Black Tech Unplugged

This man sent out his resume 131 times before getting a job as a designer in tech. This same man is now a Director at Nava, a civ tech organization based in Washington DC. On episode 061 you get to meet Senongo Akpem. A man who took has taken is worldly experiences and creates visual magic. On this episode we discuss: - his long journey to get into tech following a stint in Japan - different desig...

Asking questions and staying curious can be a game changer for your career. Just ask Jennifer Opal, the UK sensation that was winner of the Tech Women 100 Award, named a Rising Star in Tech, and is a keynote speaker at some of your favorite conferences. On this episode we discuss: - her role as DevOps Engineer at Dropbox - Being neurodivergent in tech and how you can support a neurodivergent team...

Jermaine will get you an offer you can’t refuse. Yes, you are meeting the JobFather. On episode 059 of the podcast I talk to Jermaine Murray about his role as CEO of JupiterHR, his career coaching and tech career placement firm that’s helping increase the number of Blacks in tech. Also in this episode we discuss: - how Jermaine transitioned into tech - helpful resume tips that you can use right no...

This episode is for my technical bros and sistas! Grab your notebook because my guest, Art Butler, is dropping a ton of technical dimes in this episode. Art talks about his current role as technical product manager and what that truly means. He also goes into his previous life as a Dev Ops Architect. He breaks down what Dev Ops is, the tools you need to know, and gives you a mini interview prep se...

After episode 053 some of yall were asking questions about scrum so I had to hit you with a new solo episode to talk about the basics of scrum. In episode 057 I talk about what is scrum, the key members of a scrum team, and the scrum ceremonies a team performs for each iteration. Full show notes for this episode: https://blacktechunplugged.com/2022/04/14/ep-057-what-is-scrum-scrum-unplugged/ Inter...

Who would think in 2022 we still have to announce the first Black (fill in the blank)? Well allow me to introduce to you to the FIRST BLACK FEMALE CIO (Chief Information Officer) of the White House Office of the United States Trade Representative(USTR), Celestine Pressley. Jump into this episode to hear her talk about working in the White House and how she went from fleecing the government to poli...

Connect with Deena for Career Coaching: https://calendly.com/deena-m-mckay/15min Failing upward can be a beautiful thing and Elise Swopes tells us how that's possible. She turned her rock bottom, purposeless life into an intentional, healthy, abundant, purposeful experience. That's powerful! Learn how Elise went from college dropout and couch crashing to working with some of our favorite brands (A...

If you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a CEO, today is your lucky day. I had the pleasure to sit & chat with my company (Kin+Carta)Group Chief Executive, Kelly Manthey. We talk about her career path, the top tech topics including burnout and remote working, and dare I say we talk about RACE. Yes you read that right, we go deep on this episode! Enter the mind of Kelly Manthey, if you dare. Fu...

Have you ever wondered what your Scrum Master actually does at work? Well it's a lot more than you think. Join Black Tech Unplugged host, Deena McKay, for an episode where you learn more about her role as a Scrum Master, the responsibilities that come with the role, and how she wants to help you in 2022! (And also how you can help her.) Full show notes for this episode: https://blacktechunplugged....

You may know Du'An Lightfoot as Mr. Lab Everyday, but on this episode he is my co-host. On episode 052, Du'An and I give a brief update on his current tech role and touch on several of the top tech stories. We speak about Elizabeth Holmes (CEO of Theranos) and her current fraud trial, the iPod turning 20 this year (this is where we show our age), Snapchat seeing a dramatic drop in it's stock price...

One day this young woman thought she was going to work in finance, next thing you know she is working in tech at a major corporation. And that is the beginning of Hosanna Hali's story into tech. Even though she took the unconventional path into tech she is making a big impact on the UK tech scene. Not only is she an Azure specialist, she is also a big UK content creator (although I prefer to call...

Black Tech Unplugged has officially hit 50 episodes! Thank you to every single person who listens to the podcast repeatedly, it doesn't go unnoticed at all. As a way to say thank you I have two treats for you: 1. Referral link to get more tech news in your inbox via emerging tech brew newsletter: morningbrew.com/emerging-tech/r/?kid=783aa044 2. A discount code for Hustle Crew (https://www.hustlecr...

Brandy Hays Morrison's mom had a dream. That her kids would one day work at IBM. Well she got her dream(and then some). Allow me to introduce you to Brandy, VP of Strategic Growth at Pluribus Digital, but more importantly a Black woman with resilience and a tech journey that you would never believe. Listen to episode 049 to hear the story of a woman who took a leap of faith into engineering ended...

VOTE FOR MY SXSW PANEL: panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/118371 *Note: You have to create an account before voting Africa and I are back together yall! Bringing you a good kiki and the latest tech news. To be specific in this episode we cover: - Deena's SXSW Panel - Code Switching: Lifestyle or Necessary Evil?: panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/118371 - How OnlyFans is removing sex worker content (the content th...

VOTE FOR MY SXSW PANEL: https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/118371 *Note: You have to create an account before voting On this episode I am joined by the outspoken, positive being known as Teri Green-Mason. She tells us the story about starting off her career as an intern (it sounds normal, but it's not what you think) and how she climbed the corporate ladder extremely quickly. Learn how this transfo...

Black Tech Unplugged is back with a new episode and a new format! On this episode Deena welcomes guest co-host, Africa Miranda, and together we discuss a few of the top tech stories of the past week. We want to share with you how tech decisions affect our community as well as share events that are happening in the tech space. In this episode we cover: • Atlanta being the breeding ground for tech s...

Remember my mama I made it moment from this year, getting to speak at SXSW? Well now I get to share the experience with you! That's right today I get to release my SXSW set titled "Diversity & Inclusion: Buzzword, Movement or BS?" to all of you! So join myself, Lisa Magill of Aleria, and Lisa Godwin of You Are Tech & the The New York Times, as we discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion i...

Have you met a Black woman who made the six figure club in tech before they turned 30? Have you seen a Black woman dominating the tech industry in various ways? Well let me introduce you to episode 044's guest, Kanika Tolver. Kanika is a project manager, career coach, and author who is showing us how to run game in tech. On this episode we talk about her 15+ year journey in tech, she schools us in...

Not many know about the world of tech culture reporting, so I decided to dive deep into that world. On this episode of Black Tech Unplugged I interview Nitasha Tiku, tech culture reporter for the Washington Post. We go deep on her latest article for the Washington Post titled "Google's approach to historically Black schools helps explain why there are few Black engineers in Big Tech". You don't wa...

If your internship company left you in the lobby for 4 hours on your first day would you still be there? Well this happened to Jay Hammonds and let me tell you his 4 hour wait helped turn him into an award winning technologist. On this episode of Black Tech Unplugged, Jay Hammonds, Executive Support Engineering Team at Facebook, talks about how he went from the guy who had to leave college after t...

On this episode of Black Tech Unplugged I want you to meet Zeryn Sarpangal (Chief Financial and People Officer at Code for America), Chris Kuang (Co-Founder and Director of Operations of Coding it Forward), and Andréa Viza (Director of Talent for the United States Digital Service (USDS)). These 3 individuals are leaders in the civic tech sector and it is about time that you not only learn about th...

Serial Entrepeneur. Inventor. First female founder to raise over $1M in a Reg CF campaign. You heard her on episode 011 (https://blacktechunplugged.com/2018/03/27/episode-11-dawn-dickson-unplugged/), but Dawn Dickson is back again! On this episode of Black Tech Unplugged we chat about Dawn's company Popcom, a tech company that is innovating how we look at vending machines. We talk about her compan...

On this episode I speak to Everett Harper, CEO & Co-founder of Truss (https://truss.works/). Everett leaves nothing on the table as we talk about his journey in tech as an entrepreneur, how we can use our race issues to finally address diversity in tech, & he even gives extensive advice on how you can get on the board of your dream. And that's honestly in just the first half of this episode. Grab...

Devon Prince grew up thinking that being a police officer or his job at KFC was enough for him. Boy was he wrong! Thanks to his uncle, who called him with the chance of a lifetime, he was introduced to the organization called Year Up and his whole life changed in a flash. He went from frying chicken to working as a IT Global Service Desk Analyst at Salesforce. On this episode of Black Tech Unplugg...

Episode 037 features Caren Young, who for the past 14 years helped Fortune 1000 companies build, market, and sustain products that are user-centric and based in research. She has helped organizations craft compelling stories, execute, iterate, and get results. Blending a background in the social sciences, advertising, product management and diversity/inclusion management, I am able to pull dispara...