How a Medium Story Turned Into a Ted Talk

BY Anthony Frasier — Be sure to visit my personal blog

I’m from Newark, NJ. Newark is the largest city in NJ, with a little over 52% of the population being African American. After returning home in 2011 from Silicon Valley, I discovered how disconnected the city was from what was happening in the tech startup scene. With the city only being 15 minutes away from NYC by train, that was kind of hard to believe. Or was it?

Newark for years suffered from a crime and perception problem. Much of the issues are after effects of a riot that happened in 1967. The riot was sparked by a case of police brutality. Sound familiar?

Those riots turned Newark, a city that was once two-thirds white, into the poster child for “white flight.” Economically the city took a hit. And the recovery is still in progress.

It didn't help that architects came into the city designing buildings that made sure workers who came from out of town, would never have to walk the streets. Sky bridges from Newark Penn Station could take you from building to building. Resulting in low dollars being spent in the local economy.

Despite all of that, I saw hope, and I wasn’t alone. I wanted to find inspiration on how I could help build a tech community in Newark. So I researched and found the story about a thriving black community, that was actually destroyed by a riot. There was a district in Tulsa, Oklahoma called Greenwood that earned the nickname “The Black Wall Street” in the 1920's.

I first wrote a post on it on my personal blog. I identified a few steps on what we could learn from that historical movement. It got no traction on my site, so I reposted it on Medium and I finally got a few eyeballs to see it. Many people emailed me and went back to my original article to get together, and discuss.

I felt like much of the experiments I ran because of The Black Wallstreet, were parallel to Lean Startup Methodology. So I pitched it as a talk to do at Lean Startup Conference. They gladly accepted. I was excited to bridge the gap between Black History and Lean Startup.

I did my talk and it was the most awkward experience I ever had. The Lean Startup Conference is held in San Francisco, and the tech industry is dominated by white males. I knew this would be awkward, but experiencing it first hand was another story.

No one in the room except my close peers and a woman named Nathalie Molina Niño really resonated with it. Nathalie happened to be planning the next TEDxBarnard and she insisted that I speak there. Nathalie is not the type of person you can say no to. I admired her work and she has done a lot for women led startups.

But my presentation didn’t focus on women. That wasn't a requirement, but speaking at Barnard, a liberal arts college for women, I wanted to inspire young ladies. So I dug even deeper and discovered a little-known entrepreneur named Mabel Little. What's fascinating about Mabel, is she was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the entire movement. If you go back to the Greenwood District today, there is a museum modeled after her salon.

I modeled my whole presentation after her story. It's amazing how far one blog post can travel.

Feel free to hit me up at AnthonyFrasier.com. I’d love to come spread the message to your city.