AOL, IAB Lead Effort to Combat Prejudice in Tech Industry
Speaking at a breakfast devoted to diversity issues Wednesday, one AOL employee stood up to raise what he thought was a persistent problem facing minorities in the tech and advertising industries: mistaken identity.
He recounted one time his colleagues mistook him for the Chinese food delivery man. He’s of Asian descent, not an underrepresented minority in tech, but still facing a culture that can sometimes feel unwelcoming to anyone who is not white or a man.
“I’m 46 years old. I close $30 million deals, and I’m still seen within my peer set, by my colleagues, as somebody who is the delivery guy,” the AOL employee said. He asked that his name be withheld from the story for privacy reasons, but he was attending an iDiverse event hosted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau at AOL’s headquarters in Manhattan.
