How we created community from afar at The National Society of Black Engineers conference

Every year, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team attends a handful of tech conferences to find and hire the best talent in the industry. They’re often accompanied by other Dropbox volunteers, who tend our booths and serve as the first connection point in building relationships with attendees from other companies and all walks of life. And while 2020 changed the way we attend conferences, we’ve adapted and even strengthened the way we build community during these events.

Most recently, we (virtually) attended The National Society of Black Engineers (otherwise known as NSBE) 47th Annual Convention. The virtual conference brought together Black talent from across the U.S. for five days of panels, symposiums, workshops, and more that explored every aspect of life in tech.

More importantly, it served as an opportunity to build a community that’s relatively small (and sometimes, unfortunately, overlooked) within the tech world. Most major companies have a workforce that is less than 10% Black, making it difficult for Black talent to not only break into the industry and have the careers they want, but to feel a sense of community and inclusion within their own companies.

That’s why events like NSBE are so important, and exactly why our Dropbox teams attend and create additional events that give attendees a chance to not only connect with us, but each other — we want to facilitate the ability to connect people across our industry in a unique and fun way. When we bring our voices and experiences together, we become stronger, and are able to support each other as our industry catches up.

Akissi Lewis, who works in ITS Strategy & Operations at Dropbox, played a huge role in how we showed up at NSBE. She said, “I’ve served on the National, Regional, and Chapter boards with NSBE for many years helping plan this conference for 15,000 attendees — and this year that meant bringing the same experience virtually to our attendees.

NSBE hosts a conversation every year called Diverse by Design, where the business value of diversity and how it allows us to bring our whole selves to work is discussed. Our Dropbox panelists talked about their careers and what it is to be brown in corporate America and how we are not here to survive, but to thrive. Our legacy is opening the doors and building equity for others.

I’m here as an ITS person, but my second role (almost full-time role) is to be a DEI person. It takes no extra energy for me to help open doors for others and bring people along. The sum of the parts is what makes something great, and I just try to be great in my part.”

Another highlight of NSBE for us was the opportunity to host BlackxBuildxLead, an exclusive event that normally includes a five-star dinner experience. This year, we brought the kitchen directly to our attendees’ doorsteps, with care packages mailed before the event that included a variety of specialty snacks and drinks sourced from small, Black-owned businesses. We laughed and chatted over our treats, some of which had special meaning for participants.

The fun lasted until the very end of the conference. Lindsey Sailors, Engineering and Diversity Sourcing Manager, helped to plan NSBE events as well — including one that really brought the joy of NSBE home. She said, “A highlight for me was a dance party we held over Zoom at the end, and Danny (our head of DEI) really got down! In the wake of a really hard year, this event was the perfect balance of levity and energy that really felt so rejuvenating.”

We’re excited to continue our relationship with Black tech employees outside of NSBE; we even created a Facebook group to help people stay in touch until next time. And even though NSBE is over for now, we support Dropboxers of all backgrounds year round through our ERGs. You can learn more about them here.