Meet the Tech Titans on the HelloBeautiful x MadameNoire Digital Cover

HelloBeautiful x MadameNoire collaboration

Madame Noire is a sophisticated lifestyle publication that gives African-American women the latest in fashion trends, black entertainment, parenting tips, and beauty secrets that are specifically for black women. HelloBeautiful’s mission is to make beauty authentic again. The platform trends, stories, and advice that is honest and real, seeking to change the beauty world for Black women, and not the other way around.

The two media brands have collaborated on “Women to Know: Tech Titans”. Rooted in the idea that Black women are found at the cornerstone of innovation in countless industries, the brand-new Women to Know cover strives to celebrate these often-overlooked change agents who blaze trails for other women.

Kimberly Bryant, founder and CEO of Ascend Ventures Tech and founder of Black Girls CODE These 8 key Black female players in the tech industry sat down for an exclusive roundtable discussion exploring a wide range of topics from confidence to lack of diversity in tech, and motherhood.

Melanin Queens Smashing The Glass Ceiling

Expanding on how to take up space in an industry that overlooks Black women, the titans attempting to smash glass ceilings discuss their cultural impact with candor and transparency. They provide insights and advice on Black ownership, building your own community, and nurturing the wounds you develop in the industry; helping more women to forge lanes in tech.

“Investing in tech space was something very important to me in an industry mostly dominated by white men.”

Carrie Bernans, actress, stuntwoman, filmmaker, and venture capitalist, highlighted the importance of supporting other women of color in the tech sphere, saying “Investing in tech space was something very important to me in an industry mostly dominated by white men.”

Angel Rich, founder and CEO of Credit Stacker

Rachel Spivey, Director of Google’s Stay and Thrive Team says “As someone who started at Google and didn’t see many people who look like them at the company at the time […] that is what makes me proud every day to wake up, to go to work, knowing that I’m serving my purpose and helping so many other people through their careers”.

Powerhouse Bozoma Saint John

Another melanin queen on the cover is Bozoma Saint John. Bozoma “Boz” Saint John shook the table when she became the first Black woman to oversee global marketing for Apple in 2014. She became the first Black woman to be hired as the Chief Brand Officer at Uber in 2017.

In 2017, Billboard and Black Enterprise deemed the marketing whiz as one of the “Power 100” list and “Most Powerful Women in Business.”

Bozoma Saint John, Hall of Fame Inducted Marketing Executive, author, and entrepreneur

She would go on to streaming giant Netflix after leaving her Chief Marketing Officer position at Endeavor. Leaving Netflix in March 2022, she released her memoir The Urgent Life in February 2023.

“I decided to write The Urgent Life now because there’s so much talk about mental health, especially around loss and trauma and the things we’re all going through so quietly and secretly behind closed doors.”

After the 2013 death of her beloved husband, Peter Saint John, to an aggressive form of cancer, the executive was determined to not suffer the devastating loss in silence.

“I think it’s important to not just bring the happy headlines into the work, but the sad truths that connect us as human beings.”

When asked about the biggest takeaway Bozoma wanted readers to take from her storytelling, the former Netflix executive expressed that the book was a “call to action.”

“The air gets very thin at the top. So, the advice I give is to find your circle,” she said. “Rely on them. Tell them the truth. And in that way, you’ll have a corner that you can go to and feel good in.”

Main image: Featured Tech Titans include Bozoma Saint John, Angel Rich, Michelle James, Kelsey Davis, Mattie Reynolds, Rachel Spivey, Carrie Bernans, and Kimberly Bryant