Throughout February, Collibra celebrated US Black History Month by organizing events that highlighted the theme of ‘Black Excellence in Tech.’ BLEND*, our Black and Latinx employee resource group (ERG), organized five inspiring, impactful and educational events for the entire company to participate in.
What is US Black History Month?
US Black History Month celebrates and recognizes the achievements of the Black and African American community and their central role in US history. But why is Black History Month celebrated in February? To learn the answer read this article.
A Fireside Chat with industry leaders
As our flagship celebration, we hosted a ‘Black Excellence in Technology’ panel with industry leaders from PwC, Accenture and Calm, and a former US Department of Defense executive. We focused the discussion on community achievements and discussed the ways in which companies can promote racial equity. The topics we explored included: career and industry spotlights, and the ways that data and technology are creating new solutions for underrepresented communities.
We had a great turnout and lots of positive feedback for this event, with Collibrians dialing in from all over the globe. In fact, the words of our Collibrians really demonstrate the impact of the discussion on our employees:
“As a parent of two Black girls, and as a guy who dreams of, and works for, a better, fairer world for them and all people of color, I applaud and thank you all for your strength, bravery, efforts and accomplishments. Thank you.”
“This was a very powerful and engaging discussion, and an eye-opening chat. I am glad that I attended it. Thank you everyone!”
We would like to say a huge thank you to our speakers for joining us:
- Tunji Akintokun MBE: Director, Product and Solutions Group, PwC
- Chloé Leonard: Strategy & Consulting Manager, Accenture
- Kaya Thomas: Senior Software Engineer, Calm; Founder of We Read Too
- Essye Miller: President of Executive Business Management (EBM) LLC; Former Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer, Department of Defense
We learned, laughed and held the space for an important conversation.
Sponsoring Black Girls Code
Tech is a male dominated industry. It is not easy for women to break into this space, especially for Black women. This is why BLEND chose to sponsor Black Girls Code through a community fundraiser. Black Girls Code is a non-profit organization which aims to increase the number of Black female coders working in technology. With the support of Collibra and friends we achieved 101% of our target, which is awesome to see.
Celebrating Black inventors
At Collibra, innovation is core to our values. We honor and celebrate innovation in all that we do. This month we focused on Black excellence in technology through an internal campaign spotlighting Black innovators. This inspirational campaign facilitated conversations around the organization and raised awareness of Black trailblazers in their fields.
Collibra Cooks Caribbean
We closed the month with a special edition of Collibra Cooks, our virtual cooking program. Our very own Pamela Jones, a Customer Success Manager at Collibra, cooked up a delicious Caribbean meal near and dear to her heart. Collibrians made their way to their kitchens and tuned in to learn about some mouth-watering delights. We laughed, learned and leaned into the spirit of community.
Celebrating with Data Citizens
We hosted a series of activities in the Data Citizens community. These included interactive challenges and opportunities to connect with fellow data citizens on their diversity equity and inclusion strategies. In addition, we invited the community to donate alongside Collibra to Black Girls Code – and proudly raised over $600.
Closing reflections
As we reflect on US Black History Month, we are proud to have amplified and celebrated our Black and African American community through this program. This program raised awareness, sparked meaningful conversation, had social impact and helped us to further build a sense of shared community at Collibra.
As the year unfolds, we plan to continue to partner with our Black and Latinx community in meaningful ways. Our DEI mission is to build a culture of equity, belonging and inclusion to allow Collibrians to feel seen, heard and valued for their contributions. To achieve this, we are creating equitable experiences, celebrating our identities, and developing inclusion competencies to enable Collibrians to perform at their best.
Thank you for making this program a success
We would like to send a special thank you to Collibra and BLEND as our sponsors, program creators and program enablers. We give a special thank you to Dorian Allen as the BLEND Chair and the Black History Month Program Lead; Carlos Tifa as the BLEND Communications Lead and Pamela Jones as BLEND’s Collibra Cooks Caribbean extraordinaire. In addition, we send a special thank you to the Experience team, Internal Communications team and Data Citizens community for all of the behind-the-scenes programmatic enablement. Thank you all.
*BLEND stands for ‘Black and Latinx Employee Networking and Development’. To learn about some of our other BLEND-sponsored events, click here.
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Collibra has open roles in almost every team, and diversity matters to us. Learn more and apply on our careers page.
