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Black in Technology, Back in Technology, Back in Technology? Why black in

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technology? In technology? In Technology? On this episode of the Big Tech

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Talk podcast, our guest is a
Malia Baxter. Malia Baxter is a student

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at Housing University studying computer science.
In twenty twenty two, Malia founded the

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student group's Sister Scripts, which supports
undergraduate African American women in technology and computer

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science by providing them a community to
help them achieve their personal, professional and

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educational goals while raising leaders and STEM
advocacy. Malia regularly collaborates with other organizations

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on and off campus to provide a
safe space for women of color to pursue

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their tech dreams. Her goal with
Sister Scriptures is to help amplify black woman's

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voices and technology, encourage the participation
of other Black girls to join tech,

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support the curiosity of STEM education,
and educate black women on the career readiness

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skills needed to land jobs and internships
in various tech environments. Upon graduation,

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she plans to apply for nonprofit status
for Sister Scripts to continue growing the organization

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and expand its reach to different organizations
and universities nationwide. And now, our

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guest, Malia Baxter Hey Malia.
Welcome to the showy. Thank you so

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much for having me my pleasure,
my pleasure, as we typically do,

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Can you give us a little bit
of information about your background, kind of

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where you're from, a little bit
about your education, things of that nature.

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Yep. Well, I'm currently a
senior at Telsa University and I'm actually

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set to finally to my Bachelors of
Science and Computer Science in exactly ten days

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on a May twenty six at three
o'clock PM. So I'm very exit.

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Congrats, thank you. I am
counting dot but I'm from Maryland and I

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actually grew up in Charles County,
but I currently reside in Peg County.

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Okay, so how did you first
become interested in tech? Well, actually

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in middle school. I went to
Summers Middle School and Charles County and they

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had this thing called Our of Code
where students were introduced to coding by using

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a website called code dot org.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with code

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dot org, but yeah, I've
heard of it. It's similar to scratch

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if you're familiar with that. Okay, yeah, yeah, So we were

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using block code and we were able
to create our own little games and so

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in eighth grade, in my math
class, I got really into the coding

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portion because I just had this realization
that I was able to be like super

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creative with coding and I could really
create anything that I wanted and that really

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blew my mind, honestly. And
also my classmates would ask me for help.

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And when I went home and I
continue to explore cade dot org on

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my own, you know, my
mom she was affirming me, telling me

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that this was cool and I was
doing a good job. So with that,

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I was like super duper excited to
continue pursuing something. And I was

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also excited that I finally found out
something I was really interested in, something

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that allowed me to not only be
creative, but something that also challenged me.

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So that's really my story. It
all started really in middle school and

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then I just continued with that in
high school. Nice. Yeah, early

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exposure is definitely key, and then
having your mom and your corner to support

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you is It's key. And I
say it because you know, in some

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households, sports or or some other
you know, extracurricular activity usually takes the

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forefront. Usually that's in the forefront
of a parents' model, like hey,

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you know, get my kid,
you know, active and getting them some

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some type of so to have a
parent to say, hey, like this

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is something you're interested in, that's
great, I'm going to support you.

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I think it's a fantastic thing that
helps a lot. So you got into

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it in middle school? What would
tell me? What was the first program

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that you done on your own?
Did you code it in middle school?

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That was a It was like a
Star Wars game. So the theme for

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the code for the Hour of Code
was like a Star Wars theme, and

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so it was like a basic platform
game that basic, you know, you

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just take the character and you move
it around. So that was my first

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one, and then I just kept
playing got Home and as you kept playing

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with it, kept making different games. And Yeah. The Bit Foundation has

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established featured partnerships and programs with company
such as Amazon, at and t comp,

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Tia, tech Stars, and more
to provide our members with the resources

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we want and need to thrive and
succeed in this tech ecosystem. To learn

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more, visit Foundation dot blocks and
Technology dot net. Join now and remember

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membership is free. What type of
languages were you learning in high school?

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So in my first introduction to programming
course, I was using Java, and

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then when I took a Computer Science
Principles, then we moved back to the

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block coding seems kind of backwards a
book, yeah, so okay, okay.

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And so during that period, you
know, I know you had your

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mom as as your support. Were
there any other influences that you had along

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the way? My high school computer
science teacher, mister Stone, was actually

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a huge influence on me. So
during my sophomore year. Actually I was

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taking a general computer science course in
between the time of middle school and a

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little at the beginning of high school, I kind of forgot about the coding.

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But then we started to do scratch
again, so well not scratch again,

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but we started to do scratch in
the general computer science course, and

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so my excitement about coding peaked again. And so I told my future that

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I wanted to learn more about coding, and she introduced me to mister Stone,

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and so I went to Saint Charles
High School and we had these different

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pathways you could get into. My
junior year, I started the computer science

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pathway, and I remember on the
first day of school of my junior year,

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I entered my first introduction programing course
as I mentioned before, and immediately

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like my heart saying real because I
saw a room full of men and that

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was the first time I had ever
stepped into like a classroom like that.

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Yeah. So I saw a room
full of men and it was only maybe

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two other girls including me. I
suppressed at the front, and I think

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mister Stone could honestly see the panic
in my face, and he came up

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to me and he asked me if
I was okay. I just I just

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whispered to him. I was like, yeah, I'm dropping this class.

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Wow. Yeah. But he encouraged
me to stay, and I'm very grateful

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that encouraged me to stay. But
he encouraged me to stay because he said

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that I would do great. I
did. I definitely did do great.

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I did. I sailed again.
During this time, mister Stone was also

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like the faculty advisor for Girls who
Code. I'm not sure if you're from

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with that, but it's basically an
organized yeah grows who Code. So I

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joined that and I got to work
on some really cool projects with him and

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the other two girls that were in
my class. So mister Stone made me

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feel super comfortable about technology and he
helped me to be proud to be a

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woman. Studying technology, and he
just like really made room for me,

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and he appreciated. He just appreciated, Like I don't know, he just

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like advocated for me and and I
really appreciate him for that. Like I

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he was so much of the influence
that I actually wanted to become a high

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school teacher just like him. Oh
wow, that has definitely changed. You

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don't want to be a high school
teacher anymore. But that was my first

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initially, Like if my first initial
goal was like, Okay, I'm going

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to get this dis bachelor's in computer
science and then I'd a high school teacher.

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But that has definitely changed. Shout
out to mister Stone, No for

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real Stone, And it's so important
because that he that he did that because

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you know, representation matters, but
when you don't have that representation, having

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someone there as an ally and who
can advocate for you is really really huge.

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And he took it upon himself.
He noticed from your you know,

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maybe facial expressions and body language,
and he came over to you and he

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reassures you that this is where you
belong and that's you know, that's that's

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that's so powerful because that's the mission
of of bit as a as a whole

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is that we belong in this space
too. Uh, And so we just

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try to encourage people black people to
to uh, you know, get into

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this into the space. And you
know, who knows if you were weren't

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for mister Stone. You know,
I'm not saying that you wouldn't have picked

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up code, but it's always helpful
to have that person that you know that

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can champion you. So shout out
to mister Stone. Yeah, you'd shut

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out. You know, you you
leave high school, you you go to

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the university and in your bio you
said that you you won the hills Is

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at Lopez Hill Loops hills Lopes Scholars
Program. Telling or you you were able

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to get into the Hills Lopes Scholars
Program, tell us a little bit about

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what that program is and how it
assisted you and at the university. So,

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the Hillops Hilloes Scholars Program is designed
to support woman's STEM. The program

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offers um like course work, research, seminars, mentorship, um personal professional

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development. So many different good things
come from this program. It just really

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helps you to get the professional skill, the professional academic skills that you need

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or to be successful as a woman
in STEM. And so for me personally,

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like Hillops has just played a huge
role in my college career. So

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I actually joined as an incoming junior, so you can join as an incoming

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sophomore, but I joined a little
bit later as incoming junior, and it

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has given me the community, mentorship, sponsorship that I needed to become the

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person I am today. Really,
when you're so used to being one of

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one in a classroom or one of
three in a room, you start to

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honestly feel like you don't need a
community, Like, you know, you

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get this pride that like, oh
yeah, I can do it myself,

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Like you know, you kind of
get this like stern type of demeanor to

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yourself. But then you know,
you come, you see these group of

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women and you're able to commute these
groups of women, and it's just so

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incredibly refreshing to be able to speak
to a community of women after being around

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the men all day. You know, I've nothing wrong, No, no,

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I get it, I totally understand. I mean, community is is

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huge, and that's what you know, that's what blacks and Technology started out

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as. It wasn't we didn't have
membership the type of membership that we have

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now. We weren't doing podcasts early
on or anything like that. It was

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more or less to conveying a community
so that we can support one another and

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help one another um and just have
that community to fall back on, especially

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when there are there are incidents or
there are situations that don't necessarily involve tech,

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right, Like there's there's social you
know issues that that happen, there's

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issues at the workplace. Uh,
there's issues with you know, uh different

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in different circumstances. And to be
able to have a community and say and

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you know, kind of get the
opinions of the community and how to handle

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a matter m is huge. And
I can only guess then when you're in

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a woman in technology, not only
is it majority white, but it's majority

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male. It's now dominated. And
so to have a community of women where

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you could go to just you know, the technical side is one thing,

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right, just supporting each other on
that side is huge. But then to

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be able to come in and say, you know, I have this incident

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with this you know, this other, this man and made me feel this

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way, and then they can chime
in and say, you know, hey,

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you can handle it, or we're
just here for you. We're just

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here or listen. That's huge,
and it could it helps people from being

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dismayed and disheartened about the dynamics and
the makeup of the industry from a demographic

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standpoint. Um, you know that
that could be daunting alone, just you

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know, having to deal with that, you know, and you being a

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black woman, you're at this intersection
of being a woman and being black.

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Yep, that could be a lot
and it can turn you off from tech

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as a whole. You know,
it almost did right you came to the

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classroom and it was just like WHOA, I don't know. I mean,

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so just having that community is huge. I'm glad you were able to you

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know, to have that community.
Yeah, and I'm thankful that, like

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I'm talking, I get to speak
with you because the fact that you,

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you know, you recognize that I
have two strikes against me. I don't

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know, I don't want to call
them two strikes and yeah, but you

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know, I'm a woman and I'm
also black. So you know, I'm

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happy that you record because you know, I have to sometimes I have to

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just explain that to people that Okay, yeah, you're a woman, but

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I'm also black, so it's a
little bit different. But like you said,

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like it's just honestly refreshing because not
only is it just you know,

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women in tech, but it's women
and it's not just black women, you

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know, it's women in STEM.
Who are you know, it's a super

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diverse group of women in STEM.
And so we get to see how you

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know, tech connects with biology and
chemistry and physics and like, you know,

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the stuff that they're going on,
I mean, the things that they

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have going on and the stuff that
they're experiencing in their departments. It's just

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a breath of fresh air. Yeah, I really honestly encourage every woman studying

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stein OTAs University if you're able,
definitely endeavor to join the Hello Scholars program.

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And I just want to throw this
in here, like you run across

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these certain paper not that you should
listen to them, but you're run across

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people that, oh, why do
you need a woman scruple? Why do

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you need a for black people?
You know, and people think that it's

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an exclusive thing, but actually what
you're doing is you're advocating for inclusion.

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The more a community, like you
know, a tech community of women,

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grows, the more inclusive tech becomes
as a whole. So it's like,

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give us this space. You've had
this space for decades, so allow us

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to have this space. Allow us
to grow and and make tech as a

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whole more inclusive. Like that's what
it's really. It's not about excluding anyone,

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It's about including us, right.
So BIT is always focused on forming

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new partnerships and opportunities to assist the
community and our members with their continued professional

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growth and development. If you'd like
to partner with us, send an email

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inquiries at blacks and Technology dot net. So tell us a little bit about

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what a sister scripts. Oh well, sister scripts is. It's the way

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I love the play on the lines
and it starts with both of us are

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so I love the alliteration of it. Yeah, scriptures actually came from it's

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just scripting, as you know,
a quoting language that doesn't have to be

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compiled. So that was the idea
from that. But it's it's a student

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led organization that supports African American women's
studying technology to achieve their personal professional educational

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goals and to support them on their
tech journeys. So you know, by

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supporting these young women, we in
turn are raising a community of STEM advocates

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in order to work towards that diversity
inclusion, you know, to diversify the

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tech spaces, which is our mission. And what motive readied you to start

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the group. I mean, you're
already part of you know, the Hillslopes

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scholars program, so you had a
community there, So what motivated you to

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start this group to cater towards African
American women? So just in addition from

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like my other experiences like high school
and my influences, it really just came

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from a desire for communities. So
when I started at Housing, it was

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still named a predominantly white institution.
So my sophomore year, I kept seeing

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the trend that I was, you
know, one of three black women in

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my classes, and I just noticed
small things, you know, like being

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overlooked, whether that just be my
ideas or my thoughts, or honestly being

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completely ignored. Like I really literally
stood in front of somebody in one of

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my classes my junior year and I
was like, hey, can I be

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a part of your group? And
I was completely it was like I was

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invisible, just completely not seeing you
know. I know I wasn't the only

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woman experiencing that at Chilton because you
know, I see a few of us

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as just a sprinkle of us,
and you know, I get outside of

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my classrooms and I'm like, oh, you're studying, Like oh crazy,

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kay? I know you know,
so I honestly I went home one night

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and I said the prayers to God
and I asked God to use me to

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make a difference, and Sister Scripters
was born. And honestly, I always

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say that say this, that the
mission statement, the vision statement, even

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down to the color palette that we
use on our Instagram, that all came

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from a prayer. You know,
it all came from the Holy Spirit.

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And I just really took that vision
and I just honestly ran with it.

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That's that's amazing. There's something about
what you just said as far as being

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ignored and being overlooked, and you
mentioned something about, you know, it

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just being your thoughts or it's so
funny because and it's also you know,

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it's it's it's exhausting, but it's
something that as as black people that we

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have to deal with, and that's
to have these antennas up and you know

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there's people out there to be like, oh, you're just always looking for

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you know something to pen race on. It's like no, like we There

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was a quote that James Baldwin said
and in a documentary I watched, watched,

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and he said something about like h
and I'm paraphrasing here, like if

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we don't have these antennas up,
we can die. Going into a store

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and being you know, waited on
and then being told something that I wanted

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behind the counter that it was a
different price than what was advertised, and

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I was just like, you can't
do that, like you have to honor

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the price. And this guy was
just being you know, I rate with

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me, and I'm just like,
I don't understand what's going on here.

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And so I was explaining this to
a white colleague and I was like,

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I was like, I feel like
that was a racist thing to do.

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Like he you know, you have
this price advertising all of a sudden,

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on the whim, you want to
change it because you see it's me And

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he was like, well, how
do you know it's racial? Blah blah

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blah blah blah. I started going
into all that, and I'm just like,

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man, I've been black all my
life. You know I can tell

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when when attitudes and behavior change because
I have that intent up. And it's

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because I've had to have that intenta. It's not that I want it,

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Like I'd love to not have to
worry about stuff like that. I love

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not to you know, have that
on my on my mind twenty four seven,

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whether or not you know, someone
did something to me because of race,

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Like who wants to? I actually
live like that, right, uh,

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And it's exhausting because some things aren't
as blatant and as as direct as

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you know, some people think they
ought to be. They think that you

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know, hey, you know if
they didn't call you to any word,

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and how can you say it's race? Like, that's not how that works,

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right? So I found that you
know what you were saying about that,

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like I've had that happened to me
in workplaces before, where someone would

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come and ask me a question and
I would give them an answer with confidence,

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and they would go right next and
ask my white counterpart and they would

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say the same thing, and they
just you know, okay, cool,

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Yeah, it must be right,
And it's like I just told you that.

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So that's that's so definitely right,
I mean, And that right there

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is why community is important, because
you could vent about those things and then

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you can also understand and learn how
to how to deal with that as well.

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So let me ask you what what
does support look like within the group?

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What types of things are you all
doing to help one another. We

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are sisterhood and that's what we pushed
the most, So we support each other

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as a sister should. So I
loving one another, encouraging each other,

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00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.319
two rejourn goals, you know,
whether that be by offering wisdom, mentorship,

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sponsorship. In our slack community,
we have Internships and Opportunities channel where

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we just post internships, like people
send me stuff, people send other people

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things around campus events, networking opportunities, job opportunities, whatever it may be.

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We're posting that there, like we
are letting you know, each other

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know what's going on. We're keeping
each other on the up and up.

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Yeah. I love it. Yeah, I mean that's that's important, UM,

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because sometimes it's it's not about you
know, sometimes it's not just you

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know, the tech part of it. It's it's about the other things that

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come along with it, like letting
each other know about an event or a

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job or an internship or you know, any anything like that. UM.

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And that's huge because that alone can
bring other opportunities to that person and the

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group as well. Yeah, so
let me what are some of like any

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00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.400
major achievements like with with the group, some of you know, a story

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or something that you feel that was
just like, oh wow, that was

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incredible that happened with the group.
Well, honestly, for one, just

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being able to gather black women,
you know, all the black women are

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a good amount of black women studying
technology in one room is a huge accomplishment.

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I honestly cannot tell you how many
times I've heard, wow, I

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00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.839
didn't know there was this many black
women studying technology, Like oh, that

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00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:41.400
makes me feel so good that people
are seeing people are seeing you know,

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and it's just shocking because, like
I said before, it is a lot

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00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:49.480
of us studying technology at Towson,
but for some reason, we just don't

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be seeing each other in our classrooms. And I don't really know why that

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00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:59.599
is. Honestly, what I will
say is, as you get higher up

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00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:03.279
in this major as house university,
you know, you start to see yourself

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00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:07.759
less and less. When you start
offering your introductory classes, you know,

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00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:11.039
you see other people that look like
you, You see other black men,

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00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:14.640
other black women. But then as
you get higher. It just seems like

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they start, they drop off,
or they switch their majors to especially when

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00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.880
it comes to the retention rate of
computer science, like people will start with

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00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:26.359
computer science then drop offs to it
or I asked, and there's something wrong

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00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.279
with that, But like we want
to see, you know, we want

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00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.680
to help that retention rate with black
women studying CS and engineering. You know.

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00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:38.200
So that alone this is a super
big accomplishment. But to add on

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00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:42.599
to that, last year, I
was invited to speak out at Game teenth

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00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:48.920
event that we that Test University held
and so I presented our goals and we

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00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:52.480
were able to choose all three of
our goals, some more, some a

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00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:56.519
little bit more than others. So
one of the goals was to grow our

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00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:03.079
sisters professional brands, and so we
posted various workshops to help grow their professional

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00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:10.319
brands like LinkedIn workshops, resume workshops, at an application party. One of

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00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:15.079
our biggest accomplishments from that was we
had a speed Networking event. And the

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00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.160
speed Networking event is where students were
able to enter our competition and they were

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00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:23.559
judged on how well they networked with
a variety of employers. So we had

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00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:33.519
employers there from g D I t
Uber mid Atlantic like. They were also

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00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.160
like some of our huge sponsors,
so we were able to give away scholarships

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00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:42.640
to for winners of that competition.
So that was a huge, huge accomplishment

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00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:48.200
and honestly, the our vice president
at the time did an amazing job with

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00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:52.960
that. In addition to that,
we also extended our outreach to about to

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00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:57.559
our country public schools, working with
K through twelve students to support STEM education.

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00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:03.880
And then we also extended our community
to support other majors. So we

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00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:08.640
have a sprinkle of different majors that
aren't tech. So we have some math

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00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:17.920
majors, we have UM like uh, political science, communications, nursing,

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00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.119
biology, We got a sprinkle,
and I want to definitely try to expand

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00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:26.799
that. That is very good.
Congrats on all them. Yeah, thank

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00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:32.880
you so much. And I love
that you are are reaching out to other

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00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:37.319
professions or other other industries as well, because you know, nowadays the way

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00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:41.599
you know tech is as prevalent as
ever. I mean, there's there's a

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00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:47.680
tech in all those industries, UM, and so you all can help one

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00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:52.319
another like there. It's so funny
because I worked for a retail company and

340
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:56.000
during that time I got to see
like the inner workings of you know,

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00:26:56.039 --> 00:27:02.279
the technology infrastructure that they were using, and also you know, some of

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00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:04.880
the things that they were working on
coming down a pipe, things to research

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00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:11.880
and development. And I had a
person I was mentoring. They hit me

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00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:14.200
up one day and said, you
know, hey, you know, I

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00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:18.119
want to get your opinion or your
advice on something. I interview for this

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00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:19.920
this retailer and I interview for this
other one. He was like, but

347
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:23.599
I don't know about this retailer,
like that's all they do is sell groceries.

348
00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:30.880
And I was just like, oh
no, Like, you know,

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00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:34.119
tech is incorporated in just about every
industry nowadays. And I was like,

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00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:40.160
you'd be surprised at the technology that
they're using at this place, So don't

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00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.880
write them off because you think,
you know, on the face of it,

352
00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.599
you look like that all they do
is sell groceries. On the back

353
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.079
end of it, like, there's
a lot of technology and a lot of

354
00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:56.279
uh like groundbreaking stuff that they're doing. And with that advice, he ended

355
00:27:56.359 --> 00:28:00.000
up you know, going and taking
taking a position with that with that company.

356
00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:02.920
Me. But I say that to
say, you know, when you

357
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:07.559
bring in other industries and other people
from other industries, they can actually you

358
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:12.079
know, open other people's minds to
these industries and the technology that they use

359
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:17.720
within those industries. Yeah, and
I feel like there's gonna come a time

360
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:21.839
when coding is going to be something
like one in the basic like a basic

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00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.079
language we have to learn, like
in addition to us learning reading, writing,

362
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:30.200
you know, math, Like,
we're gonna have to start learning some

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00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:37.160
basic coding. So everyone, everyone
will benefit from learning something about tech.

364
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:44.279
Yeah, I agree, I agree, especially with AI. Uh yeah,

365
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:47.559
but that also gives people an opportunity, you know, with AI on a

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00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:52.000
rise, like, it gives people
an opportunity to utilize the AI to help

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00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:59.039
them learn how to code as well. Yeah. You know this the United

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00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:03.680
States globally, but here in the
United States specifically, you've seen cities that

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00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:11.119
have really changed as far as the
industry that they rely on for their their

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00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.200
economy. Right. You know,
you have towns and our cities and in

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00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:22.480
southeast areas that were coal mining towns
that have been hit really hard because you

372
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.759
know, coal mining isn't what it
was, you know, fifty sixty years

373
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.079
ago or even twenty years ago.
Right. Then you have you know,

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00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.359
with automation everything like that, and
then you have cities that were you know,

375
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.279
relied on you know, the automotive
industry for a lot of their things,

376
00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.640
and now since that becomes more automated, now you need people in these

377
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.920
positions that can fix the machines and
you know, code the machines that actually

378
00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:51.839
are took their jobs, so to
speak. Right, So that's only going

379
00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.359
to continue. And I mean that's
only been within the past twenty or thirty

380
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:57.920
years. Just think how it's going
to be just in the next ten years.

381
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:03.279
Things are to change dramatically because tech, you know, builds upon itself

382
00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:10.279
and begins to grow exponentially. So
all the technology that we have now,

383
00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:12.960
the tech it's going to becoming in
the future is going to build off of

384
00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:18.160
everything that we've established. If people, you know, there's people out there

385
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:22.039
that may think that certain sect of
people are taking my job, so to

386
00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:26.119
speak, like that, it's it's
really a lot of automation. Yeah,

387
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:30.599
and you can see that just and
and I went to us that Pania the

388
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.319
other day. Oh okay, so
you know, like Pania used to used

389
00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:41.519
to have several cash registers open and
things like that, and now I walk

390
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:45.480
in and there's four kiosk Really,
yeah, like you you just people come

391
00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:51.119
in and you touch used the Kiosk
to touch screens to enter your order,

392
00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:52.440
You pay for it there and then
you're just go and pick it up,

393
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:56.640
like there's one person that at the
register and that's it. You know,

394
00:30:56.759 --> 00:31:03.160
it's not again people, it's not
people taking it's like it's it's automation.

395
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.680
It's computers, it's technology. And
the more that grows, the more we're

396
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.640
gonna need, you know, people
to be able to code code them.

397
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:19.920
So what's up everyone? We hope
that you're enjoying this episode of the Blacks

398
00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:25.480
and Technology BIT tech Talk podcast.
Do you or someone you know have a

399
00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:29.880
dope story that they want to share
with our bit audience? Blocks and Technology

400
00:31:29.960 --> 00:31:33.240
is seeking guests to be on our
podcast. We're looking to highlight the journeys

401
00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:37.119
and experiences of black women and men
in the tech industry. So if you

402
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:41.960
know of someone, send them our
way, shoot us an email to contact

403
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:47.000
us a Blacks and Technology dot net, or click on the link in the

404
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:49.640
show notes and fill out our form. We're looking to hear from you,

405
00:31:56.799 --> 00:32:00.039
so tell us a little bit about
you. Know. You stated that you

406
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:04.839
work with other orcs on and off
campus to provide a space for warm and

407
00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:09.160
a color attack give us some details
to into that world. On campus.

408
00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:15.920
We actually partnered with this organization called
to Use Stem Excellence to STEM Excellence and

409
00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:21.359
so they support STEM education as well. And so this is actually the last

410
00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:29.480
month. Yeah, a few weeks
ago we partnered with them to teach high

411
00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:36.640
school or to really mentor young high
school UH African American girls to build mygal

412
00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:40.119
robotics. And so they were a
part of you know, Baltimore Counting Hi

413
00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:45.359
Schools and so me and a few
of my other sisters we got to sit

414
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.880
on a small panel and do a
Q and A with the girls to help

415
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:52.480
them, help guide them on their
journeys and to STEM, but also just

416
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:57.160
being able to be there to you
know, mentor them while they're building their

417
00:32:57.240 --> 00:33:00.319
robox and like coding them and seeing
them explore or just that, I don't

418
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:02.640
know, that's super exciting to me. That's I don't know, maybe that's

419
00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:08.440
the teacher at me. But also
who we partnered with the b Org and

420
00:33:08.519 --> 00:33:13.839
so the b Organ is a youth
development program actually founded by Tony Lawson and

421
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:20.079
she was a TAUS and alumnu.
And so they hosted an event here on

422
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:23.359
tauson called tech called tech Con,
where middle school and high school students were

423
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:27.720
able to come and build you know, robot car. So this was a

424
00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:32.720
little bit more advanced than legal robotics, but because not only were they building

425
00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:37.799
the robots, but they were also
programming them. So they had like actual

426
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:43.279
CPU chips that they had to place, you know, on the actual robots

427
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:49.200
and then that moved you know,
of course that made the robots moving things.

428
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:52.559
And so I don't know, the
kids, you know, enjoyed this

429
00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:55.079
activity as well. And I just, like I said before, I really

430
00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:59.759
love working with KI through self students
because you get to see their faces really

431
00:33:59.799 --> 00:34:02.000
like it up when they're doing something
that they enjoy. And then like you

432
00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:05.119
know, I would ask them like, oh, it's just something that you're

433
00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:07.279
interested in. It's just something that
you want to do, and they're like,

434
00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:08.719
yeah, this is what I want
to do. And I'm like wow,

435
00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:14.320
like you're in middle school, Like
this is exactly where I was,

436
00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:19.159
and I got interested and I just
know, like you know, from that

437
00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:22.400
interest, from that peak being able
to do super cool activities and events like

438
00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:27.639
this, like they're gonna be able
to They're just gonna ride off that momentum,

439
00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:30.440
and that's always going to be something
that comes back up in their mind

440
00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:32.960
as they're growing and you know,
before they get into their college career and

441
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.760
it's like, oh, yeah,
this is something that I did that I

442
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:38.480
really enjoy and this is something that
I also might want to study. That

443
00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:44.639
is that's what motivates me. I
love that. That's incredible and that's huge.

444
00:34:44.920 --> 00:34:49.880
It's earlier exposure is so important.
And not only do the exposure,

445
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:53.519
but to just provide them with options
to you know, to decide whether or

446
00:34:53.559 --> 00:34:58.960
not they want to go into you
know, stam um and a lot of

447
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:02.079
them you know, probably would if
they were exposed to it. That's the

448
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:07.920
issue is is that a lot of
our young black kids are are not exposed

449
00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:14.239
early um. And then not only
that, you know, having you teach

450
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:20.119
them is a totally different experience.
It's it's there is someone there that is

451
00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:25.920
that represents me, who is teaching
me, and now they see you as

452
00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:30.400
you know, they might they might
view you as a genius at that like,

453
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:32.480
oh this person is a genius.
Wow, I could be a genius

454
00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:37.119
I could, you know, like
and then that right there is the spark

455
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:44.519
that's needed, uh to allow them
or to enable them to pursue or even

456
00:35:44.599 --> 00:35:47.880
just have that the notion that I
can't pursue this. So, you know,

457
00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:52.159
being involved with the youth is a
huge thing. I'm glad that you

458
00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:55.599
know. That's something that you're also
doing. So you so you recently accepted

459
00:35:55.639 --> 00:36:01.719
a position as a systems engineer through
the North north Where does that Northrop Grummans

460
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:07.320
Pathway program? Yes, tell us
a little bit about that program, and

461
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:09.840
you know what, tell us a
little bit about you know, what type

462
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:15.679
of work that you're expecting to do
us as a sistems engineer. Well,

463
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:20.719
honestly, supers were very excited to
work at North Rope, like I'm excited.

464
00:36:21.159 --> 00:36:24.280
So I actually got the job.
At the data conference in February.

465
00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:30.039
I got connected with some really cool
connections. The team just amazing. I

466
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:34.119
think they also actually I'm not even
gonna say that because I don't want to

467
00:36:34.119 --> 00:36:37.679
say I don't want to say they
got the wrong award. But anyway,

468
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:44.679
yeah, so I met them at
the data conference and I made some really

469
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:50.239
cool connections and they really helped me
to um, you know, receive this

470
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:54.800
opportunity. So the Pathways program is
a through your rotational program and it's for

471
00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.960
entry levels engineers to help you acquire
the text field. Those are the foundational

472
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:05.280
professional skills that you need in order
to be a successful engineer at north Front.

473
00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:09.639
And so, you know, I'm
as a systems engineer. I'll be

474
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:15.360
working with hardware and software and that
is super exciting for me because you know,

475
00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.079
I tell something, you don't really
get that opportunity to work hands on

476
00:37:20.280 --> 00:37:25.519
with like hardware, you know,
like that heavy engineering equipment, and that

477
00:37:25.719 --> 00:37:30.880
is really exciting. You know,
I'm computer science major, but I'm more

478
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:37.400
interested on the I'm interested on the
higher level computing or the more engineering heavy

479
00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:42.480
stuff. So I'm very excited about
that. And I'll be working in the

480
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:47.679
mission systems sectors. So yeah,
very cool. That sounds pretty exciting.

481
00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:52.920
Um, I was a systems engineer
for a number of years, so you

482
00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:59.000
were definitely, especially if they have
a lot on TRAM on premises equipment,

483
00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:01.119
like you know, they have that
data center and things like that, you'll

484
00:38:01.159 --> 00:38:07.159
definitely get you know, quote unquote
get your hands dirty with with that.

485
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:12.480
And then hopefully they're they're they're doing
stuff in the cloud as well. Right,

486
00:38:12.519 --> 00:38:15.559
They're like they're building infrastructure in the
cloud and you get to experience UH

487
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:21.639
that aspect of it because there there's
a lot of cool things that you can

488
00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:27.079
do with UM with infrastructure that is
hosted in the cloud. So there you

489
00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:31.159
can bring your your development chops into
play when it comes to that, because

490
00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:37.679
you can now build infrastructure using UH
certain tooling tools that they call infrastructure as

491
00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:44.079
code UH and and all it is
you writing code on how to provision UH

492
00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:47.519
this infrastructure in the cloud. So
you get to you know, stay on

493
00:38:47.559 --> 00:38:52.639
top of your you know, your
cop side development UH skills as well as

494
00:38:52.679 --> 00:38:55.920
you know, get your hands dirty
with actual hardware. So that would be

495
00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:05.400
pretty Do you have a product or
service that you would like to share with

496
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:08.519
a bit audience or maybe you'd like
to support the bit community and do your

497
00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:14.679
part in helping us with stomping the
divide. Start by sponsoring one of our

498
00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:22.800
podcasts. Please email us at contact
us at blacks and Technology dot net.

499
00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:34.719
So tell me what's what's next for
you? What's next for our sister scriptures?

500
00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:37.519
Where where do you kind of see
that in the future. So in

501
00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:42.800
addition to working out North Rope,
I am actually growing After I graduate,

502
00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:46.320
I'll be worked on growing sister scriptures
into a nonprofit organization, which we'll be

503
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:52.760
able to help give back to our
members financially. So you know, there's

504
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:59.440
not a lot of grants and scholarships, at least at House University that support

505
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:10.039
black woman and studying technology. Actually, um there's none specifically for African American

506
00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:15.639
women's the name technology. And so
I want to be able to just really

507
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:19.760
help our members in that way.
But I also want to you know,

508
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:23.480
expand the organization to other campuses,
Accrostination. But at first, I want

509
00:40:23.480 --> 00:40:28.760
to start first. I want to
start in Maryland. In addition to that,

510
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:31.559
I'll be working on getting my masters
in math, not immediately after I

511
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:35.800
graduate, but maybe a year or
so down the line. I want to

512
00:40:35.800 --> 00:40:39.519
get my masters in math and then
get my PhD to become a professor,

513
00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:49.639
so the high school teacher turn into
a professor. Yeah, that's very cool.

514
00:40:49.719 --> 00:40:54.119
Well, I'll say this if you
if you have any questions about nonprofit

515
00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:59.400
stuff, you can always hit me
up, email me. I'll be happy

516
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:04.960
to share knowledge that I have so
that you know you are armed with with

517
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:09.280
with the knowledge because right having a
nonprofit is not it's not easy. But

518
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:13.639
like that, there's a lot of
things you you need to have in place

519
00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:17.400
to protect yourself and protect the organization. So just hit me up if you

520
00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:22.719
need any any any advice, right, thank you so much. Like I

521
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:25.559
don't know, this is I have
a tendency to be like, oh yeah,

522
00:41:25.559 --> 00:41:29.079
I want to do this, like
even just getting a masters in math,

523
00:41:29.159 --> 00:41:31.239
Like I tell people these things,
and like what a masters in math?

524
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:36.239
Like I know what i want to
do, and I know I'm going

525
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.880
to do it, but I don't
know all that I'm getting myself into.

526
00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:44.800
Well, that's gonna happens. That's
that's the beauty of a journey, right,

527
00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:50.719
Yeah, you don't know. It's
like, um, I'll say this,

528
00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:55.119
you never know what's going to become
of what you do. All you

529
00:41:55.199 --> 00:41:59.840
can do is kind of dream big
and then try to take the steps to

530
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:06.159
make that a reality. And I
say that because when I when I found

531
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:10.400
it Blocks and Technology. Initially,
the first iteration was a blog. It

532
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:15.960
was me just wanting to get out
there that hey, there are black people

533
00:42:16.199 --> 00:42:20.800
in this in this industry, and
this is some of the cool work that

534
00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:22.800
I'm doing. Right, I just
wanted to kind of put a stamp on

535
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:30.280
on that. And then as it
grew and went from that to a community

536
00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:32.440
site. So we were, you
know, just had an online community with

537
00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:37.039
a where you could post questions.
We had like a forums, and we

538
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:40.599
had an embedded chat. There was
a social media aspect to it where you

539
00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:44.159
can come and create a profile,
all that type of stuff, and it

540
00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:46.159
was really just to kind of just
build community. And at the time,

541
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:49.519
I was like, you know what
if I get about two hundred and fifty

542
00:42:49.599 --> 00:42:53.880
maybe five hundred black people as part
of this community, I'll see that as

543
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:58.039
success. Now, dude, I
want us do something even more. Yeah,

544
00:42:58.079 --> 00:43:01.440
of course I did. But you
know, the idea that has to

545
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:06.920
be like an initial idea, and
then there's you just kind of see where

546
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:09.920
things fall, right, and as
things started to grow, you started you

547
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.119
know, making adjustments and changes to
the growth. And then you know,

548
00:43:15.639 --> 00:43:20.000
I wanted to I had this idea
to say, hey, you know,

549
00:43:20.280 --> 00:43:22.039
if we did a conference, this
is kind of how I would want this

550
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:25.400
conference to go. But I never
thought that I would. I should have

551
00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:30.119
never thought. I didn't know how
to get there. And then these opportunities

552
00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:36.079
just started coming my way. And
you know, you can you know,

553
00:43:36.280 --> 00:43:40.239
say that that's the energy out there, that's God happening, right like it

554
00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:44.840
was like, oh, like somebody
presented the opportunity to me. I'm like,

555
00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:46.760
you know what, I've been thinking
about a conference for years, and

556
00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:51.039
this is how I wanted it to
go. And Okay, that sounds great,

557
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:53.360
let's do it. And those things
just tend to tend to happen.

558
00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:59.599
So you you, you know,
speaking it into existence to me is real.

559
00:44:00.679 --> 00:44:04.079
And so for you, you know, saying hey, I want to

560
00:44:04.199 --> 00:44:06.239
you know, I want to get
around. I don't know how. Yeah,

561
00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:10.239
just just say it and you'll figure
you'll figure it out along the journey.

562
00:44:10.719 --> 00:44:15.519
And now you know, ben Is
is global. We have seventy something

563
00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:22.280
chapters and twenty something countries with over
twenty five thousand plus members, right,

564
00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:25.280
And I was something that you know, it just started as me just wanting

565
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:29.639
to have two hundred and fifty to
five hundred people. So you know,

566
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:35.000
you have to start somewhere. You
have to speak into existence and then along

567
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:37.199
the way, you know, as
long as you keep that positive mindset and

568
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:39.960
you keep that growth mindset, you're
you're fine. How to do it?

569
00:44:40.440 --> 00:44:44.920
It'll So I want to. I
haven't done this in a while, um,

570
00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:47.760
and I thought it would be cool
to to kind of start this back

571
00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:52.920
up with you, uh some lightning
questions? I have what one, two,

572
00:44:52.039 --> 00:44:55.079
three, four, five of them? The first question is your favorite

573
00:44:55.119 --> 00:45:00.559
tech movie? Definitely Hitting Figures,
Definitely Hitting Thing Okay nice? Yeah,

574
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:06.119
yeah, favorite tech person in history. Her name is actually doctor Amafadon,

575
00:45:06.519 --> 00:45:12.280
doctor Amory Amafadon. She's actually from
London. She's a faund of stems and

576
00:45:12.639 --> 00:45:16.480
she's worked Basically, she has the
same a very similar misius statement as the

577
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:21.320
Subscriptors, where she's empowering the next
narration of women stem She also has a

578
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.719
book called She's in Control that I
love. It is how women can take

579
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:28.440
back amazing Okay, I'll have to
check that out. Or a person that

580
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:31.199
inspires you the most, Honestly,
I would have to say Jesus, Like

581
00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:36.960
my faith is huge, My faith
is huge? Yeah? Nice? Nice.

582
00:45:37.440 --> 00:45:39.880
What is your dream job? It
used to be NASA, but now

583
00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:45.239
it would be working as in the
Space System sector at Northrup. Okay,

584
00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:50.639
very cool. And your dream place
to live? I would definitely stay in

585
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:54.760
the DMB. But I want to
own a farm. Really, yes,

586
00:45:55.719 --> 00:46:00.519
I want to own a small farm. Wow. It's funny that you say

587
00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:04.199
that, because it's like, you
know, people usually think as farms as

588
00:46:04.400 --> 00:46:10.559
super low tech. So being a
techie person and just I just want a

589
00:46:10.599 --> 00:46:15.519
farm that's pretty that's pretty cool.
It's kind of the opposite. But well,

590
00:46:15.559 --> 00:46:17.559
I guess not like it all depends. Like I went too way a

591
00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:22.159
place up in Columbus, Ohio called
Kosi. Uh it's a it's a like

592
00:46:22.280 --> 00:46:29.320
a science like institute like slash museum. Uh, and they had a display.

593
00:46:29.880 --> 00:46:30.840
I took my son, my wife
and my son's up there, and

594
00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:38.440
they had a display of uh these
this farm equipment that was self drivable farm

595
00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:43.840
equipment, right, and they were
huge, like huge tractors and whatever,

596
00:46:44.079 --> 00:46:47.599
balers and all that stuff. Uh, and they were all autonomous. I

597
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:54.119
thought that was so farms, farms
probably aren't as low tech as I as

598
00:46:54.199 --> 00:46:59.559
I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure
like nowadays, you know, I'm uh,

599
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:02.599
I know it's probably depended upon you
know, the money that you have

600
00:47:02.679 --> 00:47:07.280
to run a farm things like that, but farms getting you know, autonomous

601
00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:09.800
you know, tractors and all that
stuff. They're here already. And that

602
00:47:09.920 --> 00:47:14.719
was a few years I was probably
like in twenties eighteen or twenty nineteen.

603
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:17.239
So I'll tell them how far they've
come now so good Yeah, good luck

604
00:47:17.280 --> 00:47:22.639
on that far far. Yeah.
I just I just love animals. I

605
00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:28.079
loved how I lived behind a farm
actually, oh really like a huge farm.

606
00:47:28.840 --> 00:47:31.360
Yeah wow wow, Well, Malia, I want to thank you for

607
00:47:31.639 --> 00:47:35.960
for joining us on the bit tech
Talk podcast. It was it was great

608
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:39.320
speaking with you, great hearing your
journey, um, you know, hearing

609
00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:44.320
about Sister Scripts and the mission that
you have there. Uh. And I

610
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:47.199
wish you nothing but the best in
the future. Thank you so much for

611
00:47:47.360 --> 00:47:58.639
having me. Thank you, Take
care, luck in technology, in technology,

612
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:07.960
lights and technology, white wax and
technology, lights and technology, white

613
00:48:07.000 --> 00:48:08.199
wacks and technology,