GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Joanna Udo says while getting her education and now in her career in technology, she quickly noticed she was an anomaly as an African American woman.
“Was basically tired of being the only woman in the room and the only person of color in the room as I navigated all through college and the workplace,” Udo explained to Fox 17, when talking about her nearly two year old organization, “Bridges in Tech” she started to try and bring other women and women of color into the field she is so passionate about.
Udo says she started mentoring people about technology, and quickly became a voice for overall awareness of the field through public speaking and sitting on panels.
“There’s at-least 230 different jobs that you can do within the field of I-T,” Udo said, when explaining her organization as a free resource for women of color at-least 25 years old.
During a weekly happy hour held every Wednesday night, people can connect with mentors which can lead to an individual tailored program to help them learn more about the different aspects of technology.
“Like a six week coaching program where we work with you every single week, and we have tasks for you to complete in each of those weeks and hold you accountable and make sure you’re getting it done so we can get the results that were looking for,” explained Udo.
She says Bridges in Tech also helps people build their skills through training, hands on projects, and even has scholarship opportunities.
Joanna’s organization welcomes women of color at-least 25 years old, again it is completely free.
She also has room for more mentors and employers who would like to post job openings.
Udo explained, “I would love to connect with more women of color in west Michigan that may be considering a career change. You’re not happy where you are right now, maybe you wanted to get in the technology field and just had no idea if it is something that you can do. I want to encourage you to definitely check us out because there is a job for everybody in technology, I kid you not. “
To get involved, check out bridgesintech.com.