Vercel at AfroTech 2022: An immersive experience
Vercel sponsored AfroTech 2022 and created an immersive experience featuring Black tech workers, interactive product demos, and engagement with the community. The company engaged with over 1,500 attendees, conducted interviews, and led workshops to attract top talent and showcase Vercel's commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Last month, Vercel had the privilege of sponsoring Conference 2022—the place for all things Black in tech and Web3. Our team was joined by the likes of Google, Meta, and Tesla in the expo hall—so we knew that we needed to find ways to stand out, engage with the community, and attract top talent. AfroTech
This was our approach.
Vercel’s mission is to give every developer the power to create at the moment of inspiration. From creatives to technologists, we envision a world where everyone can contribute to the web development process. And you’ve probably noticed that art and in everything that we do. design plays a major role
Because of this mission, we brought leaders from Black At Vercel, our new Employee Resource Group (ERG) to partner with local Austin arts alliance . We produced an immersive experience called All Kinds of Black In Tech, featuring a photo exhibit of Black tech workers, interactive product demos, and a live DJ. It wasn’t your average networking event. _OFCOLOR
Representation matters—across our whole business. “When I joined Vercel last year, I was amazed to see how many people of color there were on the All Hands company call. It absolutely blew me away. From software engineers to product directors, there were people of color all over Vercel,” said Jeremy Jefferson, Black at Vercel Founder and Leader.
With this in mind, we ensured that our AfroTech crew on the ground included folks from all areas of the business, including sales, data, engineering, marketing, and product.
This was also the perfect opportunity for Black At Vercel to meet and strategize. “While we strive to never be siloed, it’s not every day that you get to work face-to-face with folks from all areas of the business. Our number one goal is to help build our diversity network across the organization. Networking is vital for people of color, especially for those of us working remotely,” says Jeremy.
At the end of the day, we went to AfroTech to connect with top talent. We spent three days showcasing product demos, reviewing resumes, and performing interviews. We talked to over 1,500 attendees at our booth, conducted interviews, and led a workshop with computer science and MBA students at Huston-Tillotson University, a local historically Black college (HBCU).
But most critically, we got to tell the Vercel story to an important audience.
Maybe someday soon, one of our future engineers or data scientists will come up with an algorithm on how to measure those seemingly intangible metrics. For now, we can say with assurance that we aim to be a place where anyone, inclusive of identity, can contribute to our mission of making the Web faster.
An immersive experience with _OFCOLOR
One voice, all roles, same team
Telling our story, attracting top talent
Source: original entry ↗
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