Colors of Success II, the #BlackDigerati
Based on the response to my previous post “The Color of Success, Blacks in Tech on Twitter” I decided to pen a sequel. In the process of tweeting out the post and getting reactions to it I was exposed to more great professionals who I thought should be in a follow-up article. I hope you enjoy learning about these influencers as I did.
Reg Saddler is probably better known by his Twitter handle, which has been rumored to be powerful enough to create a Digg or Reddit effect, a tweet from Reg could potentially take down your server. He is one of the most influential people in the country in social media bar none, and has a pretty interesting variety of topics covered in his conversation stream.
James Andrews has been in the business of social media since it’s inception, and has an extensive background in branding and marketing. He currently works at the company he founded, SocialPeople.TV, and advises a variety of top tier clients on their engagement, communication and social media strategies.
I just recently discovered Jenna, she’s a tech beat writer for the New York Times, and used to write for Wired Magazine. In her spare time, she helps curate Girl Crush Zine with Thessaly La Force.
Kai Dupe is an evangelist helping to cure the tech world of it’s dearth of a significant number of black professionals, and helping to make sure that those that are present are recognized, organized and energized. He is also an author, a public speaker, and founder of BiTWiSE: Blacks in Tech Working in Software Engineering.
Andrew West is an author, a public speaker, and has extensive experience in corporate IT. He is the CEO and Founder of the NBITLO: National Blacks in Technology Leadership Organization. His current book is The Modern CEO, a deeply thoughtful book providing advice to corporate leaders on IT strategy. An excerpt:
Based on real-world experiences, collaborative discussions, and action-research I have boiled down an easily digestible meal that will nourish you with everything you need to make Information Technology a strategic asset and trim the fat of Technology as a liability.
This book is a great resource for leaders trying to leverage the greatest performance both for end-users and clients from what can sometimes be a strained IT budget and infrastructure.
Adria bills herself as “An Endlessly Enthusiastic Technology Evangelist” and she’s right on the money. She has the same infectious energy and zeal for her industry as my other favorite evangelist, Guy Kawasaki. Her website, But You’re A Girl disintegrates the stereotypes that exist to this day about both blacks and women in technology. She is a frequently called upon media pundit, having appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, NPR, Black Enterprise, Pioneer Press and others.
Eghosa is a venture capitalist, speaker, and gifted technologist. I first heard about Eghosa when he did a guest chat on NameSake, and his expertise was definitely appreciated by the startup crowd there. He is the former Chief of Staff for Intel’s venture capital arm, and now is independently running EchoVC.
Omar Wasow is best known for being significantly ahead of the curve, founding Blackplanet.com before the day of Facebook, MySpace, or even Friendster. He also helped to launch the Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School, and is currently a PhD candidate in African American Studies and Government at Harvard.
Maisha currently is Inc.’s Internet Strategist, a status that speaks to both her experience and talent in the tech communications and social media space. She is also the President of the Black Ivy Alumni League.
I came across Jason just recently when I took up a suggestion via Twitter to look at Nationbuilder, which pairs those who need design, hosting, and maintenance of community focused sites with a group of top tier consultants. I was impressed by his portfolio there, particularly the clean implentation for The Black Institute.
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