When it comes to creative marketing, the impact of Instagram has only increased since its inception in 2010. One of the many ways the platform has been used is to showcase and promote talent and credit such talent with a tag. Earlier this month to refine the process of crediting creators, Instagram unveiled an enhanced tagging feature that allows for the individual profession/affiliation to be listed as well.
We were pleased to discover this feature was brought to life by three women in tech: data analyst Alexandra Zaoui; data analyst Alexis Michelle Adjei and software engineer Cameryn Boyd. Respectively alums of Harvard, Stanford and Spelman, we had an email exchange with all three about their background in tech, and the arts.
Check out the exchanges below.
Alexandra Zaoui
Snobette: Where do you call home?
Alexandra Zaoui: “Both my parents are from Morocco, and I feel deeply connected to the country. I was born in Paris and raised in London, where I am currently visiting family. I moved to the U.S. for college and have been living in New York since my graduation. All of these places feel like home, but none quite like London!”
Snobette: Did your high school education support your interest in tech or did you have to seek to learn outside of the formal education program?
Alexandra Zaoui: “I had a very classical high school education and it wasn’t until college that I truly started exploring my interests in tech. Despite studying Applied Mathematics. I had to take a lot of initiative to explore my interests in tech both in and out of the classroom. At school, I pursued independent studies and attended many lectures to learn more about emerging technologies and their various applications. In parallel, I complemented my formal education with internships and online courses to brush up my coding skills and apply them to real life business problems. While Harvard exposed me to many opportunities in the tech world, it certainly took a lot of self-motivation and initiative to get my foot in the door and find my path on the inside.”
Snobette: This new Instagram feature greatly benefits creative collaborators whose content would be highlighted on Instagram, what is your connection to the arts, fashion and music?
Alexandra Zaoui: “Music has always been one of my greatest passions. I started my career in music and it has been the primary focus of my work at Meta. As we worked on Enhanced Tags, we often discussed the importance of crediting in this particular creative vertical.
“Songwriters, producers, album artwork makers, videographers, A&Rs and many other creators often go unrecognized for their contributions to the world’s greatest hits. It is my hope that this project will inspire more transparen cy in crediting to help all creators behind the record get the recognition they deserve and need to grow their reach. In a world where online visibility directly leads to brand sponsorships and other types of monetary opportunities, crediting is more important than ever for this class of creators.”
Snobette: What has been the most fun/cool about your role in tech?
Alexandra Zaoui: “Having the opportunity to use powerful technology tools to solve problems”
Alexis Michelle Adjei
Snobette: Where do you call home?
Alexis Michelle Adjei: “Although I’ve split my young adult years in Northern California and New York, I have an everlasting affinity for Southern California where I was born and raised. Both of my parents are originally from Ghana and through their influence as well as ensuring summer time visits, Ghana also has a strong semblance of home and belonging for me.”
Snobette: Did your high school education support your interest in tech or did you have to seek to learn outside of the formal education program?
Alexis Michelle Adjei: “My undergraduate education was an explicit invitation to the world of tech, as before I got to campus I had only understood tech in an abstract sense, but did not have a direct looking glass into what tech was, what roles looked like, and how people entered the industry. Retrospectively, I can see how my love of statistics in my senior year sparked curiosity about data and the power of forming analytical, empirically-backed decisions and strategy, which is something I was able to explore through academia as a research assistant in an economics and policy lab, as well as embodies my current role working with data analytics and data science.”
Snobette: This new feature greatly benefits creative collaborators whose content would be highlighted on Instagram, what is your connection to the arts, fashion and music?
Alexis Michelle Adjei: “My identity as a creative is very important to me and outside my connection via my role at Instagram to the creative sphere, I personally pursue this as an analog photographer, creative producer, and a writer. Black and white photography changed my lens on life when I discovered the medium in my junior year of undergrad. I had the opportunity to work with my best friend Carly Steyer as a producer in our debut short film, Spinning, and creative director in subsequent production projects. Long before these two mediums, my first creative love has been writing.
“The influence of these three mediums, coupled with life in Brooklyn and amazingly talented, creative friends have also pushed me into the fashion and arts scene. All of these experiences combined gave me the proximity and insight into the creative community in order to address and amplify their needs through the enhanced tags product.”
Snobette: Have you found any challenges to being a woman in technology?
Alexis Michelle Adjei: “Since working in tech from 2018, I’ve enjoyed seeing a more diverse range of people fill the organization charts and conference rooms around me. However, that progress has been slow and I’ve still run into workplace struggles of being a woman, and more specifically the intersection of being a Black woman. There have been times that I’ve been underestimated and undervalued, and as a young Black woman at the start of my career it can lead to questioning my confidence in my work or myself. It can be a challenging, “reverse imposter syndrome”, when I know that I am doing the work, but it is not always recognized to that same value. Thankfully, I’ve had a handful of mentors who have bolstered my esteem and I have been able to derive my own confidence system aligned to the value I know I create for my communities, yet it’s still important and vital work to address how myself and others who look like me encounter these particular career obstacles.”
Cameryn Boyd
Snobette: Where do you call home?
Cameryn Boyd: “I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI (go Blue!), but I am now thrilled to call Brooklyn my home.”
Snobette: How did you develop an interest in technology?
Cameryn Boyd: “Tech was something that was brand new to me. I attended Spelman College for my undergraduate education where I initially started as an undecided major. It was through talking to the freshman computer science professor, and my soon to be cherished mentor, Dr. Jerry Volcy, where I learned about the value of studying computer science with its ability to marry into any field or industry and decided to major in CS. Learning in an environment where I was surrounded by other Black women in CS, allowed me to gain confidence in myself and internalize the need for underrepresented voices in the tech industry.”
“I learned this lesson more as I interned at Meta (then Facebook) every summer of my undergraduate career starting in the Meta university program. The industry experience taught me more about all of the possibilities available to you in tech, and my interest in it grew. I took those lessons back to Spelman to work with my two friends and peers, Cameron Womack and Thulani Vereen, to prepare Spelman students for the industry and take every opportunity to help increase access to tech and prepare underrepresented students for the industry.”
Snobette: This new feature greatly benefits creative collaborators whose content would be highlighted on Instagram, what is your connection to the arts/fashion/music?
Cameryn Boyd: “My first introduction to the arts was through my parents who have their own passion and exposed me and my four sisters to the arts early on in our lives. We took art classes, we all danced, and played an instrument. In addition to my large investment in dancing competitively and progressing my cello playing with private lessons and my schools’ symphony orchestra, I grew my love for fashion through my mom and sisters.
“Lastly, even though I didn’t continue my cello lessons nor invest as much time in dance when I arrived at Spelman, attending an HBCU where you are at the source of so much culture creation allows you to engage with your creative identity nevertheless. It’s something that will always be a part of my life.”
Snobette: Have you found any challenges to being a woman in tech?
Cameryn Boyd: “One of the biggest challenges about being a woman and particularly a Black woman in tech is not seeing nor working with others like you. Particularly as an engineer, it can be a struggle to remain confident in my seat at the table. There exists a pressure to be perfect because you often feel like there is an expectation that you will fail and if you do then that is a reflection of not just you, but all the other Black women trying to enter this space.
“The internal, emotional battle can be taxing, but celebrating wins like this helps. When I waver, I try to remember my experience at Spelman where I was constantly encouraged and uplifted by my professors and Black women peers with aspirations like mine, and I remember that I deserve to be here. I try to take opportunities like this one, to use my voice and effect change. I’m passionate about bringing other Black women and underrepresented people into tech because that is how and when some of the best and most equitable innovation happens.”
