They love to act like we're new here. Like technology was born in Steve Jobs’ garage or Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room. Like innovation didn’t exist until Silicon Valley put its name on it.
But let me tell you something about technology.
Before computers, there were cornrows, intricate algorithms braided into our children’s hair, mapping escape routes to freedom. Before social networks, there were church ladies whispering information from pew to pew, hood to hood. Before databases, there were recipes handed down with no measurements, only the intuition in your hands when the dough felt right.
That’s technology.
Our Bodies Been Code
Every time Nana rocked a baby to sleep in a rhythm passed down through generations, that was technology. Every time your auntie felt the rain coming in her knees, that was predictive analytics. Every time your mama reached into the spice rack and cured what ailed you, that was pharmaceutical engineering.
We are walking, breathing, dancing technologies. Our bodies hold codes older than Python, older than binary. Our voices carry frequencies that heal, warn, celebrate, and preserve. When we braid our daughters’ hair, we’re encoding stories, uploading cultural memory through our fingertips.
The Innovation in Our Rhythm
When you see a Black woman in the kitchen throwing down without a recipe, that’s iterative development in action. Testing, adjusting, and perfecting, all in real time. That’s agile methodology, long before tech bros gave it a name.
When we gather in circles to share stories that spiral, weave, and double back, that’s natural language processing. We’ve been doing it since before they imagined a machine could.
Beyond Binary Thinking
The problem isn’t that we’re not “technical” enough. The problem is their definition of technology is too small. They’ve boxed it into circuits and silicon, forgetting that technology is any tool, process, or knowledge that solves a problem.
The problem isn’t that we’re not “technical” enough. The problem is their definition of technology is too small. They’ve boxed it into circuits and silicon, forgetting that technology is any tool, process, or knowledge that solves a problem.
And Black women have been solving problems since time began. Survival required innovation. Protection required invention. Love required creation.
The Original UX Designers
Did someone say, "User Experience"? Ok, well, let’s talk about Black women.
Who knows more about designing interfaces between communities than us? We’ve been optimizing processes and maximizing resources for generations. Every Black woman who stretched a dollar into a meal for twelve, that right there is technological innovation at is finest. Every Black woman who built underground communication networks during segregation, that’s systems architecture. Every Black woman who taught her children how to move safely through hostile spaces, call that security protocol.
Digital Just Caught Up
Today, we have cloud computing, blockchain, and AI. That’s beautiful. That’s powerful. But let’s not act like this is where technology started.
We been tech. We been here.
When our ancestors used quilts to encode messages for the Underground Railroad, that was encryption. When our grandmothers recognized who was at the door by their knock, that was biometric authentication. When our mothers coordinated entire communities with nothing but a phone tree, that was distributed networking.
The Future Is Our Heritage
So when they talk about “women in tech” like it’s something new, smile. When they act surprised to see us in these spaces, laugh. We’re not newcomers. We’re bringing our ancient knowing to their new tools.
Stop asking how to get more Black women into tech. The question is how tech can recognize all the ways Black women have always been here.
Redefining the Space
Every time we step into these spaces as our full selves, with our natural hair, our cultural rhythms, our ways of knowing, we aren't joining tech, we’re expanding it. We’re reminding them that technology is more than what fits on a circuit board.
Technology is the way we love, heal, teach, survive, and sing.
Our Code Byte Different
Learn the programming languages. Master the frameworks. Understand the algorithms. But never forget you come from a long line of innovators. Your grandmother’s intuition was a neural network more sophisticated than anything Silicon Valley could dream of. Your community’s oral traditions are a distributed database, bug-free for generations.
You are more than a "woman in tech". You are technology.
The Algorithm of Us
We are our own technology. Our bodies, voices, and ways of knowing sustain us, protect us, and propel us forward. The digital age isn't what make us technical, it only gives us new tools to show what we’ve always been.
So when they define technology for you, smile. You already know.
It’s in your bones, your blood, your rhythms, your ways of seeing. It’s in how you solve problems and create possibilities from nothing but faith and memory.
We aren't "in" tech.
We are tech.
And we been here.
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