October marks Black History Month in the UK, an occasion to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black people to British society.
Black people from African and Caribbean communities have been integral to British history and society for centuries.
The UK Black History Month 2023 theme is “Saluting our Sisters”, highlighting Black women’s crucial role in shaping history, inspiring change and building communities.
CIO reported that just 0.7% of Black women in the UK work in the IT industry, compared to 1.8% across the UK’s entire workforce.
They also found that Black women face many obstacles, including discrimination and being accused by colleagues or superiors of being merely “diversity hires.”
Some Black women in roles from junior developer and software engineer told the CIO they felt they must work harder than colleagues to get recognition and are more closely scrutinized by senior leaders.
Despite these challenges, Black British women continue to break barriers across the tech, innovating and shaping all corners of the industry.
Here, we spotlight a few we think you should know.
Jacky Wright – Senior Partner Chief Technology & Platform Officer McKinsey & Co
London-born Jacky Wright is a global technology leader who has broadly impacted business transformation and social issues.
She serves as McKinsey & Co’s first chief technology and platform officer while leading their technology portfolio and strategy.
Wright has over 20 years of experience helping some of the world’s leading institutions leverage technology to drive innovation, adopt sustainable and accessible business models and digitally transform.
She also served as Chief Digital Officer at Microsoft and Corporate Vice President for over six years.
Adanna Igbokwe – Solutions Engineer at Zoom
Adanna Igbokwe joined Zoom in 2018, initially as a Sales Engineer. In April this year, she began her role as a Technical Account Manager for Zoom.
She is also a leader in the Women and Black network at Zoom in the UK; she champions the need for more inclusivity and diversity in IT and uses the opportunity to highlight the contributions, awareness, and impact being made in the community.
She has over 20 years of IT experience to date.
June Angelides – Founder & Investor
June Angelides was born in London, raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and then moved back to London at 17.
She currently works for Samos Investments, investing in high-growth European businesses, but before this, she started the first child-friendly coding school in the UK, Mums in Tech.
Her coding school taught over 250 women to code over three years before closing in 2017.
Angelides also held roles on the Venture Debt and Early Stage Banking Team at Silicon Valley Bank. She is a mentor at Oxford University, where she runs mentoring circles for founders and aspiring VCs.
Nneka Abulokwe – Founder at MicroMax Consulting
Nneka Abulokwe is a British Nigeran tech and digital governance entrepreneur who founded MicroMax Consulting, a boutique consultancy firm, in 2017.
MicroMax specializes in board and executive-level advisory services in technology, digital and governance to foster organizational cohesion and drive positive digital cultures.
Jessie Auguste – Software Engineer at CybSafe
Jessie Auguste has worked at CybSafe for over four years and spent over two years as a Software Engineer.
She is also the co-founder and co-host of the Glowing in Tech podcast, which is powered by Coding Black Females and aims to amplify the voices of Black women in tech.
She has a passion for equality, diversity and inclusion and also volunteers with organizations that help underrepresented people get into the tech industry.
Chelsea Maffia – Founder of Edtech Startup, Play Morgan Studios
Chelsea Maffia founded Play Morgan Studios, an ed-tech startup, in 2020 to revolutionize education through gamification.
Maffia studied Business and Management at the University of Greenwich for two years.
She writes on her LinkedIn through her work at Play Morgan Studios; she is committed to transforming how individuals learn while empowering them to reach their full potential.
Play Morgan Studio’s first release, Fluency Runner is currently the only language-learning mobile game available.
