Our Story

There wasn’t a roadmap to billions designed for us, so we created our own. That’s how Black Women Talk Tech began. We created a tech conference designed specifically for Black women tech entrepreneurs to create a space where black women could for once, be seen and heard and have their ideas invested in. Our conference is now the largest convening of Black women tech entrepreneurs and technologists.

Today, our mission is to help Black women dream big and build the next billion-dollar tech or scalable company.

Meet the Founders

Esosa Ighodaro, Co-Founder

Former Bank Executive – Award-Winning 2x Serial Entrepreneur – Black Women Talk Tech Co-Founder

Regina Gwynn , Co-Founder
Former Product Development and Marketing Executive – Co-Founder and CEO of Nationally Recognized Beauty Platform – Black Women Talk Tech Co-Founder

Esosa Ighodaro

Esosa Ighodaro is the co-founder of Black Women Talk Tech, the organization that aims to identify, support and encourage black women to build the next billion-dollar business. Black Women Talk Tech is the largest collective of black women tech founders therefore bringing a unique understanding of the challenges Black women face and the advantages they bring to the tech industry. As co-founder, Esosa co-leads business strategy and strategic partnership development and leads the organization’s marketing endeavors.

Esosa has more than 15 years of entrepreneurial experience including founding two influencer marketing businesses. Additionally, she has more than 12 years of marketing and operation experience as a serial entrepreneur, and as a former bank executive at Citigroup where she developed high-performing growth strategies and oversaw implementation for key lines of business.

Her achievements at her past companies led to several articles and past awards, including being named 100 Most Powerful Women by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2019 and one of the 50 Inspirational Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2017, and Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch by Paste Magazine. This ultimately lands her features in ELLE, Forbes, NBC, The Huffington Post, USA Today, and many more. Esosa graduated with a bachelor of science in finance from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. She and her husband now live in New York, NY and enjoy fashion, travel and food.

Regina Gwynn

Regina Gwynn is the co-founder of Black Women Talk Tech, the organization that aims to identify, support and encourage black women to build the next billion-dollar business. Black Women Talk Tech is the largest collective of black women tech founders therefore bringing a unique understanding of the challenges Black women face and the advantages they bring to the tech industry. As co-founder, Regina co-leads business strategy and strategic partnership development and leads sponsor relations. 

Regina Gwynn launched her first tech startup in 2014 with TresseNoire, a platform that empowers women of color to celebrate their textured hair with a personalized beauty routine that works. Its virtual beauty coach took the guesswork out of finding the right natural hair products & services by matching your individual hair profile to a beauty regimen designed by experts.

Regina started her career in the Product Development Executive Training program at Federated Department Stores (now Macy’s Inc.), and successfully launched three private-label brands during her tenure. After graduating from the Kellogg School of Management with her MBA, Regina was a management consultant with the Monitor Group (now Monitor/Deloitte Consulting) and worked with clients within the beauty, media and healthcare industries. She was then tapped to lead marketing at The Apparel Group, where she built the department from scratch and launched the company’s first ecommerce site for its signature brand, Foxcroft Collection. 

Regina has been named to the 100 Most Powerful Women by Entrepreneur Magazine and Top Ten Women in Tech by Essence Magazine. Her features include BET Her, Black Enterprise, Wall Street Journal, Crain’s Business and more. She’s on the Cabinet for Black Entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and a former Board Member for BRAG, a nonprofit for diverse retail professionals & Rising Tide Capital, an entrepreneur development program based in Jersey City, NJ. Regina loves to travel, dance and watch football (Go Giants!). 

“A girl should be two things: Classy & Fabulous.” – Coco Chanel

Our Timeline

Hover your cursor over the year to learn about BWTT’s history

  • 2015

    First (unofficial) retreat for Black women founders
  • 2017

    Officially founded Black Women Talk Tech & produced inaugural Roadmap to Billions event at Google
  • 2019

    Officially founded Black Women Talk Tech & produced inaugural Roadmap to Billions event at Google Partnered with Black Men Talk Tech to launch Unicorn Ambition Conference for Black men founders
  • 2020

    Launched “The New Face of a Founder” Report - the largest report on black women tech founders Launched Face of A Founder, a summit dedicated to black founder fundraising
  • 2021

    Celebrating 5 years of Roadmap to Billions & the largest community of Black female founders Launched Black Students Talk Tech

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