Facebook hosted a black leadership panel event to give people a safe space to discuss a hot topic in our country today — “How to have candid conversations about race and diversity in the Silicon Valley tech space.” Attendees with a background in tech came together to network, connect, and learn from one another.

Panelists included leaders from Facebook's software engineering, infrastructure, Instagram design, and diversity groups, along with other tech leaders.

Facebook is dedicated to diversity for our employees and the larger community by supporting initiatives like Women in Tech, Latinos in Tech, and Blacks in Tech. As part of supporting these communities, we host events on a regular basis such as tech talks, fire side chats, dinners, receptions, and panels.

The intimate event was designed to create community and empower blacks in the tech space.

“You can't aspire to be someone you can't see. To me this event is about bringing visibility to the issues,” said Kara S. an attendee who enjoyed talking to her peers and people she considered role models.

Topics discussed by the panels of tech leaders resonated with many in attendance and was a pleasant surprise for one attendee Tony O., “I usually don't go to non-technical talks, but I thought this was different enough to give it a try. I found myself agreeing with and relating to a lot of the discussion topics brought up by the panelists."

At Facebook, we are dedicated to creating an environment where people can be their authentic selves by sharing their own diverse backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and ideas which fuels our mission of connecting the world through increasing cognitive diversity on all teams.

Connecting the world takes every one of us. Consider joining our team!