Every journey starts with a first step, and "diversity in tech" conversations have been crucial in raising awareness and creating initiatives to make the industry accessible to all. In particular, closing the gender gap has become an important priority and a goal for the industry. But gender diversity efforts have been centered primarily around white women, with little attention to how gender diversity impacts women of color.

In my talk, I'll discuss how white privilege affects me as a woman of color in the industry and in diversity initiatives, as well as how the usage of the term "diversity" to loosely bring all marginalized people together without giving thought and attention to specific issues has made it harder for other groups to get much-needed visibility in their issues, and how intersectionality affects which members of marginalized groups get visibility.

In my year and a half working in the tech startup scene in New York City, I'm always surprised to learn that I'm almost always the sole native New Yorker on any team; specifically, from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States, the Bronx. Having learned to code from a fellow Bronxite who became a developer, a budding career in tech was literally the only chance I had to become upwardly mobile. In my talk I will explore the implications of a the dearth of talented individuals across communities of color & low-income areas in the tech industry, and how little exposure to startups and the tech industry is shutting out generations of young people of color from upward mobility and an industry that creates products that many of them use in their day-to-day lives.