We’re just going to say it: Badass women are coming to Urban Tech Connect // Forward. Our list of confirmed speakers and mentors for the three-day virtual conference includes many of the smartest, savviest professionals we know.
Being a female — especially one of color — in the tech industry can seem like a lonely uphill battle. But we’ve got your back. Urban Tech Connect is a chance to hear directly from the women shaking things up and opening doors in entrepreneurship and investing.
Lauryn Nwankpa, head of social impact at Dave, will be one of the conference hosts. Her passion is honing in on strategies that eradicate poverty, increase access to education, and alleviate wealth and income inequality. Tech pros can draw inspiration from Mamuna Oladipo, SVP of product, design, and engineering at Kickstarter and Erika Chestnut, head of quality assurance for the online appointment scheduling software company Calendly.
Speaker Morgan DeBaun built one of the largest media startups and lifestyle brands for Black Millennials with websites including Blavity.com, TravelNoire.com, and AfroTech.com. She’ll be speaking with ESPN host Rosalyn Gold-Onwude about what it actually took to grow her business.
Beatriz Acevedo is co-founder and CEO of the new platform SUMA Wealth. She raised a pre-seed round of more than $1 million — and it all came from women. We get to find out how during her live talk with Jessica Salinas, VP of investments at New Media Ventures.
Solving pervasive problems is top-of-mind for Regina Wallace-Jones, who worked for tech companies, including Motorola and Facebook, for years before becoming SVP of product and engineering at the business management software company MindBody.
Investors increasingly understand what it means to have a world-changing startup idea. That’s true of Cheryl Contee, chief innovation officer for The Impact Seat, which invests in women-led and women-of-color led innovative startups, and Juliana Garaizar, a lead investor of the Portfolia Rising America Fund focused on historically-overlooked founders. Speaking of impressive accomplishments, Unshackled Ventures investor Maria Salamanca talks about backing opportunities that bring us all forward.
The conference will also help hone your skills. Learn from Martie Burris, Salesforce’s director of product, and Britney Crooks, senior principal and lead for Accenture’s Global Blockchain and Multiparty Systems Alliance practice.
If you’re not already signed up to attend Urban Tech Connect May 18 – 20, register here. Who’s with us?
Photo: Blavity founder Morgan DeBaun. Credit: morgandebaun.com.