Copyright Essence
For the second year in a row, Afrotech returned to Houston, TX and Microsoft was back with their House of Black Techxcellence, curating multiple days of cultural and technologically driven events for the Black creatives and innovators of the future. As Makeda Bell, Senior Comms Manager, Culture & Influence at Microsoft told ESSENCE, the concept for the “House” originated as a metaphor for community, and this space was intended to be a place of support and replenishment and care, akin to coming home. As such, this sense of community is the foundation for the House of BlackTechxcellence, which Bell says is more than a space for networking. “Being good has now become the new average. Excellence has been great, and I think that Black people are leading the charge when it comes to tech, just like they are with culture.” Microsoft’s week of events and programming for Afrotech concluded with a live taping of the Rich Little Brokegirls podcast where Kimberly Bizu sat down with creator and corporate strategist Jodie Taylor. The text thread came to life during Bizu and Taylor’s conversation on stage as they dropped gem after gem while detailing their own journeys from 9-5 to content creators and navigating the corporate world while balancing their personal and professional lives. It was evident the two are friends in real life as evidenced by the nature of the discussion. There, the two jumped into discussing how they used their own vulnerabilities to work and build lives that truly reflect who they are. ESSENCE was lucky to be in the room where it happened and wants the world to know the gems that were dropped by Bizu and Taylor. Authenticity is a form of currency, but be mindful of the exchange rate. When Bizu asked Taylor about the women who shaped her, Taylor talked about her mom immigrating from Spanish Town, Jamaica to the suburbs of Massachusetts, explaining “She taught me the power of being authentic… and this authenticity became a currency in our life and livelihood. What I really learned is the duality of a hyphenated experience, and being able to bring that opportunity, the currency that comes with having these different experiences while simultaneously existing in these spaces that didn’t necessarily reflect back to me the truth of who I was.” But Taylor was quick to point out that you do not need to bring your authentic self to work, stating “I’ve been in this a long time. I know what it is—bring your intentional self to work.” Find your zone of genius and design your own life. Both Bizu and Taylor were fortunate to figure out that community and conversation were their “zone of genius” relatively early on. As Taylor distinguished, “Figure out what your zone of genius is, not your zone of excellence. I would wager many of us are in our zone of excellence, which is that we’re great at what we do.” So what is the zone of genius? “It’s when you are in your free state, flowing ideas come to you effortlessly. It’s not, ‘Oh, I’m good at this.’ It is, ‘I can do this for hours, and I don’t even realize,’” defined Taylor. Don’t just look before you leap—build a proof of concept first. Taylor advised everyone listening to write it down, emphasizing “You need a proof of concept. That’s when you know and whatever goals that you might have… then it would be time to pivot.” Bizu related it to Brianna Joye, the founder of City Girls Who Walk, who has built her community around walking and how it has grown to over 500 women showing up, building brand partnerships, stating: “Oftentimes we want to do like debates and glamorous stuff, let me rent on this space and pour all this money and this that the third and it really it doesn’t require that much. It doesn’t have to be this grandiose moment… it can be as easy as a walk.” Use hard seasons as fuel to jumpstart your next chapter. Taylor was open and honest after Bizu questioned about the behind the scenes moment that shaped her success. While most might let a bad romantic breakup on their birthday, father’s death, being laid off from their job, and a friend breakup get them down, Taylor refused, detailing how “In 2022, I had the worst year of my life… and that’s when I just started creating content… I wanted a creative outlet, and so I offer to anybody who’s going through a season of uncertainty, is going through a season of sadness: how can you begin to shift, and how can you begin to use this for your own health and your own good?” Create a digital footprint—it’s literally your intellectual property. As it relates to building and creating wealth, both Bizu and Taylor want you to view your own life as an asset, because it’s your intellectual property. Taylor was adamant stating “You also need a digital footprint. And ladies, please, it doesn’t matter how uncomfortable you are with a camera. It can be a newsletter, it can be a Discord, it can be a LinkedIn talk voice… These are opportunities for you to actually move the needle when it comes to creating impact and generational wealth.”
