Black Women Talk Tech Co-Founder Discusses Diversity Challenges in Tech Industries
Five years ago, Esosa Ighodaro-Johnson and Regina Gwynn, co-founded Black Women Talk Tech (BWTT) after they met by chance at a tech conference and shared common ground over the racial disparity they both experienced firsthand in the tech funding world. BWTT was started with the mission to identify, support and encourage black women to build the next billion-dollar business. The success of the organization has also led to the expansion of Black Men Talk Tech and Black Students Talk Tech, as well as the company’s first acquisition of Black Female Founders (BFF).
BWTT’s Annual Roadmap to Billions conference (held this year on June 16 and 17) is the only tech conference created by Black female founders for Black female founders and supporters of the community. It showcases the brilliance of Black women building scalable companies while building deep connections and creating real funding opportunities.
Following it's fifth annual Roadmap to Billions conference, the organization launched a global membership community encompassing over 750 founders regionally with a total of more than 2,500 entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals. Additionally, BWTT has distributed more than $200,000 in cash prizes to Black founders and contributed to more than 45 startups receiving investment.
In the below Q&A, we speak with Regina Gwynn about the challenges she faced as a Black female tech entrepreneur and how her experience can help us create change within the hospitality technology industry.
What were some of the issues you faced as a woman of color when you began your first tech startup?
As a tech founder, I had to build my own seat at the table and work harder to make connections and learn. When I was going to events, there were very few other Black and minority women in attendance, so my co-founders and I wanted to create our own organization to meet, empower and support each other as Black women tech founders.
Did you find that these issues were commonly shared by other women of color in the tech industry?
Yes! The numbers for Black female founders are dismal. Black women represent 12.9% of the female population. In the first half of 2021, startups overall raised a record-breaking $147 billion. Only 1.2 percent of it went to Black founders. In 2020, Black founders received 0.6 percent of all venture capital deployed. Take those percentages, divide that in half, and divide it in half again. Funding opportunities have not been the nicest for women of color.
How does Black Women Talk Tech empower and help women of color in tech careers?
Black Women Talk Tech (BWTT) is a worldwide collective of black women tech founders who uniquely understand Black women startup owners' challenges in the industry. Still, most importantly, they know the contribution of these innovators. The organization seeks to identify, support, and encourage Black women to build the next billion-dollar business. The platform provides a job board for members to search, programs and courses to be involved in that include annual conferences such as Roadmap To Billions and Face Of A Founder, and investor matchmaking.
What tips/recommendations do you have for the hospitality industry when it comes to recruiting and hiring women of color?
Go beyond the resume. Really sit down and speak with women. We are innate nurturers, so many of our decisions are made beyond what is on the surface of a piece of paper. We start out at young ages helping our mothers and grandmothers host events in the home. Hospitality is engrained and some things just can’t be taught. They have to be lived.
How might hotel brands and hotel tech companies reach out to women early on to introduce women of color to tech careers?
Having networking events, career fairs focused on DEI hiring, actively recruiting on the scholastic level at high schools and colleges.
Any other comments?
Continue striving forward in diversity and inclusion. All industries should have an eclectic balance in the boardrooms. People will gravitate and look for products that are promoted by a familiar face, i.e. a direct reflection of themselves. We are getting there, but more allies are needed to champion for change. To quote Anne Richards in terms of the power of a woman, “After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.”