Ballerific Bosses – Black Enterprise TechConneXt Summit Talks With Troy Carter and Honors Bozoma Saint, Karen Civil and Pretty Ricky’s Spectacular

Earlier this week, Black Enterprise hosted a slew of the best and brightest operatives in the black tech community for its TechConneXt Summit in Burlingame, California.

The two-day summit consisted of interviews, panel discussions, as well as several activities for black tech entrepreneurs. The event kicked off with a powerful interview with Troy Carter, who transitioned his career from entertainment to technology by investing early in companies like Uber, Lyft and Dropbox.

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, sat down to discuss the company’s dedication to diversity and why he left Trump’s Manufacturing Council, while Salesforce’s Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet divulged about tech companies’ social responsibility to promote diversity and inclusion.

During the event, several trailblazers in the tech industry were honored for their entrepreneurship, innovation and influence in the techworld. Karen Civil, author, entrepreneur, brand curator and media strategist, was honored with the social media influencer award. Spectacular Smith of Pretty Ricky, who is also the founder and CEO of Adwizar, was awarded with the Innovator award, while Bozoma Saint John, the Chief Brand Officer of Uber, was honored with the Executive Award.

The event ended its third annual summit with a panel discussion moderated by the co-founder of Raytroniks, Billy Jones, and Forbes writer Julian Mitchell.