None of this is normal. Nor is it inevitable.
With the Trump administration on the offense against inclusivity, and Big Tech beating a preemptive retreat, champions of responsible innovation and diversity at South by Southwest in Austin this week set their sights on what some already are calling “the after.”
“In times of chaos there’s a chance to disrupt the status quo and build something better, something truly equitable,” Shawna Young of Camelback Ventures told ImpactAlpha.
Camelback was among dozens of builders of inclusive tech ecosystems around the country that arrived at the Austin tech and cultural festival under the banner of “equitech.” The movement, originating in Baltimore, is creating a culture of belonging in tech and providing a haven for leaders under attack.
The current moment, Young added, “offers an opportunity to reimagine what’s possible.”
Over the last decade, New Orleans-based Camelback’s fellowship has supported more than 175 diverse entrepreneurs within a system that Young calls “fundamentally inequitable.”
Preemptive retreat
Since Trump’s election, tech companies including Meta and Salesforce have scaled back their diversity strategies. Others, including Apple, have so-far held their ground against anti-diversity efforts and highlighted the weakness demonstrated by Big Tech’s preemptive compliance with threats from the Trump administration.
The buzz at SXSW: The $175 million raise by Cherryrock Capital. The venture capital firm led by Stacy Brown-Philpot and Saydeah Howard last month raised a large first fund in a tough fundraising environment to back diverse and underinvested founders of growth-stage digital health, fintech and future of work startups.
“One of the things that we’re grappling with right now, both inside of the industry and in the broader society, is a crisis of imagination,” said Kamala Avila-Salmon of Kas Kas Productions. “I’m seeing, especially in this moment, so much preemptive acquiescence.”
‘Equitech’ upsurge
In Austin, a defiant and diverse mix of agents of impact are telling their own stories to shape what comes next.
For each of the last 200 weeks, Upsurge Baltimore has convened an increasingly diverse group of diverse innovators for #EquitechTuesdays to celebrate Baltimore’s growing tech ecosystem. In Detroit, Black Tech Saturdays meets weekly to boost African American representation and entrepreneurship in the tech industry.
“Too often, people have been gatekeeped, blocked at the door, and told, ‘You don’t look like who we think you should, so you don’t get to participate,” said Upsurge Baltimore’s Kory Bailey at the Equitech Welcome Breakfast, the annual confab for diverse innovators organized outside of official SXSW proceedings. ImpactAlpha was Equitech’s media sponsor.
With the share of venture capital funding going to women and people of color stuck in the single digits, diverse entrepreneurs and innovators have been building their own, more inclusive tech spaces in cities around the US.
“What would it look like to unlock innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth by focusing the effort, intention, resources, assets and networks on the best ideas, no matter where they come from?” said Bailey. In Baltimore, he said, that means supporting good ideas coming from Johns Hopkins, Morgan State and University of Maryland, as well as east and west Baltimore.
Making the Equitech scene were Ashley Phillips of Just and Preston James of DivInc, and Adam Phillips of Techstars and Athletes Innovate Ventures. Also attending: Village Capital’s Alyssa Padron, Aniyia Williams of Omidyar Network, Lohas’ Rick Davis, Sandy Eapen of Eapen Impact, Brian Edwards of CSD Social Venture Fund and Carta’s Maria Pope.
Triumph over tragedy
In Alabama, TechBirmingham and its annual Sloss Tech conference are promoting the city’s inclusive tech ecosystem as a catalyst for economic growth. “A lot of people are familiar with Birmingham’s tragedy,” said Deon Gordon of TechBirmingham, referring to the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church by the KKK which took the lives of four Black girls. “Fewer people are aware of its triumph.”
Triumph over tragedy means cities like Birmingham are ready to fight for a place in a tech ecosystem that’s increasingly hostile to outsiders, said Gordan.
Such inclusive ecosystems are underrepresented at SXSW. That led Modern Tender’s Laurie Felker Jones, a Texas organizer turned inclusive tech ecosystem builder, to help bring equitech from Baltimore, Detroit and Birmingham to SXSW in Austin. Jones’ connector tool keeps founders, founders and ecosystem builders connected year-round.
“This is a very challenging time and there’s harm being done to people and institutions and processes, and that’s not new,” Jones said at this year’s breakfast. “And as much as there are challenges, there is joy. There is prosperity.”
On a panel at The Light House, a separate weekend pop-up event organized by Omidyar Network’s The Tech We Want, TV and film producer Avila-Salmon spoke about the need to center human stories in the digital age.
Instead of compliance, “we need to be telling stories that show people being fearless, being bold, and deviating from falling in line,” Avila-Salmon continued. Such stories, she said, help people believe they can be Agents of Impact.
“They can be agents of progress inside of this ecosystem.”
