Now, she represents a marginalized demographic dedicating her life to solving racial and gender equity in the field where she once felt alienated. “It’s just a space I love to be in,” she said. “Some people deem code as being pretty pictures and numbers and now we’re changing lives.”

Robinson is one of Google’s top 50 Black Founders, recipient of the Cloud Solution of the Year by M12 (Microsoft’s venture capital fund) and Women in Cloud, named Top 10 Under 40 and Top CEO by Mississippi Business Journal, a SheEO Venture semi-finalist, Databird’s “Rising Star,” a military wife, a mother, a Black Woman.

However, she is more than a name for February Black History Month or a name for March Women’s History Month.

Her name is Sheffie Robinson. She is the only Black woman that she knows of working in AI workforce development.

Robinson’s startup, Shamrck is an AI solutions company that is revolutionizing workforce development in underserved and minority communities. “Everything we do looks at success from a social lens –  cause and effect. How many lives can we change? How can we change the world with our technology?” she said.

“How many lives can we change?”

Robinson has always been social-impact driven. Even since childhood, Robinson could be found combining sociological theory with technology. This tech CEO/Founders’ whole life changed the day her mother brought home one of the first computers.

“At 12 years old, AOL was the thing. My Mom couldn’t afford AOL! We ran out of time on the free disks. So I remembered all the MS Docks commands from Oregon Trail, went into the back, and hacked my way into AOL. I realized I can do so many different things with code. It’s fun for me to see how much I can create with lines of words. It just snowballed from there,” said Sheffie Robinson.

Robinson has accumulated 23 years of experience in software engineering, spending seven years in the tech workforce as a freelance software engineer. Seven years masking a hidden talent as a mere hobby; “I have been building software since 1999 and I’m completely self-taught. I had a passion for finding ways to provide technical solutions for the underserved and I still possess that passion,” she said.

Although Robinson had work experience in technology, the lack of diverse representation in leadership throughout the industry discouraged the now, award winning innovator. In 2014, Robinson’s husband suggested she turn her side hustle into a career. In 2015, Shamrck was founded. Yet, not with the purpose of its work now. However, 95% of Robinson’s consumers were female or minority. 

“How can we change the world with our technology?“

Obtaining a Sociology degree from Thomas Edison State University, in Trenton, NJ, in 2020 amidst the commencement of a global pandemic, with a son entering his senior year of high school, Robinson had an insiders perspective of the pitfalls of COVID-level learning.

Shamrck’s business plan pivoted. Studying to be a mechanical engineer, her son’s high school didn’t offer the correct class for his high level course requirements. Robinson went to the local community college and school board. Resulting in a created a class for her son and the six other students they found with the same issue.

“It was like, wow, how many parents don’t know they can advocate for their kids this way? And how many schools don’t know they need these programs or have the resources behind them. How can we effect the future workforce in a way that gets them what they need not necessarily what we think they need. What are you going to college for? You’re not? What assistance do you get from there? Influencing diversity and equity in the workforce has to go back further than teaching college students and adults, otherwise, the next generation will have the same issues,” Sheffie Robinson said.

“Our goal is to make a community impact.”

Children in Hawaii believe in order to get a good job, they have to leave their home and family to receive proper training. However, Shamrck is repairing and impacting an entire island of overlooked people. The AI workforce development startup is currently integrated in a large high school in Hawaii stimulating economic development, solving long-stemming issues, and providing resources to students all without them having to leave the island.

Repurposing and expanding its preexisting AI functionality, Shamrck is standardizing education, creating metrics and facilitating benchmarks as it relates to current industry standards. Robinson changes lives and impacts communities, many of which are underrepresented and marginalized. Having personal experience in an industry lacking diversity, Robinson is first-handedly shaping the future for the better.

Yet, she’s as humble as she is heroic. “The work is more important than I even thought. People are recognizing. It’s just a highlight to the problem and the effort that is necessary to solve it. To me, that just means I gotta keep going. Were at the very beginning. We haven’t even touched a smidget of the capability of what the platform is or can do,” said Sheffie Robinson in response to her many awards and accolades.

The post Sheffie Robinson, Founder and CEO of Shamrck, Wants More Black Women in AI appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Did you know, augmented reality dodgeball is a legitimate sport in the Tokyo World Cup? Did you know, every year AR dodgeball teams from around the world compete for a spot in this World Cup?

The augmented reality (AR) esport game is called HADO. Augmented reality brings digital elements into your world, differing from virtual reality (VR), because VR takes you into the digital world.

Founder and CEO of meleap Inc., Hiroshi Fukuda dreamed of throwing Hadoken as they do in Street Fighter. One of the most famous moves, starting at the hip, the surge is created and as the palms thrust out. The surge charges an energy wave with punching force towards the opponent. A passion burned inside Fukuda, until HADO was officially recognized as a sport in 2014.

WHAT IS HADO

Players are all equipped with armbands, headsets, and hearts of champions. Wearing an iPhone headset, players can see both their actual surroundings and the digital game elements. The user interface shows a clock, energy gauge, shield gauge, opponent life cells and player life cells. Each player can customize energy ball and shield performance using the arm sensor. Energy ball speed, ball size, charge speed, and shield stock are the adjustable options on the armband.

HADO is a team sport and extremely inclusive. People with limited physical mobility, including wheelchair users, can experience the thrill and innovation of HADO’s unique game. Teams of 3 are assembled with 6 people on the court at a time. If you’re strategic, your team can devise a play style by assigning roles to each player – the defender, technician and assassin. The rules may seem simple, yet, the depth of offensive and defensive strategy is infinite.

FIRST TIME IN NORTH AMERICA

Recreate your favorite Street Fighter Hadoken moves at the 5th Annual Synapse Summit. Strap on a headset and armband sensors on February 17th in the home of the Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Amalie Arena.

For the first time in North America, HADO USA and AMRoC Fab Lab are collaborating with one of Florida’s most influential innovation-based non-profits, Synapse, to host a corporate team play tournament. Synapse creates opportunities to build meaningful connections with Florida’s innovators. HADO USA is collaborating with a unique event, key in bringing innovation leaders together from all across Florida, representing different industries, backgrounds, stages of business and entrepreneurship.

President and Founder of Green Mouse Academy, the exclusive USA distributor of HADO, Shane Vander Vooi, “On behalf of HADO USA, I’m thrilled to join our partners in bringing the world’s first augmented reality esport to this year’s Synapse Summit. Every year, teams from around the world compete for a spot in the Tokyo World Cup in Japan, where HADO was originally launched. Millions of enthusiasts throughout Asia and Europe have already experienced HADO and it’s time for the USA to Get in the Game!”

A total of 5 hours of HADO training, coaching and game play prior to the single-elimination tournament at Synapse Summit will be facilitated by The Tampa Bay Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center Fab Lab, (AMRoC Fab Lab). AMRoC is a program of  the non-profit Foundation for Community Driven Innovation. The mission of AMRoC is to empower people with resources for creative self-expression and bridge the manufacturing and industry talent gap through robust project-based engineering education and training.

The Synapse HADO Champions will receive a championship trophy custom made at AMRoC. Proceeds from the tournament registration fees also benefit STEM education programming at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Want to play in North America’s first ever AR dodgeball team bonding tournament? Grab your coworkers, friends, and family and head to Synapse Summit on February 17th.

The post North America’s First Ever AR Dodgeball Tourney at Tampa’s Synapse Summit appeared first on Grit Daily News.

“I compare being a CEO to bare knuckle karate,” Lavall Chichester.

An impressive comparison. Especially, if you can talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk.

Even after that badass kick. If you look beyond the whirlwind-roundhouse-face-kick-body-drop, this CEO passionately yearns for knowledge, admires literature and seeks strength in the acquisition of new skills. 

How does being a 2nd degree black belt differentiate you as an entrepreneur?

“I grew up in Karate school, so I learned how to learn,” Chichester advocated. Karate planted a seed and Chichester beautifully bloomed an addiction to learning. “[In karate,] You pick a skill and work on it. Master that, pick a new skill and so on until you start compiling all different kicks, punches, then how to kick and punch together.” Life replicates the basics of karate for this talented entrepreneur.

Every year Chichester develops a skill that compounds in value over time. Each carefully selected skill keeps him current and allows him to add more value to himself and clients. As an entrepreneur in consultancy, his entire focus is helping brands get customers and then increasing that value over time. Chichester’s startup, Growth Skills, differentiates itself by training people with hands-on learning and ‘How To Learn’ courses to help them get jobs in tech and acquire real skills. 

“It doesn’t matter where a skill is acquired as long as one has it. If I was a lawyer, of course, I have to go to school, a doctor, a dentist, I’d go to school – the internet is different, SEO is different,” Chichester advocates for entrepreneurs who bootstrapped their career from the likes of the internet, like him. However, this serial-entrepreneur did go to college, just not for what you think.

How did you get into tech from a creative writing degree?

“My goal was and still is to be a novelist,” the 2nd Degree Black Belt, CMO, and Founder of Growth Skills responded. To complement written words and enhance his fiction, Chichester learned how to create and edit video, show visuals and utilize sounds. So no. The competition is not physically beaten with books — but the love for them.

Final Cut Pro, Apple’s editing software (basically Apple’s For Dummies Manual), catapulted Chichester’s self-taught entrepreneurial career by launching a video production company and landing in the graces of Coca-Cola. He further predicted all videos would eventually lead to a life on the internet. This curious and motivated entrepreneur was one of the first to learn how to build websites. Unfortunately, as many young entrepreneurial trials go – no one visited the sites. 

However, this didn’t stop Chichester, only gracing him with more knowledge; self-taught internet knowledge, that is. Chichester pays respect to his passion for reading and the internet for his hard earned success. To be like this badass self-taught founder, it’s really quite simple – read everything and apply what you read. 

Emanating from karate’s engraved principals, Chichester took learning as his own personal responsibility. He even led his life based on a poetic Mark Twain quote, “I have never let schooling interfere with my education.” Experiencing theory based learning throughout college only further solidified an alternative self-taught, hands-on, skilled path trail blazed by a doer. 

“School is a place and time – learning is forever, education is forever,” Lavall Chichester. 

Karate is a complicated dance or a graceful game of strategy in the eyes of Chichester. A whimsical way of saying – life or death. As a CEO, you make life or death decisions for your company every day. His life’s accomplishments come from this foundation in planned precision and sustainable succession. As technology rapidly evolves, Chichester is already developing skills that are essential to the future. 

A Second Degree Black Belt CEO is how Chichester is branded. Yet, a self-taught serial-entrepreneur with a lust for learning is the more impressive reality. 

The post Lavall Chichester Is the Black Belt Tech CEO Who Beats the Competition With Books appeared first on Grit Daily News.

NBA star Kevin Durant and business partner/manager Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures made a massive investment into Topia. An undisclosed lump sum was invested into the belief of community and the future of human connection on social media.

Kevin Durant’s portfolio is diverse and winning! Earning $75 million in 2021, with $44 million of it coming from off-court ventures, you could say he knows what he’s doing. His investment into Postmates back in 2016 that scored him $15 million with the Uber acquisition in 2020.

Thirty Five Ventures Success: 

• Signed a multi-year partnership with Coinbase
  • Early investment in the crypto space, 2017 
  • Joined $100 million round at a $1.6 billion valuation
  • Coinbase $100 billion IPO 2021 = 61x returns 
• Joined $100 million series B round for OpenSea
  • OpenSea is the leading NFT auction platform
  • Round valued at $1.5 billion
  • Surpassed $10 billion in NFT sales, November 2021
• Invested in Robinhood, 2017
  • App to trade stock and exchange cryptocurrencies commission-free
  • Round valued at $1.2 billion
  • 2021 IPO valued at $32 billion 
  • Over 30 million users

Topia falls under 35V’s investment portfolio umbrella of fintech, cryptocurrency, health and wellness, media, etc, while aiming to educate within each market. Each startup shares mutual goals of bringing people together to form communities (Durant’s blog, boardroom and charity foundation).

Add “confluencer” to the buzzword list because Topia believes “influencers stand apart, confluencers bring people together.” Topia’s main focus is facilitating relationships that are usually accumulated from in-person attractions like museums, concerts and social experiences. Every member has the ability to create virtual art, worlds and portals, and most importantly, the ability to collaborate and share.

KD’s 6’9, long and lean stature looks absolutely nothing like Topia’s avatar. However, he can still create an entire world designed specifically to his exact memories, concerts, sports highlights, favorite places, while educating, showcasing art, hosting events or collaborating with other creators. As your 2D Topia bubble-buddy navigates unique and creative worlds, synchronicity ignites when video chats appear from members based on proximity – replicating the universe’s take on “right place at the right time.”

As social networks are evolving, Topia is supporting new and emerging markets where users unlock economic value. Forming memories at a low cost is top of mind, yet, Topia’s ahead of the curve with their ability to list NFT’s directly into their social media platform. The buying and selling of digital creations brings us back to buzzwords and the future.

With the success of Thirty Five Ventures and their impressive investments into the metaverse, NFT’s and cryptocurrency, Topia is a startup to watch. 

The post Kevin Durant Invests Into the Future of Social Networks – LA Tech Startup, Topia appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Thursday, November 4th, women and men gathered at Embarc Collective to join Tampa Bay Wave and the 15 women-led startups in their TechWomen Rising Accelerator Program. No matter who you are or what you do, listening to the entrepreneurial TechWomen pitch their diverse startups was bound to give anyone chills. For two hours that evening the room was filled with intelligence, community, and aspiration creating an ambiance of empowerment showcasing fierce female ingenuity. 

Successful Women Radiating Empowerment

Jane Castor, Tampa’s first woman and openly gay Mayor, kickstarted the event expressing gratitude to the city that provided her with so many opportunities and allowed her to blossom into the leader she is today. Castor is a trailblazer and a woman of quite a few impressive “firsts,” having her open the event, set the tone with a message urging everyone to be authentic in following their passions. 

Tampa Bay Wave has raised over $100 million dollars solely for tech startups in their accelerator programs facilitating access to resources, expertise, and capital to grow their vibrant technologies. Pitch Night brought together Tampa’s most innovative women in the tech industry to share their disruptive startups, either en route to or already in the market, while networking friendships and business connections. Each startup had five minutes to pitch their companies to a room full of Tampa’s most successful businesses, people and investors. Thursday evening was the first round of pitches aiming and asking for communication, discussion and partnerships – second round is directed solely for investors.

Every TechWomen entrepreneur in the program deserves congratulations for their innovative ideas and accomplishments thus far. A few notable pitches that stuck with me, fayVen, a marketplace where mobile vendors can book retail space at local venues, is an app that every venue, artisan and pop-up shop needs now! Much like Airbnb transformed travel with technology, fayVen is revolutionizing the way business is done, not to mention, Founder April, quite literally radiates pure joy and genuinity.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to an intelligent TechWoman during Pitch Night, BarnWiz Founder Tori Sullivan. Sullivan is a kind soul that created a genius platform bridging a major gap in the equestrian industry by connecting barns with horse owners and clients. I was also attracted to an AI-powered career exploration platform, Shamrck, and it’s Founder Sheffie Robinson who is the only woman currently in AI Workforce Development. Robinson understands that college isn’t the most beneficial option for all students developing a program with 4 E’s: Enrollment, Enlistment, Employment, Entrepreneurship. A 14 year old Founder, Claire Barrow, is also amongst the female entrepreneurs in the accelerator program. 

Founder, CEO and serial-entrepreneur, Linda Olsen, started Tampa Bay Wave as a small meet-up group for tech entrepreneurs to exchange notes and potentially provide beneficial advice to other local startups back in 2008. This compelling founder, mentor and mother aims to transform Tampa Bay into the innovation hub of the nation fostering an innovation-based economy for the entire region while advocating for gender equality within tech industries. Pitch Night showcased 15 ambitious women entrepreneurs building the next breakout tech startups in Tampa Bay and the world.

Equal opportunities for women have consistently revolutionized the world allowing visibility into female brilliance while illuminating a powerful confidence that should never be dimmed. Women are leaders; Women make change; Women deserve to be celebrated and Tampa Bay Wave has made that possible through their 2021 TechWomen Rising Accelerator.

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