Ime Archibong
There is a large issue of a lack of diversity in the tech industry. While there is a good amount of work being done to promote gender diversity, the same promotion isn't as prevalent for racial diversity. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, though, because there are people like Ime Archibong who fight for racial diversity in tech. Ime Archibong began his tech career as a software engineer for IBM where he became inspired by black leaders within IBM like Rod Adkins and Mark Dean. Today, he is one of the highest-ranking executives at Meta being the vice president of product management and head of product at Facebook/Meta. Due to his high ranking position, he became an unofficial leader of Facebook's black employee base. During his time at Facebook, Ime Archibong has helped create Internet.org, an initiative to bring internet access to more people in Africa. He has also helped in the development of key Facebook features, like the share and like buttons.
Unofficial Job:
He also has the unofficial job of being a voice and an advocate for Facebook's small number of black employees. He has pushed for diversity by helping the creation of the Black@ resource group in 2012 and the Black Community Summit in 2016. Today, he and his employees work on products revolving around racial justice.
Interview with Ime:
Ime describes the impact he hopes to leave, saying, "Facebook continues to grow [and] if we're going to go from 1.3 billion users to 7 billion one day, we need to make sure that our employees reflect the real world and make sure we're building the most relevant and impactful stuff for the world." Ultimately, if Facebook wants to grow and be used by people around the world, then the group of people maintaining Facebook should do the same. Ime Archibong still works for Facebook and will likely make great steps toward racial diversity in tech throughout the rest of his career.
Kimberly Bryant
Another warrior in the ever-difficult battle of creating more diversity in tech is Kimberly Bryant. She is notable for having founded Black Girls Code in 2011. Black Girls Code is a non-profit organization which works to introduce young girls of color to computer programming and the field of technology. Aside from Black Girls Code, she has also held leadership roles with Genentech, Merck, and Pfizer.
Kimberly's Impact:
Through her efforts to increase diversity in tech, Kimberly Bryant has been recognized as a champion of change by the White House and has been listed as one of the "25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology" by Business Insider. While she no longer works with Black Girls Code, she and the organization hope that they can reach one million girls by the year 2040.
Timnit Gebru
Due to the lack of diversity in tech, it's not uncommon to see technologies built around the majority white males in technology. This is amplified today by the rise of AI chatbots which may have flaws due to implicit sexism and racism from the largely white male population who trains them. This is, at least, the findings of AI researcher, Timnit Gebru. She co-authored a paper on the exact topic discussed, which caused her to be fired from Google.
DAIR:
Having been fired from Google after writing extensively about their AI not meeting racial or environmental standards, Timnit has gone on to found the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR). The goal of DAIR is to provide a space for AI research away from tech corporations like Google. Through DAIR, researchers are able to speak freely about the uses of AI and find ways to further encourage diversity.