We can all learn from one another’s experiences, and so we present to you: AccelerateHER Cohort Stories! From what we’ve gathered about this amazing group of women who are part of the first cohort of the incubator program offered in partnership between TWU Center for Women Entrepreneurs and Stoke, AccelerateHER, we knew that you need to get to know them too.
All images provided by Ernanda White
We had a great conversation with Ernanda White, CXO and founder of Black Girls Drone. She tells us about her background and being somewhat steered away from the tech field as child, what ultimately inspired her to start BGD, and what she hopes to see happen for the organization in the future.
What drew you to the tech industry and your business’ foci, “education and visibility for women and girls from underserved communities as they become FAA Certified Drone pilots” ?
I like to say that I got redirected into tech, always was a techie, always loved aviation, and things like that as a young girl, when I was growing up. And so it was intrinsic nature for me to kind of gravitate towards it, because I really loved airplanes and you know, parachute flights, and I used to climb trees and throw those as a little girl and build planes out of paper airplanes.
Of course, being girly was of number one importance to my grandmothers, because, you know, my mom and aunts, they're like, "Oh, that's not what girls do." You know, you're being redirected to do something more “girly,” like being a school teacher or so.
So cultural influences have a lot to do with the direction that many of us have taken in our career paths. It also took me on this discovery journey after having been let go from my tech job last year, this time last year. I was let go over, you know, pre COVID.
I was stunned. I was just like, Oh my gosh, but I used that time to really regroup and really contain myself and really just kind of focus. I was working on a project doing a toward a toy drive that year. So I did the toy drive, the Christmas party, with the Blacks In Technology group I was with. At the time, I used to be a co organizer with them and we did a lot of events with Capital Factory, DEC, etc. And so, and it started from meetup actually. I just kind of worked through that. I was doing tech talks, and just small things to kind of stay active in the tech industry.
How did Black Girls Drone come into being?
I got invited to speak at the Denton Black Film Festival. In January, right after New Year's Day. We talked about the agenda, what they wanted on their program for the interactive Expo, and how would be a part of it. And so I recruited two other three other ladies that I knew that were doing different things in tech to join me.
I thought that was going to be a part of my conversation with giving a masterclass primarily over data analytics, because that was the last part of the tech team that I was on. I was really unaware. And she started talking about cinematography and how it is in tech relates to cinema, we're talking about 3d printing, and 2d, and all of these things.
And then she said “drones” I love drones, and I love airplanes and helicopters. We had the longest conversation from the beginning of the story where I loved airplanes as a little girl and wanted to be an astronaut and all these other things. To hear to it coming full circle that I was like go and how that was going to look.
I started researching drones that week and I The more I dug and dug through it the more I loved it, I knew that I already had a love for aviation and airplanes and aerospace rockets. But I did not know the depth of the love I would have for drones until I really married those two ideas together and those two loves blossomed in my heart and created this ultimate idea.
And I was like, you know, it's something here, I said, I don't understand why there's not more conversation around drones with women like in the software industry in the tech industry. We hardly even hear about this. I did not find what I was looking for when I’d researched drones, which was the visibility to say there are black women that are cinematographers, and they fly drones.
Women need to be here in this space and have these voices and fly these projects. There aren't enough women drone pilots. And there certainly are not clearly enough black women drone pilots.
For DBFF’s event, we used the hashtag #blackgirlsdronetoo. BGD was born and we took off.
What are your measures of success, and what would that look like for BGD?
One measure of success is that I could engage fifteen, eight-, nine- and 10, 11, 12 year olds online to sit for three and a half hours a day for a week from June to August.
I think that if a 16 or 17 or 18 or 18 plus young adult who has elected not to go to college is thinking “I want to do something different. I don't want to drive for Uber, I want maybe I can right now, but I have to right now, but I need something quick, I need something fast. I don't have four years to sit in class. I don't have the money to do that. I'm going to become a drone pilot boom. Yeah, that sounds interesting. Let me learn more about it. Oh, I can make a great living doing it. These are companies I can work for.”
And there's something there for you to grasp onto and move to the next level. That's success for us. If they stick with us and complete the course, take the test, and pass it, we can work on getting you on the job. And then you blossom from there.
What do you hope to see happen in the near future for BGD?
Black Girls Drone is an experience. I want students to leave and remember how they feel: accomplished.
We have our classes online. Students can access the coursework, and it’s right there for them. We also have virtual one on one sessions that we provide: Professional Development Services, their career and job boards inside of the mobile app, their apprenticeships and internships, all of that will be available to them.
In 2021, we're be rolling out more of these.
We're going to have a big summer camp with Tarrant County Community College, and we're going to be doing that from June until August. We'll also be running a camp and at high school. So I'll be I'm looking for staff and I'm talking with other drone pilots and coding programmers, we're also going into gamification and working with developers now.
What’s your favorite thing about your daily workspace?
I like working at my boutique sometimes. I typically set my office space up at home. I’ve been working from home for the last 2.5 - 3 years anyway, with my last tech company. None of us were local; my other team member that was local was in McKinney. I was comfortable working from home.
I would love to be able to kind of go and work with folks again, someday. I do miss that. I do miss being able to go in to the office and have a coffee, and talk with people, and laugh, and walk around, and go to happy hour. In the meantime, it’s an interesting time for everyone.
On the flip side of that, the virtual life that we’ve all become accustomed to has opened more doors for me as a business person. Having a sense of community virtually has made all the difference. I’m always checking out and getting information and making those connections is what’s key right now. Building those relationships is top priority.
What is your personal and professional motto?
I love Maya Angelou's wisdom and her insight. Don't say why not? Why not me? You know, say why not me? You know, don't question why now, you know, and it's kind of like, I find myself sometimes doing that, where you're questioning, you know, when you're starting your business, you know, it should I you know, should I be in this? You know, should I be doing this? Is this the right time? Am I in the right place, you know, and in being able to show up, like you said and make an impression. And so, with that, I think she was talking about me, I just looked it up. I love the one where she said about making an impression on people. Okay. She said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."
And that is what I totally live by that. That's why I say when you are in this time, and we're dealing with people and we're talking with people, you know, it's just like being you're showing up being your authentic self showing up giving your very best showing up giving people what you know how you would want them to feel how you want them to feel about you how you want them to remember you and that's what black girls drone is. That's why I say we're an experience because I want people to feel this. I want you to leave here. And my students they don't forget how they I hear it from your So thank you, you know because how you made them feel that's more important to us right now more than ever, because we are not together.
Name a woman, past or present, whom you admire or look up to. Why?
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” - Maya Angelou &
Bessie Coleman was an inspiration to me because she said “If men and birds can fly, so can I.” She had to go and leave the United States and she taught herself how to fly an airplane in France. And this was during slavery, during reconstruction in America, this was during a time when women were not only not flying airplanes and not flying airplanes and not expected to do that but just considered less-than in society and not given their rightful place to even speak up for themselves.
She was in New York, and she said, “You know what? I’m not going back to the south to pick cotton and to be a sharecropper. I’m not going to stay here to work as a secretary or a maid or something.” She became a nail technician after she was a receptionist, and she said “Uh uh.” She stood up for herself; she said “I am going to learn how to fly a plane.” She took her earnings as a nail tech and went to France and joined a French aviation school, taught herself, got a license. She studied the planes herself and worked with the mechanics and went under the hood and really learned it and really mastered it.
And she was a daredevil! She did stunts and rolls and flips, and she did what drones do now. It’s called FVP now; they used to call it barnstorming back then. In black and white movies, you’d see a person standing on the wings of an airplane and doing flips and twirls and keeping their balance while the plane turned over. She was a barn stormer.