TRANSFORMING THE FACE OF TECH FOR BLACK WOMEN WITH JEWEL BURKS SOLOMON
Forbes 30 under 30, met with Obama, and sold her company to Amazon…just an overview of how Jewel Burks Solomon is changing the game and changing the face of tech.
In 2013, Jewel founded PartPic, a technology that recognizes replacement parts. Out of her own frustration with working with customers trying to find parts she knew that there had to be a better way. During her internships with Goldman Sachs and Google. Jewel’s interest in technology was sparked. As a student at Howard University, she accelerated her classes to graduate in three year to go to Silicon Valley and work at Google full-time.
As a woman and a black woman in tech, Jewel’s presence represented something so much greater than her. So, I had to ask, ‘How did you navigate in conversations and meeting as a woman in a male dominated space?’, ‘Were there times when you thought you couldn’t do this?’ and more.
With starting a company, conquering Silicon Valley and successfully selling her company to company to Amazon, Jewel feels like there is nothing she can’t do. Instead of taking it easy from here, Jewel has made it her mission to not be the anomaly in this space but to bring up other
minority founders. With her venture capital company, she is supporting these founders with sharing the lessons she has learned along the ‘Journey’ and investing in what they are building.
Lastly, I wanted to know, what are some things that anyone interested in tech can do to get started:
"Get over yourself. You have to first get over the mental hurdles. Stop listening to the voice telling you that you can’t, I’m not smart enough, or I don’t have the right background.
Decide that you are going to do it and do it! It’s really just a decision to get started and do it.
Learn what you need to learn and find others to help you fill in the gap. Recognize your strengths and partner with people to make up for your weaknesses."
