step out of their comfort zones and reach out to groups that are under-represented in their companies, not just wait for them to come knocking.
“It’s about looking around and finding the best talent, no matter where it is, and creating it—or creating opportunities,” she says. “Because the talent is innate. It’s there. It’s about looking beyond what you already know, and being willing to open yourself up to the fact that somebody else might be smarter than you that doesn’t look like you or doesn’t have the same background as you.”
The bottom line is, she adds, people must want to take the time to get into the communities that they’re not used to.
Dziko founded TAF with the theory that “if we flood the industry with qualified people of color who are interested in the field, how are they [big tech employers] going to say no?” Dziko says. “My theory was wrong back then, because they can say no, and they have said no.”
Today, with a burgeoning startup scene in Seattle and a national emphasis on entrepreneurship, Dziko has a different view of how to get under-represented minorities into the tech field.
“Now, I think, the big thing is getting these kids to do things on their own terms,” Dziko says. “Entrepreneurship. Working for small companies who actually give a damn—not trying to go to the big companies. … It takes a little more work, and they may not make as much money if they’re working for the smaller companies, but it’s getting them in there, and getting them in the space where they can be who they are, and have that experience.”
Startups like Glowforge, the Seattle company that just completed the largest crowdfunding campaign ever—taking preorders for upwards of $27.9 million of its laser cutters in a month—would appear to be a great fit for this strategy. Earlier this year, Glowforge instituted a diversity bounty to reward people who point job applicants from under-represented groups toward the company.
Co-founder and CEO Dan Shapiro said in September that two out of the company’s three most recent hires came from under-represented groups. One hire was referred through the bounty program; the other had heard of it and that was part of what attracted her to apply.
Other leading startup organizations are also pledging to do better. Techstars made a high-profile commitment to diversity, setting a goal of doubling the number of women and under-represented minorities in its accelerator programs over the next four years.
This could be another way Seattle startups—and the region’s broader innovation economy—distinguishes itself. (See Vikram Jandhyala’s argument for why Seattle should be working toward more inclusive, democratic innovation, published at GeekWire.)
We’ll be talking about it on Friday at Seattle 2035, Xconomy’s conference on the future, with Dziko, Shapiro, Cynthia Tee, executive director of the Ada Developers Academy, a coding school geared for women making a mid-career transition; and Ruchika Tulshyan, author of “The Diversity Advantage: Fixing Gender Inequality In The Workplace“. Find out more here and please join us.
