When I was a PM working at a shopping loyalty startup, I was afraid to talk to my co-workers about the very real social issues that our industry was creating. I was even afraid to tell my co-workers that I was trying to mitigate some of these issues by running a social impact program for young professionals outside of work. I didn't want anyone to know that I was leaving work early to volunteer. Now that I organize young tech professionals for social good full-time, so many people tell me that they are hesitant to speak up, too.
When I did speak up, I found that people were actually very receptive. My hypothesis is that many tech workers DO care and DO want to get more familiar with issues like diversity, inclusion and social justice--they don't know where to start. How might we, as diverse tech people, bring these important conversations to our friends and co-workers? And, how might we build allies so that we are not harmed in our efforts to educate others?