HelloBeautiful And Madame Noire Celebrate 8 Black Women Tech Titans With Special Cover

HelloBeautiful and Madame Noire’s special cover, Women To Know: Tech Titans is a celebration of Black women blazing trails in tech. 

Despite making up just 1.7% of the tech workforce, Black women are leading, innovating, and disrupting the industry.

So, HelloBeautiful and Madame Noire brought eight Black women changemakers and visionaries together for a shoot by Black women-owned production company Oracle Media and photographer JD Barnes.

HelloBeautiful and Madame Noire also hosted a roundtable discussion with four Tech Titans: Kelsey Davis, Michelle James, Bozoma Saint John, and Kimberly Bryant. Together, they celebrated each other’s strengths and successes, were candid about their vulnerabilities, and expressed their hopes for the next generation.

Meet the Tech Titans

Carrie Bernans – Actress, Stuntwoman, Filmmaker, Venture Capitalist

I had a teenage mom. I moved around a lot when I was younger and my mom did everything she could to make ends meet, but things were never easy. So, to be where I am now is an accomplishment in itself.

Mattie R – Lead Technical Talent Acquisition Partner

The personal challenges that I’ve experienced as a black woman in the technology spaces, it starts at the gate.

Do your market research, you see what competitors are paying, and you negotiate your compensation.

Bozoma Saint John – Hall of Fame inducted Marketing Executive, author, entrepreneur

The air gets very thin at the top. So, the advice I give is to find your circle. Rely on them. Tell them the truth. And in that way, you’ll have a corner that you can go to and feel good in.

Kimberly Bryant – Founder and CEO Ascend Ventures and Black Innovation Lab/ Founder of Black Girls CODE

I wanted to try to test those waters and create a way for other women like me to also have an opportunity to participate as well.

My soft place to land is always centered on my role as a mother to my daughter.

Rachel Spivey – Director, Stay and Thrive Team at Google

That is what makes me proud every day to wake up, to go to work, knowing that I’m serving my purpose and helping so many other people through their careers.

As someone who started at Google and didn’t see many people who look like them at the company at that time, you can do it. You can push through. I have an amazing group of friends and colleagues that I’ve cultivated over the years who I can go to, to cry, laugh, vent, be frustrated, strategize, and I’m really grateful for them.

Kelsey Davis – Founder/CEO of CLLCTVE

We know that opportunity isn’t everywhere, even though talent is.

I truly do believe that Black founders, Black people can probably solve 99% of the world’s problems because of the level of connectivity that we have to them.

Michelle James – Director of Culture & Community Marketing, Instagram and Facebook at Meta

I’m confident. I’m secure. I’m intelligent. I know what I’m talking about. I’m contributing to the environment.

I’ve reinvented myself several times in my career. I can kind of take all of the things that I’ve done in culture across these various industries and really make a big impact

Angel Rich – Founder/CEO of CreditRich

Anyone who has a dime in their pocket should also have the financial literacy to go along with it.

I think someone looking to get into the tech space, should have the audacity to dream.