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Bozoma Saint John

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These women are working their way to the top and constantly improving themselves. While bias and opposition exist in the tech industry, they rise regardless and allow their creativity, innovation, and contribution to the industry to speak for them.

These exceptional women of color have instilled the mindset that though the Tech pathway might be difficult to ply, they are willing to work as hard to stroll that path and leave an imprint for the younger generation to follow.

Here are 15 exceptional black women in tech we admire;

  1. Aisha Bowe

Aisha Bowe is a former rocket scientist, entrepreneur, and founder/CEO of STEMBoard. STEMBoard has been recorded as one of America’s growing industries. Her enterprise empowers her student to pursue STEM careers.

In 2022, Bowe utilized Venture Capital to earn close to $2 million for LINGO; a coding kit that helps individuals practice technical concepts from the ease of their homes.

Black women in tech

 

2. Bozoma Saint John

Bozoma Saint John is a former chief brand officer at Uber where she was responsible for projecting the stories of different riders and drivers in over 600 cities. She is also an authority in numerous fields such as fashion, sports, consumer packaged goods, sports, automotive, digital music, and entertainment.

Saint John worked as Head of Global Consumer Marketing for iTunes and Apple Music where she created policies to advertise their services and increase brand-loyal consumers around the world. Presently, she serves as a CMO on Netflix.

Black Women In Tech
Bozoma Saint John

3. Damilola Odufuwa

Damilola Odufuwa is the CEO and Co-founder of Backdrop, a social network, and app that allows users to find and share beautiful spaces around the globe. She is a women’s rights advocate and tech executive whose work cuts across communication, women’s rights, and cryptocurrency.

Damilola is the co-founder of the FeministCoalition, an activist denomination consisting of young Nigerian feminists advocating equality for women in Nigeria, with a focus on financial liberty, politics, and education. She also leads Public Relations and Communications for Africa at the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.

Black women in tech
Damilola Odufuwa

4. Annie Jean Baptiste

Annie Jean-Baptiste is the director and co-founder of Product Inclusion at Google where she promotes inclusion innovation across their corporation. From extensive research initiatives to communication and consultation, she spearheads movements that would ensure people from underserved users are considered during product setup procedures.

Jean-Baptiste is committed to enabling Google products to be useful to underrepresented societies, and regardless of the status quo or background everyone can thrive in the organization.

Black women in tech
Annie Jean Baptiste

 

5. Dr. Adeola Olubamiji

Dr. Adeola Olubamiji is a Portfolio Professional – she is a Digital Transformation Leader and Additive Manufacturing subject matter expert, the Founder of STEMHub Foundation, Canada, the Founder of D-Tech Centrix Inc. Canada and USA, and a Real Estate Investor with over 10 properties within her portfolio.

Dr. Olubamiji became the first Black person to obtain a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 2017 and inspired us all through her humble beginnings and trailblazing journey.

Her passion is for helping others and she believes that people can’t be what they can’t see. As such, she founded STEMHub Foundation, Canada in 2017. STEMHub foundation is a Canadian Charity Organization that provides free hands-on experiments and unique learning programs that engage black youths in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), mentorship programs to visible minority professionals, and provide free industry 4.0 to professionals to pivot into the technology space in Canada.

Black women in tech
Dr. Adeola Olubamiji

6. Solape Akinpelu

Solape Akinpelu is a member of the Personal Finance Speakers Association and a certified financial education instructor. She is the founder and CEO of HerVest, an inclusive fintech and women-centered platform for underrepresented women in Africa. HerVest helps women to partake in credit, savings, and investments, especially smallholder female farmers in Nigeria.

Solape Akinpelu
Solape Akinpelu

7.  Kamilah Taylor

Kamilah Taylor is the head of financial products engineering at Gusto where she develops robotics and mobile apps. Jamaica-born who resides in San Francisco is a public speaker, entrepreneur, writer, and engineer.

Over the years she co-authored books such as Swift For Good and Women in Tech. Kamilah advocates for the underserved to enter STEM fields.

Kamalah Taylor
  1. Jewel Burks Solomon

Jewel Burks Solomon is the Head of Google for Startups in the Us and is committed to giving underserved startup founders opportunities to obtain Google’s products, best practices, and people.

Jewel’s role cuts across providing many more avenues into the technology invention ecosystem, thereby establishing a level ground of success for all.  Her remarkable assistance in tech has won her various awards: Atlanta’s 100 Most Influential People, Ebony Magazine’s Power 100, and Forbes 30 Under 30.

Jewel burks
Jewel Burks Solomon
  1. Damilola Olokesusi

Damilola Olokesusi is the CEO and Co-founder of Shuttlers, Nigeria’s top transportation startup. Under her supervision, Shuttlers generated $1.6 million in seed allocation, with expansion projects across various African urban areas.

Damilola founded an all-female shuttle service, Shemoves sponsored by Ford Motors Company in 2020 that has influenced more than 600 female experts by imbibing learning as they commute.

Damilola Olokesusi

  1. Olatokunbo Ogunlade

Olatokunbo Ogunlade is a DevOps Engineer at Ventures Garden Group using her expertise in automation processes and cloud monitoring.

The computer science graduate from Olabisi Onabanjo University was a senior loan officer at Microfinance Bank Nigeria before transitioning into the tech industry by first volunteering at Eduaid as an education facilitator.

women in tech
Olatokunbo Ogunlade
  1. Tyrona Heath

Tyrone Heath is the Director of Market Engagement for the B2B Institute at Linked In. She is an exceptional B2B keynote speaker and marketer who creatively blends topics of diversity, equity, behavioral science, transformation, and inclusion.

Tyrona is also the co-founder of TransformHer, a committee that’s devoted to competent black women in tech. To stir development and facilitate growth, she connects with renowned authorities within her field like IPA, ANA, and Cannes Lions for research functions and marketing insights.

Women in tech

 

  1. Honey Ogundeyi

Honey Ogundeyi served as the CMO of Kuda Bank before launching Edukoya, an educational platform created to help students prepare adequately for exams. Edukoya generated 3.5 million dollars in pre-seed which is one of the highest amounts attained for a women-owned startup in the edutech domain.

Women in tech
Honey Ogundeyi

13. Mariam Adeyemi

Mariam Adeyemi is a passionate tech enthusiast committed to unlocking potential, transferring knowledge, and transforming lives through digitalization and tech training. She is the founder of TechaVilly, a technology training platform aimed at empowering the black community through skills and knowledge transfer. She founded the company alongside her college friend, Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo who is also a tech enthusiast and currently works at Amazon USA.

Techavilly was founded in 2020. Currently, it has trained over 10,000 black people from 2020 to date, helping them to fit into today’s dynamic job market.

Mariam Adeyemi Techavilly
Mariam Adeyemi

14. Joyce Agbanobi

Joyce Agbanobi and her team are trying to fix the gender gap problem in the tech industry through their Black Woman Paving Ways Initiative.

Joyce is an enthusiastic Tech leader who is passionate and committed to closing the gender gap for women of color in technology. She is a Technical Program Manager Lead at Microsoft with over 7 years + of experience in e-commerce sectors.

She is also the Co-Founder of the Black Woman Paving Ways, a platform that aims at closing the digital divide and increasing the percentage of women in STEM, through building initiatives to help women upskill for the future and Matching newbies to their dream Mentors across different Fortune 500 companies.

Joyce Agbanobi
Joyce Agbanobi

15. Yanmo Omorogbe

Yanmo Omorogbe is a driving force to be reckoned with in various sectors. After obtaining a degree from Imperial College, as a chemical engineer she served as assistant to the Minister of Power, Works, and Housing.

Yanmo transitioned to the private sector and afterward, into the tech industry. She a the chief operating officer and co-founder of Bamboo, a setting that enables Nigerians to trade assets on the US stock exchange market.

Yanmo Omoregbe Bamboo
Yanmo Omoregbe

 

Netflix named Bozoma “Boz” Saint John as their new Chief Marketing Officer, making her the company’s first Black C-Suite executive, Bloomberg reports.

Saint John is one of the most sought after marketing executives in her industry, boasting a 20 year career spanning multiple sectors. The marketing guru is coming over to Netflix from sports and entertainment giant Endeavor. Before that, she was Head of Global Consumer Marketing at Apple Music and prior to that, she worked with Pepsi-Cola North America as head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing Group. 

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos spoke to Deadline about Saint John’s appointment, saying, “Bozoma Saint John is an exceptional marketer who understands how to drive conversations around popular culture better than almost anyone. As we bring more great stories to our members around the world, she’ll define and lead our next exciting phase of creativity and connection with consumers.” 

The online streaming company has been working behind the scenes to bolster inclusion, committing $100 million to Black banks and figuring out ways to diversify their workforce which as of now, is just 7% Black. Saint John said she hopes that she can help to forge a new path at Netflix.

“I’m thrilled to join Netflix, especially at a time when storytelling is critical to our global, societal well-being. I feel honored to contribute my experience to an already dynamic legacy, and to continue driving engagement in the future,” Saint John said. 

Congratulations Boz!!

Source: Becuaseofthemwecan

You know we love profiling Amazons and Trailblazers, Women who beyondjust being part of the board room are making change happen. We  profile some of this  epic black and female innovators you should know.

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The’ Budgetnista’ Tiffany Aliche.

She works tirelessly to make sure more women worldwide become more financially savvy. Isn’t that amazing? She does this through her Facebook group and bestselling books. Because of her consistency and excellence in the field, she has been featured on Forbes, New York Times, Essence and more.

Laura Weidman Powers

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What’s not to love about a beautiful and fearless woman who daily does all she can to make black people proportionately represented in tech. She is the co-founder of CODE2040 a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities.  Laura was a senior policy adviser for Science and Technology in Obama’s administration.

Evita Robinson

 

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Who creates a group dedicated to building a community of travelers and making world travel more accessible to people of color and successfully builds the group to more than 14, 000 members? Evita! She has even built a successful business around the community.

Bozoma Saint John

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Boz as she is fondly called is the Ghanian- Amercian woman , making waves at Apple Music. She was recently appointed the head of global consumer marketing for iTunes and Apple Music and has proved her worth ever since. She is the brains behind the biggest Apple Music ad ever starring Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige and Kerry Washington.

Lindsey Day

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Natural hair is the in thing but we love that Lindsey found a new way to celebrate the movement. She started CRWN, the world’s first natural hair magazine. The quarterly publication amplifies the experiences of women of color with curls and afros to celebrates them like the queens they are.

Curled from Leadingladiesafrica.org