Black Tech Week is underway in Cincinnati, with leaders welcoming a sold-out crowd of founders, investors and more to the Queen City.
The conference, held locally for the first time since its founding in 2015, kicked off in style Monday evening with an opening ceremony at Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine. The celebration included music, food, a red carpet and a performance by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Black Tech Week, traditionally held in Miami, brings together founders of color, funders, tech professionals and all members of the global Black tech community. Around 1,200 are expected to attend.
Candice Matthews Brackeen, founder and CEO of Lightship Foundation, an economic development nonprofit that acquired the event earlier this year, said Black Tech Week has brought in people from all over the world: Attendees hail from as far as Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Germany.
Lightship relocated the conference to Cincinnati earlier this year. It sold out the event shortly after organizers announced Serena Williams, tennis legend and managing partner at San Francisco-based investment firm Serena Ventures, as its keynote speaker.
To get a look at Black Tech Week's opening ceremony, click on the photos above.
Programming kicked off this morning and will run through Friday.
“More than anything, I’m blown away by the people at the airport taking pictures, banding together and showing their journey all over social media,” Matthews Brackeen said. “It’s going to be a fun week.”
Lightship Foundation plans to capitalize on the momentum leading into the Cincinnati Music Festival, one of the oldest and largest events of its kind in the country. The music festival, scheduled July 21-23, hosts more than 70,000 visitors and generates $107 million in economic impact.
The conference has enlisted more than 50 tech influencers, minority innovators and ecosystem builders as featured speakers with more than 60 sessions scheduled. Organizers are taking a citywide approach to hosting the event. Music Hall, Memorial Hall, Taft Theatre, Union Hall and Frost Brown Todd will all be used as venues.
Williams, regarded as one of the top tennis players — and athletes — in the world with 23 Grand Slam titles, will speak at 12:50 p.m. Thursday at Music Hall.
