Get equity on your calendar: September is Technologists of Color Month

According to McKinsey, companies with more culturally and ethnically diverse executive teams were 35% more likely to see better-than-average returns.

That’s not the only reason why diversity at tech companies matters, though. It matters because without it, our algorithms are biased, our teams and tools don’t fully represent the communities they’re meant to serve, and power and wealth remains in the hands of the few who have always held them.

We’re still deep in Team Dynamics Month, but that doesn’t mean we’re not already thinking ahead to September, aka Technologists of Color Month on Technical.ly’s editorial calendar: Look out for reporting on how workplaces — or any other teams or communities — can be actually, honestly inclusive, as well as profiles that highlight the contributions of technologists and entrepreneurs of color across our four markets.

Not every story will be focused on the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion; as we mentioned at the top of 2018’s edition of this theme, underrepresented groups in tech (women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks) are all too often asked to speak about their identity and not their areas of expertise. Once again, we will aim to reverse that trend by showcasing technologists of color and their expertise on areas like career switching, venture capital access, technical hiring and more.

A few relevant stories we’ve published in the past few months:

• 5 questions with Brittany Young: How leaving the traditional engineering path led to uniting culture and community (Baltimore)
• 5 pieces of advice for Black filmmakers who want to get into the XR space (Philly)
• What these technologists of color would tell their younger selves (Delaware)
• Doris Quintanilla is here to make sure women of color in tech feel supported (DC)

During last year’s Technologists of Color Month, we published a series of guest posts about crossing the academic chasm to enter startup life; how online harassment is a technical problem; how to build a technical team on a shoestring budget; and the four guiding stars for career changers. We also published a realLIST of Color in Philly.

We’re still forming our plans for next month’s coverage, so send story ideas to baltimore@technical.ly, and find stories here once we get rolling.

We’re also offering the opportunity for companies to be featured in sponsored articles (separate from independently reported articles written by our editorial team) highlighting their diversity and inclusion efforts; see some past examples of theme-specific sponsored content here, here and here.

To get your company featured in a sponsored article and guarantee inclusion this Technologists of Color Month, reach out via that big orange button below.

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