I am an engineer and a professor, I never thought I would launch my own business. I think NoireSTEMinist, LLC chose me before I chose it. During summer 2020, I found myself on sabbatical, working from home during the panini and feeling helpless after witnessing several cases of racial injustice. I had to do something. So I worked with colleagues to launch Black In Robotics and Black In Engineering in response to the killing of George Floyd, racial profiling of Christian Cooper and #BlackInTheIvory trending on Twitter.
I needed a word to describe my advocacy work of bringing STEM and robotics to people and bringing people to STEM and robotics to diversify STEM. I knew I was a STEMinist but I also had a special desire to recruit more Black people in addition to women. Noire is the feminine noun for Black in French and it fit so perfectly. My Twitter identity was born (@noiresteminist). The business came later. Working from home all the time gave many more people access to me. The shear number of emails, speaking requests and workshop requests was overwhelming. NoireSTEMinist became the educational consulting business to handle all of these opportunities. I give workshops, lectures, demonstrations, advice on curriculum and I am writing a fictional novel on Black Women PhDs in STEM. I look forward to identifying ways to work with you as I take my robotics and STEM out of the classroom because #MySTEMIsForTheStreets.
