Hello everyone! I decided halfway through February that I should really commit to a post-period analysis on Black History Month this year. I gotta be honest. Most February, it's not until a week in that I even realize that it's Black History Month. There really isn't any excuses for me, a Black Girl from the South, to not remember this month. Maybe, I'm always knee deep in planning affinity events in anticipation of this month and it creeps up. Maybe it's because I'm usually kick-starting an audit and I'm fully focused in assessment planning mode. Either way, around the 5th or 6th, I look around and say, "Oh yeah...it's February".
However, I have to admit that this Black History Month was a little different. Call it a shake-up of my schedule and having a bigger platform at Amazon. Blame the pandemic for rekindling my use of social media. Call it the smell of change in the air that's allowed me to pay attention a little more closely. Now, I'm still a day late and a dollar short (this is just my fatal flaw), since it was still the 3rd day that I caught on (hey two days improvement). But once it hit, I was wide awake and active at a rate that I never achieved before. Thus, I'm choosing to break down my experience of 2021's Black History Month into Highs, Lows, and Future Hopes. This is part 1 of a 2-part post, so let's dive in!
The Highs:
Reinforcement of why Diversity Matters
At work, I had a revelation. Diversity shouldn't just be lip-service and it isn't just about a one-to-one representation that reflects the population. It's absolutely integral to the way we should work moving forward. In February, work got a lot more intense and there was a lot more reporting to leadership from my team than there was previously. There were many times that I ended up in conversations and looking around, I might've been the only person of color or the only woman in the room. To be honest, this doesn't phase me. What does is when I was told consistently that my point of view was unique. I was called on because of my experience with certain parties and connections that, quite frankly, a lot of people at Amazon just didn't have. When I was told this more than once, I realized why ensuring that there is diversity at the table is important and exactly what Corporate America should be trying to prevent. It just took me a while to really put my finger on what that was.
Diversity and Backbone is the direct opponent of the "Echo Chamber".
The "Echo Chamber" is the conversation where everyone makes the same statements, agrees, nods, and move forward. It's usually no more than a 15 minute conversation and everyone walks away feeling good. However, these are the kinds of conversations that kills progress, self-correction, much-needed criticism and opportunity for greater growth, impact, or vision. One statement that I've started to say frequently is that someone can be the perfect Amazonian implementing the perfect mechanisms and they could still not meet their goals or keep the customer happy. So what's missing, do you ask? Perspective through Diversity.
I know many people will roll their eyes if we were to associate diversity with just race. Of course, it also includes background, experiences and diversity of thought. However, one can argue (and I do) that race,especially in this country, is a large indicator of a slightly different experience, background and thought that should be brought to the table. Sometimes, the only way I was able to pull those data points was from connections as a black person in Washington D.C. that has worked with the federal government in several capacities. If there is something regarding the federal government that's on the table, I might have an edge over someone who's entire career has been spent on the West Coast in tech. This might not be a big proponent for race, but when you look at the demographics of the federal government with 22% at the Senior Executive Service level being people of color, it's comforting to have another person of color in tech staring across the zoom call back at you.
This past month, it was eery how often, at the lower extreme, I brought an additional data point or perspective or, at the great extreme, flat-out disagreed with approaches that were just not feasible. This brings me to my next point, diversity should be coupled with Amazon's Leadership Principle of Backbone. It's not enough to be diverse and having the sponsorship to be at the table. You also have to speak up and not care about being the only person in the room that has dissension. If you have the data to back it up, feel free to stand in it. If not and it's a gut feeling, then caveat yourself but understand that you have the right to speak on that gut feeling. Likewise, the corporate environment should also encourage dissenting opinions and provide a mechanism for all personnel to have their voices heard. This could be by establishing a direct leadership principle, leaders calling on quiet participants, an anonymous raise hand and chat system, whatever that allows diverse thoughts to show up and flourish.
Increased Social Media Activism and Corporate Sponsorship
Okay, let's call a spade a spade. It's obvious that the pandemic, this election, and recent protests has forced the majority of us, even the "connection resistant", to swarm social media. Whether it be the political coverage, the Gorilla Glue escapade, or Tik Tok dances, everyone and anyone has signed in to declare their personal stance on an issue. It wasn't until recently that I've even made my own preferences known (I'm still very cautious). This year, I decided to sit back (outside of the numerous speaking engagements that I go into a little later) and take stock of what's going on around me in the interwebs. Of course, I was impressed by the thoughtful insights of people I frequently follow like, Media Maven Belinda Kendall, Cyber Guru Robert Hibler, and Fubu CEO Daymond John. But what really drew my eye were company posts and announcements.
Yes, there was the obligatory performative allyship (gotta give credit for this term to a submission read in one of my favorite podcasts "The Read"). But some companies went a little deeper than that and either highlighted Black History Month in really unique and creative ways or put their money where their mouth is and announced some amazing new projects that took a lot more effort than a simple post. Since it's my blog, I'm going to have my biases for EY and Amazon on display.
EY's US Chair and Managing Partner, Kelly Grier, lent her platform to a black leader in the firm every week in a "Share the Mic" series. A black employee took over her LinkedIn account and posted during the day regarding their experiences and generally whatever they wanted to talk about during Black History Month. I thought this was an amazing idea and I literally squealed seeing former colleagues, Quiana Dawson, Shekima Smith, Will Miller and Terrence Lomeka share their experiences. Nothing shows allyship more than letting the minorities in question have the opportunity to speak. Here's snippets of my favorite posts from each person during their slotted time:
For Amazon, I don't necessarily know if it was intentional (probably was), but there was a resurgence of Amazon's Future Engineer Program. This is a scholarship and training program benchmarked at particular grade levels specifically for minorities and underrepresented students. The fact that this is childhood to career is music to my ears in addressing the pipeline problem that we've been talking about behind closed doors. It's not about just 9th graders, it's not about 4th graders, it's about consistent and close partnership and encouragement all throughout these levels so that children know that excellence and success in STEM is achievable. I had nothing less than this (thank you, Mom!), and it's ludicrous to think that any child DOESN'T need this to have a SHOT at success. Of course, over the years, I would love to see the data to validate this assumption, but this is a start.
I nearly screamed seeing Pharrell's partnership with Amazon and Georgia Tech for the "Your Voice is Power" music/coding education competition smorgasbord. It's EVERYTHING. Let's just say that I'm here for it and seeing this pushed actively during Black History Month was a pure joy. Also can we talk about the trifecta magic that is Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino signing a long-term deal with Amazon for fresh content with Malia Obama joining the writing team? Just stick a fascinator on my head and parade me down the street, I'm living in a parade fantasy! Additionally, Amazon published an amazing tribute to current black history makers that really opened my eyes to the people in tech that are truly a force. Though I've heard their names in passing, seeing them highlighted on this platform was inspiring.
Of course, Amazon and EY were not the only ones that provided impressive content and initiatives during Black History Month, but for the rest of the companies out there with obligatory posts/tweets, please take notes. Showing commitment is going to require a little more elbow grease then a nicely timed statement.
Learning about Black Accomplishments
What I absolutely LOVE about Black History Month is learning about the pure awe-some-F#CK!NG-tacular achievements of American's most underrepresented ancestors. Of course, we all learn about Benjamin Banneker, Benjamin Carson and Harriet Tubman, but I'm counting on this month to bring out more obscure references in our history. There were a one story that had me floored. His name was Jerry Lawson.
In short, Jerry Lawson was an African American electronic engineer credited for managing the team that pretty much invented what we know now as a video game cartridge. To chart this man's history, his work at Fairchild Semiconductor in the 70s allowed him to create the game Demolition Derby and the Fairchild Channel F console, which was the first time technology provided swappable licensed games that was leveraged by Atari. He went on to start his own company and work with Stevie Wonder. Luckily, he was a pioneer who lived to his 70s and was finally recognized for his work while he was alive. As I poured into this man's life through every article that I could find, I started to get emotional.
As a kid, I can't say I was fully bullied but I was definitely made fun of from to time to time for being a nerdy little girl that loved video games. I was told by cousins that video games were for white people, mainly because it was an expensive hobby that I lot of my cousins in Houston, TX just couldn't afford easily. Imagine the pride and sense of belonging I would have felt knowing that this person existed and that he contributed to the Super Nintendo cartridge I was playing with that day. Like I said, it was an INITIAL wave. it didn't last long.
It wasn't just his accomplishments that got me, it was the way he lived, the anecdotes of his personality, the joy of teaching engineering to his two children (please check out the video below), and pure twinkle and laughter that reminded me of my own childhood being raised in a home of a genius. It was pure joy telling my mother about this amazing person that I never knew about.
This experience reminded me of why I do appreciate Black History Month (whenever I can remember it's happening). When I think I know all the greats, another one is unveiled that moves me, inspires me, and either tells me that I'm not alone in this world, but also that I'm good enough to achieve as much as I dare to. Other than Jerry, here's some short snippets that also caught my attention on LinkedIn both by Belinda Kendall (the hits kept on coming with her):
Also, can we talk about the creepy Frederick Douglass reanimation by My Heritage that's been going around? Big accomplishment to see historical black figures with natural moving features, but seriously, have you seen these? I can't unsee this, so you have no choice either!
Personal Opportunities to Speak on a Variety of Platforms
You can ask a lot of my friends and former EY colleagues and they will tell you that I've always wanted to be a speaker. Besides greeting interns or doing trainings on IT Audit, I just really have content or a platform. 2021 kicked that up a notch. At Amazon, there is a Tier 2 Speaker Program that I actually avoided the first year in my role, because I didn't want to get distracted. Then, forces aligned and I ultimately didn't have a choice (there's only so many waivers on speaking engagements that you can do before your management implies that you need to get this). In late 2020, I was still a little hesitant (believe it or not) to speak. However after launching Empow(H)er Cybersecurity and stepping into a new light with blogging, gloves were off. After getting some encouragement (thank you so much Sarba Roy), I started to dip my toe in the proverbial waters. In February, I plunged into the depths and I realized the water was just fine! All in all, I was able to do 6 speaking engagements representing either AWS or Empow(H)er Cybersecurity and it has been an absolute joy! Most of the appearances are on the Media Page (some are still in the process of being edited), but what was amazing was supporting the amazing podcasts led by women and people of color who have important things to say and deserve the biggest platform to keep speaking it (shout-out to J Nicole Dove, Rachel Arnold and Alisha Jamison)! It was also so much fun partnering with awe-inspiring women, such as Winifred Obinna, Sahar Moghadam, Shanika Hope, Karie Harris, and Dr. Tiffany Bowden, and share the stage/panel. Topics ranged from experiences from women in tech and cybersecurity to a deep dive into FedRAMP.
This Black History Month, I loved being able to be part of the narrative, showing that there are talented and gifted people out there with something insightful to say. I received some constructive and inspiring feedback through this month. Ultimately, it just felt really good this year to take up space and feel like I deserved to be heard.
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