New Normals: Black lives in tech, post COVID-19 & Breonna Taylor + George Floyd

New Normals: Blacks in tech post COVID-19 and after the murder of George Floyd.

This event examines how Blacks in technology are facing the New Normals. The conversation, with Q&A, features a dynamic panel featuring Orlando Williams, Blaire Hervey, and Peter Beasley (MC/speaker) to get the conversation going.

How are things different for Blacks in tech post COVID-19? Is working from home a plus, a minus, or something in between? Is there new economic uncertainty due to job loss?

The vivid murder of George Floyd is seared and scorched for the eternity of time. And so is there yet another new normal for Blacks in tech?

Our communities are often a source of shared creativity but there are growing professional & wealth gaps.

PLUS we will have a raffle and professional networking.

4:45p [30 min] Networking: Zoom session beings, speakers/moderator joins
5:15p [5 min] Welcome (give people a chance to arrive?). Recording starts
5:20p [5 min] About BIT Portland & National
5:25p [10 min] Panel Introductions - Blaire Hervey, Orlando Williams & Peter Beasley
5:35p [30 min] New Normals Discussion
6:05p [15 min] Q&A
6:20p [5 min] Wrapup
6:25p [5 min] Any additional networking

Orlando founded Motus Recruiting and Staffing in 2006, and in a short time the company has grown to be one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest and most respected staffing firms under his hands-on, high-integrity leadership. He attributes his success across a wide scope of careers to his personal approach of “servant leadership.” He is also a game analyst for the NBA Portland Trailblazers.
https://motusrecruiting.com/

Blaire is a badass Business + Career Coach, Culture Influencer, Motivational Speaker + Sales Enablement Leader at Amazon Web Services. Blaire also serves as The Corporate Strategist on the Visionary Squad for PDX Women of Color, on the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Family Services’ DEI committee, Junior League of Portland’s DEI Strategy committee & Racial Justice for BIPOCs special committee. She also consults for the Vancouver NAACP, crafting culturally specific messaging to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the Black community.
https://www.thecorporatestrategist.com/

Peter is a technologist, having led corporate technology infrastructures and teams for over 25 years in oil & gas, healthcare, government, and in the financial services industries, and founding and launching a CMDB software company, Netwatch Solutions in 2003. Since March 2020, Peter is also the Executive Director of Blacks in Technology, with a growing list of quotes in national publications.
Wallstreet Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-and-hispanic-job-seekers-still-face-wage-gap-in-tech-11592437077?mc_cid=8e1a95bf06&mc_eid=01907cb963
Tech Target. https://searchcio.techtarget.com/feature/Techs-racial-diversity-problem-meets-its-day-of-reckoning
Protocol. https://www.protocol.com/nda-racism-equality-diversity-tech
martech. https://martechtoday.com/how-to-advance-black-leaders-in-martech-242436