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TORRENTS: Women in Tech Panel

Join us for an impactful panel on the future of tech with Kim Tignor, Gabrielle Rejouis, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe, and Georgiana Wright.

Join us for an impactful panel on the future of tech with Kim Tignor, Gabrielle Rejouis, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe, and Georgiana Wright. This panel will be moderated by Aerica Banks, Founder of Shiso, an Intersectional Equity Consulting Firm.

Kim Tignor
Executive Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice
Kim Tignor’s expertise includes intellectual property, free expression, tech innovation, diversity in media, and economic justice. Throughout her career, Kim has focused on legal issues surrounding underprivileged persons and advancing the causes of equality and social justice. She is particularly well-versed in working across multicultural issues and topics of key interest to activists and artists of color. Her impressive legal experience spans from directing policy at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to coordinating state and national level pipeline and advocacy efforts for Presidential judicial nominees at the VENG Group. She received her JD from Georgetown University, and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Information Technology from the College of William and Mary.

Gabrielle Rejouis
Gabrielle Rejouis (she/her) is a Legal Fellow at United for Respect (UFR) and the Athena Coalition, where she advocates against worker surveillance and the use of technology to erode workers’ rights. Prior to joining UFR, she managed the federal tech and antitrust policy portfolio at Color Of Change and co-organized the Color of Surveillance: Monitoring Poor and Working People conference for the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. She earned her JD from Georgetown Law and BA from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Tao Leigh Goffe
Founder of the Dark Laboratory

Tao Leigh Goffe is a Black British award-winning writer, theorist, and interdisciplinary artist who grew up between the UK and NYC. Committed to building intellectual communities beyond institutions, she is the founder of the Dark Laboratory, an engine for the study of race, technology, and ecology through digital storytelling (virtual reality (VR) augmented reality (AR) (XR)). She is an Associate Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. Dr. Goffe’s research and curatorial work is rooted in literatures and theories of labor that center Black feminist engagements with Indigeneity and Asian diasporic racial formations. She studied English literature at Princeton University before pursuing a PhD at Yale University.

Dark Laboratory is a creative technology organization for research on climate and race through theory and community-engaged action. At the crossroads of stolen life and stolen land, the Lab is a collective for artistic practice and non-linear storytelling. Founded by professor Tao Leigh Goffe in the summer of 2020, the Laboratory works at the intersection of the Indigenous Americas and the transatlantic Black diaspora.

Learn more about Tao Leigh Goffe

Learn more about Dark Laboratory

Aerica Shimizu Banks
The Founder and Principal of Shiso
Aerica Banks applies an intersectional equity lens to business development, tech, and policy challenges. She is known for creating systems and frameworks to elevate and restore equity in institutions, utilizing a data-driven, creative, and holistic approach that is shaped by her expertise in environmental justice, policy, and tech. Her inspiration comes from the arts, spirituality, and service. She is a firm believer in the triple bottom line - people, planet, profit - and invests in and advises women of color founders.

This program is being presented by CulturalDC in partnership with The People's Archive at DC Public Library.

TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures is an artist-led program curated by Jamal Gray, exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance. This DC-based interdisplinary event series gathers artists, collectors, professors, and community stakeholders to participate in a week filled with engaging experiences.examines critical questions about the development of Black futures across the African diaspora by featuring innovators across industries. Through expert panels, film screenings, live music, artistic performances, and demonstrations of advancements in technology, we aim to create opportunities to build community and inspire collaboration.

TORRENTS is not a conference. This expansive series deconstructs the “traditional” academic setting, which can be inaccessible and uninviting to marginalized communities. Through inviting community stakeholders, TORRENTS creates an inclusive space intended to further the conversation on Black future-building. TORRENTS promotes Washington, DC, as a global destination for artistic and cultural innovation.

Visit our collection for a complete schedule of events.

Learn more about TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures on our website:

culturaldc.org/torrents

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