Presentation: How Do We Heal?

We have been working to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable tech industry for years. We have poured billions of dollars into data collection, new hiring practices, unconscious bias trainings, and educational opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds. But we have yet to see meaningful and lasting change.  

In the age of “tech as a solution to everything” and its severe implications on humanity, the issue of our industry and society’s homogenous and harmful culture is more critical than ever.  

A true shift in consciousness, in how we see each other and our relationships is needed to radically transform ourselves and our communities. One where we move from asking “How do we train and hire more people from X background?” and “How do we take the bad people down?” to “How do we be whole and free together?” and “How do we heal?”  

• How do we heal our communities and our industry?
• How do we heal our internalized racism, sexism, transphobia, and all our other harmful beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors?
• How do we heal the harms that were done to us and the harms we have done to others?  

Drawing inspiration from restorative justice practices, the work of the Code Cooperative, and my own journey of healing, I offer a hopeful vision for how we can come together and co-create the world we yearn for.