Black Women continue to show me how determination, community and technology can make waves of change. This past week I’ve watched Black Women promote and share each other’s SXSW panel proposals, vote for each other, celebrate each other, and mobilize our communities to help get our panels picked. And all while harnessing the power of technology to reach even more people, which is where the magic truly happened because people from all walks of life joined in.
Let me back and up and give some context. Last I created a list of SXSW panel proposals by Black Women to amplify their voices and help them get votes.
Black Women immediately started sharing it and sending me more panels to add to the list (it started off with 39 panels but grew to 55!). And I received so many messages about how it felt to be highlighted in this way, which affirmed my reasoning for doing it in the first place.
I amplify Black Women's voices, their work, their products any chance I get because they're often made to feel invisible as if they don't even matter. But they do matter, and it does matter to be seen. I see you Black Woman. And I want to see you at SXSW too.
All of this started because I pitched a panel called How Black Women Are Using Tech To Drive Social Change for SXSW 2024. It’s four Black Women who already use tech as a tool for change coming together to share how we’re disrupting systemic inequalities. DeShuna Spencer of Kweli TV, LaKisha Greenwade of Wearable Tech Ventures, Marissa Kearney of Retail While Black and me, as the founder of Buy From A Black Woman. I’m excited to announce that Marissa is joining our panel and I’m honored that she’s bringing her knowledge into this conversation!
The main point of our panel is the fact that change is driven by people and tech is just the tool. And what happened this past week is like a case study in that because we turned social media into a modern-day megaphone to amplify our voices and eventually everyone started sharing, liking, reposting and engaging with our posts. It was like a digital snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and more powerful with each interaction.
But this goes deeper than social media because people are actually clicking through to our panels and voting.
They’re taking action. Which shows that people really do want to be a part of the change. They want to be involved and they step up when opportunities that are in alignment present themselves. So don’t be afraid to put your mission out there because we all hold the potential to create waves of change.
Voting closes tonight at 11:59pm PT, so there’s still time to be the change:
Vote for How Black Women Are Using Tech To Drive Social Change
Take a look at this list of 55 SXSW Panel Proposals By Black Women That Need Your Vote and vote for the panels that resonate
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And thank you to everyone who amplified our posts and voted for us this week! Let’s link at SXSW!