Blackfacts and The Wakanda Technology Platform - Technology By Us/For Us/About Us

The subject of 'Inclusion' in the Tech Industry is a hot topic today.

In 1990, when my employer at the time declined to offer to reimburse me for programming classes I was thinking of taking, the only thing I asked them for was to amend my employment agreement to not claim ownership of anything I built, or in other words, not get in my way.

They agreed, and I taught myself to code by reading books and launched a programming career that has now spanned close to three decades.

When I was able to quit that job a couple of years later from revenue from a product I wrote in my basement apartment, I realized the wide open opportunities available in the world of technology, and committed myself to creating technologies to help 'Bring Communities of Color Into the Information Age.'

Today, I have built a technology platform that powers my 23-years-running website Blackfacts.com, designed to provide Black schools, organizations and businesses with content and technology services on a global basis.

This talk will describe and demonstrate some of the components of the platform, called the Wakanda Technology Platform, inspired by a sub-text of the fictional nation of Wakanda, who was able to protect its culture and people because they were in possession of superior technology.