Being Black in Silicon Valley can be a lonely position to be in, but three interns from tech companies in the Valley put together a platform to change that narrative. They were recently featured in a post by Jopwell.
Paul Hammond and Lusenii Kromah, both computer science students from North Carolina A&T, were both headed to Silicon Valley for the summer with internships at tech companies. Paul landed an internship at Apple, and Lusenii landed an internship at Adobe.
When their search for a way to connect with other Black interns in Silicon Valley fell short, the pair took matters into their own hands and created a chat called Black Valley on GroupMe strictly for black interns to connect and network with one another. In just a few short days, they had 30 people on the group.
Dakari Franklin (Paul’s roommate and a Morehouse physics major) was brought in, and by the end of the summer, more than 540 Black interns from Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, Uber, and a host of other leading tech companies and startups.
Their motto: Be yourself. Represent yourself. Change the face of tech forever.
The group has had an amazing impact on the people who have joined. It provide familiarity for Amani James, an intern with Pandora. “To come from a place like New York where everyone is represented and then suddenly be living and working in a place where I am one of two people of color on my entire team was very overwhelming and discouraging at times. Black Valley provided me with the network and circle to work beyond those systematic limitations and build my own path,” he said.
“It’s amazing to see such diversity, charisma, and intelligence in one group that the world systematically tries to discredit,” says Jazmin, a Black Valley member, and former IBM intern. “It was magical.”
But Black Valley is more than just “social” and “emotional support.” It’s also a great way for young blacks in tech to network and connect. “There are engineers, designers, and marketing people, which is great when you want feedback from all those directions…” Lusenii says. “And we also want to bring people together in real life. If somebody wants to have a party in Palo Alto or a cookout in San Jose, they can get that together.”
“It’s a movement of professional and academic excellence,” he added, “an expanding network of black individuals focused on innovation and ending stereotypes.”
This is #BlackExcellence at it’s finest.
