• Navarrow Wright: There Is A Diversity Problem In Silicon Valley

    Sunday, December 11th, 2011

    Erick Schonfeld is a technology journalist and the former Editor in Chief of TechCrunch. At TechCrunch, he oversaw the editorial content of the site, helped to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produced TCTV shows, and wrote daily for the blog. He joined TechCrunch as Co-Editor in 2007, and helped take it from a popular blog to a thriving... → Learn More

    Race and Silicon Valley has been in the news lately, especially after CNN used an out-of-context clip of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to promote a documentary on the subject. Lost in that gotcha moment was a more substantive discussion of the issues. Namely, is Silicon Valley a true meritocracy or does it have a diversity problem?

    Navarrow Wright, the co-founder of Global Grind and current CTO of InteractIve One, which operates BlackPlanet.com and other sites, came into the TCTV studio to have “the race conversation” with me.

    “It is a meritocracy at some level,” Wright acknowledges. “I think the challenge is how do you get involved in that ecosystem.” In his view, one of the biggest factors keeping the number of black tech entrepreneurs down is that not enough people from his community are trying to become entrepreneurs. There is a “perception problem in the minority community,” he says, that “it is easier to become a celebrity or athlete than an entrepreneur.”

    How do we change that? Watch the video.


    Navarrow Wright is the CTO of Interactive One, the largest digital media company serving Black Americans. Previously, he was the co-founder, President, and CEO of Global Grind. Navarrow partnered with Hip Hop Mogul, Russell Simmons to start Global Grind, which Simmons sits on the board of. As CEO, Wright oversaw strategic development, as well as setting the editorial tone and direction of Global Grind. Navarrow has recently appeared on Run’s house, Irv Gotti’s show Gotti’s Way and the Steve Harvey...

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