Diversity and the Digital Divide: Perspectives from Tech Leaders

During Cloudflare's recent Birthday Week, executives and founders from across the industry discussed the ongoing challenges of making technology accessible to everyone. Their conversations centered on practical strategies for broadening inclusion, from how companies collect feedback to how they bring underrepresented students into the field.

Giving Everyone a Voice in Product Development

Selina Tobaccowala, Chief Digital Officer at Openfit and former President & CTO of SurveyMonkey, emphasized that inclusivity in tech should start with how companies listen to their users. She noted that in most organizations, only the loudest voices get heard, and surveys can serve as a corrective tool.

At SurveyMonkey, she said, user testing was deliberately built to capture a broad swath of customers across all segments, not just the most vocal ones. The key, in her view, is collecting data that can be anonymized and that allows people time to formulate thoughtful responses rather than snap reactions. She also pointed to the value of benchmarking: without knowing how you rank against peers, she argued, it's impossible to know whether your efforts are working.

Creating Immersion Opportunities for Minority Students

Bonita Stewart, Vice President of Global Partnerships & Americas Partnerships Solutions at Google, described the Howard West program as a direct answer to a gap she identified in existing education partnerships. Her research showed that close to 25% of STEM graduates come from historically Black colleges, yet few programs offered those students an immersive experience in the tech industry.

Working with Howard University and its president, Dr. Frederick, Google created a program where students and faculty would spend time in the valley. The response from Google's own staff was immediate, with an outpouring of volunteers eager to teach. What began in 2017 with one school has now expanded to more than ten historically Black colleges and universities, as well as historically Hispanic institutions. For Stewart, the goal was simple: technology should be seen as a viable and accessible career path, not one requiring an unusual risk profile.

Subsidizing Access to the Global Digital Ecosystem

Erik Hersman, co-founder and CEO of BRCK, is tackling a different dimension of the digital divide: cost. His company produces rugged, portable devices that provide free Wi-Fi in buses, public transportation, and fixed locations across Kenya and Rwanda.

The model relies on a familiar mechanism. As Hersman explained, when users log on, they encounter a dashboard — much like what you'd see at an airport — where they can watch an ad, complete a survey, or perform a task to earn their time online. The approach is intentionally designed for an East African context where people may have time but not money. Businesses pay to serve those advertisements, surveys, and microwork tasks, which in turn subsidizes the connectivity. In his view, hitting this demographic requires finding ways for them to participate in the global digital ecosystem without reaching into their wallets.

Proving Yourself in a Place That Wasn't Built for You

Shellye Archambeau, former CEO of MetricStream and a board member for Verizon, Okta, Nordstrom, and Roper Technologies, recalled her own arrival in Silicon Valley as a shock. She had expected a culture built on innovation and new ideas to be welcoming and diverse — and found it wasn't.

Her approach has been consistent throughout her career. She assumes from the outset that people will underestimate her competence, and she responds by focusing on her team. Archambeau described adopting a servant leader approach: if she can help her team succeed, she will succeed herself. That strategy, she said, has worked for her "over and over again."

Making Inclusion a Strategic Imperative

Pam Kostka, CEO of All Raise, argued that good intentions aren't enough to change an industry. Expanding your network, she said, requires deliberate action: meet a Black investor, meet a Black founder, meet a female founder. They won't come to you.

To illustrate the point, she shared an analogy: it's like fishing in the forest. If you're shocked there are no fish on your hook, you're looking in the wrong place — and if your company doesn't look diverse, it's because it isn't welcoming. The fix, she said, is to treat diversity not as a wish but as a performance metric. Set it up like OKRs, tie executive compensation to it, and ensure it's properly resourced. Only then, she argued, will you keep the focus needed to produce results.