List of Humans: The inclusion-minded expert list you’ve been looking for

When a group of Philly-area women in tech and entrepreneurship saw themselves in a merry-go-round of sorts, joining discussions and panels in a play to bring diversity to expert lineups, it became clear that the situation wasn’t sustainable.

“There’s a handful of us on permanent rotation,” said MilkCrate founder Morgan Berman. “So there was a desire to broaden the scope and bring more people in and create more opportunities for other people.”

Inspired by the regular request, Berman and other women in tech you’ve likely seen as speakers at events (from Chariot Solutions CMO Tracey Welson-Rossman to ROAR for Good’s Yasmine Mustafa, from Temple University’s Ellen Weber to WebJunto cofounder Liz Brown) banded together to open up the field to other experts to have their voice heard at industry events.

“It’s also about a desire to be more inclusive and broaden the scope of who’s being promoted and who’s growing,” said Berman.

As part of the project — titled List of Humans as a reference to the universality of talent and expertise — Technical.ly will serve as steward of the list, applying a minimal vetting process (i.e., making sure the humans actually exist) and Philly Startup Leaders will leverage its network to ensure it reaches far and wide.

In its earliest iteration, the opt-in List of Humans seeks to hit three targets:

• Help conveners to select experienced and well-suited speakers for diverse conversations/events/panels,
• Allow community members to connect with useful people in the network, and
• Connect experts from underrepresented groups, like women, people of color and members of the LGBTQI with speaking opportunities locally or even globally.

First step is easy and simple: opt-in to join the list by filling out a form, which includes your areas of expertise and ways to contact you.

(In these times of data privacy concerns, here’s a disclaimer: the data in the list will be shared publicly, so by entering your information you’re consenting to its public display. Neither we, nor anyone involved will sell the data.)

Update: Browse through the first entries to the list here.