Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
If you’re looking to hear more about the impact and potential of black women in science, technology, engineering, manufacturing, and math, then you’re going to want to be in Portland in October. When the Rose City is home to the inaugural Black Women in STEM 2.0 Summit.
Read More
As technology becomes more and more human, it’s no secret that it runs the risk of taking on the flaws of humanity as well. Like unconscious bias. That’s why I love seeing conversations like the upcoming Black Women in STEM panel where they’re going to dig into the potential for bias in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
We’ve come to the end of another Black History Month here in Portland. And if you’ve been following along with Stephen Green on Twitter, then you’ve likely caught his efforts to feature a bunch of awesome black businesses in Portland throughout the month. I tried to grab them all in case you want to have them all for quick reference.
Hopefully, you’ve all been tuning in to Stephen Green’s tweets highlighting some amazing black entrepreneurs in Portland. It’s become a tradition designed to help celebrate Black History Month. This year, however, the celebration isn’t just virtual. On the last day of the month, there will be two in person opportunities to celebrate Black History Month and the black entrepreneurs in our community.
I’m always a fan of events that highlight more voices in our community. So it will come as no surprise that I’m psyched to see Black Women in STEM 2.0 being held in Portland, next week.
Truth be told, it’s always entertaining to tune in to Stephen Green’s Twitter feed. You wouldn’t expect any less from the unofficial mayor of Portland. And for the past few years, it’s also been incredibly educational and inspiring to keep track of his tweets during February. Because that’s Black History Month. Which Stephen uses as an opportunity to highlight a number of black entrepreneurs and black owned businesses in our region.
PitchBlack is the premier local pitch event for black and brown founders. Built Oregon is striving to be the voice for consumer products in Oregon. So when you put the two together, you get an interesting night of pitches on consumer products from some of the most promising entrepreneurs in the state. And it’s all happening as part of the Built Up Festival.
It’s always bittersweet. Given the way that we Portlanders—in our garage band mentality—think about things. We love the homegrown stuff. And we want it to succeed. But sometimes it’s hard to let go. Still, seeing PitchBlack rocket into the stratosphere can’t help but make me happy.
Video games hold a great deal of potential for engaging folks on a variety of different levels. But, to be honest, that potential is often squandered. So that’s why it’s incredibly refreshing to see other uses for the medium—like effectively communicating the emotions and frustrations of others. Take Hair Nah, a online game from Portland’s Momo Pixel that provides insight into a common annoyance for black people: uninvited hair touching.
Portland is lucky to be home to one of the most impactful and growing events for black entrepreneurs, PitchBlack, a pitch competition that has featured local black founders for the past three years and has now expanded to other cities. But where did the concept get its start? Free Enterprise sat down with founder Stephen Green to get the story.