Beyond The Surface

I interrupt your regular programming to reclaim our time.
To tell you something, something unique,

About somebody different. Still significant:

She's me.
Caroline Anjorin, Vice President, VP
A Black Female Coder doing it for the culture. So a VIP
In the present future of software engineering 

All are welcome to Lean in; Join the conversation.
Whether you Identify as Black, LGBTQ, Hispanic, Latino, Of Faith, With Disability, Agnostic, Atheist, White, Mixed, or Asian

And so it goes ...

I Did See
Do you See like really See?

The rainbow hues,

Personalities,
And perspectives of our being
Like: really Acknowledge the want, the desire, the need:
To not fade out or blend in?
Instead, for All to be Represented
For All to be physically, socially, financially, Visibly Seen.

Do you know the history of my melanin, of where my culture begins,
Or the celebration of diversity permeating through my being?

You Do?
Me Too.

Great. Wait. I AM Great.
I am grateful that we do:
Then can See
Beyond the surface;
Immersed in the unseen factors That make You you and Me me.

For example.
I am proudly a student of life
I love to read-write
Not so much public interfaces, 

Like speaking publicly into faces 

But I'll try it in rhyme

I am proudly born in Nigeria
Made in Africa, still en-route through Britain

A sister who Grew up fast
To be a mother to her youngest brother 

After school and during summer school 

Home-schooled my siblings in maths
To get them further

I am proudly an engineer of my destiny
Love to code
Since I was 11 years old
At first it was Access to Microsoft FrontPage 

But that didn't make front page news 

Learned JavaScript, html, css

You know the visual basics

In classes 99% full of dudes

Then I went to Imperial College

Sought the knowledge
First Class; First of my Class with honours in Computer Science 

I met an amazing Asian woman in the computer labs
Who told me the story of her internship at Goldman Sachs
Encouraged, I followed suit

Did 6 months in industry at Goldman Sachs
Then: Finished my masters; Became a junior developer at Goldman Sachs

Currently, a Tech Lead in payments engineering at Goldman Sachs
Can see the deposits of my technical contributions paid into Marcus by Goldman Sachs

 Wow 8 years flown by

Mesmerized
Still I Rise

I love to see people develop. Technically, I love to coach
To see phenomenal BAME talent Grow, be embraced, 

approached with the encouragement that it is okay to be the first on the trail;
It is cool to be equally different 

And so for the latter
Use your right privilege
Because your voice matters

So everyday I wake up.
I choose to show up, to show out

To speak up,

Exude more confidence,

Show less doubt.
Like: Don't just do the work, Also do the pitch

At the weekend hackathons.
Like: don't just do the work,
Be valued, be present
In the technical debate marathons. And so on

Ok, Time's up
Time is running out

Truth is:

there are Hidden Figures
Remarkable people beyond the surface, whose gifts we need to Advocate, Sponsor, Celebrate amongst others
Who with work-twice-as-hard strength,
With generational expectations of Black Excellence
Hold past, present, future communities of dreams on their shoulders.

So whether you identify as Black, LGBTQ, Hispanic, Latino, Of Faith, With Disability, Agnostic, Atheist, White, Mixed, or Asian

All are welcome to Lean in

Scratch beyond the surface

Join this conversation

And with that I welcome you unto your platform

Written by Caroline Anjorin and approved for viSHEbility

Caroline is an Engineer & Technologist. Check out her profile on LinkedIn - Caroline Anjorin and Instagram @Kharoanjorin