A Decade of DEI: Reflecting on the Early Battles for Diversity in Big Tech

It's funny, looking back a decade feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. Back in the early 2010s, when I had the privilege of working alongside Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, we were standing at the very gates of Silicon Valley, quite literally, trying to open them up. The mission? To confront Big Tech's glaring lack of diversity, an issue that, believe it or not, wasn't nearly as mainstream then as it is now. We were talking about 2014-2015, a time when DEI, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, was barely a whisper in corporate boardrooms, let alone a strategic imperative.

Reverend Jackson, ever the fearless advocate, took a direct approach. He didn't send strongly worded letters from afar; he showed up. We showed up. We found ourselves right there at the shareholder meetings of giants like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, armed with data (or, often, the lack thereof) and a simple, yet profoundly challenging question: "Where are the women? Where are the people of color?"

The initial reaction, if I'm honest, was often a polite, yet firm, wall of silence. Sometimes, it was outright bewilderment. These companies, building the future, seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would question the homogeneity of their leadership or their workforce. Silicon Valley, for all its futuristic glamour and innovative spirit, was remarkably monochromatic in its upper echelons. It struck me then, and it still does, that there were almost two parallel tech sectors: one generating immense wealth and world-changing innovations, and another, the actual people building it, that looked nothing like the diverse world it served.

My role was to help craft the arguments, to shape the narrative, to provide the data that would give weight to Reverend Jackson's powerful voice. It was a fascinating, often frustrating, experience. We were pushing for transparency first and foremost. Many companies simply weren't reporting their diversity numbers, not even internally, or at least not publicly. "How can you fix what you don't measure?" became our mantra. Getting them to even acknowledge the problem and release their EEO-1 data was a monumental battle in itself. When those first reports finally trickled out, the numbers, sadly, spoke volumes. They confirmed what we already suspected: a stark underrepresentation of women and minorities, especially in technical and leadership roles.

But then, something shifted. There was a pivotal moment, a real turning point, when Intel, under the leadership of Brian Krzanich, made a bold move. They didn't just acknowledge the problem; they committed a staggering $300 million to diversity initiatives. Three hundred million dollars! It was a seismic shift, a public declaration that this wasn't just a moral plea, but a business imperative. That commitment wasn't just about the money; it was about legitimacy. It signaled to the entire industry that diversity wasn't some fringe activist issue, but something worthy of significant corporate investment and strategic focus.

That breakthrough, that very public pledge, really opened the floodgates. Other companies, seeing Intel step up, began to follow suit, albeit often more cautiously. DEI started its journey from an external pressure point to an internal corporate strategy. What began with shareholder activism and public shaming slowly, painstakingly, transformed into dedicated departments, budgets, and public commitments. It’s wild to think about now, but we were there when that groundwork was being laid.

Of course, the journey is far from over. A decade later, we've made progress, no doubt. The conversations are richer, the data is more abundant, and virtually every major tech company has some form of DEI initiative in place. Yet, the work continues. Representation in leadership, particularly for Black women and other marginalized groups, still lags. The pipeline issues persist. It's a marathon, not a sprint, as they say, and sometimes, you look back and marvel at how far you've come, while simultaneously feeling the weight of how much further there is to go.

Working with Reverend Jackson during that period was an education in sustained advocacy, in chipping away at seemingly impenetrable walls, one conversation, one shareholder meeting, one data point at a time. It taught me that real change, especially in deeply entrenched systems, is a slow, often frustrating process. But it's also a testament to the power of persistent, collective pressure to move mountains. The fight isn't over, but looking back, we truly did help push some very big boulders up some very steep hills.