Digital labor and black women in tech

Lately, I've been hearing more and more stories from Black & Brown women working in tech who have been receiving bad performance reviews & PIPs out of nowhere. Historically, this has been a tactic to push us out. And here’s why it keeps happening: 🔹 Many managers lack leadership training & don’t know how to manage people. 🔹 For some, it’s their first time working with Black & Brown women—ever. 🔹 Outside of work, most people’s closest friends look like them—so their experience with us is limited. When discomfort meets inexperience, we get bad reviews instead of real, consistent, quality feedback. So if you're building a career in this space, you need to be proactive. 👉🏾 Here are 3 ways to protect yourself: 1️⃣ Set & Reset Expectations – Manage up. Make sure you & your manager are aligned on goals, expectations, and how they’re supporting you. 2️⃣ Ask for Quality Feedback – Not just “How’d I do?” but: 🔹 Was XYZ effective? 🔹 What should I do more/less of? 🔹 What’s one thing I can improve on? 3️⃣ Keep Receipts – Save emails, document 1:1s, and check policies on recording conversations so you have proof if needed. At the end of the day, we have to advocate for ourselves—because no one else will. 💡 Need support? I’m offering free coaching sessions for Black women to build confidence, work on goals, and declutter their minds. 📩 DM me or book time—my link is in my profile. And if you're a leader struggling to lead folks who don’t share your identity, let's talk. We can work together to develop your inclusive leadership skills. #BlackWomenInTech #CareerGrowth #WorkplaceEquity #LeadershipDevelopment #PerformanceReviews

October is UK Black History Month and I'm taking the opportunity to highlight the unique challenges faced by Black professionals. In the tech industry, the biggest trend of 2023 has been generative artificial intelligence. As tools like Open AI's ChatGPT became a household name, more and more of us began to question the ethics - and implications- of AI. Who decides which data sets are used for training algorithms? Who ensures the engineering teams building algorithms are diverse and representative of the greater public who use them? Who ensures algorithms do not hold the same implicit bias we do? Who ensures generative AI doesn't reflect society's toxic traits: misogyny, white supremacy, toxic masculinity? These are important questions that have been posed by extraordinary Black women in tech. Black women like Dr Joy Buolamwini founder of the Algorithmic Justice League: an organisation that combines art and research to illuminate the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence. Timnit Gebru is another important Black woman who was dismissed from her role in Google after raising red flags around AI ethics. To quote her in the Rolling Stone article pictured here: "I saw who was building the AI systems and their points of view. I saw what they were being used for, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we have a problem." How can we pay more attention to Black women? Are you listening to the Black women in your team?

Black women lost 304,000 jobs in three months. Black women's unemployment jumped from 5.1% to 6.3%, while the nation's average stayed flat at 4.2%. While America celebrated job growth, Black women lost more jobs in the last 90 days than any other subgroup. This is not a coincidence. It is the AI disruption around hiring and retention and around being displaced by AI that no one really wants to talk about. We are really seeped in talking about the federal workforce cuts, DEI programs being dismantled, but AI automation creates the perfect storm that affects and is affecting black women right now. I was speaking at the ATD conference in May, and I asked the question, who gets re-skilled and who gets left behind? And that is the question that we have to answer. The data is alarming. 53% of jobs occupied by people of color will be replaced within five years by AI. That's right, 53%, but nobody's really talking about it. It's not just the current job loss. When we lose work, entire families and communities suffer. By 2030, 4.5 million jobs occupied by black professionals will face automation. So let me say that again. By 2030, 4.5 million jobs occupied by black professionals will face automation. So the question is, do we wait for that to happen? Read My Article: #AIDisruption #BlackWomenUnemployment #JobLoss #AI