This neighborhood lady introduced Black Tech Week to Cincinnati

Black Tech Week has become a beacon for Black technological innovation professionals.

Established by Felecia Hatcher and Derick Pearson in 2013, countless numbers of people today from various industries, backgrounds and experience levels gather together each individual calendar year to discover from and community with other technological know-how industry experts.

Traditionally, Black Tech 7 days has occurred in Miami, Florida, but two Cincinnatians obtained possession of the occasion and brought it to the Queen Town this 12 months.

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Candice Matthews Brackeen, founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based mostly financial improvement group Lightship Basis, and her husband and business enterprise husband or wife Brian Brackeen declared their acquisition of Black Tech Week in March.

Candice said Cincinnati is a great city for small business and is frequently missed in comparison to other tech hubs like San Francisco and New York City. 

She recently sat down with The Enquirer to focus on her journey as a Black lady in the tech industry, the acquisition of Black Tech 7 days, and some of her favourite areas of Cincinnati.

Ahead of diving into the Q&A, let’s study about Brackeen.

Who is Candice Matthews Brackeen?

Candice Matthews Brackeen is a general associate at Lightship Funds, the Cincinnati-primarily based business investing in innovators and ecosystems throughout the country, concentrating on client packaged items, e-commerce, sustainability, synthetic intelligence and wellness tech.

Brackeen is the founder and CEO of Lightship Foundation, an corporation concentrated on enabling growth inside of the minority innovation economic climate. Her determination to shifting inclusion in innovation ahead is also mirrored in her quite a few advisory roles with corporations, which includes the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium for NASA. 

Brackeen serves on the Cincinnati Innovation District Advisory Council and the Endeavor Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors. She is also a University of Cincinnati Kautz-Uible Fellow. 

Brackeen, originally from Toledo, attended the University of Cincinnati, where by she graduated with a degree in economics….