SERENA WILLIAMS MADE A MEANINGFUL INVESTMENT IN KARAT’S ‘BRILLIANT BLACK MINDS’ PROGRAM AND NOW ITS EXPANDED IN A MAJOR WAY.

Serena Williams is among a large group of change agents aiming to level the playing filed for Black software engineers.

Karat, an end-to-end partner for technical hiring, recently announced their Brilliant Black Minds program has welcomed new partners including DocuSign, Electronic Arts, Intuit, Snap, Uber, Unity, and Zillow. Existing partners include Amazon Prime Video, Citi, Duolingo, and Flatiron Health. The industry leaders have corralled to help build more bridges of inclusivity for Black software engineers.

Serena Williams is among the group of esteemed investors and shared her thoughts about the program’s expansion: “The technology industry is focused on solving some of the world’s biggest challenges. My focus is ensuring the solutions to those challenges are developed by all of us.” Per a news release, a year after Williams’s investment, the community has grown exponentially.

Black software engineers are currently the most underrepresented group in the software development space, with just 5% of software engineers identifying as Black, Karat found. Their Brilliant Black Minds programs aims to bridge the chasm to opportunity through mentorship, networking opportunities and much more.

“We’re focused on shifting the conversations about diversity in tech from activity to impact,” said Crystal Moore, VP of Brilliant Black Minds at Karat. “Brilliant Black Minds is about ensuring candidates are equally prepared, starting at the job application, recruiter screen, and interview levels, so they truly have an equal opportunity to succeed. And we’re seeing the impact with every new member who joins our community, every new partner who signs on and ultimately, every Black engineer who lands a job in the world of tech.”

“There’s no secret that there’s a lack of representation in the tech space,” added Damion Wright, Global DE&I Talent Programs Leader at Intuit. “We want to ensure that our customer base and our employee base reflect each other. If you’re building products that reflect your customer base from an engineering standpoint it creates this synergy that’s unmatched.”

“At Uber, we strive for our workforce to be representative of the communities we serve and hire in globally,” shared Eve Lewis, Sr. Director of Global Inclusive TA at Uber. “To that end, we’ve partnered with Brilliant Black Minds to help us increase equitable opportunities for employment for diverse talent to develop and build our global platform. We believe that diversity makes us stronger and enables us to create a more equitable and inclusive environment to reimagine how the world moves for the better. Karat and Brilliant Black Minds are key partners in helping us realize this mission.”