Startup of the Week

Promoting Diversity Through the Inclusion of Marginalized Peoples in Tech with Vision Voice, Inc.

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Every week, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute elects a Startup of the Week. We invite the founders of these startups to share a blog post with our community. These posts can be inspirational, educational, or entertaining. Founders can share founding stories, resources, lessons, or any other topic of their choice. 

This blog post was written by Dessa Shepherd (Steinhardt '19), Founder & CEO of Vision Voice, Inc., which helps companies & startups, who are seeking to diversify their engineering teams, hire and retain female Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) software engineers.


VisionVoice, Inc. was founded in May 2020 amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, in my living room. I realized that technology is transforming our world at an ever growing pace and is the single industry that influences and impacts all others with growing definition. Tech is also the space where grievous inequities exist. AfroX (BIPOC) women are tremendously underrepresented in this field and, although many organizations focus on diversifying tech, Black & Indigenous People of Color female software engineers are still not the primary focus. 

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, VisionVoice, Inc. was founded as a virtual community and culture builder on mission to transform and grow human communities around the world. We are committed to promoting diversity through the inclusion of marginalized & underrepresented peoples in ways that are equitable and sustainable over time. We currently do this in three ways:

  1. VisionVoice, Inc. connects technical and diversity recruiters to a community of female BIPOC Software Engineers seeking access to software engineering employment opportunities! If you are a recruiter who is interested in connecting with Female Black, Indigenous, People of Color software engineers, please email me, Dessa Shepherd, at visionvoiceinc@gmail.com.
  2. VisionVoice, Inc. supports female BIPOC Software Engineers from job search to hire. Are you a female BIPOC Software Engineer? Let us know who you are by completing our interest form.
  3. VisionVoice, Inc. also hosts a Middle School Software Engineering Program. The program brings together volunteer software engineers and eighth grade young women of color for mentorship, computer science fundamentals, software engineering coding workshops, and exposure to opportunities. We do this so that they may develop an interest in software engineering, and hopefully aspire to careers in the field, all while building the transferable and functional skills that will help make them successful professionals. 

VisionVoice, Inc. will be hosting our annual Access to Tech Virtual Conference on Friday August 13th - Sunday, August 15th, 2021 from 10AM -3:30PM.  For more information about the VisionVoice, Inc. community and to access our services, please email me, Dessa Shepherd, at visionvoiceinc@gmail.com.

 

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