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Plug In South LA Presents

Urban Tech Connect

METAMORPHOSIS

Conference 2022

Premier Tech Conference for Black & Brown Founders

live event
october 20

UTC 2022: Metamorphosis is a conference on the adaptations needed in the tech industry and thereby, the businesses and people within it.

What is your capacity for big, meaningful change? Whether you’re fundraising, looking for a job, hiring, or looking to level up in general, the Black and Latinx community has so much to offer that we must demand change (metamorphosis) from ourselves to help reach success and change the tech industry, through the businesses and people within it.

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Founders and entrepreneurs require lot of support and insight, from idea creation to capital raising, and beyond.

The leading tech conference for the Black and Latinx community is back, and more primed than ever to bring valuable advice, new relationships, career support, and access to the best and most diverse talent within the wildly changing tech industry — a vital one-day conference on a virtual stage.

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Intimate masterminds, keynotes, and panels on our virtual stage.

What is your niche? Is it Gaming? Sustainability? Consumer Web? Big Tech? Your next career goals depend on action and community. If you’re raising money and growing a startup, or seeking faster career growth through added skills and strategy, the Plug In community has your back at UTC. Our line up of professionals, VCs, mentors and mentees alike, forms an opportunity to turbo charge your METAMORPHOSIS through this meaningful conference. Sometimes the catalyst to your growth is, drum roll….simply showing up.

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benefits.

Office Hours
and Networking

It’s one thing to listen as part of an audience, but for real connection and serendipitous relationships to form, we created Office Hours and expanded conference networking. This is where we go from learning to collaborating to finding perfect partnerships.

keynotes
you care about

Curated keynotes, panels, and workshops into specific career tracks for you. Student? Looking for a gig? Have a business? Need funding? Looking for talent? Looking to invest? We have speakers and agenda blocks catered to you.

pre-recorded
content

Click content you want to see on demand if you want to depart from the schedule and dive into what really attracts you. It’s virtual, so roam free like you would at a conference center during a normal year. Soak in the conference again after it’s over to let key moments sink in further and further.

virtual
sessions

Virtual sessions to learn about various innovative companies and start up founders, technology solutions, and job opportunities. Join over 400+ Founders, Entrepreneurs and Students who all want to be plugged into high quality Founders, Start Ups, Tech Companies, and Resource providers.

confirmed speakers.

Crystal Adesanya

CEO, Kiira Health

Jesse Draper

Founding Partner, Halogen Ventures

Jasper Brand

Principal, Bitkraft

Kameale Terry

CEO, ChargerHelp

Natalie King

Founder & CEO, DunamisCharge

Paul Francis

CEO & Co-Founder, Kigt

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agenda.

9:30AM — 4:00PM

Urban Tech Connect

Urban Tech Connect 2022 kicks off with one-on-one interviews, talks, workshops, exhibitors, and breakout sessions for next-gen founders — plus a networking lunch.

9:30AM — 1:30PM

Office Hours

Connect with founders, venture capitalists, angel investors, marketing gurus, product developers, software engineers, and other pros. Dive into your business challenges and opportunities during a meeting with an expert. Tech companies will also be on hand to conduct informational interviews.

10:00AM — 12:00PM

Workshops, Talks, and Breakout Sessions

Engineers, product managers, founders, and corporate execs offer an inside look at where tech is headed and how it can create financial independence for next-gen founders. Get up to speed on emerging job, tech, and startup opportunities in and around Los Angeles.

9:30AM — 2:00PM

Team and Company Headshots

Founders, take your online presence to the next level with fresh high-res headshots by a professional photographer for use on social media and your company’s website.

11:00AM — 2:00PM

Exhibition Hall

Meet a diverse group of tech companies, venture capitalists, and resource providers at their booths. Get plugged into the technological, creative, financial, and venture capital advancements that are shaping the startup scene in SoCal and beyond.

12:00PM — 1:00PM

Networking Lunch

TBD

Live Pitching

Founders race the clock to pitch their companies effectively before a panel of experts.

1:00PM — 4:00PM

Workshops, Talks, and Breakout Sessions

Engineers, product managers, founders, and corporate execs offer an inside look at where tech is headed and how it can create financial independence for next-gen founders. Get up to speed on emerging job, tech, and startup opportunities in and around Los Angeles.

partners.

about plug in.

Plug In brings together entrepreneurs, founders, VCs, innovators and emerging talent for conversations and networking focused on creating a community and hub for innovation in South LA and beyond.

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www.kiira.io

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Crystal Adesanya

CEO, Kiira Health

About Crystal

Crystal Adesanya is the CEO & Founder of Kiira Health. Kiira Health is the first of its kind, a telemedicine company revolutionizing the women's health space starting with colleges and Universities. Crystal created Kiira Health to address Women's health inequities for young women of color. Crystal is a 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, was named entrepreneur magazine's 100 most powerful women in 2020, and has been featured in publications such as Forbes, TechCrunch, Med City News, and more. Crystal is also the Founder of FemHealthTech, a yearly healthcare conference centered around women's health innovation and technology.

How do you define 'metamorphosis' in relation to tech and/or entrepreneurship?

I believe making big, meaningful change starts with having an idea that has the capacity to change the world and executing on it. Change starts with a small spark but needs the fire that comes with passion, hard work, and commitment that is the core of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are constant learners and change makers who can pivot to solve big problems with the same mission in mind. That's what metamorphosis in tech is all about. Finding big problems to solve that will change the lives of millions in an ever-changing world.

What's your 'metamorphosis' like from where you started to career to where you are now?

I came to the US as an international student without a lot of options for work. I became an entrepreneur by necessity very early with an end goal of eventually becoming an attorney. My business took off, and I knew I had to build something special but building Kiira came out of a personal health experience and a need to change healthcare through technology. I had to take a big risk to not pursue law and pour my work into building a company with the capacity of changing millions of lives and that is what truly transformed me into who I am today.

halogenvc.com

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Jesse Draper

Founding Partner,
Halogen Ventures

About Jesse

Jesse Draper is a mother of 3 boys, founding partner of Halogen Ventures and focused on early stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Draper is a Kauffman Fellow and 4th generation venture capitalist. She is a fierce advocate for investing in women and the opportunity for using technology and innovation to solve some of the biggest issues facing women and families today. Among her 70+ portfolio companies, are the Skimm, ThirdLove, HopSkipDrive, The Flex Company, Squad (acquired by Twitter), Eloquii (sold to Walmart) and This is L (sold to P&G).

bitkraft.vc

Linkedin

Jasper Brand

Principal, BITKRAFT Ventures

About Jasper

Jasper is a Principal at BITKRAFT Ventures where he identifies and evaluates new investment opportunities. Furthermore, he provides strategic and operational assistance to BITKRAFT portfolio companies while being a helping hand in their long-term positioning for growth. Jasper conducts market and segment deep-dives to develop investment hypotheses for the team. Besides a history in traditional sports competing as a golfer on a national level in Germany, he has always been dedicated to esports since his early childhood, reaching the top percentiles of players across different major game titles.

dunamisenergy.com

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Natalie King

Founder & CEO, DunamisCharge

About Natalie

Natalie King is the founder and CEO of Dunamis Clean Energy Partners, LLC, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Dunamis Charge. Under her leadership, Dunamis has grown into a multi-million-dollar corporation with more than 150 workers throughout Southeastern Michigan. Natalie's innovative vision for Dunamis has resulted in creating a diversified portfolio of products and services, including LED lighting and Electric Vehicle Charger manufacturing, as well as energy efficiency and environmental service solutions.

King has over 14 years of experience in the green energy industry. Under her leadership, Dunamis has grown into a multi-million-dollar corporation with over 150 employees.

kigtinc.com

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Paul Francis

CEO & Co-Founder, Kigt

About Paul

Paul Francis is the CEO of KIGT. KIGT is involved with helping South LA transition to a plug-in lifestyle, in partnership with community-based organizations conducting several EV Charging Station projects. Since founding KIGT in 2009, Paul francis has conducted EV and EV Charging 60 Day Pilot Projects with municipalities, including a vehicle-to-grid demonstration for the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. KIGT eChargers can also be found at college campuses like the University of La Verne and the University of California Riverside (UCR). Paul serves on the board of South LA's Victory Community Foundation as well as on the subcommittee of the California Energy Commission's CalSEED Fund. The CalSEED fund invests up to $600,000 in grant funding for early-stage ideas from entrepreneurs with new energy concepts. In addition to duties as CEO, Francis is the California Chapter Vice President of the American Association of Black in Energy (AABE), a reader of 65+ books annually, and still finds time to meditate daily.

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