you know, not everybody specifically, 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.240 I'm talking about black people and brown people who come 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.040 into college aren't ready for the math courses and the 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.400 science courses, but what are some other barriers that keep 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.679 them from graduating? And then you know, then all went 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.840 in the opportunity to go get internships and jobs right 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:46.480 out of school. 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.600 Yeah, I think there's there's so many there's a whole 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.120 pocket episode on those barriers. But I think a couple 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.160 that I know, I knew already as a student myself, 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.680 but then I learned from building color stack. One it's 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.679 just financial, right, Like some students just you know, can't 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.360 well drops, you know, drop out of school or changed 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.080 from a four year to a two year or just 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:17.000 be you know, indefinitely on leave of absence just because 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:17.600 of money. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:17.920 Right. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.520 So I think there's there's definitely a conversation around the 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.960 afford affordability of school, especially these private institutions versus state schools, 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:30.840 where sometimes just money that prevents someone from continuing. The 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.920 second thing I think about a lot is no two 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.800 CS degrees are made equal, right, you know you would 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:43.439 think that, yes, from a Cornell or you know, a 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.920 Kannessas State or a Stony Book university, like they all 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:48.959 offer computer science. So no matter which one I pick, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.559 I should be good. The truth of the matter is 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.240 that academia has not stayed on par with industry, and 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.080 so a lot of what it takes to become a 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.959 software engineer in industry is taught out side of the classroom. 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.400 And so there are two kind of sub reasons why 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.360 you know, students aren't able to keep up. One is 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.760 if you don't have the time right outside of a 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.720 class where you're a commuter student or you're working another 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.640 job to pay for school, and you think that you know, 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.280 you can just do your classes and do homework and 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.360 be done. You know you're going to be sol when 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.080 you find out that in order to really get that job, 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.120 you actually have to do your homework, get a good grade, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.520 but then also learn how to become a software engineer. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:30.839 And you know, when you're in. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.360 A privileged position of just being on campus and just 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.960 focusing on school and all that's taken care of, you 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.040 have that time, but many of these students don't. And 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.080 then then on the other hand, you also don't have 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:47.199 the curriculum that is tied and kind of pegged two 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:51.120 industry standards, where a school like an MIT or Carnegie 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.240 melon they have partnerships with these companies to build curriculums. 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:56.080 That's relevant. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.560 But if you're going to a local school, a small 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.000 CS department, you just might be out of date. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.480 And so it's interesting to say that because I've had 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:08.280 these conversations about you know, industry and university is not 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.160 being able to stay on par or college is not 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.280 being able to stay on par with what they're educating, 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.280 and so often it comes back to hiring the professors 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.520 who can teach it because they those professors can go 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.320 to the industry and make more money than they would, you know, 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.240 working in a university or a college. And so I 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.840 wonder what your idea is on how much self directed 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.160 education we need to do, even if you're in school 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.360 for your CS degree, how much of this outside of 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.480 that to your you did talk a little bit about this, 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.040 and you know, you got a job and you got 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.400 other things to pay for the pay for that education. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.400 How much of that self directed effort is required in 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.160 order to get the look from a big company or 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.000 a startup that you may be interested in. 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.120 Yeah, I think I think for the most part, when 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.200 you look at a big like, the bigger the company, 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.080 the more resources they have for learning and development. So 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.160 as as long as you can prove that you can code, 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.160 just generally a lot of the bigger companies with more 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.400 infrastructure for learning and development. Like, if you do well 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.200 in your classes and you can demonstrate a basic knowledge 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.640 of coding, you'll be able to kind of secure at 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.880 least beyond their radar and be competitive for roles at 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.320 bigger companies. If you're talking about mid sized company and 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.120 especially for a startup, they're going to expect you to 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.520 come and hit the ground running. So it's going to 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.320 require you to subscribe to certain newsletters so you know 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.920 what the newest tech tech is, Like JavaScript has a 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.000 new framework like every year, you need to know what 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.839 those are. Right, You're going to have to know how 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.480 to build an iOS app if you want to work 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.120 on a team that their only product is a mobile app. 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:43.439 Right. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.880 That's that's a perfect example of something that, like across 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.000 the board, is rarely taught in institutions. Right, Like you 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.040 might learn how to code in Python, you might learn 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.800 about databases, you might learn about machine learning, but even 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.520 something like iOS development isn't a thing that's typically taught 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:04.000 in schools because the professors do research and there isn't 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.920 much much research done on like mobile app development. It's 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.640 usually like database efficiency or machine learning or like programming 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:16.960 languages compilers, so things like iOS development, which is ubiquitous 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.200 in terms of its impact. Everybody uses their phone and 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.480 has apps. You're actually not even learning that on average 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:23.920 if you get a CS to be from any school 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:25.840 in the country, so you have to go out and 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.400 take a U to ME course or go on YouTube 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:29.320 or get a book. 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:30.800 You just have to know. 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.000 All that and so some other things that we talked about, 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.440 you know, with that are prohibitive for students to get 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.720 the degree and actually actually graduating. What are some of 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:42.840 those things that actually keep you from getting a job. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.840 So let's say you've graduated, You've you went to a 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.079 mid level university, mid level college. You didn't go to Cornell. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.440 Not everybody's as smart as you run. But let's say 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.640 you know, I went to a mid level school, I 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.200 got my degree, and I still can't get a job 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:58.960 at the company that I'm interested in. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.520 What are some of those reasons why, other than racism? 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:05.720 Other than that, Yeah, yeah, let's start like that's already 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:10.280 that's the three requisite that's always there. Yeah, I think 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:15.280 I think you know, there's there's some there's some challenges 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.080 definitely when it comes to like exposure to companies. So, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:24.600 for example, you know at certain schools, like at a 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.640 top level school, you're going to have companies flying out 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.800 to be at that career. Fair right, every company that 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.360 you know will go out and make sure they're at Cornell, 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:36.200 at MIT, whatever to get in front. 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:36.680 Of those students. 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.680 What I see at the mid level schools is that 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.440 it's usually like local companies, and if you're at a 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.880 small school in Michigan, there's no local tech company, right, 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:53.480 so your your access and your exposure to employment is 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:59.160 usually at best it right. At best you're learning about 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.480 some org that has a back office IT team that 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.640 you might be able to work for. You don't even know, 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.920 you aren't even talking to her. On the radar of 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.760 like pure tech pure software companies that are hiring software engineers, 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.480 which is what you study to be, right, So it's 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.880 not like, let's not confuse that you study to be that, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.320 but the roles and the opportunities that are available to 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.240 you are more aligned for IT and other things that 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.840 are not coding. So that's one of the ways that 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.400 CLUTSA obviously bridges the gap. So no matter what schools 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.240 are going to your career for if you're a small 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:35.080 school in Michigan, Illinois. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:35.400 Whatever. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.360 I mean, we partner with fifty top tech tech companies 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.560 today where you can immediately get on their radar. But 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.280 that's like one of the bigger, bigger reasons. 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:43.200 You know. 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.920 I'm glad you bring up cover Stack in the way 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.600 that you have because I'm interested in you know, cover 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:51.280 Stack is a nonprofit Number one. What a lot of 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.200 people will ask, like, how do you make money doing this? 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.840 You know, because I mean, is this like purely altruistic 0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.960 or are you attempting to like be like I want 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.080 build a billion dollar organization hot? 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.040 Like what's the motivation behind this? 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:04.880 Yeah? 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:06.960 Yeah, for sure, there's a lot of unpact there. So 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:11.600 for me, you know me personally, my passion and who 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.080 I am at heart is I like to help people. 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.720 I'm a servant leader, like I just want to help 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:22.800 people reach their full potential. So, you know, the decision 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.680 to start color Stack was easy for me because I 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.400 knew I'd be happy every day, Like every time a 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.200 student gets a job, even if they just get a 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.360 good grade on their homework assignment, I am just fired up, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.200 like let's go, Like I'm so happy for you, and 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.880 it doesn't matter how big we get, I'll always kind 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.520 of have that local mindset of like, if we can 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.560 help one student, we're successful. So that's just me. That 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:49.360 was my motivation personally obviously. So I started color Stack 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.000 May twenty twenty, so this is beginning kind of peak 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.760 of the pandemic. And so for me, I mean I 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.240 still knew rationally speaking that like, I had to make 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.800 this work financially. I had an offer at Google that 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:05.720 I had accepted at the time. Actually so I was 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.680 heading to Google, was to be to be an associated 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:13.239 product manager. And basically my calculation internally was, hey, I 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:14.639 know I'm not going to make the same amount that 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.400 I would make if I was a product manager in industry, 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.439 but I want to be paid kind of respect, you know, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.400 appropriately for my time and effort working on color Stack 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.560 full time. And so I first sought out to raise 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:31.600 enough money to do that. So my first goal was 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.040 raised enough money to do this full time for at 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.240 least a couple of years. So we got an incubation 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.399 deal with Triple Byte, and that's that was amazing. They 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.760 were so supportive they got us off the ground, and today, 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.800 I mean we have a full time team of six 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.360 two contractors, and we fund that mainly through corporate sponsorships. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.879 So similar to you know, even Afrotech. How you know, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.880 you guys do an event, you have all these sponsors, 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:54.920 they come in and kind of try to attract talent. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.440 We're doing the same thing kind of all year round 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.439 through events and engagement with our students and companies budget 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.920 for it. Like we're becoming a line item in university 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.120 recruiting budgets where they're like, hey, all right, we're doing 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.200 a new strategy for twenty twenty three. We got to 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.359 hit Aprotech, we gotta hit Grace Hopper, and we got 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:10.920 a partner. 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:11.320 With color Stack. 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:12.919 I love that. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.399 But when you go to a company and you say, look, 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.480 I'm going to help you with your black talent, there's 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.240 ninety nine people who came before you who said I 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.919 can do that, and one hundred and nine coming after 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:25.920 you who. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:26.479 Said I can do that. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.840 Like what is what is it that got them to 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.440 believe that Yo Jeran and what he's doing with color Stack, 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:33.760 these are who we need to be working with. 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:35.160 Yeah, for sure. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:36.879 I mean I think the first of a couple of 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.000 early things that I did strategically or I under saying 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.560 do them intentionally, but they happened that they were strategic. 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:44.600 The first thing was. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:53.119 Being a CS student myself. The transition from this recruiter 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.840 was trying to recruit me for their company to hey, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:58.959 I'm not running a nonprofit that you can benefit like 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.880 that was such a small transition because you know, these 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.920 these recruiters were like trying to literally trying to hire 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.480 me for the new new GRAP programs, and you know, 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.080 unfortunately I said notes a lot of them have to 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.000