On December 1st, 2018 Pariss Chandler, a front end web developer, made a call on Twitter that sparked a movement. She asked what may seem like a simple question yet it had a huge impact. 

In the thread, people felt seen, even Serena Williams joined in, and a community was ignited to bring opportunity to many talented folks who had too often been overlooked. 

Black and Latina women make up less than 8% of the computing workforce,

so many of us are left feeling incredibly alone, tokenized, and exhausted from daily code-switching to survive in our places of work where we spend the majority of our time. The myth is that there isn’t black talent, and while black people may be underrepresented that does not mean the talent is not there, it is often overlooked or people don’t have the connections to break into the industry. 

So Pariss didn’t leave it to a thread on twitter, she saw an opportunity to have a major impact in the Black Tech community. After transitioned from an aesthetician to a technologist herself she often felt alone and unwelcome. Jaisha from the OutCo team got to have a real and honest conversation about her journey in tech, impact, and how she aims to have black and underrepresented folks be involved in the future of technology read the full interview below. 

Was your transition into the tech industry easy?

The steps I went through to get into tech makes me want to say yes, because of the program I went through, Resilient Coders. It’s a boot camp that teaches and pays people of color to code. We learned to code but then they also introduced us to their network, and once you have a network it makes it easier to access these tech spaces. Networking was my blessing, but culturally, it was hard and it still is. Before I became a technologist, I was a wax specialist, a waitress, and a hostess, and things like that.

Being in those industries, I was always around people who looked like me. I never felt different, I just felt like I was with my people. After leaving the boot camp where I was with people of color, I moved to an environment that has predominantly white people. At my internship, everyone was white and male. It was hard to make friends and it was very uncomfortable.

I felt like I couldn't be myself, or else I would be perceived as the “black girl.”

So, I went through that and after that internship, I got my first job at a startup. They were all white women, I was the only black woman, and they swore that they were diverse because they were women. 

I get that but you all look exactly the same and come from the same types of neighborhoods and backgrounds. They did not treat me the way they would treat each other. 

I was excluded, totally. They didn’t invite me anywhere, and when they spoke to me, it was like they were scared of me. I don’t know, it was just a really negative shitty experience. After almost a year there, they fired me.

I got another job, and it was the same exact thing. I was the only black person in the entire company. I dealt with the same thing. I couldn’t make friends, people didn’t want to talk to me and I didn’t know why. People would join the company after me and they were white and they took to them graciously, but then they would want nothing to do with me. That’s what’s hard, It made me question if I wanted to stay in this industry because feeling like this is not worth it. 

What would you say really helped you the most in your transition into the tech industry?

Community - coming from the Resilient Coders boot camp, coming from an environment of people of color who understood where I was coming from. Just having them for support even if I wasn’t with them physically. I always felt like I could go to them. I could Slack them, text them, call them.

Having people I knew I could rely on and vent to that would understand me. That’s what really kept me here in this industry. 

What advice would you give a younger you?

Give things a real chance. Don’t look at it from the outside and think “No, that’s not for me.” You might be leaving an opportunity on the table. If I didn’t get into tech, I’d think it was boring, difficult and only for “smart” people. If I didn’t give it the chance that I did, I wouldn’t have landed where I am now and built this community that I love so much. It allows me to not only apply my technical skills but also talk about Diversity and Inclusion and intertwining my passions along with my ideas.

 So, just give things a chance and don’t just knock it off right away. 

What would you like to see in the future of Tech?

I want to see more black and brown people. It’s important because right now it’s dangerous. The fact that there is a lack of representation because we look at things like Artificial Intelligence, and what they are using to incarcerate black men. 

When there is a lack of representation of our people it’s dangerous because you're building these products and software that don’t include us. 

So when you’re forgetting about us or you’re building things with police, or using Artificial Intelligence, black and brown people should be included and have a say in it as well. We have to have a say in it and we have to be helping build these systems.

How do you envision Black Tech Pipeline contributing to Diversity and Inclusion and making a big change in Tech?

Black Tech Pipeline is a service-based platform. Opportunity extenders, aka white people in positions to hire, come to me and let me know that they are hiring or they need a speaker from a more diverse background because they are making an effort to create change within their environment, which can be either a workplace or a conference. I have a vetted database full of candidates from #BlackTechTwitter. I check through their resumes and make sure they have the skill sets/qualifications to recommend.

Once someone gets hired out of Black Tech Pipeline I have mandatory welfare checks and keep in contact with them every two weeks to make sure they are happy and that things are going as planned or if they are having any issues. 

That’s an understanding with the employer, that I’m going to do welfare checks, and if there is any issue especially surrounding Diversity and Inclusion, I will let the employer know as feedback that will help improve the workplace. That’s the reason why the employers come to me in the first place. 

I also offer consultations on how to make a workplace more inclusive. I don’t do that based on just how I see it only. I hold research studies with people from #BlackTechTwitter and the community on Black Tech Pipeline. 

I ask people in the program to “tell me about your experience when you entered Tech.” “What do you wish was different?” “What issues have you come across that you know need improvement, in regards to being the only black person at work?”. I’m offering the feedback and data that I’m getting from those research studies to these companies.

  

Since the start of #BlackTechTwitter, do you feel like it's getting to where you want it to be? Are the needs of the community being met?

Yes. I’ve been working with companies to get more black technologists into their companies, it had been informally. So now I am actually creating a business and making a whole new website. I am really excited for what’s to come. I want to use #Blacktechtwitter and Black Tech Pipeline to help get more black and brown people into tech. I also want it to be this platform that allows opportunity extenders (A.K.A white people) to come to learn about Diversity and Inclusion. 

I want to teach them what’s the difference between “women of color” versus “black and brown women.” Basically, consulting on how to make your workplace truly inclusive for everyone.

Can you speak more about how you feel about the distinction of when people use “POC” or “WOC” versus Black and Brown folk or Black and Brown women?

When I think of women of color, I think of anyone outside of the black community. For example, I am half Black and half Puerto Rican, but when you see me you see a Black woman. I get a lot of slack for this from my Puerto Rican side, but honestly, when I think of women of color, I think of Asian, Latina, or White-Latina, and everything else that isn’t African American or Black. When I think of a Black woman, I think African American woman, and you're very apparently black too. 

Do you see yourself in the Tech industry in the coming years?

Yes, but not necessarily coding. I want to help by bringing in more black and brown technologists. 

What does success mean to you?

Success means Freedom, freedom, and happiness. Happiness is defined by however you see it as an individual…

but for me, freedom is not having to rely on people to progress. I think you always have to in some sense rely on people, but if you have that 9-5 and your boss is like “Okay you’re out, you’re done”, and it’s like “shit, what do I do now?”

I always want to have that back up plan so that if something did ever happen, I know I will always be okay because I have something on my own that I’m building and that is hopefully contributing in a good way to society and to those who need it. 

You can find Pariss and follow her journey on Twitter @ParissAthena and support Black Tech Pipeline at BlackTechPipeline.com and @BTPipeline on Twitter. 

At Outco we’re dedicated to empowering the next generation of technologists, we’re proud to tell the stories of people like Pariss. Find out about events, our courses, and hear about more amazing people making an impact in the tech space today by subscribing to our blog, newsletter and following us on social media.