LA-based media and lifestyle brand Blavity will host its first annual AfroTech Executive conference this weekend. The event will bring together corporate execs, venture capitalists, founders, investors and more to hear from an illustrious list of speakers including Ebony and Jet CEO Michele Ghee, REVOLT CEO Detavio Samuels and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, among others.
“After such a rollercoaster of a year, I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing from such intelligent and innovative people, and looking to the future of diverse leadership in tech and media,” Morgan DeBaun, CEO of Blavity, said in an email to Built In.
Following a wave of newfound support for the Black Lives Matter movement last summer, companies are looking to hire Black tech professionals at much higher levels than before, according to DeBaun.
“With Black tech executives having more options than ever, one challenge is making sure to take advantage of this time and get as much ownership and equity as possible, and to build out those seats at the table so that this moment actually changes the future for people of color in leadership positions across the company,” DeBaun continued.
A long list of tech companies announced a range of new DEI policies and commitments last year; this, according to DeBaun, was a great first step in businesses putting themselves into a position to be held accountable.
“I think a lot of progress has been made [since then]” DeBaun continued. “I’d love to see progress continue with more companies prioritizing building out what their teams look like from the C-Suite down, and putting their dollars behind Black owned businesses.”
The tech and VC world is notoriously lacking in the diversity department. Nearly 80 percent of investment partners in venture capital are white and only 1 percent of VC funded startup founders are Black, according to a 2021 Deloitte study.
“To best address diversity debt in the venture capital world, investors need to understand the bias for wanting to match a pattern that they’re used to seeing and remember that innovation happens when you go outside the traditional pattern,” DeBaun continued. “There are huge opportunities to be had by working with people who have had different backgrounds, and investing in those people decreases the diversity debt in the VC world, making their portfolio and business ultimately more successful.”
For Ghee, the conference represents an opportunity to signal to the marketplace that Black executives don’t need to wait for an invitation to the table.
“We are building our own table to usher in Black tech professionals so we can invest and build our own wealth. I’m here for all of it,” Ghee said in an email to Built In.
Sherrell Dorsey, founder and CEO of The Plug, agrees. Last summer, Dorsey launched a project tracking tech companies’ and their CEOs’ statements on racial justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“After a tumultuous year, and the shutdown of tech conferences across the board, I’m excited to be speaking with leaders about the future of Black inclusion in the story of innovation,” Dorsey said in an email to Built In. “The mission of inclusion hasn’t changed.”
The conference takes place this Saturday at the Line Hotel in Koreatown. The day of programming will end with a reception to celebrate achievements in the Black tech community. Tickets are still available for purchase here.
