Approximately 150 professionals were in attendance for Digital Diversity Network’s (DDN) third annual New York City conference on Thursday, November 6th at the Bloomberg L.P. headquarters in Manhattan. Also co-sponsored by Bloomberg, the event was themed, Convergence NYC: Inclusion, Collaboration & Engagement, and featured a speaker line-up of 30 diverse industry thought leaders from the realms of advertising, media, entertainment, travel, education, government, non-profit, finance, mobile, social justice and private equity.
Following a warm welcome from Justin B. Smith, CEO, Bloomberg Media, the full-day agenda got underway with panel discussions, one-on-one “Tech Talk” conversations, and a luncheon keynoter. Panelists provided insights into: (a) workforce and talent pipeline development; (b) the New York City start-up scene; (c) mobile content strategy; and (d) leveraging digital media and technology to advance the public good.
The Tech Talk conversations featured Stephen Ozoigbo, CEO, African Technology Foundation; Tiffany Pham, Founder & CEO, Mogul; and Jamal Simmons, TV Political Analyst & Co-founder, FLYCLIQUE. They shared, respectively, how they are using technology to stimulate economic growth in Africa; empower women; and motivate young people in underrepresented communities to pursue careers in technology.
In her luncheon address, Eunique Jones Gibson, Artist & Creator of the Because of Them We Can™ Campaign campaign, shared how she has turned a passion into profit. Launched in February 2013 as a Black History month project, Because of Them We Can, features videos and photos of children as iconic African-Americans. It has become the most successful viral Black History Month campaign ever, and has morphed into a full-time year round project that now also includes historic Latinos and women of all ethnicities.
The intimate event setting provided opportunities for attendees—entrepreneurs and corporate professionals–to exchange ideas and information and to make meaningful business connections. Representatives from ABC Disney, CBS, CNN, Code for Progress, Comcast Ventures, Galvanize Ventures, General Assembly, Google, IBM, MyFabFinance, NBCUniversal, New York City Housing Authority, Red Cross, Saatchi & Saatchi, Scripps Networks Interactive, Silicon Harlem, Syncom Venture Partners, Time Warner, Travel Noire, Uber, Vaudeville Ventures, Viacom and XO Group were among those in attendance and on the speaker line-up.
In addition to Bloomberg, event sponsors included DDN’s founding partners: Time Warner, The New York Times, The Walt Disney Company; and Warner Bros. Entertainment; as well as annual corporate sponsors: Comcast/NBC Universal, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Viacom.