November 30, 2020
By Tyler Orton, Business Intelligence for B.C.
As Natasha Jung pored over a late-October LinkedIn post revealing the BC Tech Association’s board of directors was now split evenly between genders, she couldn’t help but spot a gaping hole in the new board’s composition.
“To see not one Black, Indigenous or person of colour – at least not visibly – on this list was really disappointing, especially given the events, and turning tide and evolution of the demand for that across all industries and across all walks of life since June, with the murder of George Floyd,” said the co-founder of Cold Tea Collective Media Inc., a storytelling platform for North American young people of East Asian descent.
Before co-founding Cold Tea Collective, Jung was Deloitte LLP’s primary tech industry marketer for B.C., and she later worked in marketing at Vancouver-founded Vision Critical (now Alida Inc.).
The new board of directors at BC Tech, which advocates on behalf of the province’s technology sector, did not appear to reflect the industry she spent years working in.
Jung’s direct response to the BC Tech’s LinkedIn post garnered more than 120 likes on the social media platform:
“I’m wondering where on the strategic roadmap are plans for a not 100% white board? 40%+ of the business community is represented of ethnic minorities, and I’m sure even more are represented in the tech industry in terms of talent. As an industry driving much of the growth and innovation in the province, will you also be committing to being leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion?”