Darrell Booker, Tech Equity Evangelist
As Black employees, we’re not put into the positions to be able to be heard and to be able to give our opinions like white counterparts do. It’s been that way for me since I was 17 – there was no black person in tech to look up to and I hid my geekness, and my gifts, because of it.
ATLANTA (PRWEB)
June 02, 2021
Darrell Booker, Technology Strategist and Program Manager for the Nonprofit Tech Acceleration for Black and African-American Communities (NTA) at Microsoft Philanthropies, doesn’t have any role models in the tech community that look like him. Why?
As someone who’s dedicated his professional career to working in tech, Booker observed, “We’re not put into the positions to be able to be heard and to be able to give our opinions like white counterparts do. It’s been that way for me since I was 17 – there was no black person in tech to look up to and I hid my geekness, and my gifts, because of it.”
Black and brown employees are on their own treadmill to prove themselves in the workplace, and tech is no exception. By the time someone gets to the point where they could become a role model, they’re both exhausted and they need to conform to the system of the entity that’s elevated them if they want to continue to get the visibility required.
“Those who get elevated to possibly be a role model have done so because they conformed into a model of a person to get things done. They’re no longer ‘real ones’ – they morphed into another person. Within the community we can spot the fake ones. We need more platforms to [elevate] the real ones and to really let the world know as a black community what our struggles are and what we need as a community.”
For Booker, it’s time to let the other possible Darrells out there know: you’re not alone. He is here to be a vessel for understanding and advancing those that look like him within the Tech Community.
As the Program Manager for the Nonprofit Tech Acceleration for Black and African-American Communities (NTA) at Microsoft Philanthropies, Booker creates and leads these initiatives from a place of authenticity and a desire to build up his community.
“When you feel like you walk into a room and the odds are stacked against you the second you walk in you can’t show up as the best person you need to be. I started coding at 17 in a full time job, with benefits and the whole nine. I was young, black, and felt like I had to come in as the perfect figure they were looking for because I know there are some things I can’t change. At the end of the day all of the conforming didn’t make a difference, so I decided to show up for myself. I didn’t want to wear the white man uniform of the blue shirt and khaki pants anymore, and I decided if everyone else can show up and be them, I can show up and be me,” said Booker.
Booker is scheduled to appear Friday, June 4 at an event for the 2021 and 8th Annual ED Games Expo, a showcase of game-changing innovations in education technology supported by programs across government. Technical assistance for this event was provided by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the event is hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Serious Games Initiative, with leadership from Johnson C. Smith University. The event will be live-streamed from 12:00pm–4:00pm ET.
Connect with Darrell Booker at hi@talktodarrell.com. Listen to his complete interview with Tracy Kronzak on Why IT Matters for more from Darrell on being Black in Tech and why it matters to make changes inside of tech now.
To book an interview with Darrell, or get a red carpet invite for his upcoming Space Jams: A New Legacy / NTA events contact gigi@gigipeterkin.com.
ABOUT DARRELL BOOKER
The “Techie’s Favorite Techie,” Darrell Booker is a Technology Strategist and the Program Manager for the Nonprofit Tech Acceleration for Black and African-American Communities (NTA) at Microsoft Philanthropies. With more then 25 years experience in over 7 business sectors, Booker has helped hundreds of bring efficiency, innovation and peace of mind to their business through improved technology roadmaps, product development, and strategic planning.
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