Agenda/Schedule

The central hub for AfroTech badge pick-ups. Attendees can also get assistance with schedule access, venue navigation, and general event questions.

MCP is quickly becoming the standard for connecting AI assistants to the tools, data, and systems they need to take action. This session introduces Model Context Protocol servers in clear, accessible terms: what they are, what problems they solve, and how to apply them to real business workflows and automations. Useful for engineers building the infrastructure and leaders who need to understand it.

Kick off your AfroTech experience with an overview of the conference, key programming highlights, and tips to make the most of your time. Meet fellow attendees, get familiar with the schedule, and set yourself up for a successful and inspiring week.

Agentic AI handles what rigid workflows cannot: messy inputs, ambiguous requests, and processes spanning multiple systems. This live demo shows agentic AI acting as adaptive middleware, connecting and orchestrating systems in real time, interpreting intent, and adjusting when conditions change. Built for engineers, architects, and technical leaders designing trustworthy AI systems at scale.

Solve for Gen Z.

Build a real, tech-enabled solution to a problem facing your generation. Defend it live on the AfroTech stage in Houston. Winner takes all.

Click HERE To RSVP

For professionals responsible for revenue, risk, and community impact, moving fast with AI means more than knowing how to prompt. In this workshop, Daphne Charles demos a real five-step AI pipeline she built and shipped, then shows attendees how to map their own workflows onto the same pattern, translating organizational values into system constraints that hold up when real stakes are on the line.

Production-ready agentic AI demands more than a good model. It demands data architecture built for what agentic systems actually require. This session shows how edge computing, vector databases, event brokers, and frameworks like Spring AI combine to move AI from proof-of-concept to production with real resilience and low latency. If AI initiatives keep stalling before they ship, this session answers why.

Louis Carr has spent four decades generating over $10 billion in advertising revenue, developing leaders, and making the case that Black audiences are among the most valuable and underestimated consumers in America. He has been right every time. This session is a working conversation about what it takes to lead at scale over the long term, how to build deep audience intelligence, develop real talent pipelines, and stay indispensable across every era of industry change.

 Why is it that a great salary doesn't always translate to peace of mind? As your career grows, so do the financial decisions. Promotions, equity compensation, changing markets, supporting family, buying a home, and life's unexpected turns can leave even high earners wondering if they're making the right financial decisions. In this session, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional Kofo Akosile will explore how holistic financial planning can help you move from simply reacting to life's uncertainty to responding with confidence. You'll walk away with practical strategies to make more informed financial decisions, align your money with the life you're building, and create a plan that evolves alongside your goals. Because true wealth isn't measured by what you earn, it's measured by the freedom and confidence to navigate whatever comes next.

Better outputs start with better inputs. This session introduces context engineering, the discipline of designing, optimizing, and managing the information you send to an AI model. Context engineering shapes up to 99% of an AI's effective data footprint. Attendees leave with a framework for mapping their own workflows and techniques for building reliable, scalable AI integrations.

Dr. Olukunle Owolabi, ML Engineer at Meta AI, has taken products from zero to production at scale inside one of the largest AI organizations in the world. This session covers what nobody tells you about building real AI products: aligning stakeholders early, why your eval framework matters more than your model choice, and the privacy and cost tradeoffs behind decisions that look purely technical.

As America’s largest publisher with over 40 iconic brands, People Inc. is transforming how people find inspiration, make decisions, and take action. In this session, People Inc.’s Chief Technology Officer, the VP of Talent Development, Culture & Belonging, and the Editor at Large of People Magazine discuss how the company is building the next chapter of media experiences through new technology.

This conversation will look at how companies are restructuring work in practice: which roles are being created, which are disappearing, how expectations for early-career talent are shifting, and what employers need to rethink as they build the workforce of the future.

Facillitators:

Olivia Jefferson: Vice President of Social Impact at Best Buy

Lindsay Smith: Director of Philanthropic Partnerships & Stewardship at Best Buy

AI won’t replace your judgment, but it may be eroding it.

As AI becomes embedded in everyday decision-making, leaders are offloading more cognitive work than they realize, introducing a new and largely unexamined risk to performance.

Dr. Murray, a neuropsychologist working at the intersection of brain science and executive function, will help attendees understand how AI is reshaping cognition and what leaders must recognize to remain effective.

This focus is not about rejecting AI. It’s about recognizing the cognitive tradeoffs and knowing where reliance becomes risk.

A data leader from DoorDash and a design leader from Deliveroo (a DASH company) in conversation about building AI that people actually use. Felicia Williams (Senior Director, Product Design, Deliveroo) and Alyssa Wisdom (Director, Analytics, DoorDash) discuss the decisions behind shipped AI — what they chose not to build, where the data led them, and who gets considered when those calls are made. Includes an exploration of Ask DoorDash from both disciplines and an audience Q&A.

Salesforce invites you to dive headfirst into the newest technology with our hands-on bootcamp focused on Building Your Agentic Future. This immersive 4-hour, bring-your-own-laptop session is your launchpad into the Salesforce ecosystem and the latest in artificial intelligence.

Whether you are new to tech or looking to rapidly expand your skill set, this session is designed to empower you with the knowledge and practical experience needed to thrive in an AI-driven world. During this interactive bootcamp, you’ll learn to:

• Discover the Salesforce Ecosystem: Learn exactly what Salesforce does and learn how to leverage resources. You'll earn your very first Trailhead badges right in the room!
• Explore Headless 360 & The Future of AI: Dive into the very latest in Salesforce technology by building your own agent through conversation with Headless 360, and get an exclusive look at the current landscape and exciting future of AI at Salesforce.

This isn't just about learning; it's about doing. By mastering these foundational AI and Salesforce concepts, you are positioning yourself at the forefront of the tech industry. Our trainers will ensure you leave with actionable next steps for your career growth. 

Bring your laptop, bring your ambition, and get ready to build your agentic future! Space is limited, so arrive early and power up!

How do you go from an idea to something real? Jason Bennett, who leads AWS Worldwide Startups and Venture Capital, sits down with Cody Coleman, co-founder and CEO of Coactive AI, for a candid, personal conversation about how builders actually get started. They will trace their own paths, where their first ideas came from, how they turned them into something real, and what they wish they had known earlier. Expect honest stories, practical advice on the skills that matter now and what builders and investors look for in early talent, and an open floor to ask Jason and Cody your own questions.

Kick off the first day of the Expo by pitching to someone who's built a business on helping people get paid what they're worth. Bring your idea. Leave with a sharper one. Idea Hour is a live, open mic pitch session right in the middle of the Expo floor. Walk up, pitch what you're working on, and get real-time feedback from Rachel Rodgers, founder of Hello Seven and author of We Should All Be Millionaires.

Fantasy author J. Elle on building a dystopian world where the heart is the empire's sharpest blade, and what it takes to turn imagination into a career.

For generations, real estate was the primary vehicle for building and transferring wealth. Today, your voice, likeness, content, and personal brand can do what property once did: generate income, appreciate in value, and be passed down. Denise Bailey-Castro and Thai Randolph have built companies on this thesis. This conversation is about how to structure your IP as a real wealth-building asset and what to do right now to start.

Build it all with AI on AWS! This four hour session will cover the following:

• Create an HR Agent with Amazon Quick (1 hour)

  • This section provides experience working with Amazon Quick to create spaces and custom chat agents. 

• Exploring the Generative Business Intelligence Features in Amazon Quick (1 hour)
  • This section provides you with hands-on experience exploring the Generative Business Intelligence features in Amazon Quick Sight, allowing you to leverage natural language processing and automated analysis. 

• Building a Resume with AI (1 hour)

In this section you will learn how to review, improve and tailor your resume with AI using the AWS tool PartyRock. 

• App-Build with Amazon Quick (45 minutes)

In this section you will learn how to build different apps based on different scenarios using Amazon Quick.

For this session you will need to bring your own laptop.

Most teams buying compute have no framework for right-sizing it, and the cost of that gap is real. Drawing on experience at AWS and NVIDIA, this session walks through how GPUs perform in real systems, when a CPU is the better call, and what the difference means for budget and runway. A practical, scenario-based playbook for founders and builders who want smarter AI infrastructure decisions.

Join us for a dynamic gathering designed to celebrate and connect students from HBCUs. This meetup is a space for students to build community, exchange ideas, and network with peers who share a common academic and cultural experience. Attendees will have the chance to foster meaningful relationships, share resources, and gain inspiration from one another. Whether you’re seeking mentorship, collaboration, or simply a supportive environment, this meetup is all about honoring the legacy of HBCUs while creating new pathways for success.

This conversation brings together the people responsible for closing the talent gap to examine which leadership and pipeline programs are actually producing results, what has been lost as programs and investments have been cut, and where the strongest models are emerging.

Facilitator: Simone White, SVP of AfroTech & Live Events at Blavity Inc.

Debut author Michael Tinsley on building a Black-led fantasy epic from scratch, and the confidence it takes to go from idea to a published series.

Using Microsoft Fabric as the foundation, this session shows how unified data architecture and governance tools make it possible to build AI solutions that are technically sound and inclusive. The focus: connecting data across sources, applying transparency labels, and using visualization and storytelling to make analytics accessible and actionable for the people who need to act on them.

Every channel is saturated. AI has made content creation nearly free. Consumer loyalty is harder to earn than ever. Shannon Womack and Keena Grigsby are leading brand strategy at three of the most recognized names in business and navigating these pressures at scale every day. This conversation examines what it actually takes to cut through, build lasting consumer trust, and lead creative teams when the rules of brand are being rewritten in real time.

Got an idea? Building an app? Bring it to the mic.

Kick off the first day of the Expo by pitching to someone who's heard thousands of them, and knows what makes one stick. Idea Hour is a live, open mic pitch session right in the middle of the Expo floor. Walk up, pitch what you're working on, and get real-time feedback from Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital and one of the most vocal champions of underrepresented founders in tech.

Every decision a company makes runs on data nobody is watching, until it breaks. Now AI is writing into that record faster than anyone can verify it. Rani Johnson has held the CIO seat five times. With Michelle Grover, she gets into where verification belongs, why an untraceable output is worse than a wrong one, and what it costs to build the check instead of auditing the damage later.

Two fantasy authors on imagination, Black representation, and claiming space in genres where we haven't always been centered.

Entrepreneur, speaker, and mentor Chauncéa on The Commission and how to align your career, creativity, and calling with a mission bigger than yourself.

Behind every AI breakthrough are datasets collected without consent, workers paid pennies to label training data, and communities bearing costs they never agreed to. Timnit Gebru, founder of the DAIR Institute, brings her research on algorithmic harm and AI power directly to the AfroTech stage. This conversation challenges every leader in the room: if your organization is building with AI, who is it actually built for?

Most AI models were not trained with the Black community in mind. Esosa Osa, Founder and CEO of Onyx Impact, takes the Main Stage for the first public look at AiSHA, an AI chatbot trained to reflect the truth, culture, and lived experience of Black America. Osa spent years fighting disinformation aimed at our communities. Now she is building the alternative. See what changes when the technology is designed with us at the center.

King Willonius turned a crowdsourced lyric into BBL DRIZZY, one of the most viral AI-generated songs of the past decade, earning a TIME 100 Most Influential in AI nod and a response from Drake. In this 15-20 minute mainstage moment, he does it again, live. He will pull sounds, prompts, and ideas directly from the audience and build a track in real time. No slides. No lecture. Just the process, unfiltered, in front of thousands.

See a list of all Official AFROTECH™ Event Partners HERE

A gathering for those passionate about purpose-driven innovation and community leadership. This dynamic experience welcomes changemakers from non-profits, .orgs, and social-impact-driven for-profits to connect around social entrepreneurship, equity initiatives, and long-term impact strategies. Designed for those transforming systems, amplifying equity, and empowering communities for sustainable change.

An intimate, small-group conversation with King Willonius, one of this year’s main stage speakers, reserved for All Access ticket holders. From comedian to creative technologist, he’ll share how he fused humor, music, and emerging tech into a career, then take your questions directly. Come with a question, leave with a new perspective on turning creativity into a career in tech.

A vibrant evening reception curated exclusively for AfroTech All Access & Executive badge holders to kick off the week in community. This elevated mixer offers early arrivals a chance to unwind, engage with fellow attendees, and build connections with speakers and industry leaders in a relaxed, high-touch setting. 

The central hub for AfroTech badge pick-ups. Attendees can also get assistance with schedule access, venue navigation, and general event questions.

Join [solidcore] for a mat workout inspired by our studio format. Come for the shakes, stay for the connection, then find us at our booth!

RSVP HERE.

The tactics used to compromise critical infrastructure, satellite systems, and supply chains are now showing up inside enterprise environments. Senior technical leader Candice Scarborough-Sanchez brings a national security lens to the decisions every builder is making right now, breaking down how AI-enabled attacks are evolving and what it takes to design systems built to hold up against them.

Rice University President Reginald DesRoches will discuss how advances in engineering, materials science, and computing are transforming the practice of medicine and unlocking new possibilities to diagnose and treat a range of disorders.

Getting a medical innovation from prototype to market remains one of the hardest paths in business. This conversation brings together the people navigating that process to discuss what is getting funded, what is getting cleared, where promising products stall, and what it actually takes to build and scale in today’s regulatory and investment environment.

Facilitator: Vernessa Pollard, Co-Founder and Board Executive at MedTech Color

This discussion will explore how technology is helping create more personalized, accessible, and empowering financial experiences. Through both innovation and personal stories, we will examine how technology can support financial wellness, break down barriers to opportunity, and help individuals and families build greater confidence in their financial future. From the engineers who create these solutions to the customers whose lives are impacted by them, we will discuss how technology is shaping a more inclusive path to financial well-being and wealth creation.

Used strategically, informational interviews are one of the most powerful career tools available at any level. This session reframes them as a long-term asset. Drawing on years in Strategy and Operations and fielding high-volume outreach, Fola shares what separates a conversation that leads somewhere from one that goes nowhere, and how to turn a 30-minute call into a lasting relationship.

Building on last year's high-impact AfroTech session, this workshop evolves the conversation from inclusion to performance. Attendees explore how ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and related cognitive differences function as high-performance architecture in complex, fast-moving environments, leaving with practical frameworks for leveraging those strengths in leadership and concrete strategies for managing the challenges.

AI is rewriting how developers build software but speed without guardrails creates risk. This session explores how AI coding assistants are accelerating development while introducing new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Attendees will learn about prompt injection, insecure coding patterns, hallucinated libraries, and the “32% problem” of over-trusting AI outputs. The talk also covers practical strategies for embedding security into AI-assisted workflows and designing guardrails that protect innovation without limiting creativity.

Robotic surgery is no longer experimental. It is where complex care is increasingly delivered. Dr. Irlna Tantchou, a colorectal surgeon with more than 700 robotic cases and one of very few Black women operating at this level, covers how AI and data analytics are reshaping surgical outcomes, what it takes to build a high-performance robotics program, and how to expand access beyond academic medical centers into underserved communities.

Telehealth has expanded rapidly, but significant gaps persist in who actually benefits. Dr. Kevin Johnson examines the populations still underserved by digital health, including rural communities, older adults, Medicaid patients, and those facing language or digital literacy barriers, and outlines evidence-based strategies to design and scale more inclusive telehealth solutions without sacrificing clinical quality.

Tech careers are not built on coding skills alone. This session makes the hidden rules of hiring and opportunity more visible for students and early-career professionals, especially those without mentors, industry connections, or a clear roadmap. In a market shaped by AI, layoffs, and tougher competition, attendees learn how to build a skill stack, create proof of work, build relationships, increase visibility, and leave with a 12-month action plan.

Connect and build community with other content creators, storytellers, entrepreneurs, and creative innovators. Whether you're growing your personal brand, scaling a creator business, or exploring new platforms, this is an opportunity to exchange ideas with peers who understand the journey. 

In the AI era, competitive advantage runs on people, not just tools. Who leads matters as much as what you adopt. This session delivers a practical framework for inclusive leadership, intentional reskilling, and workforce development as the real differentiators, with an AI reskilling roadmap, leadership tactics, and a tool for aligning people, process, and technology within any organization.

 AiSHA is an AI chatbot built to reflect Black culture and lived experience. Here, Esosa Osa opens up the build: the training data decisions, the infrastructure tradeoffs, what broke between concept and shipped product, and what she would do differently. The back half is yours. Bring questions about the stack, the model, and the real cost of building culturally informed tech. Made for builders and technologists.

As AI makes scams, deepfakes, and cyberattacks more sophisticated, protecting financial assets has never been more critical. In this session, Morgan Stanley leaders Devon Rollins, Sherette A. Constant, & Millicent Auma explore how AI is reshaping the threat landscape and how financial institutions are using AI to fight back. Learn how emerging technologies are changing fraud, trust, and wealth protection, and what individuals and organizations can do to stay secure in an increasingly AI-powered world.

As AI agents and automated services request access to systems on their own, identity and access management has become the front line of enterprise security. Nationwide's VP of Cybersecurity Platforms breaks down how identity teams extend access controls beyond employees to service accounts and autonomous tools.

Remote patient monitoring and digital therapeutics are extending care beyond traditional clinical settings and creating new models for continuous, data-driven intervention. Dr. Charles DeShazer provides a practical framework for implementation across cardiometabolic and behavioral health conditions, covering patient selection, workflow integration, data governance, and how to distinguish FDA-regulated digital therapeutics from consumer wellness tools.

Clinical research still doesn't reach the communities it's supposed to serve. If you're working to change that, from trial design to community trust, this is your table.

Facilitator: Dr. Chris Pernell, Health Equity Director at NAACP

CEOs and senior leaders, off the record. The kind of conversation that only happens when there are no cameras and everyone at the table has been in the chair.

Facilitator:

Erica Terry Derryck, VP Global Communications, Global Business Solutions Group at Intuit

Reggie Marable: Chief Customer Officer at Sierra

Bias in clinical AI can begin before training, embedded in decisions about missing data, labels, and success metrics. Waverly Rose Brim explores how strong overall AI model performance can mask harm to Black patients and the underinsured. Through a hands-on, fairness-aware audit workflow using real CDC data, she guides attendees in testing the assumptions built into a clinical pipeline. Together, you’ll examine how upstream modeling choices change who qualifies for treatment and search for hidden harm in overlooked subgroups. You’ll leave with a repeatable audit method and a go/no-go deployment checklist. Bring your laptop to participate. NVIDIA has partnered with Brim to provide complimentary access codes for select NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute courses, helping attendees continue learning beyond the workshop.

King Willonius takes input from the room and builds a video live. The audience calls out words, vibes, and references, and he feeds them into his AI video workflow on screen, narrating every decision as he goes. Before he went viral, he was making an AI film every week, including King Kendrick. This demo makes the method transparent: what a good prompt actually looks like, what the tools do with it, and what King Willonius adds that the AI can't.

Denise Young Smith on 20+ years at Apple and what inclusion means as technology and AI change who gets to build.

Geography used to define opportunity. Carrol Chang, CEO of Andela, brings a global lens to that shift. Andela's developers have operated in distributed environments out of necessity for years, adapting and upskilling long before distributed work became a Silicon Valley talking point. This session explores how leading organizations are rethinking hiring and workforce strategy in an AI-first world.

AI tools are moving from pilot to deployment across healthcare, and the stakes around bias, governance, and oversight are no longer theoretical. Dr. Tiffani J. Bright provides a practical roadmap for implementing trustworthy AI, covering how to evaluate algorithmic bias, assess data representativeness, build governance structures, and sustain continuous monitoring.  Attendees leave with concrete strategies for deploying equitable, high-performing AI in real clinical settings.

When software can move, mistakes cause real harm. As robots and autonomous systems enter workplaces and public spaces, old security models fail. This session examines why trust breaks down and what must change before consequences scale.

This session is intended to provide insights into key security considerations for organizations and individuals using agentic AI, explore effective use cases and potential benefits of adopting agentic AI within CISO organizations and security departments, and address additional AI-related security measures to help safeguard enterprises. 

If you have ever used public WiFi, reused a password, or clicked a link that felt slightly off, you are already a target. This session breaks down three real cyberattacks: a fake public WiFi network, a password exposed in a data breach, and a spoofed AfroTech login page. Security engineer Lamarr Henry walks through how each attack works and exactly what you can do to stop it. No jargon required.

Most leaders are still using AI one question at a time. In this hands-on session, Brandon Z. Hoff, Chief AI Officer of RUDI AI, shows you how to move past one-off prompts and build AI systems that handle entire processes, from research to finished work. Follow along as he walks through real-world examples step by step, then put it into practice yourself. You’ll leave with a working approach you can bring back to your team and use right away.

Dave Salvant did not set out to disrupt an industry. He walked into barbershops, listened, and built what was missing. As co-founder of SQUIRE, he turned a deeply cultural community space into a $750M platform serving barbers nationwide. This session, including a live product demo, shows what happens when a founder builds from lived experience instead of market research. Come see how trust becomes a competitive moat.

Two former CEOs and top executives (HBO, Time Inc.) on how Black women build confidence and the strategies to reach the C-suite.

AI is moving fast. The question is whether it's moving in a direction that actually works for the people it's supposed to serve. A conversation about building AI that centers real communities, not just efficiency metrics.

Facilitators:

Candice Coletrane: Executive Director, ISG Product Release Operations at Lenovo

Benjamin Bennett: Executive Director, ISG Operations & Transformation at Lenovo

A conversation about what it takes to do it well — moving past whether technology can help to how technology and thoughtful design actually improve the way people access, understand and navigate health. 

The panel will be a 30-minute conversation exploring how technology can help people find, understand and use health information. The discussion will focus on access and understanding, navigation and trust, and the role of human connection. 

Inclusion, accessibility, and equity must be designed into AI systems from the start. In this session, Brian Tippens, SVP and Chief Social Impact Officer at Cisco, shares how organizations move beyond policy commitments to build AI that expands economic mobility at scale. Drawing on Fortune 100 and community impact experience, Tippens delivers a direct case for what responsible AI looks like in practice.

Filmmaker, creative director, and entrepreneur Albaner Eugene on building a business where media, faith, and storytelling meet.

Health disparities are too often blamed on biology. The data tells a different story. Dr. Uché Blackstock and Dr. Charles R. Rogers examine the origins of data inequities, how they persist, and what it takes to dismantle them. From fragmented clinical records to public health reporting gaps, biased data delays diagnoses and misallocates resources. This session makes the case for health systems designed around transparency and equity.

Salesforce invites you to dive headfirst into the newest technology with our hands-on bootcamp focused on Building Your Agentic Future. This immersive 4-hour, bring-your-own-laptop session is your launchpad into the Salesforce ecosystem and the latest in artificial intelligence.

Whether you are new to tech or looking to rapidly expand your skill set, this session is designed to empower you with the knowledge and practical experience needed to thrive in an AI-driven world. During this interactive bootcamp, you’ll learn to:

• Discover the Salesforce Ecosystem: Learn exactly what Salesforce does and learn how to leverage resources. You'll earn your very first Trailhead badges right in the room!
• Explore Headless 360 & The Future of AI: Dive into the very latest in Salesforce technology by building your own agent through conversation with Headless 360, and get an exclusive look at the current landscape and exciting future of AI at Salesforce.

This isn't just about learning; it's about doing. By mastering these foundational AI and Salesforce concepts, you are positioning yourself at the forefront of the tech industry. Our trainers will ensure you leave with actionable next steps for your career growth. 

Bring your laptop, bring your ambition, and get ready to build your agentic future! Space is limited, so arrive early and power up!

RSVP here to save your seat!

How do you get experience when you need experience to get hired? For early talent, that question opens a bigger conversation about access, opportunity, and how employers recognize potential. Learn more about how Apple is supporting PROPEL Center to explore challenges as a new model for talent development and discovery, connecting students with real problems, industry feedback, and relationships that can help launch careers. Come hear from HBCU students who won first place winners in Propel Center’s 2025 HBCU Innovation Challenge competition in Austin, TX in conversation with Apple and Propel Center.

AI is moving beyond answering questions. Autonomous agents can carry work forward toward a goal, with people setting the direction and deciding when to step in. Knowing how to prompt is only the starting point. The next advantage is knowing what to delegate, how to define "done," and where your judgment matters most.

This Learning Lab looks at how autonomous AI agents are changing the way work gets done. We'll walk through a real workflow in Copilot Autopilot to show what was delegated, where human judgment stayed essential, and what changed as a result. We'll also explore why framing the right problem and evaluating the result are becoming core career skills.

You'll leave with three things you can use Monday: one recurring task to delegate, a clear definition of success, and a checkpoint that keeps you in control.

Three leaders on building institutions, wealth, and cultures designed to outlive their founders.

Dr. Andrew Forde leads AI research at KPMG, where he tracks how AI is reshaping industries, roles, and career paths across client organizations worldwide. In this session, he brings the data: where work is changing fastest, which skills and functions are gaining value, and what professionals can do right now to position themselves ahead of a labor market being rewritten in real time.

AI agents aren't just for engineers. Salesforce Product Marketing Director Monica Bowie, a non-engineer, built an AI skill that started with 1,700 sellers and is now available to all 60k sellers globally. In this 20-minute lightning session, she shares the exact method to creating agents that anyone can use: three questions to spot work worth automating, a four-part recipe to build it without code, and a simple way to prove it worked. Join Monica to see a tangible application of humans in the loop that you can immediately apply to your own role as you build your agentic future.

As AI and automation reshape industries at unprecedented speed, leaders across business and government are rethinking the future of work and economic stability. In this executive-stage fireside chat, Andrew Yang explores the growing conversation around Universal Basic Income, workforce disruption, entrepreneurship, and financial resilience in an AI-driven economy. The discussion focuses on practical solutions, long-term thinking, and how innovation can create broader opportunities in a rapidly changing world.

The former CEO of TLC Beatrice on staying sharp in business decades into a career, and why longevity is a leadership strategy.

Twenty years ago, Beats changed the way the world thinks about sound, and it's kept the culture on speaker ever since. In this session, members of Beats' brand and sports marketing team pull back the curtain on the strategy behind two decades of staying power — from bold campaigns and iconic talent partnerships to the custom drops that turn products into cultural moments. Hear how Beats builds worlds around every launch, transforms "everyday" categories into cultural statements, and partners with talent to tell stories audiences can't get anywhere else. Whether you're building a brand, a following, or a legacy, this conversation is your blueprint for staying relevant without losing who you are.

Technology transformation is often viewed as a balancing act between speed and control. In reality, the most successful organizations achieve both through strong partnerships between engineering and governance teams. Join AbbVie leaders Sam Spaulding and Karyn Quick as they share how cloud modernization, platform engineering, compliance, risk management, and operational excellence can work together to enable innovation at scale. Attendees will learn practical strategies for breaking down organizational silos, building trusted technology platforms, and creating governance models that support, rather than hinder, transformation.

While artificial intelligence is transforming what is possible, its true potential is unlocked by the foundation it runs on. This session explores how modern, cloud-native data environments serve as the essential engine powering advanced AI applications. Attendees will discover how to harmonize their broader tech stack with AI initiatives, leveraging strong infrastructure to seamlessly deliver personalized, real-world consumer experiences.

AI has a power problem. As compute demand explodes, the grid cannot keep up, and the fight for megawatts is colliding with land use and community preservation. Using the 3.3 MWdc Hope Haven Agrivoltaics project as a case study, this session shows how solar energy and AI infrastructure can share the same footprint.

AI-assisted development moves fast. Security gaps move faster. Vibe coding enables production in hours, but threat actors are already targeting AI-generated applications for the weaknesses speed creates. This session equips builders with OWASP Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS as practical guardrails, techniques for prompting AI toward secure outputs, and a clear workflow for shipping reliable applications.

Laptops encouraged for demo.

The decisions cities make today about infrastructure, energy, technology, and development will shape their communities for decades. This conversation brings together the leaders making those decisions to discuss how they evaluate competing priorities, negotiate with private-sector partners, and determine what communities should receive in return for the investments being made around them.

Facilitator: Jeff Nelson, CTO at Blavity Inc

This fireside chat brings health literacy into the everyday lives of the AfroTech audience and asks what a better health user experience could look like.

In a conversation about the intersection of healthcare, technology and user experience, Michael and Davidek explore what healthcare can learn from user-centered design: starting with the needs of the person, identifying friction across the health journey, and making information easier to find, understand and use.

Board-certified OB/GYN and chief medical advisor of Alloy Women's Health, Dr. Sharon Malone, on perimenopause, menopause, sleep, weight, and what to ask your doctor, and why health is the foundation of a long career.

A dynamic networking space where innovators, professionals, and enthusiasts come together to explore the future of artificial intelligence. This meetup will foster community, conversation, and collaboration, connecting attendees with peers and industry leaders to share ideas, insights, and opportunities shaping the AI landscape.

Celebrate the legacy and unity of the NPHC at our Divine Nine Meetup. This gathering brings together members, alumni, and supporters of the Divine Nine fraternities and sororities to connect, share experiences, and strengthen bonds across organizations. This space is to honor the culture, traditions, and impact of Black Greek life while building new relationships and fostering community pride.

Maternal health is being transformed by digital tools, AI, and telemedicine, but innovation alone does not equal better outcomes. Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Chief Medical Officer at Hers, examines what it will actually take to build maternal care systems that are more accessible, more effective, and more patient-centered, drawing on clinical expertise, health technology, and the responsibility that comes with building care at scale.

A physician and a former CEO on how health, longevity, and staying in the room shape long careers.

Delay is one of the most expensive variables in building infrastructure. Featuring Emiola Banwo, Founder of ProgramHub, and Alexis Cureton, E2 Fellow and Clean Energy Consultant, with Jordan Taylor, CEO of SynergyGrid, moderating, this panel explores how digital twins and digital permitting can improve planning, streamline approvals and reduce costly delays. Alexis brings a clean energy policy and environmental justice perspective on ensuring faster delivery also expands equitable access and community benefit.

Led by Nimbus Aerospace, one of the few Black-owned aviation and aerospace companies in the world, this panel explores how AI, sustainability, and engineering are converging to reshape flight. From autonomous systems to sustainable aviation fuels to air traffic data infrastructure, attendees get a direct look at where the industry is heading.

Quantum computing is already forcing governments and enterprises to rethink encryption standards they have relied on for decades. This session breaks down which cryptographic systems are most vulnerable, what post-quantum security requires, and what professionals need to understand now. No physics degree required. Built for leaders who want to get ahead of this shift, not just survive it.

Attendees will explore how AI, software, and advanced imaging technologies are improving image quality, accelerating workflows, extending clinical expertise, and expanding access to care. The conversation will connect clinical and operational challenges with practical innovations, responsible adoption, and measurable value across the healthcare customer journey.

Entrepreneurs, executives, and business leaders are constantly evaluating new ways to pursue business ownership, build a lasting legacy, and expand their impact beyond their current careers. In this interactive session, Tiffany Bentham, Franchising Candidate Manager for McDonald’s and a McDonald’s Owner/Operator, will discuss the McDonald’s franchising opportunity and how ownership can open the door to new professional and entrepreneurial possibilities. Attendees will hear firsthand lessons from the Operators' journey, gain insight into the McDonald’s franchising model, and learn what it takes to evaluate, prepare for, and pursue franchise ownership.

Federal tech spending exceeds $100B annually, and despite recent workforce disruptions, government contracts and cleared positions remain among the most stable, highest-paying paths in tech. Symoné “Beez” Berry has 15+ years inside defense and federal systems and built GovTech Con to be the entry point for professionals who want in. She will demystify government contract procurement and clearances and give attendees a real roadmap into this sector.

Lee Merritt has won some of the most consequential civil rights cases in recent American history: Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson. What he has learned inside those cases is that legal knowledge is one of the most underused tools Black professionals have. This conversation translates federal civil rights law into something you can use in the workplace: how to document, how to build leverage, and how to protect your position in any professional environment.

See a list of all Official AFROTECH™ Event Partners HERE

Aaron Russell leads the infrastructure that delivers AI-powered content to billions of users across Meta's global platforms, from edge compute and GPU caching to video optimization at hyperscale. For engineers building AI-powered products, this is the conversation happening one layer below the model: how do you architect systems when AI becomes an infrastructure constraint rather than just a feature? Aaron brings the view from the technical frontier that most engineers will never see up close.

Detroit is a city where innovation meets opportunity. With a rich legacy of building industries, a growing community of diverse founders, and a strong network of investors and ecosystem partners, Detroit offers a compelling environment to launch, grow, and scale a business. The city is leveraging its strengths in advanced manufacturing, mobility, technology, and entrepreneurship to create new pathways for innovation and economic growth. This conversation will bring together investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders to share why Detroit is an attractive place to build a company, access resources, develop strategic partnerships, and connect with emerging markets. By highlighting the people, capital, and collaborative ecosystem driving Detroit forward, we will showcase the city as a place where bold ideas can become thriving businesses and create lasting economic opportunity.

An energizing space curated for engineers from various industries to connect, collaborate, and share emerging best practices. From system design to dev tools, this meetup offers networking opportunities for those building the infrastructure behind today’s most innovative products. Perfect for attendees driving technical excellence.

A welcoming and intentional space created for LGBTQ+ AfroTech attendees to connect and build community. This affirming experience centers identity, visibility, and shared stories in a relaxed and celebratory environment. Designed for attendees seeking meaningful, identity-aligned connections.

Product thinking doesn’t live in the product org. It lives wherever someone decides what an experience should feel like — and that includes the teams most people never think to call “product.” The office you walk into. The policy that meets you on your hardest day at work. The app setting that finally makes a screen readable.

In this session, leaders from Employee Relations, Workplace, and Data Science make the case that they’ve been shipping products all along. They’ll get specific about who their users really are, how they hear from the people whose needs are easiest to overlook, and what it takes to hold a global standard without flattening local reality — including how accessibility research led to Dark Mode on the DoorDash app, a quiet but meaningful win for low-vision users.

Come for the panel. Leave with a lens you can use Monday morning.

Think franchise ownership is out of reach? You may be closer to building wealth than you think. Join BLK GRVTY, an official AfroTech partner, for an evening of cocktails, networking and conversation about building ownership, and learn how Franchise Nova helps turn interest into ownership. Spots are limited, so RSVP early.

RSVP (registration required): posh.vip/e/blk-grvty-franchise-nova-cocktail-mixer-copy

Questions? Email connect@blkgrvty.com.

Join Capital One for an exclusive networking experience where you’ll connect directly with their visionary executives, associates, chat with their recruiters and learn more about how they’re revolutionizing the future of technology. This event is by invitation only, visit their booth for more information.

A private, invite-only dinner celebrating the Future 50 2026 honorees and special guests, and commemorating 10 years of AfroTech. Hosted by Black Enterprise and sponsored by Nationwide.

Blavity is turning up the volume on AfroTech's 10th anniversary. Blavity In Black is a signature event built around the soundtrack of the last decade a musical timeline moving through the songs, artists, and cultural moments that defined each era from 2016 to 2026.

Dress code: All Black, encouraged. Think formal, elevated, and expressive, come dressed to be part of the moment.

Get your tickets HERE: https://posh.vip/e/afrotech-conference-blavity-in-black

The central hub for AfroTech badge pick-ups. Attendees can also get assistance with schedule access, venue navigation, and general event questions.

Join us for the first ever AfroTech Policy Breakfast. We are gathering together some of the top  minds in social justice, civic engagement and public leadership to trade notes and empower one another. The decisions that will define the next decade of technology are being made by major companies and this is an opportunity for our public leaders to connect with them.

AfroTech is taking place during an election week, and it will be Forty-eight hours after the mid terms, this will be an opportunity for us to debrief the results and plan what is happening next. 

Participants include mayors and members of Congress, chief executives and senior operators from the companies building artificial intelligence, healthcare, and financial infrastructure, and research directors from the institutions shaping the terms of the debate.

Attendance is by RSVP only. RSVP here:(https://posh.vip/e/afrotech-policy-breakfast)

This is a session for developers and people leaders. Build a foundational AI agent that securely interacts with your company's data and MCPs.  Bring your real questions and scenarios to AfroTech's AI Edge.

Live Workshop identifying your current workflows and which AI tool to use wear to 10x your productivity and output at Work.

As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms healthcare, organizations face important questions about innovation, ethics, access, and trust. In this fireside chat, Planned Parenthood will explore the opportunities AI presents for expanding health information and care, alongside the risks of bias, misinformation, privacy concerns, and unequal access. Together, we'll discuss the moral responsibility brands have to engage in these conversations, advocate for equitable outcomes, and help shape a future where technology serves all communities—not just a select few  

Emerging technology, like artificial intelligence, is reshaping healthcare at record speed with great potential to advance health equity, but for communities that have long faced barriers to quality care, the promise of AI comes with urgent questions: How do we build trust in emerging technology?  Who is the technology built for? Whose data trains it?
At its core, this discussion will focus on a critical question for patients, practitioners, technologists, and communities: Will AI close, or widen, longstanding health disparities? Leading voices in health equity, technology, and policy will explore how to build trustworthy AI systems, ensure representative data, and hold institutions accountable for equitable innovation. 

Join us for a candid conversation about power, progress, and the future of healthcare access in the age of artificial intelligence and what it will take to get it right for underserved communities.

Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of what it takes to prepare a workforce for AI-driven change—and how People and Technology leaders can work together to build skills, enable adoption and strengthen the talent pipeline.

What happens when caring for the culture, content creation, and cutting-edge biotech come together? 

The Black community remains disproportionately affected by HIV and other STIs, and creators have real power to help change how we talk about sexual health. At the same time, AI is transforming how people engage with healthcare and wellness, opening new opportunities across both industries. 

This conversation brings together voices from content creation, STEM, biotech, and community engagement to explore the latest innovations in HIV and sexual health, the growing influence of digital creators, and how both are shaping what’s next.

AI is reshaping how nurses work across inpatient, ambulatory, and virtual care settings. This session examines practical applications, including clinical documentation automation, decision support tools, patient monitoring, and workforce optimization. Vanessa Riley covers how AI can reduce administrative burden and improve care coordination, and what nurses and healthcare leaders need to know to integrate these tools responsibly.

Larry Jones started driving Uber in 2016 to build a stake he could invest with. Today, nearly 700,000 people follow his market breakdowns, and his Traffic Trader system is taught to thousands through Money Moves. . This is not a lecture on why you should invest. Larry will explore how he reads charts while walking the room through the exact reads he makes before entering a position: where momentum is real, where it is noise, and how he sizes risk. Attendees leave with a process they can run themselves.

The operating role built your expertise. Now build with it. Larry Quinlan spent decades running global technology strategy at one of the world's largest firms, then turned that knowledge into advisory work, coaching, and a multi-industry portfolio of influence. This session is the playbook for executives ready to move from one title to many.

Maternal morbidity in the United States continues to rise, and clinical interventions alone have not closed the gaps. Dr. Dineo Khabele will explore real-world examples of how inclusive design principles, applied through culturally responsive care models, multidisciplinary collaboration, and data-informed redesign, can improve detection, engagement, and outcomes in obstetric care across diverse patient populations.

NVIDIA GB10 + Lenovo ThinkStation PGX 

From experimentation to real business outcomes

Explore how NVIDIA GB10 is enabling practical AI innovation, from local LLMs and intelligent agents to computer vision and robotics.

Brandon Z. Hoff founded RUDI (Responsible Use of Digital Intelligence) and has taught hands-on sessions for AfroTech’s AI Edge series. In this Idea Hour he is your live AI advisor. Bring one of three things: a business you run where AI might help but you are not sure how, a product you want to build without an engineer, or an AI-powered product idea. Pitch it, and he will tell you how far AI can take you, what you may be missing, and the first step to take.

Navigating a career in Big Tech requires more than just technical expertise - it demands strategic leadership, intentional mentorship, and operational resilience. In this fireside chat, Tony West sits down with Keir Gumbs to talk about managing high-performing teams, building sustainable networks and succession planning.

(Bring a laptop)

With most AI tools, you work with one assistant in one chat. Buzz offers a different model: people and specialized AI agents working together in the same room.

In this hands-on lab, you’ll assemble an AI team with several different roles, then guide it through a practical challenge. You’ll set the direction, follow the handoffs, review each agent’s contribution, and decide what to move forward with. Along the way, you’ll learn how to give agents clear responsibilities, share context across a team, and keep human judgment at the center of the work.

Buzz is an open source, self-hostable workspace built by Block, where humans and agents collaborate with visible identities and shared history. No prior AI experience is required. Whether you’re an engineer, designer, founder, student, or AI-curious builder, you’ll leave with a practical approach to turning a group of agents into a team.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has spent her career making sure policy reflects the people most affected by it. Now she turns that lens on AI: from data center environmental impact and bias in financial services to workforce displacement and the race to adopt AI without guardrails, this fireside examines who governs these systems and what leaders in the room are responsible for right now.

Discover real-world enterprise use cases where private, high-performance AI compute delivers measurable business value.
See what’s possible today, what challenges remain, and how GB10 bridges experimentation and production-ready AI.

 Health equity in AI isn't something companies can check once and move on from. It depends on AI developers and physicians working side by side. Dr. Félix Manuel Chinea takes attendees inside Doximity's approach to evaluating bias in Doximity Ask. He covers how Doximity's physicians and the teams developing the models defined bias together, created a daily Health Equity Score, and turned findings into model improvements. Real case studies show what gets caught, why it matters and how it gets fixed. Attendees leave with a framework any health tech company can adapt.

A focused networking experience crafted for emerging founders and small business owners navigating growth and innovation. This session offers an opportunity to exchange insights on brand development, funding, and scaling with intention. Designed for entrepreneurial minds ready to build and collaborate.

Care delays are among the most consequential and preventable drivers of poor health outcomes. In this fireside conversation, Tamiko Foster and Aparna Ahuja examine how operational workflows, prior authorization bottlenecks, reimbursement constraints, and regulatory complexity contribute to patient harm, and where redesign and policy reform are already improving timeliness and equity of care.

Michellene Davis moved a $30 billion state budget before she took over National Medical Fellowships, which funds underrepresented students through medical school. Brandi Freeman leads the National Medical Association. Money, credentials, access to patients. Attendees will leave knowing what each institution funds, endorses, or adopts, how those calls get made, and who to contact first.

The AFROTECH™ Insiders Meetup is an exclusive gathering for members of the AFROTECH™ Insiders community. This event creates space for meaningful connections, authentic conversations, and collaboration among some of the most innovative leaders in tech and culture. Attendees will gain access to unique insights, resources, and opportunities designed to elevate their careers and ventures. More than a networking event, the meetup celebrates community, innovation, and the collective power of AFROTECH™ Insiders.

Captain Nia Gilliam on resilience, career reinvention, and rebuilding after a defining moment changes everything you've built.

Join Earn Your Leisure for a live podcast recording featuring Morgan DeBaun as they reflect on a decade of building, funding, and scaling AFROTECH™. Through candid stories and hard-earned lessons, they'll share how they've created opportunities, built a thriving ecosystem, and expanded access for the next generation of builders and founders. As AFROTECH celebrates 10 years of innovation, this conversation offers a look back at the milestones that shaped the journey and the opportunities that lie ahead

Every family has stories worth preserving, but many begin with only a few names, photos, or memories. In this session, attendees will learn how to transform what they already know into a living family history using Ancestry's powerful genealogy tools and AI-powered discovery experience.

Led by Ancestry CTO Sriram Thiagarajan, VP & Chief Legal Officer Lisa Garden Glover, and Principal Product Manager Breana Jones, this session will guide participants through building the foundation of a family tree, uncovering historical records with AI, and preserving family photos, documents, and stories for future generations. Along the way, attendees will gain insight into the importance of responsible AI, privacy, and trust when preserving their family's legacy.

The future belongs to people who can learn as fast as technology evolves.

Join Microsoft for a live demo of AI Skills Navigator and Learning Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and discover a new way to build skills for an AI-powered world. See how personalized guidance can help you identify opportunities, uncover the skills that matter most, and take meaningful steps toward your career and learning goals.

Whether you're exploring AI for the first time or building on existing expertise, you'll experience how AI can transform learning from a collection of courses into a personalized journey of growth.

Come curious. Get inspired. Leave with a plan.

Tamira Chapman, CEO of Storehouse In A Box and Publisher of Storehouse Voices, and Associate Publisher Porscha Burke discuss pathways for writers ready to pursue traditional book publishing projects. Whether you're just beginning to chronicle your story or have self-published several titles, you'll hear insights on preparing and positioning your work, identifying optimal publishing partners, and what to expect along the way. One of the newest imprints under the Penguin Random House umbrella, Storehouse Voices is a dynamic publishing outlet offering unrepresented and over-worthy storytellers opportunities for a traditional publishing experience, and in this session, you’ll learn how the imprint came to be and how it hopes to serve the world of culturally resonant storytelling.

Medical AI is being trained on data that too often leaves Black patients out. Clinical trial participation, representative datasets, and accountable research infrastructure are not optional equity measures. They are the foundation for AI that can accurately diagnose, treat, and save Black lives. With Sickle Cell Disease and Multiple Myeloma as anchors to his argument, Travis Cleaves breaks down how EHR systems and trial pipelines feed medical AI, where Black patients go missing, and what the gap costs. 

Trust is the foundation of effective healthcare delivery, yet it remains fragile across patients, providers, and systems. In this fireside conversation, Dr. Vindell Washington shares how healthcare leaders can sustain trust while scaling data, technology, and new care models. He covers transparency, data stewardship, interoperability, and patient engagement as pillars for confident adoption of AI and digital health tools.

Small businesses are where AI's promise gets tested. This conversation brings together the organizations, investors, city and community leaders who back founders every day to discuss what's keeping small businesses from adopting AI, what they actually need from these tools and how to make sure the economic opportunity reaches the communities that need it most.

Facilitator: Cliff Worley, Founder & AI Consultant at AI Playtime

An elevated networking experience celebrating the legacy, leadership, and cultural impact of HBCU alumni. This gathering creates space for connection, recognition, and community among those shaping the future of tech and more through historically rooted excellence.

Afrotech Conference Badge Required

Julia Weber, Space Manufacturing Engineer at Planet Labs, will bring a real SuperDove satellite to the AfroTech stage, giving attendees a rare, hands-on look at the hardware behind the world’s largest commercial Earth observation fleet. Drawing on her background as a Space Systems Engineer, where she managed orbital health and real-time execution in space, Julia will break down how satellites are controlled from Earth to capture daily imagery for climate monitoring, disaster response, and food security. Now helping build Planet's next-generation manufacturing capabilities, she brings an end-to-end perspective from cleanroom build to orbital operations, inspiring greater representation and highlighting the wide range of careers shaping the future of space

Using Haiti as a global case study, this session examines how culture can become market power. The conversation moves beyond crisis narratives to examples in film, sports, fashion, Marvel storytelling, World Cup qualification, and digital media, showing how creators, technologists, athletes, and diaspora networks can turn visibility into investment, partnerships, ecosystem growth, and more informed engagement with emerging markets.

Comedian, writer, and television host Roy Wood Jr. on his book and what family and fatherhood teach us about showing up.

You'd never book a planner just to ask "is this normal?" In this room, that's the whole point. 300 people in tech, at your level and the next one up, saying out loud what they're doing with their money and what they're still figuring out. Evol Greaves, Betterment's VP of Engineering, hosts and goes first with his own story: how his thinking about money changed as his career grew, and the questions he still has. Kyle McBrien, CFP, brings the five things he thinks about for everyone. Your questions go in at check-in and get asked for you, no names attached. Then small groups with the planners.

RSVP here to save your seat! https://posh.vip/e/afrotech-conference-live-financial-planning-workshop-whats-everyone-else-doing-with-their-money-presented-by-betterment

Africa's fintech ecosystem is building financial infrastructure the rest of the world is watching. Mobile money, digital lending, and cross-border payments are being reimagined at scale, and the builders driving it are redefining what's possible. Zekarias Amsalu has accelerated 100+ African startups and helped unlock $400M in growth capital. This session explores what's being built and how diaspora professionals can actively participate.

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan on how Virgil Abloh, with no formal training, became the first Black artistic director in Louis Vuitton's 164-year history, and what his rise says about race, taste, and who gets to define a brand.

Knowing how the rules around money are made gives you an advantage most people never develop. Pierre Whatley has spent his career inside those decisions at the Federal Reserve, on the House Financial Services Committee, and as Staff Director of a Senate subcommittee. Then he went from advising candidates to being one. This conversation breaks down how financial policy shapes your access to capital and your ability to build wealth, and what it takes to move from understanding the system to shaping it, including running for office while holding a corporate career.

The skills that made a great clinician in 2015 are not the same ones needed in 2030. Dr. Shannon Barnes Martin examines the emerging competency stack healthcare professionals will need to navigate AI, digital transformation, and shifting care models, covering digital fluency, data literacy, clinical expertise, and leadership, and offers a practical framework for building those competencies into workforce development.

Great talent is everywhere, and the future of work belongs to the teams who go find it. Join the Black with Gusto leaders, including Chief Compliance Officer LaSalle Vaughn and Head of Subscription Sales Peter Lezama, for a few quick words on building strong teams where everyone belongs. Then stick around to network, mingle, and meet some good people.

A city isn't smart simply because of the technology it deploys. It's smart because of what that technology enables people and communities to do.

Smart Cities 101 explores how aligning community priorities, technology, entrepreneurship, and capital can transform municipal challenges into economic opportunities.

Join Kasheef Wyzard, National Director of Economic Opportunity at Dream.Org; Jordan Taylor, CEO of SynergyGrid; and Dr. Reginald Parker, CEO and Founder of Green Power Ventures—pioneers of the Smart Cities Alliance—as they introduce a practical framework for building smarter cities that create jobs, attract investment, strengthen local economies, and expand community ownership.

Because building smarter cities isn't just about adopting technology. It's about organizing the people, partnerships, and resources needed to move from conversations to deployable projects—and ensuring communities share in the value created.

Profitable is not the same as venture-backable. Investors who have backed some of the most category-defining companies in tech break down what they are actually looking for at the earliest stages: how they evaluate founders, why most companies cap their own upside, and how creators and bootstrappers can build for scale without giving up their edge. Walk away with a capital strategy that meets you where you are.

Bermuda’s transformation into a critical hub for global digital infrastructure offers a blueprint for competing on the world stage. Minister Lightbourne will share how regulatory clarity, technical excellence, and strategic positioning helped secure Google’s Nuvem and Sol subsea cable infrastructure projects. The session highlights how smart governance accelerates trust, attracts billion-dollar investments, and enables small nations and underrepresented communities to win major tech partnerships through transparency, strong systems, and community engagement.

This HealthStack Solutions Showcase will convene senior leaders across healthcare, technology, policy, and investment for a curated solutions showcase and executive feedback forum.

This session will spotlight six sponsor-supported grantees, each presenting innovative approaches to addressing systemic health disparities in Black communities.

Gatekeepers versus direct-to-audience: how creators across books, television, fashion, and social are building audiences and owning them.

You're building a career, a business, a side venture, or maybe all three. Is your financial strategy built for you? This session is a practical conversation about creating greater access to the financial knowledge, perspective and resources that can support wealth building on your terms. Join experienced financial planners Achu Akum and Matthew Bennett with moderator Darin Florenz to explore how income, equity, benefits, taxes and life priorities can work together. Walk away with 10 practical questions for navigating opportunities and trade-offs and creating a financial roadmap shaped by your vision, your circumstances and what matters most to you.

 As cities adopt public-safety technologies, their decisions shape policing and community trust. Featuring René Peters Jr., Sr. Product Manager, AI/XR/Telecom at NVIDIA, and moderated by Kandia Milton, Dream.Org’s Government Affairs Director, this fireside chat explores how cities approach these tools, what safeguards deployment requires, and how to balance innovation, public safety, and community trust.

Ryan Wilson and TK Petersen, co-founders of The Gathering Spot, share how they built one of the country's most influential membership communities and why intentional third spaces are essential for career growth, creative collaboration, and surrounding yourself with people who elevate you.

Customer-facing AI is scaling fast. Trust is becoming the limiting factor. In this fireside chat, Zendesk Chief Legal Officer Shana Simmons breaks down what it takes to build AI that customers and frontline teams will actually adopt, built around three requirements: mandatory transparency, operational explainability, and real accountability. For technical leaders deploying AI in high-stakes customer moments.

Relationship coach Anwar White (1.5M+ followers) on dating with intention in the age of apps, built on discernment and authenticity.

AI is changing how we research, prototype, and ship, basically overnight. Come trade notes and meet with PMs, designers, researchers, and builders who get it. What’s working? What’s breaking? What’s actually worth the hype? 

Every generation inherits a different set of opportunities and obstacles. Ours has inherited one of the greatest technological transformations in modern history. The question is not simply how Black communities participate in this moment, but what we must build to ensure innovation becomes a catalyst for lasting prosperity.

In this thought-provoking conversation, Frank Tramble, Vice President for Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs at Duke University, and Brandon William Jones, Founder and CEO of Gravy Wealth, explore the future of Black prosperity from two connected perspectives: the institutions with the reach and influence to shape opportunity, and the individuals and communities working to turn that opportunity into ownership and generational wealth.

Moderated by Kweli Zukeri, Associate Vice President of Web Innovation & Strategy at Howard University, the discussion will examine how institutional influence, education, capital, and entrepreneurship intersect to shape economic opportunity for Black communities. From expanding access and building trust to developing financial confidence and creating pathways to ownership, the conversation will explore what it takes to move beyond participation in the innovation economy toward building lasting economic power.

Rather than focusing on technology itself, this session challenges attendees to consider the broader ecosystem required to convert today's breakthroughs into tomorrow's generational impact. What responsibility do institutions have to create the conditions for prosperity? How can Black talent and innovation translate into greater ownership? And what decisions must we make today to ensure future generations inherit more than opportunity?

Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the relationship between institutional influence and individual economic mobility, practical perspectives on strengthening pathways to ownership, and a renewed sense of their own role in shaping the next chapter of Black prosperity.

What should communities expect from the infrastructure powering AI? Mayor Derrick Rainey of Wrightsville, Arkansas, representing AAMA; Walter Powell, CEO of UnityCloud; Alexis Cureton, E2 Fellow and Clean Energy Consultant; and Johnelle Brown, Operations Chief of Staff and VP Operations at the American Clean Power Association (ACP), join moderator Jonathan Polo, Sustainability at CoreWeave. They will examine energy demand, affordability, environmental impacts and community ownership. The conversation will address costs, trade-offs and community concerns, and the commitments needed to deliver lasting local value.

Vic Mensa has never separated the music from the business, the activism, or the ownership. From building 93 Boyz to reclaiming his story through Halfrican, he turns culture into equity, at home and across borders. This conversation unpacks what it takes to own your work, own your narrative, and build something that lasts.

Reesa Teesa on turning a single viral story into a platform, a brand, and a book, and what it takes to own an audience.

As Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, Vanessa Wyche leads the teams shaping the future of human spaceflight while advancing innovations that improve life on Earth. From developing technologies that strengthen sustainability and resilience to inspiring the next generation of leaders, she'll share how purpose-driven leadership, bold thinking, and collaboration fuel breakthroughs that reach far beyond space.

Culture has always created value. The next move is owning it. To close out the AfroTech Main Stage, serial entrepreneur Steve Stoute, founder and CEO of UnitedMasters and founder of Translation, will sit down with Chris Lyons of a16z to talk ownership at scale: why participating isn't enough, how to build and keep control of what you create, and what it takes to go from talent in the room to owner of the room.

With dating apps everywhere, why is finding the right person still so hard? Two voices on discernment, vulnerability, and trusting yourself.

As billions flow into clean energy, AI infrastructure, and the modernization of our cities, a critical question remains: Who owns the upside? How do we ensure communities aren't simply hosting infrastructure investments, but sharing in the wealth they generate?

Dr. Reginald Parker, President of Freedmen Green Bank & Trust; Jordan Taylor, CEO of SynergyGrid; and Kasheef Wyzard, National Director of Economic Opportunity at Dream.Org, will facilitate a conversation exploring how Community Benefit Agreements, Community Benefit Trusts, and innovative ownership models can transform infrastructure investment into lasting economic opportunity.

From local jobs and entrepreneurship to community ownership and wealth creation, the discussion will examine how cities, developers, and capital partners can build projects that deliver returns for investors and the communities they serve.

Blavity House Party Block Party is back for its third year, delivering an unforgettable celebration of community, music, and good vibes. This year’s musical lineup is centered around nostalgic hits that bring everyone back to college days and early favorites. Get your tickets HERE. https://posh.vip/e/the-blavity-house-party-block-party

Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and national civil rights attorney, Greenwood historian and Redeem a Nation author Damario Solomon-Simmons explores lessons from his community, known as "Black Wall Street," on building wealth, protecting ownership, and funding the future through repair.

Come together with AI builders, designers, and developers to jam on projects using AI-powered tools and share what you're working on.

Ashley D. Farmer, Arian Simone, and Damario Solomon-Simmons explore how history shapes opportunity, who gets to build and inherit wealth, and what responsibility we bear to repair past harms.

Arian Simone on building a movement and a business from the ground up, what it costs, and how to start before you feel ready.

Building on an incredible legacy featuring past celebrity guests like Jidenna and LeToya Luckett, Ancestry returns to AfroTech with Black Tapestry, its premier annual activation. An unforgettable, high-energy space where culture, heritage, and tech collide—bringing together visionaries, builders, thinkers, and creators to celebrate Black diasporic identity, uncover untold histories, and shape the future of modern innovation.

RSVP Here

This mixer is invite only. For more information, please visit the AbbVie booth.

Blavity House Party is hosting an unforgettable all-R&B celebration for its second year, paying tribute to its roots with an exciting return to the R&B theme. The event promises a high-energy, soulful sing-along under the stars, bringing together music lovers to indulge in smooth vocals, unforgettable hits, and vibrant community vibes. Attendees can expect an electrifying atmosphere filled with nostalgia, live performances, and collective singing—all designed to honor the essence of classic and contemporary R&B.

Get your tickets HERE: https://posh.vip/e/afrotech-conference-rb-edition-part-ii

At Salesforce, we're building an agentic future for all — including you! Join us at the Salesforce Social to hear the latest from top Salesforce executives on how you can build your place in the agentic workforce. Then get ready for an evening built for connection: networking, great food, giveaways and live music from Houston’s own DJ Supastar. Work your way through hands-on interactive demos for a chance to win branded embroidered swag, and discover how Salesforce puts the tools to build your agentic future directly in your hands. Secure your spot now. Space is limited!

RSVP HERE: 

https://salesforcesaloon2026.splashthat.com/

"Where Innovation Meets Impact" Reception, an evening of networking, engaging conversations, and meaningful connections with visionary leaders, innovators, and changemakers at the intersection of technology, philanthropy, and social impact. RSVP Here

See a list of all Official AFROTECH™ Event Partners HERE

The central hub for AfroTech badge pick-ups. Attendees can also get assistance with schedule access, venue navigation, and general event questions.

Great ideas don't build infrastructure. Aligned capital, capable partners, and clear pathways to implementation do. How do cities move promising solutions beyond pilots and into financeable, scalable projects that deliver lasting community value?

Join Ryan Taylor, climate technology investor and energy finance expert, and Noble Madu, Partner at Plente Group, with John Payne, Chief Financial Officer at Dream.Org, moderating.

Drawing on experience across utility-scale renewable energy, venture capital, investment management, and institutional partnerships, panelists will explore how public, private, and philanthropic capital can work together to accelerate infrastructure development. From project finance and commercialization to value capture and access to capital, the conversation examines the financial structures, strategic relationships, and investment opportunities needed to move from concept to construction—while ensuring economic returns translate into meaningful benefits for communities.

AI agents are booking meetings, writing code, and making calls on our behalf. So what happens when one goes off-script? Jeff Nelson breaks down what actually goes wrong when autonomous AI misfires, and how to catch it, contain it, and recover fast. 

The creator economy is shifting from brand deals to ownership. In this conversation, Jodie Taylor sits down with Jenee Naylor, founder of 12PM Studios sunglasses, to unpack how she turned influence into equity. They'll break down the shift from monetizing attention to building owned businesses covering capital, partnerships, and scalable brand strategy. Attendees will leave with real frameworks for turning cultural influence into tangible enterprise value.

Meet & Greet with Morgan DeBaun, Founder & CEO of AfroTech and Blavity, and author of Rewrite Your Rules.

See a list of all Official AFROTECH™ Event Partners HERE

Calling all HBCU engineers, past and present. Whether you’re shipping code at a big tech company, building your own thing, or still figuring out your first role, this one’s for you. Swap stories, trade career tips, and talk about what it really takes to grow as an engineer. 

Join Dani Bauer from OpenAI for a live demo of ChatGPT Work and dots, exploring how to bring your next idea to life, from planning content and organzing projects to building something new for your audience. Leave with fresh inspiration and practical ways to support your creative process, scale your impact, and grow your business. 

When disruptions strike, resilience hubs help communities access critical services, connect with loved ones, and maintain stability. Join Nneka Uzoh Kibuule, Founder and CEO of Kino Cove; Dr. Sequoia Riley, Independent Climate Consultant; and Chantel Greene, Chief of Tribal Relations at UnityCloud and Founder and CEO of Xexus Greene Energy, with moderator Jasmine Davenport, Dream.Org’s VP of Program Strategy. Together, they will explore how household preparedness, green infrastructure, Tribal-led solar and storage, and community partnerships strengthen climate adaptation, emergency communications, and continuity of essential services

Who tells a community's story shapes who gets to define its future. As cities evolve through technological innovation, infrastructure investment, and economic development, whose voices are shaping the vision—and whose stories are being left behind?

Join J Paul Johnson, Founder of BlackEverything.com, and Michael Hawthorne Jr., Co-Founder of Klean Energy Kulture, with Sean Wilson, National Director of Organizing and Partnerships at Dream.Org, moderating.

Together, they'll explore storytelling as essential infrastructure—a tool for preserving community history, elevating lived experience, building collective power, and influencing how cities invest and grow. From cultural preservation and climate storytelling to community organizing and economic opportunity, this conversation examines how residents can move beyond being subjects of change to becoming authors of their communities' futures.

Because building smarter cities isn't just about what we build. It's about whose stories, voices, and visions guide the way.

Entrepreneur, political leader, and bestselling author Stacey Abrams on Coded Justice, her Avery Keene thriller set inside a tech company building an AI system poised to revolutionize healthcare. Drawing on her experience co-founding multiple companies and leading in politics, she explores what happens when billions of dollars, a charismatic founder, and a fast-moving technology collide, and the moral boundaries that should govern what we build.

Layoffs in tech hit Black workers first and hardest. AI is accelerating that curve. Meanwhile, the professionals landing board seats, advisor roles, and next jobs before the old one ends all share one thing — a public personal brand they built while still employed. But Black corporate professionals are navigating landmines their peers aren't. Compliance reviews that hit harder. HR policies enforced selectively. The respectability tax. The real, rational fear of retaliation for speaking publicly about work. Roxy built Sloefy — a personal branding platform for corporate professionals — because she lived this. In this session she will walk through the Personal Brand Map framework she uses with clients, show attendees how to extract workplace expertise without crossing compliance lines, and leave them with a 30-day plan they can start Monday morning. This is not a "build your personal brand" talk. It's a leverage strategy for a workforce that needs one before the layoff email arrives.

Cities don't just need more innovation. They need solutions they can deploy. What does it take to move promising technologies beyond the pilot stage and into real municipal contracts, commercial opportunities, and community impact?

Join Kasheef Wyzard, National Director of Economic Opportunity at Dream.Org, and Dr. Reginald Parker, President of Freedmen Green Bank & Trust, as they facilitate the culmination of the Pilot to Profit accelerator.

This showcase features founders developing solutions aligned with real municipal challenges—from energy and infrastructure to resilience, housing, and community well-being. Through direct feedback, strategic connections, and engagement with potential buyers and partners, founders are on a journey to adoption, investment, and scale.

Because the goal isn't simply to showcase what's possible. It's to turn innovation into implementation—and create economic opportunity in the process.

Every team is being asked for more video: marketing, training, internal comms, exec thought leadership, and beyond. The requests keep growing, but the production team doesn't, and most of the work sits in a backlog.

In this hands-on session we’ll take a rough recording to a finished video in real time. Attendees will learn the AI tools in Descript that handle the polish that used to require a professional editor, then use Underlord, Descript's AI co-editor, to apply that same work across a whole project from written prompts. You give the creative direction. The AI does the edits.

Attendees will leave with a repeatable process they can run themselves or hand to their team.

The creator economy is evolving, and so are the opportunities for creators to grow and build their businesses. Join Snapchat's Talent Partnerships team for a conversation about how creators can expand their reach through Spotlight, build deeper connections with their communities through Creator Subscriptions, and explore opportunities to collaborate with their favorite brands on Snapchat. You'll learn practical strategies and discover the tools available to help you grow your presence and business on Snapchat.