Ballerific Women : Stephanie Lampkin; Founder of the Blendoor App

In a perfect world, men and women would receive equal pay. African American women would be presented the same opportunities as their white counterparts.

In a perfect world, African American men, women, and children would not be gunned down in the middle of the streets by the people who took an oath to protect and serve. Rejection would be based on qualifications rather than race.

Unfortunately, this world is far from perfect, however, there are people who have dedicated their time, money and education to make a positive change. They’ve used their experiences and their encounters with injustices to fight and/or create more opportunities for their children and their children’s children, in an effort to make the world a better place. This is #BlackExcellence

One of those special individuals is #Stanford graduate #StephanieLampkin.

According to Forbes, at the age of 13, Lampkin learned to code. A few years later, she was a full-stack web developer, fluent in all things computer programming. As she grew older, she continued on her journey through technology and manufacturing, earning an engineering degree from Stanford and an MBA from MIT.

Although, she had been perfecting her craft since her teenage years, with two degrees and a boat load of experience, Lampkin still faced discrimination when entering the corporate world as a young African American woman.

Lampkin’s experience urged her to create a tool that would prevent/limit discrimination when in search for new employment within the tech world. After being denied an opportunity with a big name tech firm in #SiliconValley, because her background wasn’t “technical enough” for a role in software engineering, Lampkin used the rejection to fuel her new idea.

In March of 2016, the #ballerificwoman launched a “blind” job matching tool called #Blendoor in an effort to remove bias from the hiring process.

According to Forbes, the app lets job seekers upload resumes, then hide their name and photo from employers. Per Lampkin, the idea is to avoid unconscious prejudice by removing gender and ethnicity from the equation.   

“My company resonates more with white men when I position it as, ‘hey, I want to help you find the best talent. Your unconscious mind isn’t racist, sexist – it’s only natural, and we’re trying to help you circumvent it.’”

Lampkin hopes her app will eliminate the fear of discrimination and rejection in educated black women.

According to reports, Lampkin has raised $100,000 in pre-seed funding for her new app. Apparently, half of which came from #PipelineAngels, a network of #ballerificwomen funding diverse companies.

Congratulations to Stephanie Lampkin and the launch of her app.   #BlackExcellence #BallerificWoman