From theater to tech, a born storyteller creates a platform for women of color
By Ashley Turner
I am a storyteller by nature. As a kid, I would always reenact scenes from my favorite movies and music videos. Whether it was pretending to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid or dressing up as Janet Jackson from the Rhythm Nation video or Madonna in Vogue, I loved physically acting out the stories that I saw on TV. It often led me to create my own stories (and imaginary friends). My imagination was my biggest asset - and I like to think that it still is - and using it to tell a story and create something out of nothing always came quite naturally to me.
So there was no question when my mother decided to enroll me in a performance arts magnet elementary school that I would thrive. Here is where I learned the true art of storytelling through creative performance and artistic expression.
My favorite class was actually called “Storytelling,” where once a week, a professional “Storyteller” came in and taught us how to physically perform storybooks in front of an audience, essentially teaching us elements of children’s theatre.
Ashley Turner
This class led me to go on to study theatre arts and acting throughout K-12 and into college and graduate school. The underlying theme I found most exciting about theatre was the fact that art imitates life and through this realm of art, I was able to educate and enlighten my community through the art of storytelling.
I eventually switched from being on-stage acting to going behind the scenes and pursuing technical theatre as an audio engineer and sound designer. I loved the sound designer role even more than acting because it allowed me to subliminally tell a story aurally through music and soundscapes.
“I often felt like there were a lot of diverse voices missing from the theatre industry and upon further reflection, I realized I was telling everyone else’s story except for mine.”
Theatre allowed me to use my creativity and imagination to tell stories all day long, and I loved it! I moved to Philadelphia for my first full-time audio engineer role at a theatre company, and I thought I had achieved the dream. But as I grew deeper into the profession, I realized that the professional theatre world may not be for me. I often felt like there were a lot of diverse voices missing from the theatre industry and upon further reflection, I realized I was telling everyone else’s story except for mine. It made me think about what was the story I wanted to tell and how could I create the opportunity to tell it? Did I want to tell the story of a girl who settled for a career in the theatre industry where she no longer felt connected? Or did I want to tell the story of a girl who courageously decided to change careers and transition into tech in the middle of a recession (even though she thought she was only good at theatre)?
As you might have guessed, I chose the latter. I knew I wanted to transition out of the theatre industry and into the tech field by honing in on my transferable skills. I was already very technically inclined because of my audio engineering experience and considered myself a fast learner. Over the years, I’d helped some friends create websites for clients, which I really enjoyed so I thought web development would be a great segway opportunity for my career. In an attempt to make myself more marketable, I attended some workshops to learn more about creating websites. I also began to attend various tech networking events to get a sense of Philadelphia’s tech culture. I met lots of new people and gained a sense of confidence from attending the tech workshops, which were specifically geared towards women transitioning into tech.
With this new sense of confidence, I eventually landed a role in the IT department of a local college as an AV Specialist, using the skill set I already had. Even though this wasn’t a web developer role, this was still a win for me. What I didn’t realize was that my scope of what the tech industry looked like was very limited. I had never really been exposed to the different facets that make up the industry, and I was eager to learn more. So I again immersed myself in this newfound tech culture to expand my network and learn more about the field to figure out which direction I wanted to go into next.
“As I was studying the field, attending more workshops and tech conferences, I noticed something similar to the theatre industry. There weren’t a lot of diverse people and voices at those events.”
As I was studying the field, attending more workshops and tech conferences, I noticed something similar to the theatre industry. There weren’t a lot of diverse people and voices at those events. I didn’t see a lot of people of color in general, and I definitely didn’t see a lot of Women of Color (WoC). I quickly began to feel a sense of loneliness as I was not happy with the status quo and I wanted to change it.
In the tech industry, there are so many opportunities for growth and economic empowerment. I felt there needed to be more WoC in these spaces being exposed to these same opportunities I was being afforded. However, because WoC weren’t historically encouraged to enter into STEM fields, there was a gap - a huge gap at that. In 2017, I came across a study that indicated women only made up 26 percent of the computing industry. Only 5 percent were Asian women, 3 percent were African American women and 1 percent were Latinx women. When I saw that statistic, I thought those numbers were unacceptable and I wanted to do something about it (here is the more updated version of those numbers).
In 2018, I put a call out to the Philadelphia tech industry to solicit volunteers to help develop a curriculum that focused on front-end web development and that intentionally centered around WoC. Finally, in 2019 we officially launched our first Sisters Learning Code workshop through my organization, Philly Tech Sistas, teaching WoC the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In the past two years, we’ve helped so many of WoC upskill their talents to either transition into the tech field or receive promotions.
We not only provide a space for WoC to learn how to code; we go beyond the code by providing an avenue for leadership opportunities for WoC to teach, speak, be seen at the head of the table and let their stories be told. But we can’t do this work alone. We need more platforms, more companies that include space for diverse voices. As a naturally born, self-proclaimed storyteller, I find it imperative that we create more platforms for WoC to share their stories of how they got into tech so that we can continue to encourage younger generations to enter into the field and not feel isolated or marginalized because let’s face it, “you can’t be what you don’t see.”
“We need more platforms, more companies that include space for diverse voices.”
Over the past year, we’ve seen a countless number of companies make pledges to commit to the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd. But we know that statements are not enough and there is still more work to be done. As we begin to round out the end of June, celebrating Pride Month and the official recognition of Juneteenth being a federal holiday in the United States, let us reflect on how we can continue to move the needle forward by including and uplifting more diverse voices in different areas in our lives, whether it be in the boardroom or at the dinner table. Let’s also commit to compensating people from marginalized groups more equitably for their contributions. And lastly, let’s make space in our heads and our hearts to actively listen to each other for the things not being said, educate ourselves about systemic inequities in our personal and professional lives, and take actionable steps to make changes and adjustments accordingly. Rinse and repeat.
If you would like to help Philly Tech Sistas on our mission to encourage more WoC to enter the tech space, I’d like to invite you to donate to our impact fund. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.