Addressing Erasure and Influence in Technology and AI Leadership
[April 2025] — In the current landscape of technology and AI, an important conversation is often left unattended: the pattern of erasure and tokenism affecting Black women—particularly those from the Americas—in decision-making roles across global tech sectors. While narratives of global collaboration are frequently uplifted, the reality reveals complex dynamics that inadvertently silence or overlook key contributors (Hunter, 2022; McKinsey & Company, 2023).
This challenge is not centered on individual actions but reflects a broader culture in how influence is distributed. When Black women are predominantly visible only in teaching roles or as public-facing personalities, yet remain absent in strategic development spaces, the ability to shape ethical outcomes is diluted. Sustaining long-standing norms that prioritize a loud global minority—often made up of those who do not value the perspectives of individuals they deem socially inferior—undermines not only innovation but long-term value creation and sustainable growth (BBC News, 2022; Watson, 2025).
Rather than focusing solely on whether people are visible, the emphasis must be on whether they are positioned to drive meaningful systems-level change. This is not about optics but infrastructure. Meaningful decision-making frameworks produce stronger returns, better social outcomes, and more resilient technologies. And yet, the voices best positioned to do this work are too often kept peripheral (AnitaB.org, 2023; Hunter, 2022).
Naming Without Blaming: The Complexity of Global Solidarity
There is a recurring trend in which individuals with proximity to fair skin or Eurocentric standards are elevated as “Global South experts,” even when their lived experience does not reflect the regions or communities they are asked to speak for. This includes heavily subsidized participation and visibility in platforms where others are still struggling for acknowledgment (Time, 2023).
While it is essential to recognize allyship and engagement from across cultures, when public platforms amplify one subset repeatedly, the result is not true unity but a distortion of voice. This affects both the Americas and African continents, where Black women are increasingly siloed into community influencer roles or workshop facilitators while their strategic insights are overlooked.
This erasure is especially harmful in the context of AI and policy, where regulatory guidance, funding, and international collaborations shape outcomes that impact entire populations. The absence of region-rooted, lived-experience leadership from these conversations is a design flaw, not just a participatory oversight (McKinsey & Company, 2023).
Solidarity Between Black Women in the Americas and Africa
Despite these challenges, there is shared momentum and strength. The relationship between Black women in the Americas and those in Africa offers a roadmap for diplomacy, community resource sharing, and long-term infrastructure-building. When this connection is rooted in mutual respect, it becomes a tool of transformation.
Through deliberate collaboration, it becomes possible to subvert the louder narratives that ignore. Not by matching volume, but by anchoring in thoughtful, grounded expertise and building outward from there. The goal is not to critique individual success but to ensure that paths are open, accessible, and responsibly shared (AnitaB.org, 2023).
Reshaping Visibility Into Influence: The Economic Case
Profitability and positive outcomes are hindered when outdated gatekeeping structures are preserved for the comfort of a loud global minority. The belief that exclusion protects quality or neutrality is not only false—it weakens results (McKinsey & Company, 2023).
When visibility is mistaken for influence, it leads to tokenism. This often takes the shape of inviting Black women to educate, but not to architect systems. This split dynamic—where visibility is accepted but structural input is denied—creates cycles where the most under-acknowledged communities are also left with the greatest burden to “prove” their worth without decision-making power (Hunter, 2022).
Responsible Approach: Testing Ethical AI Through Real Use
At Lucky Star AI, I am engaging and building AI and blockchain tools with this exact memory and long-term resilience in mind. Rather than theorizing change, I engage with it directly—testing models on myself, documenting gaps, and addressing them publicly. This work includes exploration through Atomic Lore, a platform that supports ethical traceability of AI development. You can view my active research documentation here (Atomic Lore, 2025).
This approach is about being a direct reference and a witness—not just speaking on ethics, but actively building models that reinforce accountability. It is the grey area very few are addressing: how do we both create and protect when systems are still evolving?
Conclusion: From Conversation to Capability
This is not a call to compete for spotlight—it is a call to create structure. As more creatives, technologists, and global policymakers engage with these tools, it is crucial that the systems we build reflect the people they are meant to serve.
By committing to equity in decision access, not just platform visibility, we have a chance to make ethical technology more than an aspiration. The goal is not to make space—it is to build better systems from the ground up, with everyone already at the table (BBC News, 2022; Time, 2023).
Lucky Star encourages anyone interested to reach out with questions or inquiries via https://luckystar.ai/pages/contact.
Sources References
AnitaB.org. (2023). The current state of Black women and non-binary technologists. AnitaB.org. Retrieved from https://anitab.org/blog/insights/the-current-state-of-black-women-and-non-binary-technologists
Atomic Lore. (2025). Lucky Star Profile. Retrieved from https://www.atomiclore.io/userProfile/8189ef59-61c8-46f6-8a60-f2b13084efdf
BBC News. (2022). 20,000 Black women 'missing' from the UK tech industry. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63402337
Hunter, C. (2022). Thousands of Black women missing from the IT industry, report warns. BCS. Retrieved from https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/thousands-of-black-women-missing-from-the-it-industry-report-warns
McKinsey & Company. (2023). A dearth of Black, Latina, and Native American women in tech. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/sustainable-inclusive-growth/chart-of-the-day/a-dearth-of-blna-women-in-tech
Time. (2023). Why big tech needs to listen to Black women. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/6251292/big-tech-black-women-perspectives