In conversation with: The Three Unicorns
A podcast about three black women in tech.
This is the premise behind the Three Unicorns, comprised of Stanford students Michelle McGhee â18, Lindsey Redd â17 and Alona King â17. she++ had the opportunity to sit down with these wonderful women and talk about the podcast, being a minority in tech and their experiences with internships. Over the next four weeks, we will release excerpts of our interview and delve into common themes in Silicon Valley.
Part I: Why Three Unicorns?
A key question to ask ourselves is: why do we need a podcast like the âThree Unicornsâ? For the answer, we only need to look around us: Black and Latino workers fill only five per cent of technical roles-- roles that require computer science, programming and designing interfaces [New Yorker]
As the tech industry struggles to increase diversity, it is vital that we listen to the voices of underrepresented groups. In the case of the Three Unicorns, Lindsey explains, âI think there are a lot of efforts to create diversity in tech and to have peopleâs voices be heard but it often occurs in the setting when youâre the only person in the company and thereâs a lot of pressure. Itâs kind of for a show and not real. Creating this space allows people who donât have a space to be seen and heard in a way in tech thatâs not oppressive, and itâs a space thatâs cathartic and fun and cool.â
So, how did you get the idea for the Three Unicorns?
Alona, Michelle, and Lindsey worked at different tech companies in Silicon Valley this past summer and listened, almost exclusively, to podcasts hosted by Black women.
Alona adds, âThen one of us had something happen at work; thatâs the thing in Silicon Valley, weâre placed in these situations where weâre the only one who looks like us and comes from our background. I was placed in a situation where almost the entire floor was white men. And Iâm listening to this podcast of women who identify as me. So, on our group text, someone brought up that we should have a podcast to talk about this. It would be so wild, so bizarre to talk about all these things happen in Silicon Valley!â
Now that they have released the first two episodes of the Three Unicorns, what sort of impact do they want to see?
Lindsey: I think a lot of it comes from why we use the podcast as our medium. We want to talk to people who are in our position, or about to be in our position-- maybe Black women who are in high school. Imagine I listened to this podcast in high school, maybe my path during Stanford wouldâve looked completely different. Computer Science didnât seem like an option for me. I think itâs cathartic for us to sit down, talk and pull out all of our stories and put them out in the world. Itâs really rewarding to create a piece of heart to show to people, and for them to love it. I also think itâs really cool that people listen to it, and I think it would be cool if it got more people involved; if more Black women were involved in tech. If Black women could really see their experiences reflected in a different way.
Alona: We would like this project to be a hub for the Black womenâs voice in tech, where they can hear this and feel their voice being represented. For our listeners who arenât black women, I hope that they enjoy our podcast simply by the fact that theyâre also in situations where theyâre the only one of them. Iâm not trying to be âthe voiceâ thatâs plastered all over public marketing materials, like the token Black woman at the company. For listeners who arenât Black women, we want them to have some fellowship over that.
Look out next week for more on our conversation with the Three Unicorns, where we discuss the conflict between internal motivations and societal expectations. Check out new episodes of the Three Unicorns on Soundcloud!
