Black Enterprise 40 Under 40 2023: Meet Tech’s Trailblazers

Black digital media brand Black Enterprise has released its 40 under 40 2023 honorees.

The list showcases Black visionaries and changemakers making their mark in their respective industries, including technology and STEM, business, media, finance, and many others.

“Black Enterprise’s 40 Under 40 list is not just a celebration of individual success but a testament to the boundless potential within our community,” said Early Graves Jr., CEO of Black Enterprise.

“This announcement serves a powerful reminder that Black excellence knows no bounds and that, collectively, we are charting an extraordinary course toward a brighter, more inclusive future.”

Among those selected are the following five innovative Black minds in tech.

Aisha Bowe

Bowe, a former rocket scientist and entrepreneur, founded and CEO of STEMBoard, an engineering firm cited among the nation’s fastest-growing companies on the Inc. 5000.

Earlier this year, her firm was awarded a nearly billion-dollar government contract in a joint venture deal.

Bowe also raised about $2 million in venture capital financing to create LINGO – a self-paced coding kit for learning technical concepts at home.

Bowe additionally made history when she announced last year that she would be the first Black woman to travel with Jeff Bezos on a commercial flight to space with Blue Origin.

Netta Jenkins

CEO of the gamified platform AeroDEI, Jenkins has established herself as a powerful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) leader in the tech industry.

Her work includes quantifying the impact of inclusivity for workers and employers by offering vital benchmarking features and measuring DEI goals.

As a doctoral student and author, she also wrote The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity, which offers practical resources on enhancing corporate DEI initiatives.

Dasia Taylor

Taylor is an innovator, educator, and entrepreneur who founded VariegateHealth – a self-owned, inclusion-focused medical device company in the biotechnology research industry.

The 20-year-old scientist became famous across America for prototyping a suture to identify developing infections.

Taylor was named the 2023 Iowa Woman of the Year for her work and appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and The Washington Post.

Everette Taylor

Taylor became the first Black CEO of Kickstarter in 2022, reportedly helping the crowdfunding platform become one of the world’s most diverse major tech companies at the leadership level.

In June 2023, Kickstarter was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies, one year after Taylor became its leader.

Before Kickstarter, Taylor was a serial entrepreneur and CMO of Artsy, the world’s largest online marketplace.

Alex Wolf

Wolf is an adviser and investor at Cyber Collective – a data ethics, privacy, and cybersecurity organization.

She continuously challenges ingrained norms and pushes the boundaries of technological integration, which brought her recognition from Apple, Snapchat, and Stanford University.

Wolf has been saluted as a business and thought-tech leader for getting industry giants to think critically about technology.