Welcome back to TechCrunch Mixtape, the podcast that goes a bit behind the headlines to bring tech to culture.
This week Megan Rose Dickey and I welcome Tiana Kara, the head of partnerships and growth at #builtbygirls (which, like TechCrunch, is owned by Verizon Media Group). The organization connects girls and women between the ages of 15 and 22 with mentors of all stripes in the tech industry based on their interests.
The idea here is that not all tech jobs include coding, and #builtbygirls wants all young girls who want to get into the industry to know that. The question that always comes up is why is it so hard to hire diverse staffs.
“What we’re doing is making it a little bit polarizing,” Kara tells us. “We’re telling them, go out and become an engineer versus everything that’s a part of you can be amplified by tech. So take that and then add it to your life versus go down this one pathway.”
“Through the programs we’ve created, we’ve been able to help them see a real future for themselves that they can define.”
We also take a look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her near-perfect ability to troll the GOP through her social media presence. Sparking our conversation, as well as Catherine Shu’s look into Ocasio-Cortez’s internet prowess, was a story about AOC voicing her support of the transgender youth group Mermaids on Twitch.
And finally, we already knew that the algorithms of some of those DNA services can yield different results. But it’s harder to take when they’re twins.
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