Can Silicon Prairie Lead the Way in Tech Diversity?

Black Tech Women
Aug 24, 2017 · 5 min read

Views from the inaugural Disrupt Indy

by Antonette Burroughs, TechPoint Sales Bootcamp Graduate & Enterprise Sales Executive

Disrupt Indy: Redefining the Path to Inclusion in Technology — a Midwest Tech Diversity Summit — was hosted August 2nd-4th at the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis. Kelli N. Jones and Jeff Williams, principals of Be Nimble Co, an Indianapolis-based organization working to increase diversity and inclusion in the tech sector, hosted this inaugural conference.

Attendees were from the entire spectrum of Indianapolis tech, from tiny startups to our premier software giant, Salesforce. Participants came from Chicago, Dallas and beyond. Being in Indianapolis at Disrupt Indy was the hottest ticket; in fact, by Friday, #DisruptIndy was trending on social media.

Image by Antonette Burroughs

The Beginning

I experienced an early preview of Disrupt Indy at the VIP Kick-Off mixer, held Wednesday in the gallery of a hip downtown hotel, The Alexander. Guests were greeted with a unique, signature cocktail called the Startup Sangria, which I heard was quite delicious. I had the opportunity to connect with Rochelle Oaleye of Salesforce and Nashara Mitchell of Butler University who were both excited for the conference and happily surprised to learn more about the mission of Black Tech Women!

The City of Indianapolis Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, Angela Smith-Jones, opened the conference with a dynamic keynote speech where she outlined the public and private initiatives to develop the Indianapolis tech sector. Specifically, she talked about how it’s smart business to appeal to a diverse customer base to grow revenues. Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was also in attendance, further demonstrating the city’s commitment to inclusion in this booming industry.

D&I Makes Good Business Sense

Yaw Aning, Founder & CEO of Sticksnleaves, led the How Diversity Sparks Innovation session, highlighting research completed by the Harvard Business Review and McKinsey & Company. The McKinsey study showed diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better than expected, and the HBR report found that team members who share customer ethnicity are 152% more likely to understand their customers.

Yaw’s talk was enhanced by his personal account of growing up in Minnesota with immigrant parents from Ghana. As a child, he was singled out as “the whitest black kid”. Through the support of his driven parents, he was exposed to the myriad of opportunities, including BDPA, rising above the teasing. Although he was adamant against becoming a software engineer, he eventually developed Pocket Tales, an online children’s reading game. Aning went on to become a serial entrepreneur and was recently recognized as a rising star in the 2017 Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) 40 under 40.

Image by Antonette Burroughs

How to Mitigate ‘Culture Fit’

RJ Talyor, Founder & CEO of Quantifi, coordinated a power panel of voices that detailed The Tactics of Building a Diverse & Inclusive Tech Workforce. Ade Olonoh, CEO & Founder of Jell and Executive Chairman at Formstack, gave an example of how he handles “culture fit” use by hiring managers to disqualify a candidate. He asks which specific tenet of the culture is the candidate missing to ensure it that culture fit does not become a catch-all to disqualify otherwise qualified candidates. There was a spirited discussion around including older workers in the D&I conversation, due to the growing realization that ageism is affecting many would-be tech employees. Older workers are often denied opportuntiies based on perceived weaknesses instead of realizing their potential contribution in adding balance to a youngish team.

James Loduca, Director of Equality Programs at Salesforce, gave the perfect ending to this panel with a slide on how to be a good, effective ally and tips for approaching challenging discussions of diversity and inclusion.

The Closing

The closing session of Disrupt Indy featured two speakers, Josh Driver, Founder & CEO of Open For Service, and Kristen Cooper, Founder & CEO of The Startup Ladies. Josh focused on LGBTQ in Tech, and how he launched the “Open for Service” campaign in response to the controversial 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). It included prominent stickers placed on businesses to let everyone know they are welcome as well as inclusion in an online database dedicated to identifying businesses who do not discriminate. Personally, I’ve patronized these businesses, excited to know they welcome everyone. It’s wonderful to see how one person with a simple idea has made such a deep impact on our community.

Image by The Boston Globe

Kristen’s talk “Women in Tech” was outstanding. Her black t-shirt with “Feminist” emblazoned across the chest in white text made a powerful statement. I previously met her at a Startup Ladies luncheon and was excited to see her in full power as she commanded the stage and called out the Indianapolis establishment for not having more white male executive representation at Disrupt Indy. She made the case for equal pay for women and directed us to her LinkedIn profile for her 26-point Action Plan for Equality. Her focus is grooming and training men to support women and to be led by women. Her direct, no-nonsense style appealed to me deeply. Her energy was palpable and contagious, and I’m optimistic the Indianapolis Tech community will embrace her very practical ideas and action plan.

Jeff Williams concluded the Disrupt Indy by inviting us to hug our neighbor. Me being ever awkward and super bashful, I looked to my left and right, dreading the request and hoping no one was nearby. However, a couple of steps away was one of the male panelists who’d spoken earlier. Surely he saw the trepidation on my face but he opened his arms welcoming me in, I stepped toward him for an embrace. What a simple, meaningful way to end the day, with a one-to-one human connection between two seemingly very different people united around a common goal.


Disrupt Indy is a conference for thought leaders, innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and techies to unpack the diversity problem and create solutions to increase the number of women, minorities and members of the LGBTQ community in tech.

Learn more about Black Tech Women, the premier community for black women in tech by visiting our website and following us on instagram and twitter.

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