Take a peek inside one of the parties of the year at AfroTech

No matter whether we’re talking through the chat function during online panels, getting to know each other over snacks and bubbly in virtual hangouts, or actually cheers-ing in person, nothing can stop Dropboxers from bringing their bright personalities to tech conferences. AfroTech is just one of these events; for the second consecutive year, this virtual gathering celebrating Black excellence in tech provided the perfect venue for us to learn, grow, and come together.

The highlight of the week was our annual Dropbox @ AfroTech BlackxBuildxLead event in Austin, TX, which brought together a small group of black-identifying tech industry leaders to have intimate conversations on topics such as the future of Austin as a tech hub, challenges to success, and how we can create more opportunities in tech overall for black-identifying professionals to rise. Attendees networked, enjoyed a curated event and dinner, participated in a fun BBQ spice rub-making activity, got new headshots taken for their LinkedIn profiles, and left advice for new Dropboxers in the form of a “post-it wall” that will be displayed in the Austin office when it reopens in the future.

This night was a rare and invaluable opportunity for many attendees to connect in real life, including Senior Technical Engineering & Leadership Sourcer Jeremy Barrett, who said, “Our local BlackxBuildxLead event really allowed for an environment that embraced community in technology in a variety of skill sets, which enabled our attendees and us to build a network of talented and inspiring minority professionals for our local Austin market.”

Technical Engineering Sourcer Osagie Aisueni agreed, “It was so refreshing to be able to host an event for Black people in tech, giving them a space to come, connect, and honestly just feel really seen and appreciated for the work that they are doing across the industry. It makes me really happy and proud be apart of a company like Dropbox, where we make sure events like these happen every year.”

And it wasn’t just our own Dropboxers who left the event feeling a greater sense of community, connection, and belonging. In our surveys taken after BlackxBuildxLead, all attendees agreed that “the topics we discussed were valuable or meaningful to me” and that it was worth their time.

Ashelea Pinzon commented, “Dropbox served up an absolutely magical experience. In this industry I’ve experienced feeling isolated and/or lonely at times so it was beyond refreshing to share space with so many brilliant and impact-driven techies who look like me. The room was dripping in #blackexcellence.”

We hope that the good vibes generated at BlackxBuildxLead can linger on for quite some time. For people like Jasmine Alvey, the effects could be truly transformative. She said, “The event provided a riveting experience full of surprise and insightful conversation. I found it to be a quite empowering evening and am glad to have left it with more confidence and connections to move forward towards my goals within the tech space.”

Throughout the rest of the week, AfroTech attendees listened to and engaged with some of the best minds in our industry at virtual panels, fireside chats, and workshops. And for the first time in what felt like forever, there were even some in-person engagement events! We participated in many of the IRL happy hours taking place during AfroTech week to meet other tech professionals.

AfroTech’s unique virtual reality environment allows the avatars of attendees to “walk” around a conference hall and visit with people from other companies. Attendees who checked in at our virtual booth had the opportunity to speak with Dropbox volunteers like Technical Sourcer Lexi McKenzie, who said, “It was so cool to be able to connect with folks across different companies and locations in a virtual yet personal way. I am really grateful to represent Dropbox at AfroTech and play a part in finding diverse tech talent to join our team!”

While AfroTech may be over for now, we’re still supporting diversity at Dropbox through every method we can think of, including our ERGs. You can learn more about them here.