Shireen Mitchell
| Shireen Mitchell | |
|---|---|
| Born | New York City |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, author, technology analyst, diversity strategist |
| Website | Official website |
Shireen Mitchell is an American entrepreneur, author, technology analyst and diversity strategist. She founded Digital Sisters/Sistas, Inc.,[1] the first organization dedicated to bringing women and girls of color online and Stop Online Violence Against Women (SOVAW),[2] a project addressing changing laws and policies to provide protections for women while online.
Early life
Mitchell was born and raised in the projects of Harlem in New York City. Her interest in video games and technology began at ten years old in the community arcade room.[3] Mitchell's mother gave her an Atari game machine and then a Commodore 64 personal computer to further expose her to technology.
Career
Shireen Mitchell began designing bulletin board systems and gopher (protocol) sites prior to the advent of websites. She was the webmaster for PoliticallyBlack.com, a site that was sold to Netivation (NTVN)[4] a large media company as one of the web transactions in the late 1990s that later went public.[5]
Mitchell formed the first woman of color web management firm in 1997, the Mitchell Holden Group (MHG). She then founded Digital Sisters/Sistas in 1999, first as a website and then an advocacy and training organization that focuses on technology, new media and diversity. Digital Sisters was the first organization created specifically to help women and girls of color get into the STEM field and use technology in their daily lives.
In 2010, she formed Tech Media Swirl LLC, a digital social strategy company focused integrated media strategies for outreach to diverse communities. In 2013, she founded Stop Online Violence Against Women (SOVAW). The project highlights diverse voices of women, and in particular, women of color.
Honors and awards
Eelan Media, Top 100 Most Influential Black People on digital/social media,[6] 2014
DC Inno, Top Ten Influencers in Social Media,[7] 2012
Fast Company Most Influential Women in Tech,[8] 2010
Washingtonian's Tech Titans,[9] 2009
The Root, 100 African-American Leaders of Excellence,[10] 2009
Published works
- Gaining Daily Access to Science and Technology, 50 Ways to Improve Women's Lives. Inner Ocean Publishing. 21 June 2007. ISBN 978-1-930722-45-3.
References
- ↑ "Digital Gap Among Minority Children, Tavis Smiley Interviews Shireen Mitchell and Todd Oppenheimer, NPR".
- ↑ "What It’s Like to Be a Target on the Internet Every Day: Brianna Wu and Shireen Mitchell at #BlogHer15".
- ↑ "Access to Technology: Race, Gender, Class Bias, Blogging Feminism: (Web)Sites of Resistance, The Scholar & Feminist Online, The Barnard Center for Research on Women".
- ↑ "Netivation.com Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Politicallyblack.com".
- ↑ "Netivation NASDAQ public offering".
- ↑ "Top 100 Most Influential Black People on digital/social media".
- ↑ "Top Ten Influencers in Social Media".
- ↑ "Fast Company Most Influential Women in Tech".
- ↑ "Washingtonian's Tech Titans".
- ↑ "The Root 100 African-American Leaders of Excellence".