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Profile
on Deidra McIntyre
President & Founder Red Ibis techSolid (brightFuture)
Deidra McIntyre has helped build megasites for major corporations,
but now uses her brilliant talents to position people of color for global
opportunities in technology. She is doing pioneering work by bringing
together emerging ethnic groups in technology with her company Red
Ibis. Red Ibis is empowering Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics to
work collectively in sharing global technology opportunities in business
and commerce. I am glad Deidra took time from her busy schedule to answer
some questions on emerging ethnic markets and how we can work together
to take advantage of technology and Ebusiness.
Interview with Kamau Austin and Edited by Gayle Santana
of PVSNetwork
Kamau: Where did you grow up, and go to school?
McIntyre: I am a native
Long Islander (suburb outside of New York City). Grew up in Malverne (which
is in Nassau County) and attended k-12 there. Went to West Virginia University
in Morgantown, WV, and earned my bachelor's degree in print journalism
in 1992.
Kamau: When did you become interested in technology?
McIntyre: Upon graduating from WVU,
I began working as a reporter and later editor for various Long Island
and New York City local newspapers. While at one newspaper, I took a part-time
job as a producer for a Baldwin, NY (Long Island - in Nassau County) educational
software development firm called Educational Activities Inc. (also known
as Activity Records). While at EA, I worked with school teachers throughout
the nation to convert their paper-based lessons into software and multimedia
products - including educational software games, VHS products, etc.
That experience led to me writing about the Internet for
the various secular community newspapers. By the mid-90s, I worked for
a Brooklyn community newspaper for which I wrote secular news and contributed
as the technology columnist. Additionally, I began freelancing technology
pieces for The Net (a now defunct California Based publication), Essence
magazine, American Legacy and other trade publications. In 1997, I left
the newspaper industry to become editor/producer and later production
manager for a dotcom called The Globe.com (theglobe.com).
Kamau: How did you come up with the concept of Red Ibis?
McIntyre: I was the
12th hire at theglobe.com - which in the late '90s was an online community
with major competitors being GeoCities and Tripod and pre-dating existing
similar ethnic-specific communities like Black Voices and Black Planet.
(NOTE: In August 2003, theglobe.com re-launched as a VoIP firm called
VoiceGlo.) As the company grew, very few hires were African American,
Asian, or Latino.
Red Ibis was launched with help from my - mostly white
- theglobe.com co-workers. My major goal was not to form a not-for-profit
organization but to find other information technologists of color so that
we could dialogue with one another and pass along job leads and information.
There was no such multi-ethnic IT professional website like this at the
time. The site was conceived in late 1997 but didn't launch until November
1998.
Today, Red Ibis is a non-competitive organization that works to foster
business, career networking, and educational opportunities among information
technology (IT), technology, and telecommunications business owners and
industry professional organizations of color. At present, three national
organizations, the internationally influential Association of Chinese
Computer Professionals, the nearly 30-year-old Black
Data Processing Associates and the fast-growing Hispanics
in Information Technology & Telecommunications, are our key
strategic partners involved in planning, promoting and co-sponsoring multi-cultural
and multi-ethnic Red Ibis events.
Collectively, we share a vision that technology businesses
by people of color must thrive in order to ensure a bright future for
American as well as global economies. Red Ibis takes its name from the
Scarlet Ibis, a bird indigenous to the tropical regions of the world including
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, South and Central America.
Kamau: Red Ibis, your logo is a brilliant brand, what inspired
you to pick this logo?
McIntyre: I wanted a symbol that wasn't
exclusively tied to a particular ethnic group (i.e. an ancient Egyptian
or Asian symbol) but would also inspire high achievement. Originally,
I just wanted Ibis.net or Ibis.com but those domain names were taken.
I chose the Ibis bird because it is not well-known. Yet, for anyone who
has researched the bird, it's interesting to note that it comes in two
major categories - white ibis and scarlet ibis. I choose "red"
instead of "scarlet" because I didn't want to impose an ominous
"scarlet letter" feel to the organization.
In any case, the ibis bird can be found in all the tropical
areas of the world including parts of Africa, Asian, South American and
the Caribbean. It is also described as a highly social bird. So, once
I started researching various "bird names" the ibis became the
number-one choice since it was the most symbolic of the multi-ethnic organization
that I was trying to create. Later, I would learn that the bird can be
found in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and is part of the national
coat-of-arms as well as the national bird of the modern-day Caribbean
nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
Kamau: Why is the collective networking of people of color so important
in technology?
McIntyre: My belief is that we are
not utilizing all of our resources for accomplishing our business goals.
Often, the mainstream stresses the importance of globalization. Most often,
that translates to doing business exclusively in Europe and Asia. Yet,
to be truly global, business needs to be inclusive of the entire world.
There is technological innovation, as well, throughout the African and
Latino Diaspora. But, it is relatively untapped. Until and unless we dialogue
with one another, these innovations will not evolve into business realities
and are very much akin to fabulous works of art hanging in a jungle -
what's the point if no one sees or has access to it?
Kamau: What are some of your future plans to expand
and develop Red Ibis?
McIntyre: Red Ibis will incorporate
as a not-for-profit in New York State in early 2004. We will produce our
2003 Multicultural Initiatives Survey (MIS) report that chronicles the
technology issues of people of color.
Come spring, we will continue to work with our member partner organizations
- the Association of Chinese Computer Professionals (ACCP), the Black
Data Processing Associates (BDPA) and Hispanics in Information Technology
and Telecommunications (HITT) - to facilitate their needs. Additionally,
you will see our increased involvement with partnering with mainstream
New York based technology organizations - such as the World Wide Web Artists
Consortium (WWWAC), which is the oldest software professional group in
New York City. By August 2004, we will work with our partner HITT to help
produce their first national conference.
After incorporation, we will be searching for volunteers
within New York and abroad to establish chapters nationally and internationally.
Kamau: What future technology fields are important
for people of color to embrace?
McIntyre: Opportunities
exist for people of color to establish themselves within the healthcare/medical
field -which continues to be a growth industry. Also, entertainment products
- such as video game and DVD production - also provide future opportunities.
The growth is in business-ownership, however, not jobs. So, people of
color need to organize around projects and seek funding for solutions
from an entrepreneurial perspective not a job-seeking perspective. On
the IT side, people of color should also self-educate themselves and become
involved in the Open Source development movement since the growth of Linux
is still on the international rise - in spite of commercial software imposed
legal woes - and is a low-cost point of entry into information technology.
Kamau: Didn't you mention once in a post that I read, that one
of the companies you worked for was able to build a following of one million
subscribers? Did you help develop the content or marketing for that former
employer? Last question I promise.
McIntyre: Theglobe.com
had more than 2 million members at the time that I left in November of
1999. When I arrived at the company in April 1997, there were approximately
70,000 members. The leap in membership occurred during theglobe.com's
advertising blitz of early (i.e. Feb-March) 1998 (i.e. TV commercials,
radio ads, billboards, etc.) as well as increased positive media coverage
of the site's founders prior to the site's November 1998 IPO.
In summer-fall '99, I headed the content production area
in addition to the Ecommerce production initiatives. For my duration at
theglobe.com, I worked as an editor, producer, executive producer and
finally production manager in the content, community, and Ecommerce areas
of the site - responsible, at various times, for creating original content,
re-purposing purchased content, encouraging intra-membership activities
(i.e. celebrity chat events, message board participation, advice columnist
queries, etc.), encouraging on-site shopping, managing online sweepstakes
participation and winners, distributing theglobe.com site-wide and Ecommerce
newsletter information, etc.
Kamau: Thanks for the great Interview and congratulations
on becoming a new mom! Check out her organization at Red
Ibis.com. |
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