Articles
Every day social media platforms and smartphones help abusers stalk and carry out domestic violence on their partners. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their life. There has been more than 20,000 daily calls made to domestic violence hotlines each day. Now, one Dallas-based founder is hoping that her app can provide safer options to help victims escape. On the outside, My Beauty Fill is a typical beauty service booking app. Customers can schedule makeup, hair, and wax appointments with professionals in their area. However, within the app, customers who are domestic violence victims can reach out to organizations that will provide them with resources to leave their respective situations. Anthara Carr, the founder of My Beauty Fill, said she got the idea for the app after working in beauty marketing for years and having her own bout with domestic...
These days, it is not uncommon to see a toddler playing around with a tablet or a teenager glued to his or her phone, making it hard for parents to pry their kids from the nearest screen. However, one parental control app is building a way to do just that. Habyts, a parental control app available on the Google Play store, helps parents manage their children’s screen time. Parents can download Habyts to their phones and their kids’ phones. Once the app is downloaded on both devices, parents can set screen time restrictions remotely from their phones. When kids complete tasks like chores and homework, they unlock screen time on their devices, helping them balance their responsibilities, and being online. Cynthia Crossley, a co-founder of Habyts, got the idea for the company after juggling how her three sons managed their screen time. After spending more than a decade working for Microsoft, she launched Habyts in 2014 with the hopes of changing how kids engage with their phones. “It’s...
Everyone doesn’t have the luxury of going to a local Bank of America to cash a check or a Chase Bank to create a savings account. In many rural communities across the U.S., there are significant hurdles to accessing banking services. Sheena Allen, a rural Mississippi-native and the founder of CapWay, wanted to bridge the gap for unbanked communities with her app. CapWay is a mobile banking service that allows users to cash checks, set up checking accounts, and send money straight from their phones. Allen knows from experience what it is like to live in a one-bank town. She attributes her life in Terry, Mississippi, a small town outside of Jackson, as the inspiration for her newest venture. “Jackson has some of the highest rates of unbanked residents in the United States,” Allen said. “I was very familiar with people not having fair or proper access to mainstream financial services and products.” It was common to see people in her community cashing checks at grocery stores and payday...
There’s been an influx of women-focused spaces popping up to provide founders with a range of resources to expand their businesses. From The Wing leading the way for women-only co-working spaces to the Female Founders Fund providing capital to women-led companies, it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to find ways to offset the impacts of the lack of gender representation in successful companies. HerHeadquarters has launched to help female entrepreneurs create partnerships amongst each other. “We’re on a mission to change the narrative and image of women entrepreneurs and female founders,” said HerHeadquarters Founder and CEO Carina Glover. Glover worked on the company for 18 months before releasing the app that could streamline collaborations between women in business. HerHeadquarters covers a range of industries including beauty, fashion, public relations, event planning, and entertainment. Not only does HerHeadquarters bridge the gap of opportunity for female...
There’s been an influx of women-focused spaces popping up to provide founders with a range of resources to expand their businesses. From The Wing leading the way for women-only co-working spaces to the Female Founders Fund providing capital to women-led companies, it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to find ways to offset the impacts of the lack of gender representation in successful companies. HerHeadquarters has launched to help female entrepreneurs create partnerships amongst each other. “We’re on a mission to change the narrative and image of women entrepreneurs and female founders,” said HerHeadquarters Founder and CEO Carina Glover. Glover worked on the company for 18 months before releasing the app that could streamline collaborations between women in business. HerHeadquarters covers a range of industries including beauty, fashion, public relations, event planning, and entertainment. Not only does HerHeadquarters bridge the gap of opportunity for female...
As incarceration rates continue to climb, one startup is working to re-assimilate former prisoners back into society. Founded in San Francisco, Promise uses apps, text messages, and a data platform to help prevent overcrowding in jails. The company works with cities and governments to release non-violent offenders from their bail obligations and provides a way for individuals to keep up with their court dates. Promise Co-Founder Phaedra Lamkins’ inspiration for Promise came after her friend needed help keeping a family member out of jail. The relative missed a court hearing and wanted to avoid jail time. Within a few calls, the problem was solved and the idea for Promise was born. AfroTech talked to Lamkins about challenges she’s faced launching her startup and advice she has for other people looking to start their own companies. AfroTech: What has been your biggest challenge as a founder? Phaedra Lamkins: My biggest challenge has been not moving quickly enough. There is always a...
Being a student-athlete can be a full-time job. Between classes, practice, and games, there is no extra time to sharpen up on skills off the field. That’s why Kathy and John Tomlinson want to give more football quarterbacks the ability to sharpen their skills directly from their phones with Quarterback Equalizer. Quarterback Equalizer — which officially launched in 2019 — is an app that teaches quarterbacks at various levels how to better read defenses. The couple got the idea for the app in 2014, after John spent years working as a football coach. He used PowerPoint slides and animations to teach his quarterbacks how to maneuver during a live game. “My wife thought it would be cool if I took how I teach kids and turned it into a game,” John said. “She made a lot of sense.” Despite being apprehensive at first, John agreed, and the two began developing what is now Quarterback Equalizer. Kathy works as the president, John is the CEO and the two are now working on ways to expand the...
Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has his sights set on Africa. The tech big name announced his plans to move to Africa in 2020 via Twitter. Sad to be leaving the continent…for now. Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!). Not sure where yet, but I’ll be living here for 3-6 months mid 2020. Grateful I was able to experience a small part. 🌍 pic.twitter.com/9VqgbhCXWd — jack (@jack) November 27, 2019 “Sad to be leaving the continent…for now. Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!),” Dorsey tweeted. “Not sure where yet, but I’ll be living here for 3-6 months mid 2020.” Dorsey had been visiting Ethiopia for a business meeting with entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency professionals. His trip to Ethiopia was not Dorsey’s first trip to Africa. According to his Twitter account, Dorsey has been touring the continent making stops in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, before heading to Ethiopia for bitcoin and blockchain talks. Based on Dorsey’s Twitter...
Twitter is placing its plans to remove dormant accounts on hold after users on the platform voiced worries over the accounts of deceased friends and family. The company announced last week that it planned to delete accounts that had not been active in the last six months but clarified on Wednesday, saying that the move would only impact the EU to comply with GDPR. “We’ve always had an inactive account policy but we haven’t enforced it consistently,” Twitter said in a series of tweets. We’ve heard you on the impact that this would have on the accounts of the deceased. This was a miss on our part. We will not be removing any inactive accounts until we create a new way for people to memorialize accounts. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 27, 2019 “We’ve heard you on the impact that this would have on the accounts of the deceased. This was a miss on our part,” Twitter said. “We will not be removing any inactive accounts until we create a new way for people to memorialize...
Facebook has a long checklist of things to fix when it comes to bots, discriminatory advertising, and hate speech on its website. As the company works to solve these issues, it may have a blind spot for handling inappropriate behaviors in its workplace. “We cannot afford to be vulnerable externally because Facebook has made us a vulnerable target internally,” a group of anonymous Black Facebook employees said a Medium post. The group detailed various examples of managerial disrespect, micro and macro aggressions, and online racism within the company. “While eating breakfast, two white employees asked me to clean up after their mess. I am a program manager,” one employee said. “I told my manager about the incident. She told me I need to dress more professionally.” Incidents range from employees being overlooked for promotions and negatively targeted in peer reviews to gaslighting tactics from managers and peers. “Racism, discrimination, bias, and aggression do not come from the big...
Rappers Chamillionaire and E-40 are upping the ante on investing in women and minority-led startups. The duo previously shelled out $25,000 to contest winners who pitched their companies via the Convoz app and now they are giving founders the chance to win $100,000 for their startups. The rappers are also partnering with Republic and Daymond John — a “Shark Tank” investor and the founder of FUBU — to invest in underrepresented founders. Chamillionaire said that he wants to invest in more minority-led companies because of the lack of diversity in the startup space. “I don’t get pleasure when I say things like this but it’s the reality of the startup and investment world we are living in,” he said in an Instagram post. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @chamillionaire Chamillionaire is not a newbie to the investor world. The rapper put money into Lyft before the ride-hailing service went public and has invested in other tech companies. “I’ve been seeing a lot of people...
If you want groceries delivered to your door, you might choose between Amazon Fresh or Instacart. If you want to book a last-minute appointment with a beautician or a makeup artist, you might turn to StyleSeat. Spotlist, Inc. wants to be the one-stop-shop for various kinds of services so that customers never have to leave the house for their needs. The on-demand New Jersey-based platform is set to provide services across industries whether customers are in need of a makeover, a new hairdo, deliveries, or in-home massage. Spotlist, Inc., founder and CEO, Jae Pesante began developing her idea for the company while caring for her father, who was healing from surgery. “I always tell people that Spotlist wasn’t a company I came up with sitting around thinking of a way to make money. My father suffers from heart disease, and after his defibrillator surgery, he couldn’t drive,” Pesante said. “He told me that he wished he could have someone to service him at home.” Spotlist allows users to...
When you’re a startup founder, networking can be a full-time job in itself. Endless hours are spent schmoozing with potential investors, finding the right people for the team, and connecting with people who may benefit from the business. James Chapman — the founder and CEO of Plain Sight — wants to streamline how entrepreneurs network. Plain Sight is an app that connects professionals at conferences, in coworking spaces and other events only using bios. “If you go to networking events, you’re probably going to end up talking to the person who is sitting next to you at the bar because they’re the closest to you,” Chapman said. “The person that you’re actually more aligned with may be all the way on the other side of the room.” The app does not show users’ names or profile pictures, so members have to make connections completely based on people’s bios and professional credentials. Chapman said he wants his app to alleviate some of the unconscious biases that go along with networking....
Whether you’re walking down the street, sitting on the subway or waiting in a local coffee shop, it’s hard to find anyone who isn’t glued to their phone. Out of those hundreds of people, there may be at least one person checking up on their physical health through an app or mobile service. “Mental health is not the same as mental illness. We should be keeping up our mental health the way we keep up our physical health. There’s just a huge stigma that we have to work to overcome,” Ashley Edwards, the founder and CEO of MindRight, said. MindRight — originally a service for teenagers — provides mental health coaching through text messages. The coaches text clients throughout the week to check on their progress. Edwards started building the platform while working as the director of operations at a Newark, New Jersey charter school. “My school was very focused on college prep and grades, but as a whole, we weren’t really doing enough to address the mental health needs of my students,”...
Evolving with technology can present several issues for people in the workforce. For example, when it comes to upskilling and training, workers may not have the time or money. Sinead Bovell, the founder of WAYE , believes that the rapid growth of technology will force many people to turn to entrepreneurship. WAYE, which stands for “Weekly Advice for Young Entrepreneurs,” is an organization that teaches people about the intersection of tech and business through panel discussions and workshops. “As technology continues to automate, a lot of us are going to have to pivot into an entrepreneurial lane,” Bovell said. According to a recent study by McKinsey , the push toward automation could have some negative impacts on Black workers. More African American workers are in slow-growing, low-paying support roles compared to the rest of the general American population. Support roles will most likely be replaced by automation, making African Americans most vulnerable to the technology’s...