Black Internet Effect

September 15, 2022
A slim, smart manifesto that uplifts young people of color hoping to carve out space in homogeneous professional industries. For Charles, a technology executive known for her creative achievements and activism, the road to Silicon Valley began when, as an ambitious Black high school student in San Diego, she intended to pursue a safe career that would bring the financial security her small-business-owner parents prioritized. A TV program about Google showed someplace marvelous beyond her imagination--but seemingly included no Black people. After interning on Capitol Hill as a college sophomore, she earned a highly selective Google internship. There, Charles realized that she had to be her own advocate; she also learned that building bonds with Black mentors was critical. After college graduation, Charles worked at Twitter and Instagram before she landed her current position as the first head of Diversity & Inclusion Communications at TikTok. Charles' eye-opening journey critically examines glaring inequities in the tech industry, showing how marginalized people--especially Black women--can stay true to their convictions, mobilize their communities, and use the internet as a collective force for global action. Charles cites the tech industry's shortcomings and catalogs various struggles that come from lack of representation, but her experiences are ultimately portrayed as beneficial growing pains. Despite the bleak injustices of the present, Charles envisions a hopeful future that offers accessibility and accountability. This frank, spirited guide spotlights a thoughtful leader who embraces social responsibility. (Nonfiction. 12-18)

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September 26, 2022
Activist, entrepreneur, and technology executive Charles delivers an empowering account of her journey as a Black woman in tech in this insightful nonfiction volume, part of the Pocket Change Collective series. While emerging technological media conglomerates, such as Google and Facebook, were attractive opportunities to young tech-literate students around 2007, 16-year-old San Diego native Charles felt “an overwhelming sense of anxiety” at the lack of Black representation (“It was hard to fathom the idea of seeing... a person like me, working at a place like Google”). Nevertheless, her parents encouraged her to pursue a career in tech. During an internship at then-startup Twitter, Charles finds community in her Black coworkers, then, in an effort to bolster support for people of color in the office, founds Blackbirds, the company’s first resource group for Black employees. Via an assured voice, Charles chronicles her experiences with keen perceptions on corporations’ lack of diversity and the effect that has on marginalized professionals. While detailing her struggles, including feeling like she doesn’t fit in with her peers and contending with little mentorship, she encourages readers to “break down the doors and institutional ceilings” standing in their way. Ages 12–up.

December 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 This latest entry in the Pocket Change Collective series comes from a young African American woman who was the youngest and first-ever Black woman hired onto Instagram's marketing and communications team. She then moved to TikTok for a newly created role as the company's first-ever head of Diversity & Inclusion Communications. As a teen, Charles never seriously considered a career in tech. She liked technology and was into gaming and coding but was also aware of the dismal statistics concerning the few women in Silicon Valley, let alone the tiny percentage of people of color. Still, she applied for a Google BOLD internship, was accepted, and excelled. As her career took off, Charles quickly realized she was most effective when she represented herself--her Blackest, most authentic self--and she urges readers to do the same. She stresses that young users should become active participants in building safe and inclusive platforms where individual voices, especially voices from marginalized communities, can be heard and recognized. Teens will appreciate the straight talk and unique insights.

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