February is when we take the time to remember and celebrate the significant accomplishments made by Black people throughout history. Black women, in particular, are responsible for so many advancements and inventions throughout history. Alice Ball is responsible for the first effective leprosy treatment. Mae Jemison was the first black women to travel to space. Jane Wright was instrumental in developing a safer cancer treatment. While our history contains so many incredible black women who changed the world, there are many young black women who are still working to change the world, and the STEM field, for better.
Abadesi Osunsade
Abadesi Osunsade is one of the founding members of Elpha, which is a private online community for women working in the technology field. She is part of one of the only female-led founding teams in the United Kingdom STEM field. The platform allows women and non-binary people working in the technology field to ask questions they have about their job or any issues they’ve experienced in the workplace. Abadesi was inspired to create the platform after feeling like an outsider at her job.
Elpha hopes to make it so that everyone has the opportunity to excel in their career. The app lets black women support each other through the barriers they face in the workplace.
Kike Oniwinde
Kike Oniwinde is the founder of BYP, a professional networking platform for black professionals. The platform helps its users to build networks and friendships and offer people more opportunities. The app has 30,000 users from 65 different countries. Kike herself is a 2018 Sky Women in Technology scholar. After working in a financial technology firm, she realized how underrepresented black women are in the world of STEM and was inspired to create an app to help remedy the imbalance.
Davinia Tomlinson
Davinia Tomlinson has worked in finance trying to provide better financial guidance and support to women and have them feel included in their finances. Her work led her to create a finance app especially for women, Rainchq. When Davinia began her career, she was one of few women in her graduate program and the only black person. Her goal is to close the gender investing gap and get more women to invest their money. She wants to help women take positive action to set themselves up for a secure financial future.
