I headed back to the
conference a bit later since I needed some extra rest. Back on the conference floor, I ran into my good friend
from Bank of America (Mardochee Macxis, VP Tech Lead). He and his team spoke to
me about why the Bank created “Erica,” which is their AI assistant for applications across the stack and their
recent app redesign. The main reasons were accessibility for users, whether it be on mobile or web. It’s
complicated to service the voice assistant to another vendor or company that has developed similar technology
(e.g. Alexa, Google Assistant) as it would have access to the user’s sensitive financial information.
Zaytoven showed up on the main stage to close out the conference. He showed us how he
creates a hit song in under ten minutes. He also brought out two new artists he’s developing, and they
performed. As we might say nowadays, it was “lit.” Then, we did one more swag surf to close off a great
weekend!
Amazon BEN Event
To close out
my conference, I was invited to Amazon’s Black Employee Network (BEN) Lifting as we Climb event at the Oakland
Museum. They held a fireside chat with an array of their employees and a J.P. Morgan Executive. This is up
there as one of the top events I attended. The energy from all the BEN employees was top-notch as we came into
the museum, they were all lined up cheering, sharing good energy and greeting us.
The panel
included Denise Quashie, Jewel Burks Solomon, Eric Irving (J.P. Morgan), and
was moderated by Solomon Wilkins, an Oakland native and Amazon employee. They
all spoke about their stories, journeys as entrepreneurs and being Blacks in Tech. Quashie and Jewel actually
both had startups that were acquired (Jewel’s by Amazon).
Here are some notable quotes from the event:
“There’s
plenty of things folks can do to be a helping hand to a founder that doesn’t require capital.” — Jewel Burks
Solomon
She
recommended allowing founders to tap into your network or just sharing their content is a big help. The
intention is to see others win.
“Don’t let
your friends pick you, pick your friends.” — Denise Quashie
This went in
conjunction with making sure that you were not the smartest person in the room. There were a bunch of gems
being dropped by inspirational individuals. The event ended with yet another open bar and the option of
walking through the interesting art displayed at the Oakland Museum.
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