2853: Technology and Racial Equity with Microsoft's Darrell Booker

[00:00:00] What happens when personal history and professional passion converged fuel emission aimed at transforming

[00:00:09] lives through technology? Well, in a world where the digital divide continues to present

[00:00:14] significant challenges, especially for marginalized communities around the world. The potential

[00:00:20] of technology to serve as a bridge to equity and empowerment has never been more critical.

[00:00:26] And today on Tech Talks Daily, I'm going to be joined by the fantastic D'Areal Booker,

[00:00:31] a leader in racial equity and technology at Microsoft, and also a key figure behind the Kids

[00:00:37] Saves Embrace Project. And his story is one of inspiration driven by his mother's experiences

[00:00:44] in the foster care system, and also an unwavering belief in the power of technology to enact meaningful

[00:00:51] social change. So today we'll learn more from the heartache and struggles within the foster care

[00:00:56] system to the corridors of Microsoft, and how D'Areal's journey is a testament to the transformative

[00:01:03] power of technology and also the human spirit's resilience. But before we get today's guests on,

[00:01:10] it's time for a quick shout out to the sponsors of Tech Talks Daily and in today's digital age,

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[00:01:41] and now let's get today's guest on. So buckle up and hold on tight because they're

[00:01:46] about away you're listening in the world right now. I'm going to be beaming your ears all the way

[00:01:50] to the US to learn more about this inspiring story. So a massive warm welcome to the show. Could

[00:01:58] you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do? Wow, I'm a time do I have,

[00:02:05] but you know really high level throughout booker and Microsoft within Alpha Mate to be division,

[00:02:12] leading one of our racial equity initiatives focus on how we can leverage technology to support

[00:02:20] so many about underserved communities across country and the globe actually.

[00:02:25] Well, every day on this podcast I bring a different guest on trying to get people thinking

[00:02:29] about how technology works best when it brings people together and also how it impacts almost every

[00:02:35] aspect of our life, business and world and often in some ways that you don't automatically

[00:02:41] associate with technology. And of course, yes today we're going to be talking about Microsoft and

[00:02:46] some of the great work you're doing with technology. But I think more than anything I always like

[00:02:50] to begin by diving into my guest origin story. And when I was doing a little research on you,

[00:02:57] your journey into improving on uplifting black social support networks. I was really

[00:03:03] getting these deeply inspired by your mother's experiences in foster care. So just to set the same

[00:03:08] for our conversation today, can you share more about how these very personal stories of help shape

[00:03:13] your both your mission and your approach at Microsoft? Absolutely. I say all the time that,

[00:03:20] you know, employers in my opinion really need to honor and value someone's lived experience.

[00:03:28] So many times it's traditionally, what do you look like on paper? How many degrees do you have?

[00:03:35] You must be the most qualified to do these things. But oftentimes, those who are born in a certain

[00:03:42] condition or grew up in certain things or navigate things in their life or saw around them.

[00:03:49] Oftentimes, those are the ones that's best equipped to be part of your company and move things

[00:03:55] forward. So with that said, for me it was a lot of ways I realized later. I did not know. For me,

[00:04:03] it was, I thought everything was the perfect two-parent household. And you know, I'm much different

[00:04:10] than maybe some other people in things of that sort. But there were some things that, you know,

[00:04:15] I was noticing as to what that household life was like. My mom, she, you know,

[00:04:23] close guarded, you know, for a long time what she grew up with being in foster care from the age

[00:04:31] she was two until she aged out. And for those that don't know, that term aging out is basically when

[00:04:37] the system has basically said, okay, you're on your own and most states that's the age of 18.

[00:04:43] And I think for a lot of people listening who may have a child that's 19, 20 or 21, you're probably

[00:04:51] still taking care of them as of this date. So imagine someone who doesn't have family being supported

[00:04:57] you know through government assistance in the age of 18 and that you're on your own. So as I grew older,

[00:05:05] I started to connect some dots in terms of, you know, her family dynamic, all of her brothers and

[00:05:13] sisters who were in foster care, but lack of battle we're seeing a little bit of dysfunction between

[00:05:20] all of them. And then just a lot of the emotional ups and downs from my mom and, you know, I

[00:05:29] finally connected it to oh my gosh, this is all due to the very traumatic things that happened

[00:05:37] to her while she was in care and extremely traumatic things to wear still to this day, you know,

[00:05:45] mid 60s, it's still a fixer. So for me, growing up in a household where someone has went through

[00:05:54] those things found the love of technology at early age and then got to that point to wear in my

[00:06:02] career, how can I use my experience and technology to make a positive impact? And like I say,

[00:06:10] instead of just working for someone in helping them make money, how can my experience and tech help

[00:06:16] or something good. So that's what a total mind ship happened for me and I became very involved

[00:06:23] in technology first off supporting a child with her issue. It's such a powerful story and one

[00:06:30] of the things I always say on this podcast every day is the importance of bringing in diversity of

[00:06:35] thought into the tech industry to solve complex technological problems. You need people that don't

[00:06:41] just all look the same and think the same we need so many different people in the tech industry now

[00:06:47] and it is improving but there is so much work that needs to be done. Again, one of the things that

[00:06:51] attracted me to you was when I was reading about the Embrace project which is a pivotal initiative

[00:06:56] aimed at understanding and improving the experiences of Black youth and families within the child

[00:07:02] welfare system. Again, inspirational work but for people that are hearing about it for the first

[00:07:06] time can you tell me a little bit more about your role in helping this Embrace project achieve its

[00:07:12] goals as a task force member? Yeah so kudos to the kids safety for not only standing up in

[00:07:18] various projects but building a very dynamic task force but there's someone that's been on

[00:07:23] different boards and advisory things. You know, you're strong as that task force and whether

[00:07:29] it's very diverse task force where we all bring something different to the table. We have people

[00:07:34] who are from a policy, we have people who are working at the intersection of changing policies

[00:07:41] within child welfare and then you know yeah you have someone like me who is really focused all

[00:07:46] like I said how can technology help to improve especially in an industry where it's essentially

[00:07:54] non-existent. You know my work began you know many years ago with a nonprofit called Think of Us

[00:08:01] and we have the first foster care technology apathon at the White House on the Obama administration

[00:08:07] where we brought child welfare officials and tech leaders together for two days of hacking

[00:08:13] and the aha moments that happened there were crazy you had you know the tech leader saying

[00:08:20] you're still going wet on paper and then you had the child welfare official saying oh we can do

[00:08:25] wet with tech and you know when you think about this this is the most vulnerable population that

[00:08:33] exists and they're not leveraging technology the way they are so when we think of the embrace

[00:08:42] project which is you know focus on Black youth and care how can technology help at least

[00:08:50] all some of the things so that you know improving the numbers or all Black youth disproportionately

[00:08:56] being removed from their households that's an issue and then you know how can we all the way

[00:09:03] to the other end how can we look at improving the adoption rate and where are those bottlenecks

[00:09:10] there how do we bring more awareness to you know not only potential Black families but non-Black

[00:09:17] families as to the need here making sure that they're getting mentoring and things that they need

[00:09:24] so that we can even improve those adoption rates so we're kind of looking at things from both

[00:09:29] ends of the foster care system you know from the you know what's happening at the very beginning

[00:09:37] all the way to you know if a child does end up in care how do we get them a fairer home in a

[00:09:43] forever family and from a personal level why do you think the embrace project is so important and

[00:09:51] what are some of your personal goals into ensuring it's a success too yes for those make sure

[00:09:57] remember that embrace project is focused on you know our Black youth that are a care so when you

[00:10:05] think of someone being in foster care regardless of your race then if you think of being Black within

[00:10:16] America and it put those two things together these young people have such an uphill battle

[00:10:27] throughout their life and there to come and you know the fact that we are you have such an

[00:10:36] intense focus all on having racial equity in this country and then you layer on you're a young

[00:10:44] person who don't have a family you have foster care you may be in a blue call these are the people

[00:10:52] that just need so so much attention so that's what this embrace project is really all about

[00:11:03] is just having an intense focus on this extremely vulnerable population and the sooner

[00:11:11] we can provide the support and the things that they need and get them a family and get them

[00:11:21] safe and secure with a roof and food and clothes and education they will be better suited for what

[00:11:31] I've had to face and growing up you know as a black man in this country you know going into a field

[00:11:40] where you know I was the only Black person and being a minority as it relates to that and just

[00:11:47] some of the things that I had to deal with so that's why this is just so important and then for me

[00:11:55] because I was not myself in foster care but I'm a product of someone who was in foster care

[00:12:05] it's very important for me to be involved with this because I've witnessed the generational

[00:12:13] effects of someone being in foster care what people do not realize is you know especially if you have

[00:12:22] someone who has a child at an early age who's there care 15 16 17 18 whatever age you want to say it

[00:12:31] and their child is in those surroundings with them as mom is in survival you follow me

[00:12:40] and even though you know mom may get to where she needs to be and she lands on her feet and things

[00:12:47] are better for her there's so much that's still inside of her because of what she went through

[00:12:55] and those traits and those things are passed down to look to that child that child is seeing

[00:13:01] and witnessing everything so there's so much in me and just who I am that I directly relate to my mom

[00:13:12] and what she went through so for me I'm really focused on how we can provide the support needed

[00:13:19] to them as soon as possible so that as we think about the generations to come behind that sometimes

[00:13:27] we can break that something you follow me and how can my work in technology just really help to

[00:13:35] make somewhat of a difference in any way their technology can help so that that's kind of why

[00:13:40] is what important for me to be on this task force and I think it's so important to shine a light on

[00:13:46] technology's role in social equity and I was when I was researching I was also reading it

[00:13:51] that you believe strongly in the power of technology to advance the policy goals of the

[00:13:56] embrace project as well so I'm curious just to bring this to life a little I don't any examples

[00:14:02] of how technology is being used to make a tangible difference in these communities is there anything

[00:14:07] you can share around that yeah absolutely and you know one of my favorite sayings is technology

[00:14:13] is the greatest equalized of all disparities and it it definitely applies here that we really also

[00:14:21] need to focus on as a relates to tech is just from just a pure data collection and things that's

[00:14:28] happening within some of these child welfare offices across the country there's still a lot of

[00:14:34] antiquated system of you know case workers taking notes on paper and you know manually entering them

[00:14:42] into their to systems disconnect and the sharing of data from a local agency up to the state level

[00:14:49] and if from the state level to the government data is very lacking the reports that come out around

[00:14:56] you know the the number of you think here and identifying them are not your time at all

[00:15:02] you know the example I love to use all the time is but Amazon knows exactly which warehouse

[00:15:08] has the product which shelf added would robot is going to get it I mean the the way technology is

[00:15:13] used in some of these other sectors just totally is mind blowing how different it is within child

[00:15:20] welfare so that's one thing that you know technology can really really just help with technology she

[00:15:28] can help with just spreading the you know awareness like I said of the issues the disparities and

[00:15:35] the needs you know so many people are just very unaware of you know the foster care and just

[00:15:42] you know how many people in the state of California being or LA having the biggest you know foster

[00:15:48] care population you know so like this is my LA that says I don't even I didn't even know that

[00:15:52] exists right you know nobody's talking about these things and like I said how can technology help

[00:15:58] with matchmaking matchmaking you know they're your foster parents to kids how can it help with the

[00:16:06] mentoring the training how can it help with an onboarding and all of the things that they need to do

[00:16:12] within their local government to get certified to be a foster parent life the list goes on and on

[00:16:19] as to the ways that technology can help including being in the hands of those young people who are

[00:16:25] in care whether they're in a foster home or in a group how can technology help to make sure that

[00:16:31] they get access to the resources that they need and start to really put the power or really put their

[00:16:38] future in their own hands if they don't have a family you follow me how can maybe technology be

[00:16:45] that thing that can help like I said a level of playing field for them a little bit and help them

[00:16:51] get with any and if we were to take your work with the embrace project and indeed racial equity at

[00:16:58] Microsoft I'm curious what are some of the most significant challenges that you've had to face

[00:17:04] and how have you overcome them any stories you can share there around those challenges and

[00:17:08] overcoming them wow so I for me it is just about allowed this ball back to do overall

[00:17:18] awareness to the problems that exist and then the understanding and the knowledge of how do we

[00:17:27] resolve these things and I said that to say when I think of the work within with in Microsoft

[00:17:33] it is an intense focus within those communities and if the Black and African and brown communities

[00:17:41] where we think of those terms the digital divide and things that are sort and how things that

[00:17:49] you and I are doing on a daily basis you know we're taking for granted and don't realize that

[00:17:56] there's still people who don't have access to high speed internet who don't have devices and

[00:18:02] band to that sort you know for so many people because we have so much things that are disposal

[00:18:09] there's this mindset that okay you know everybody's there now you know everybody has these things

[00:18:15] and the truth of the matter is they don't so one is just understanding that that problem exists

[00:18:22] the same as it relates to like I said understanding that these problems exist at it relates to

[00:18:28] the foster care communities and then the second thing is building those relationships with those

[00:18:35] partners at the most hyper local level to be able to start to make some impact and change so my

[00:18:43] word that Microsoft is really connecting with those nonprofits and community-based organizations

[00:18:50] at the neighborhood level because those are the ones that are touching to people that are most

[00:18:54] vulnerable and saying okay how can our technology support you the same as it relates for

[00:19:02] embrace these are the entities in the communities that are touching our foster youth on a daily

[00:19:10] basis so there's some things that can happen at a policy level that's you know nationally yes we

[00:19:16] need to have that emotion but we also need to be building that momentum and that ground force with

[00:19:22] those relationships at a hyper local level delivering in the tools and resources that they need

[00:19:28] so that they can effectively serve the people that we're trying it to and if we were to look ahead

[00:19:34] how do you envision the role of technology continue to evolve and also further support and uplift

[00:19:40] black social support networks and indeed the wider community is anything to share about what makes

[00:19:45] you hopeful about how things will evolve and and how this will further improve yeah I'm very

[00:19:51] hopeful you know I can remember definitely 10 years ago but I can even say five years ago

[00:19:58] you know some of the resistance in society to various elements within technology and to me there

[00:20:06] was a huge shift when people realize how much they were using technology to advance their personal

[00:20:16] that day they started to make those comparisons to what they're doing in their at their job

[00:20:22] and you know starting to question well how can we can't do this how can we don't have these systems

[00:20:27] to do this there's a better way there's a better way so we're we are beyond the point now when

[00:20:34] people don't understand how technology can improve now it's more of iterating and innovating in

[00:20:42] various areas of technology I'm extremely excited about all things AI that is something too

[00:20:48] that you know we had to get over the hurdle of missing things and people are really starting to

[00:20:54] understand how AI can really you know improve your workflow give you access to information and just

[00:21:03] really change the landscape of how we are serving people and so to be able to see

[00:21:12] organizations and especially those nonprofits who are serving those vulnerable people that I

[00:21:18] mentioned the more that they start to leverage AI it will help them be be more productive with

[00:21:25] the minimum staff that they have the minimal resources that they have it will help them to be able to

[00:21:32] do more analytics on data you know data that they have that they're capturing you know they have

[00:21:39] they know the number of youth they're serving they know all of these things they have them in

[00:21:43] the system they you know they cannot afford a data engineer data scientists today with cost

[00:21:48] number school but to have AI be those things for them so that at you know at a self-service type of

[00:21:55] level they can start to evaluate the impact that they're having with their social services and

[00:22:01] they can actually start to pivot and make decisions so much of this work that people are doing is

[00:22:07] feel good work and feel good in terms of these are passionate people and you know sometimes you know

[00:22:14] they they work with a particular young person I guess such such a great thing with that person

[00:22:19] and I say this person it's so much emotions in it that sometimes they're not taking the step back

[00:22:26] and looking at data and saying hey are we being effective as we think we are and sometimes data

[00:22:33] will tell you a different story so these are just all the things that you know AI will be able to

[00:22:41] bring to you know everyday organizations to really propel them just in their missions and I think

[00:22:48] we've got a fantastic opportunity here because we will have people listening in more than 165

[00:22:53] different countries out there and you're speaking directly into that here and I know for sure

[00:22:58] there's going to be a lot of people out there that you're inspiring and now with not only your

[00:23:03] words but your actions as well so what advice would you give to any tech leader or business leader

[00:23:09] or indeed company or brand are looking to make a real meaningful impact on racial equity and

[00:23:14] social justice is it any advice that you would offer to those people listening that want to walk

[00:23:19] away and take action having listened to our conversation today yeah I would say it's too bad as you

[00:23:24] test upon it around you know diversity within the organization and you know really for those

[00:23:31] organizations that you know on a surface they they mean I think they have a social impact duty

[00:23:38] if you're just a for-profit industry not out of ten times your consumers are very diverse so

[00:23:45] even if you think about from your goal of being profitable do you have that diverse workforce

[00:23:52] that is really building your products that's going to serve what your consumer base looks like

[00:23:59] you know even just doing that you know it's something that could really help to

[00:24:05] you know have more of a diverse workforce if you just really start to look at okay how can we

[00:24:12] best relate to our consumers we need to have those people in house that's focused on making sure

[00:24:19] that we have diverse and inclusive and then I think the second thing is you know D&I and

[00:24:25] diversity inclusion equity you know all of these terms I see a lot of times it's really mostly

[00:24:32] focused on what they're doing internally which to we just talk about is very important diverse workforce

[00:24:40] inclusion and things of that sort but I think also to them starting to look outside the walls

[00:24:46] of their organization and saying okay what are some things initiatives that we can be doing within

[00:24:55] our community as well and it may not on the surface have anything to do with your solution your

[00:25:03] product or your selling it's not a marketing thing or whatever but how are you building that

[00:25:09] brand love by getting back and then you know how are you also finding ways that by you pouring

[00:25:18] into the community not thinking that you're going to get something back that down the road

[00:25:24] that will correlate to something that will make a difference within your organization and I think

[00:25:31] that's something that I don't see a lot of that I see a lot of D&I that solely focused internally but

[00:25:37] when you kind of dig and say all right what are you doing outside the walls of your organization I

[00:25:43] think there's a lot more companies can be doing to support the communities you know where they're

[00:25:49] headquartered or where they are you know have you know or where they may be doing business at really

[00:25:56] giving back to the community because you may not realize it but there are your future workers there

[00:26:02] your future consumers you improve their lives there will ultimately help with your young S.O.

[00:26:09] 100% with you there and it's such a powerful point and of course you're doing this one of the most

[00:26:15] one of the biggest tech companies in the world so I've got to ask why are you able to share any

[00:26:20] the strategic approaches that Microsoft is taking again on to your leadership to ensure that racial

[00:26:26] equity is not just a buzzword a box-ticking exercise but again tangible action within and outside

[00:26:33] the organization this is where they're the exciting part isn't it exactly and to put it perspective

[00:26:38] is that what we've been doing so out of our rich equity initiatives would start in 2020 various

[00:26:44] pillars across the company and some of them I have mentioned where for us focus internally how can

[00:26:49] we improve more diverse recruiting especially in the black and afin where we are nearly you know

[00:26:55] giving more within leadership but then as we extend out things such as how are we

[00:27:02] having a more diverse supplier ecosystem and we're creating more diverse suppliers have an

[00:27:08] equitable spin with them I find that team is focused on bringing capital to minority own banks

[00:27:17] in communities providing them capital as supporting those banks because those are the ones who's

[00:27:22] fueling you know economic growth growth within the community our air band team which was originally

[00:27:29] focused on bringing broad-ranging rural areas has an initiative on bringing affordable broadband

[00:27:36] to urban areas also providing working with partners to provide access to you know low-cost

[00:27:43] devices and then the SOR we're working to bring computer science to more high schools within communities

[00:27:51] where computer science is lacking and then there's the initiative that I lead which is called

[00:27:56] the nonprofit tech acceleration program which is basically what I was speaking to earlier is

[00:28:04] you know we as Microsoft and you know world largest tech company we can't get to every person on the

[00:28:11] planet but we have a really great shot at is getting to every one of those organizations that's

[00:28:17] supporting the people on the planet so on the more of a one-to-one fashion if we can digitally mature

[00:28:25] those nonprofits and make sure that they're operating at the highest levels as possible and I'm

[00:28:32] even talking small community based nonprofits we know that will have a higher impact on their missions

[00:28:37] they're going to be able to work faster more collaborative more productive etc. And then through

[00:28:44] that what we're now gaining is partners at a hyper local level that now through them we can get so

[00:28:52] much of STEM and STEAM scaling and curriculum into the hand from yet you've to young adults to

[00:28:59] seniors and that could be just basic digital literacy Colony AI we're linked in so we bring so much

[00:29:07] as it relates to career development and brand development and don't forget we're Xbox and gaming

[00:29:13] and esports is bigger than the movie industry worldwide so now we're able to reach people who desire

[00:29:20] it to be in the industry through those nonprofit partners and say hey here's how we can help

[00:29:27] your young people who want to get into gaming to be a game developer here's how they be an independent

[00:29:32] developer there's how they code here's the programs that we have for that so that is you know

[00:29:39] and a nutshell everything that we're doing from the racial equity lens and then like I said my work

[00:29:44] is specifically focused on accelerating those nonprofits with their technology and then

[00:29:52] through them in a trainer model giving them the tools that they need so that they can be the

[00:29:58] driving force to try and steal and educate those in their community. Incredible work here really is

[00:30:04] now I'm not sure how much you could share you've shared so much or ready today but is that

[00:30:08] is anything else around the next steps for the embrace project Microsoft's initiatives in racial

[00:30:14] equity well there you go from here or any teasers around upcoming projects or collaborations

[00:30:19] anything you'd like anyone listening to be aware of. Well with the embrace project we have some

[00:30:25] pilots kicking off and some certain cities where one thing that we're really focused on is some of

[00:30:31] the matchmaking process connecting you know potential foster parents with youth and then also

[00:30:37] the mentoring piece that is something that's really big how can we wrap our arms around those

[00:30:44] potential foster parents or current foster parents and making sure that they have the support

[00:30:49] that they need even from culturally engaging standpoint especially if you have a black youth

[00:30:57] who may be adopted by say a white foster parent you know how can we support them in understanding

[00:31:04] what that child's needs is you know that's something that's very critical wow as a

[00:31:09] release of Microsoft I don't even know what to start we're probably need another

[00:31:13] ask it tell you get to tell you that but I will say at least within philanthropy you are really

[00:31:18] focused on driving innovation with those nonprofits you know them leveraging AI or their usage but

[00:31:27] then also bringing AI scaling especially around gender to AI to as many people as possible

[00:31:34] you know getting co-pilot in the hands of as many people as possible them understanding how they can

[00:31:41] you know be a soft engineer and they can be building their own G.P.T.'s in Paisers sort because we

[00:31:47] just like I said we'll see AI as a future so just really really doubling down on just the awareness of

[00:31:54] that being very equitable making sure that as many people can get their hands on it now because

[00:32:02] what we don't want is that digital divide to continue to grow so as technology innovates at

[00:32:09] advance we need to reach out to as much of the population as soon as possible so that we have that

[00:32:16] equal playing feel in terms of tools that people are using well I cannot thank you enough for

[00:32:21] taking the time to sit down and me share your story how you're making a difference with technology adding

[00:32:27] a lot of positivity and hope back into the world and Lord knows we need a lot of that right now and

[00:32:33] and for any of those people that are listening they want to take action now they want to contact you

[00:32:37] all your team or find out more information where would you like to point everyone listening

[00:32:42] so first of all for the embrace project is visit it in brinston kidsave.org sign up to the newsletter where

[00:32:48] you'll get all information about everything that we have coming up also follow kidsave on all social

[00:32:54] and then for me at derail booker on all social platforms d-a-r-r-e-l-l-p-o-k-e-r especially

[00:33:02] linkedin that's probably what we'll see the most as well as Instagram and then for all of you

[00:33:07] all if you know of a nonprofit who is in need of some donated license who's in need of our

[00:33:14] engineering team to really help support and move them forward does not matter the size of the

[00:33:20] nonprofit bill one person nonprofit please urge them to join our tech acceleration program at aka.ms

[00:33:27] slash nta that's aka.ms slash n is a nonprofit t is intact a of the acceleration oh make sure

[00:33:35] all those links are added to the show notes so people can find you nicely easily i just love

[00:33:40] charity stay such a powerful story that i'll know and resonate with people all around the world from

[00:33:45] your mom's experience being a kid in a foster care home have that inspired you to improve create

[00:33:50] and uplift black social support networks and why you believe in the hour of technology to advance

[00:33:57] the policy goals of the embrace project and the great work you do with Microsoft too so much

[00:34:03] i want to say there's something we can do for you in return now because some of the biggest

[00:34:07] names in business pc funding and tech have either been guess or why it may even listen to this

[00:34:13] podcast so is that a person you'd love to have a private breakfast or lunch with who would

[00:34:18] that person be and why because he or she might just be listening to our conversation and

[00:34:23] let's see what we can manifest together today i would i would love that in probably on his

[00:34:28] spot so i don't know a single person name but i will say this of the type of person it takes

[00:34:34] of village today but to make this impact and i'm very collaborative we have Microsoft for very

[00:34:40] collaborative we can do it all by ourselves so if you're someone in the position and you know you

[00:34:48] have a similar mission in terms of just you know improving the community supporting nonprofits supporting

[00:34:55] our thoughts to you and you feel like you have something that that missing piece of a puzzle or

[00:35:01] something else to add or itemy extremely collaborative i would say please reach out let's connect let's

[00:35:07] figure out how we can come together and you know well we're doing this type of work there's no

[00:35:14] competitiveness at this point you know this is where you know even tech companies can come together

[00:35:20] to be able to have an impact in our community so i said to say if you're someone out there or

[00:35:27] something that that you've heard really strikes a chord with you where you want to partner

[00:35:32] together it takes a village and i love to be able to collaborate and make the difference

[00:35:37] what a beautiful answer i will throw that out into the universe into internet land and beyond more

[00:35:43] lethine just a real privilege for me to spend a bit of time with you to share that story with not

[00:35:48] myself but with people around the world thanks again thank you for having me and thanks for

[00:35:52] the platform the more that we can have these conversations the more that we can have the awareness

[00:35:57] i mentioned the more that we can move towards some solutions to some of these problems so thank you

[00:36:02] for me i think it's clear that the intersection of technology and social justice holds on parallel

[00:36:08] potential for creating a more equitable society at derals work with emberase project and his

[00:36:14] dedication to using technology as a tool for advocacy and change this not only shines a light on

[00:36:21] the critical issues facing black youths and families within the char welfare system but also serves

[00:36:27] as a beacon of hope for what can be achieved when passion meets purpose and i think it's his personal

[00:36:35] connection to the cause coupled with Microsoft's commitment to racial equity that helps underscore

[00:36:41] the profound impact that technology when harnessed with intention and empathy what difference it can

[00:36:47] have on addressing systemic challenges and uplifting undeserved communities and as you know by now i say

[00:36:54] at the end of every episode technology works best when it brings people together and derals story

[00:36:59] today exemplifies that so as we all reflect on today's discussion let's consider the ways in

[00:37:05] which we can all contribute to bridging that digital divide supporting initiatives that aim

[00:37:10] to make a difference in real people's lives and how we can all leverage our own platform skills

[00:37:16] and resources to advance the goals of projects like emberase give back to your community

[00:37:24] and also what steps we can take to ensure the benefits of technology are accessible to all

[00:37:31] regardless of backgrounds and circumstance please show me your thoughts today by emailing me

[00:37:38] tech blog writer outlook.com you can connect with me on LinkedIn twitter instagram just

[00:37:43] at nilc hues i've looked here how you feel that technology can continue to be a force for good in

[00:37:49] the world we see all those bad news stories that generate huge clips and divide people on the internet

[00:37:57] i think it's time to strike a better balance and showcase more positive stories like this on the

[00:38:02] positive difference that technology can have on the world and remember innovation isn't just about

[00:38:08] technology we create it's about the futures that we can imagine and the lives that we can change

[00:38:14] so that's it for today hopefully you'll join me again tomorrow for another inspiring story

[00:38:18] like this but thank you for listening as always and until next time don't be a stranger