Seeing is believing

I never thought really thought about how much seeing a representiative that looks like you doing something you are inspired to do actually helps. Growing up black and brown people wanted to be athletes and entertainers because thats what we saw. If you did anything different than that you are really an outlier in your own right. Especailly if you did it without a positive male or female role model. This means that you had to get through all of the struggles and short comings with no support while learning something new and then looking to excel in it.

The trial and error or build measure learn feedback loop process takes way longer this way. Just by seeing a young black data scientist it made me feel at home. It made me feel welcome. It made me feel like I can do this and those times when Im not feeling it I feel like I have someone that felt or feels my pain with me. Its an interesting feeling that I can explain. Having diverse representation is more important than people think.

We talked about life more than anything. Data scientists are human and that makes me feel really good. We able to be honest and talk about our successes and struggles. He also went to an HBCU and likes finance so we have that in common. I am a person that wants to ge4t into the VC space to make sure underrepresented communities have access to capital for dope ideas as well.

Altons knowledge in understanding how financial systems work along with the ability to explain blockchain is something that makes me curious what his day to day is like. He works as a data scientist at capital one. To my suprise he codes everyday. This is still interesting to me because when I think about someone whow works at a bank I never really think of coding as something they would be doing. I would just think that a data scientist would just look at the numbers and analysis it. After this conversation it all made sense. He uses systems like collab to run python models that visualize and explore the data!

We also discussed what AWS and how there is no more cord or old school systems. He told me an in depth explanation of cloud and he game me some great analogies. He was introduced to me by my great instructor. Alivia Blount is a name you will here more about in this blog. She has been amazing and is the reason why I have started this journey.

So, the three of us had a conversation about life. It just so happened that we were all interested in the same thing. We also discussed how to navigate the corporate landscape as people of color. I absolutely love being an African. I said African and not African American. I think I have had times to where this has felt like a burden in our society because the way Africa is percieved but I think it is beautiful and rich in culture and resources.

The conversation continued to talk about my project and how there are not a bunch of people in the space that are doing things in basketball with the expertise of playing at a high level. This makes me even more interested because I know the game is going to be more and more quantitative as time goes on.

One of the most important things I took from our conversation was never hesitate to reach out. That means alot because I already have a tribe in such a short amount of time. The entreprenur space has been so lonely along with being isolated with Covid-19 I often times only have business calls. To know that I have people who support you to learn new skills is important.

I have started to do better at this in my life although I have not conciously tried to do it like I do now. I ask the question “how can I help?” all the time. Not just to other people, not just to me, but to everyone and everything. “How can I help” is a mantra that I want to keep. It makes me feel good and others.

Do not let life take that away from you because of one bad person or circumstance. Alivia and Alston have inspired me to keep going on this journey.

Here is some information on Alston and his journey below and how he helps individuals learn about Blockchain at his formal school the other HU. Its all love though! :)

Alston Ezra Clark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtK21MtqFOE&t=2s

Alston Ezra Clark zionroar.com