tech Tag

Hack the Hood Illustrations

Recently, I got the chance to work with Oakland based organization Hack the Hood (HTH) on multiple illustrations for an internal document showcasing how they help young empower, attract, and retain youth of color in tech companies. Who is HTH? A dope tech based organization run by Susan Mernit and Zakiya Harris in Oakland California. I am extremely honored to work with them and so happy to help contribute to their success and the amazing work they do.

With the help of organizers, techies, teachers, activists, and students HTH is bringing young people of color into the tech world where their talent and presence are severely underrepresented. It was just three or four years ago that folks like Tracy Chou helped to get huge tech companies to release their diversity numbers. And when they did the picture that most poc already know became more clear; the world of tech is primarily white and male. News outlets like Wired, NY Times, The Guardian, Time, Fortune, Pbs, NPR, and more have written about the problem which not only ignores poc, but marginalizes women, and privileges white males. The bigger companies have vowed to do better, but their hiring, funding, and employee retention practices are not changing fast enough.

Organizations like Hack the Hood, Black Girls Code, Code 2040, Qeyno Labs, The Hidden Genius Project, Game heads, and a few others stopped waiting and started local and national programs to bring in the young people that these companies claimed did not exist or that they could not find. HTH is making paths to employment, wealth, upward mobility, innovation, and power that I wish I had as a kid. I’m emotionally ecstatic that they exist!

These are just some of the many illustrations I completed for HTH, but what they are essentially doing is demonstrating why tech companies must approach finding, working, with, and keeping youth of color differently. Inherent in this is the fact that youth of color come to the table with different cultural practices, knowledge, challenges, and values. Want to get involved? I thought so! GO HERE.

And please watch videos about their young scholars on youtube!

BIG thank you to Susan, Zakiya for bringing me in.

Freelance Chronicles 3 – Tech I Use

(Photo: Me by Joy Liu-Trujillo)



When I first started out as an illustrator I was using tech but didn’t quite understand how I was using it. Even a brush that you buy in a store was high technology at one point. Now, I use tech everyday as an illustrator to make my business run efficiently. Here are some of the things I use. Some are free, some cost, but all are worth it in my opinion. These are mostly about the business side of things. If you’re an artist, what do you use to make your business run? Leave a comment and share if this helped you out in any way.


(Scene from Dead Presidents)



Getting paid:




Cash board: 
I just started using this company’s invoicing service and I have my wife to thank for the referral. It is great! I was using Microsoft Word for the past 6-7 years and I love the features on Cash board. For those unaware, when you are selling a product like a book (large quantity) or your services as an artist you need to put it in writing. That writing is an invoice! The invoice states what you’re doing, for whom, when it will begin and end, how much you will be paid, and when they need to pay you. You also want to put down your policy on revisions, rush fees, delivery of artwork, etc. This app is helpful because it allows me to do all of that and to keep track of who I’ve invoiced, if they’ve opened it, and it send them a reminder to pay me weekly until they pay. You can also keep a running list of clients to plug in when making a new invoice and you can duplicate previous invoices for a similar job or client. You can also plug in a discount, send people an estimate. its awesome.

Credit Union:
I use a credit union for my personal account because I’m tired of the huge banks using their money to poison folks. I still have some other accounts with the blood suckers, but the majority of my everyday business is run through a credit union. The feature that I love most about many credit unions (and banks) is that I can take a picture of a check from a client and deposit it without having to go to the bank!

Square:
Square is a great way to get paid and I carry a square reader with me everywhere I go. People always say at festivals, book events, or on the street that they would love to buy a piece of art or a book but don’t have cash. And after missing enough opportunities I got one (reader is free). Now, every time I see someone I can charge them at a restaurant, a game, a flea market, festival, wherever. Square takes a small cut, but the convenience and product interface is very easy to use.





(Steven Yeun)



Get the word out:
Ok, so most of you already are using social media. These are some of the ones I use.

Twitter: 
Twitter is like the pulse of the people, cultivating a community, making lists, and keeping up with the news, creatives, and thinkers. You can take a poll of a question or art piece, you can make a list of your favorite illustrators, perspective clients, donut shops, etc.

Facebook + Messenger:
I know some people hate Facebook and left years ago, and I know many use it everyday. For me, it is a tool to make small groups of people with a specific interest like animation, children’s books, or DJing. The messenger app is what allows you to send messages to people on Facebook or chat without scrolling and getting lost.

Instagram:
IG is a ix of gallery and personal life for me. I use it to post some photos of my family and myself, but mostly I want to show my artwork there and what I’m working on. I now use the business function too which allows people t email me directly. If you’re a visual artist, comedian, filmmaker, photographer, dancer, it is very helpful to just post examples of what you’re best at. Some folks use it as a running blog of inspiration, meme’s, or brands as well.

Linked In:
LinkedIn is helpful when I want to find out who someone is professionally, where they are based, and what if any experience they have. Say I want to know who an art director or agent is, I look them up here. Never have really gotten work from here, but it’s nice to have an online resume and to be able to see others.

Tumblr:
Tumblr is a great place to keep your work and your inspiration. If you are one of those artists who don’t have a website, you can make one there for free, it just takes a bit of research for the correct layout. You can post and reblog your favorite tidbits thereby filling your creative bank account.

Skype:
When I want to talk to a client in another city, state, or country this is the way to go. You can also talk  and chat with multiple people at once with Skype. Invaluable communication tool.

Keeping track of things:

Gmail + Google docs+ Calendar:
I use gmail. I like gmail, been a user since 2008 i believe. I had hotmail, yahoo, etc but gmail offered the cool features, chat with friends, and sleek design. I have my website email run through my gmail, as well as personal emails. But the best feature for me is Google Docs! So you could make a piece of art, an invoice, estimate, spreadsheet, write down book/project ideas, keep important personal documents in an online cloud that only you and who you invite can access. This takes away the file cabinet in a way, because you can create a document or scan one and never have to worry about where it is. I also use the google spread sheets to keep track of all the books i sell, all the money i spend throughout the year, and all the money I make. Also, the calendar is super helpful because you can keep track of assignments, meetings, or events on your computer and your phone.

Pinterest:
This is where I keep track of things that I like. I use this site to make boards of images. Before, i used to keep folders of images on my computer, but that takes up space. With Pinterest I can make a board for a specific client and keep all reference images for drawing there. I use it to make boards of inspiring stuff and to showcase my work a little bit.

Bit.ly:
I use bit.ly because it sucks having to type out every website or link for my work. And because I upload hundreds of things a year I need to shorten the links so I can post them on places like twitter where the amount you type is limited, and i can keep track of how many clicks the link gets and who clicks it, from where, which country, etc. These analytics help when marketing your work.

Hootsuite:
This helps me blast new pieces of art or important events to several social media at once.



(Photo: Flea market)



Selling work:

Etsy:
Great place to sell artwork for a tiny fee. I sell prints, books, stickers, paintings, and more through Etsy and it helps with shipping, keeping track of who buys what, and has mechanisms for messaging,  buy supplies, sub-contract, and is like running a retail store. There are others like Shopify, Square (which i also use), etc.

Youtube:
I use Youtube to debut my book “Furqan’s First Flat Top”. I’m not a youtuber but I am aware of the huge power Youtube has in showcasing products, advice, tutorials, music, animation, film, tv, and so much more. You can find just about anything on there.

Blogger:
Blogger I’ve used since 2007. I did not know what it was for when I started, but I quickly fell in love with the format. Much like myspace, the blogger site allows you to customize how your blog looks in so many ways. And I like it as a running showcase of personal and client work, inspiration, and more. In the past I’ve had links to favorite artists, or inspiring blogs. Now I just use it to showcase my work and to write about things that interest me or help others. One of the greatest things about Blogger is that you can keep track of the statistics of your posts, that way you know what people are responding to, and where they’re finding it. This has been an invaluable tool and I have used it over the past 10 years to grow artistically and business wise.







( Photo: Me by Halline Overby)



Creating work:

Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
I use Photoshop and illustrator to draw with. The majority of my illustration is done traditionally, but a huge step for my process is scanning art and cleaning it up. By cleaning I mean brightening art, or adjusting contrast. I also mean taking out dust speckles, or changing things. I use photoshop to draw with as well because it gets great colors, you can adjust the colors, and it saves steps for me to scan.

Ipad + Astro Pad:
So my wife got together with my family and bought me and Ipad pro and pencil, and now I use the “Astro Pad” app to draw directly onto the pad and photoshop the way you would on a Wacom tablet. Its great and saves me a lot of time when drawing thumbnails or comps for clients. I don’t have to scan anything and I have gotten some great brushes for painting that I plan to practice more and more in.

Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher:
I like tolisten to new music and podcasts while i work. Soundcloud is for new music, Spotify for classics, and Stitcher or the podcast app on my iphone is for listening to podcasts on business, marketing, manufacturing, culture, illustration, etc.

Closing:
Other than that, the tools I use are an IPhone, Macbook (doesn’t matter which computer or phone you use though imo) pencils, paint brushes, colored pencils, erasers, and paper. So i started as a freelance illustrator over a decade ago. I didn’t know #$%^ back then and still feel like I’m just beginning in some ways. I’ve worked for newspapers, publishers, magazines, non profit organizations, small businesses, individuals, corporations, and some odd clients. But this is me just sharing some of what little I know. Please feel free to share it with students, folks making a career change, or people looking to run their business more smoothly. You can find me at Robdontstop.com or on Instagram and twitter.
-Robert Liu-Trujillo

Did you see my previous post about how I started in children’s books? Click HERE to see it.

Who is She? 31 – Tracy Chou

Tracy Chou is an advocate for diversity in the Tech industry. A Bay Area native, she was born in 1987, and attended Stanford. She has written articles, spoke at conferences, and confronted the issue at large companies as an insider. Tracy’s name kept coming up on my feed over the past few years just researching more about the field of technical and non-technical founders. She is a part of a much larger voice of women, people of color, queer folks, and white ally’s working to bring in more voices into these companies that are affecting and changing the world. Tracy grew up in Silicon Valley, and actually has two parents who were involved in engineering. She started as an intern like many do in the tech world at companies like Google, and went on to work for some of them who were start ups such as Facebook, Pinterest, Rocket Fuel, and Quora. While working she became aware of the glaring fact that these spaces were mostly white and mostly male. So, like many others who have spoke out or founded their own initiatives she started to investigate. She wrote some pieces on medium and began collecting data about how many women were working at tech companies in technical positions. This was four years ago. Companies were shy to release the stats because they knew it would reflect a huge problem. Companies like Google, Intel, Apple, and more started to show what their staff’s diversity or lack there of looked like. And sadly, things are not changing fast enough. Props to Tracy for being an advocate for bringing more women, queer folks, and people of color into the fields. Not only that, but trying to encourage young girls to get into tech and putting up with the backlash from people who may never “get it”. Tracy has been interviewed or featured on sites or in spaces such as Tech Crunch, Vogue, Fast Co, Wired, CNN, Mother Jones, Today, and many more. She now works in New York and is continuing to code and to fight. Check out her articles “Where are the numbers” and “Why I care about diversity in tech”.

Sources: We Code Harvard, Medium, Mercedes Benz, Twitter, triketora.com

You can purchase this piece, email me at info@robdontstop.com $40 (includes shipping) , i will donate a portion to Tracy’s next mission to promote diversity.

Who is She? 30 – Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly Bryant is the founder of “Black Girls Code”. She is an electrical engineer from Memphis, Tennessee born in 1967. She earned her degree at Vanderbilt college and began working for companies like Westinghouse, DuPont, Pfizer, and Genentech. But Parenthood has a way of opening your eyes to things that were not as noticeable before. BGC was founded because Kimberly’s daughter took an interest in computer programming, but could not find a program as diverse as her city. So, she made one. It started in Oakland in 2011 at the HUB with Bryant teaching her daughter and some of her friends some basic coding. It has expanded to other cities in the Bay Area and has gone across the U.S. teaching young women of color in more inclusive spaces that reflect them rather than turn them away. If you are unaware, in the last 3-4 years large tech companies we use everyday started releasing their numbers and much to the tech communities surprise the number of Black folks and people of color were tiny. Founding BGC was a ground breaking move because it helped spark a conversation in the Black community, a movement of girls of all backgrounds to get into coding, and it helped Bryant secure funding to bring the program internationally. If you can see it, you can be it. And if an invite is extended people will come. Kimberly has been recognized by Forbes Magazine, Business Insider, the White House, Fast Co, Tech Crunch, and more.
Sources: SF Chronicle, BlackGirlsCode.org, Wikipedia

Who is She? 21- Deldelp Medina

A Colombia native and Bay Area home grown entrepreneur/ activist Deldelp has done something no one else in the tech scene has done. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I can tell she is the only Latina (Latinx/Raza/Indigenous) woman to be the CEO of a start up tech company that nurtures and assists other Latina’s to build their own companies. Ms Medina started “Avion Ventures” in 2014. It is what is known as a start up accelerator. It guides women, helps them develop their ideas, practice their pitches, mentors the, and helps them get the support they need to be entrepreneur’s. Deldelp has worked to promote Latino culture through Cine+Mas (Latino Film Fest), as an activist with California Crime Victims, and worked in development and management through multiple non profit organizations,

Why is Avion Ventures revolutionary? Well, without getting into a huge history lesson about colonization, white supremacy, wealth gaps, and the myths of meritocracy I’ll just say that numbers don’t lie. Some of the biggest names in tech have disclosed their numbers on who is working for them, and for such huge companies which serve everyone and claim to be for everyone they are ignoring a huge group of people who already make up the majority in the US. Not only are they not paying attention to Latinas and Latinos but they are loosing vital ideas, genius, and insight into communities they may not know intimately. Engaging Latin@ communities is not only good business if companies wish to stay relevant, its 2016. Come on!

Also, it takes a huge amount of resources, money, time, and risk to start your own business which I know as a freelance artist. Also, in order to succeed in tech, that factor multiplies; not just for resources, but who you know who is connected. So, as Deldelp has said, she has been in too many rooms where she is the only woman, the only bilingual speaker, or the only person of color. That needs to change and she is leading that change alongside organizations like Code 2040, Hack the Hood, Latina Geeks, and Black Girls Code, and the Latino Start Up Alliance.

Sources: LatinPost (site), Platform (video), Deldelp.com (site), NPR (Radio), Avion Ventures (site)

Who is She? 15- Susan and Zakiya (Hack the Hood)

I met both Zakiya and Susan several years ago here in Oakland. Susan Mernit and Zakiya Harris are the Co-Founders of a ground breaking Oakland based organization called “Hack the Hood”. The organization brings in mostly African American and other students of color to learn about the tech field. From the interview I heard with Zakiya on “Blacks in Technology” it sounds like a stretch for some at first, but they soon realize that everywhere they go they are no only participating in the tech industry but they can be active makers and producers in it as well. The students learn basic and complex coding skills by building websites for local businesses. They are not only learn coding, but they learn people skills, how to work with clients, and what it takes to run a business-therefore bringing more people of color into a extremely white, homogenized, and exclusive field.  Along with other organizations like Code 2040 they are changing the landscape of tech and empowering young people to be creators.
Susan comes from a background in tech, working for corporations such as Yahoo, Aol, and Netscape. She also founded or Co-founded several media and tech savvy businesses here in the Bay Area such as Oakland Local. She is the CEO and Executive director of “Hack the Hood”. 
Zakiya I know from Oakland’s historic arts culture of music. She was one half of the group Fiyawata, is currently working on a solo music project called “ShapeShifter”. Zakiya has a long history of community organizing and youth education through organizations such as Grind for the Green at Ella Baker Center, TED, The Youth Leadership Institute, Global Exhcnage, and countless others. She is also a founding member of Oakland’s Impact Hub which is the only HUb out of many worldwide run by Black women!
Sources: Blacks in Technology (podcast), http://www.hackthehood.org/our-team.html(site)