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​Hack the Hood Blog:
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Keeping Up With Kesha

6/16/2020

3 Comments

 
Hack the Hood believes in highlighting the young people who have brought their skills and passions to our program to inspire others. We're profiling a different young leader each month to share their journey through Hack the Hood and beyond, with Kesha being our June feature.
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  1. What made you decide to join Hack the Hood (HtH)? When did you start with HtH? 
    I heard about Hack the Hood two years ago because my friend, Luke, joined a program and had nothing but good things to say about it. At that time, I had already made it my goal to break into a tech career through software engineering, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to join the Tech Ladder program in Spring 2018. 


  2. What did you learn that was unexpected? Was there anything that surprised you about the program?
    During the Tech Ladder program, we learned about HTML, CSS, Javascript, and a variety of professional skills. I was already familiar with all of those skills, but what really surprised me was that I learned what it looked like to be in a community. I’ve joined a couple of tech programs in the past, and for me, the Hack the Hood team (and even students) really embodied the meaning of community. Everyone was very positive and uplifting. Even after you’ve graduated from the programs, Hack the Hood still makes an effort to connect with you to support your journey.


  3. What has your journey post- Hack the Hood looked like?
    I enrolled in Code Berkeley at Berkeley City College but it wasn’t successful for me due to scheduling issues with the school. Then I took a year off and worked to save up money. In January 2020, I joined the Adobe Digital Academy through General Assembly. I was able to graduate from General Assembly’s Software Engineering Immersive and landed an internship with Adobe right when the shelter-in-place order started. I am a Solutions Developer on the Digital Media team. My role’s a bit of a hybrid - there’s a mix of design and coding. It’s been a great experience so far.


  4. What do you do for fun?
    I like to make music, photography, and fashion design. With music, I like to make everything - Rap, RnB, Trap, EDM, Afropop - and I’ve worked with indie artists within the Bay Area, Baltimore,  Atlanta, and even Nigeria. I haven’t really been in the music scene as much lately since I’ve been immersed in my Adobe internship. Throughout the quarantine, I’ve been spending my time trying to learn different skills. I’ve been getting into Forex Trading and Blockchain.


  5. What are your favorite foods?
    My favorite foods are cheese pizza, fettuccine alfredo, and tacos. When it comes to restaurants, I love going to Souley Vegan, Grandeur, Malibu’s Burgers, and Vegan Mob. They’re all vegan, all black-owned, and I highly recommend them to everyone.


  6. What are three places you enjoy visiting in the Bay Area and beyond?
    I love hanging out at Jack London Square, Pier 39, Oakland Hills, Lake Merritt, and Berkeley Marina.


  7. Who are your top music artists?
    Sam Smith, J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Jhene Aiko, Tink, Burna Boy, Future, Summer Walker, H.E.R, Billie Eilish, Brent Faiyaz, Simi, Adekunle Gold, Falz, Teni, Rema, Nonso Amadi, DaVido, Roddy Ricch, 6lack, Miguel and Michael Jackson.


  8. Who do you follow on Insta?
    Afropop Artists, Black Fashion Designers, Black Streetwear Brands, and Music Producers


  9. Where’d you grow up? What do you like about the Bay Area?
    I was born and raised in Louisiana and also spent some time in Texas. I moved to the Bay Area in 2016 because it has a lot of resources to get into tech the nontraditional way. On top of the weather and scenery, what I love about the Bay Area, especially Oakland, is the diversity and strong sense of community. I also love that I am surrounded by like-minded individuals and how everyone tries to embody a healthy lifestyle. 


  10. What’s something you’d like to see change in Oakland? What do you want your contribution to that change to be? 
    I’d like to see Oakland folks to be a part of tech, instead of being pushed away from it. I think Oakland should definitely have more programs for people to immerse themselves in tech and for the city to have more funding for black, indigenous, people of color, and women to start their own companies. I would ideally like to contribute to the community by starting a mentorship program for people who are barely breaking into tech. There are different avenues to get into the industry. You don’t necessarily have to be good at math or know software engineering, and I want young people to be aware of that.


  11. What do you appreciate about today’s technology?
    I appreciate how you can solve problems through technology, like how you can learn new things by searching it on Google, track coronavirus, or use your phone and social media to call out police brutality. Technology is crazy and constantly changing, and I want to be a part of the innovation.


  12. What type of technology do you wish you had but hasn’t been invented yet?
    It would be great if we could have a teleportation device. I would definitely use it to go on vacation to places like Bali or Bora-Bora. 
       
  13. What would be your dream job? What do you want to be when you grow up? 
    Well, I am already grown up. Haha. But my dream job would be to create my own tech company that focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve issues within disparities amongst underserved populations. I have a long way to go. I know I still need to gain more experiences, skills, and build a network, but I do plan to fulfill that dream.​
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3 Comments

A love letter to Oakland, from Hack the Hood

6/3/2020

4 Comments

 
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Yesterday was #BlackoutTuesday. Today is a new day and we’re going to start with love. 

A love letter to Oakland, from Hack the Hood

We honor the organizers of the youth-led protest on June 1st. 
We honor Oakland’s Black businesses and their commitment to the Town. 
We honor each education institution and organization doing movement work, centering the experiences of Oakland’s Black youth. 
We see you. We hear you. We love you. 

We hold Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade in our hearts. 

In the 14 weeks since Ahmaud’s death on February 23rd, media outlets have been rife with traumatizing images of racist acts against Black people. Their offenses? Living. Sleeping. Birdwatching. 

The sobering reality is that we have been engaged in fighting systemic racism, including police brutality, high unemployment rates, and lack of access to quality education for centuries. Compounded with COVID-19 suffering -- losses disproportionately impacting Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income communities -- this unrest is a reflection of collective grief. This time is also wrapped in fear. Watching the U.S. erupt into outcries to protect Black lives is reminiscent of Ferguson in 2014, Los Angeles in 1992, and Newark in 1967, to name a few. These protests remind us Black lives are invaluable and Black futures are vital to the progress of this country. Period.

Despite the heaviness of this moment, we rise. 

We’re at an inflection point and fortunately, we’re only going forward. The unexpected beginning is here and it’s important we not misuse it to reconstruct what has ended. At Hack the Hood, our mission is rooted in equipping youth of color and small business owners with the technology education and resources needed for economic mobility. The future of our communities rests on shifting from being solely technology consumers to technology architects. How we cultivate underestimated talent and leverage partnerships for career opportunities in this moment is key. Hack the Hood’s impact, nurturing technology architects, has reached over 1000 youth and 400 small business owners in Oakland. This work and the impact we’ll continue to make bring us joy! Despite Shelter-In-Place orders, we have doubled down on our efforts to serve Oakland and are proud to support 65 students in virtual bootcamps and Tech Prep sessions this summer. We do this work to promote economic and people power in Oakland. Our vision is to continue cultivating Black, Latinx, Indigenous technology architects nationally. Though there is a long road ahead. We remain steadfast and stand in solidarity with our partners doing this work. 

In Community,
Tiffany Shumate and the Hack the Hood Family


***
#BlackLivesMatter

We honor the Black lives we’ve lost to police violence and those unknown. Amadou Diallo (NYC, 1999), Oscar Grant (Oakland, 2009), Tamir Rice (Cleveland, 2014), Eric Garner (NYC, 2014), Mike Brown (Ferguson, 2014), Sandra Bland (Texas, 2015), Freddie Gray (Baltimore, 2015), Alton Sterling (Baton Rouge, 2016), Philando Castile (Minnesota, 2016), Botham Jean (Texas, 2019), Atatiana Jefferson (Texas, 2019). Ahmaud Arbery (Georgia, 2020), Breonna Taylor (Louisville, 2020), George Floyd (Minneapolis, 2020), and Tony McDade (Tallahassee, 2020).

These are only the lives that received national attention. Our hearts are with the countless families without the justice they deserve and the victims we’ve lost from Latinx and Indigenous communities. The fight against police brutality and racism is intimately tied to upending anti-Blackness, globally. For justice, there must be collective action across all disenfranchised communities and our accomplices.  ​

Ways To Support
To our non-Black community members in Oakland and the greater Bay Area: None of us is free until all of us are free. We must collectivize our efforts to end white supremacy and the systematic oppression of black, indigenous, people of color. 
​
​Educate yourself & share!
  • Black Lives Matters List of Resources
  • 1619 Project Podcast
  • Data for Black Lives
Exercise your right to vote 
  • Register to vote
Consider donating to local organizations:
  • The Black Organizing Project
  • People’s Breakfast Oakland 
  • Black Earth Farms
  • Anti Police-Terror Project
Write your State Senators and/or Representative, advocating for police reform
  • U.S. Senate Directories
Support local Black-owned businesses and organizations
  • Bay Area Black Market
  • Bay Area Organization of Black-Owned Businesses
  • East Oakland Collective
  • A crowd-sourced directory of Black-owned Bay Area food businesses that are open right now
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  • About
    • Education Philosophy
    • Our Team
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    • Ctrl+Shift
    • Blog
    • Contact Us
  • Youth Programs
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