As we all know, February is Black History Month. It’s a month where we honor those who have made an impact on American culture for equal rights, those who have invented, those who have a helped others and those who have inspired everyone to be the best they can be, not only as a person of color but as a human. For the past two years for Black History Month, I started an online series called 28 Days Diversity where I would feature someone new everyday during the month of February for just being awesome in their own right. Even though it’s black history month, the goal for 28 Days of Diversity is to feature not just African-Americans but other minorities in the web/tech space. Also note that 28 Days of Diversity is not a popularity contest or an influencer list but a list of thought leaders in the social web sector, including entrepreneurs, bloggers, conference organizers, IT professionals and friends not ranked in any particular order who I have either met in person or followed online. Each post will include a picture, bio, two links from the selected person and this paragraph.
For 2012 I wanted to not just feature individuals but also ask a question to where each featured person could share their passion with others. For 29 Days of Diversity 2012 each post/person will answer the question “What motivates you to become successful?”
For the next 29 days since 2012 is a leap, come back to visit SocialWayne.com/tag/28daysofdiversity and/or 28daysofdiversity.com to see who’s on the list. For day 7, I would like to introduce to some and present to others:
Curtiss Pope
Twitter: @aislefinder
Website/Blog: aislefinder.com
Bio
Curtiss started his technology career coding and designing web sites and software for companies like Yahoo, Microsoft and Installshield.
His current role is as Founder/CEO of AisleFinder, an app that matches items on shopping lists with aisles within supermarkets (Google maps for supermarkets).
Curtiss’ company AisleFinder was selected to be one of the startups selected for the first class of NewMe Accelerator in 2011.
At 29 years old he is one of the youngest black entrepreneurs within the tech sector. He often shares his views on entrepreneurship,design and motivation on blogs such as VentureBeat ,Hacker News, Black Enterprise, and has been featured in sites such as:TechCrunch,ReadWriteWeb,VentureBeat, ,CNN.com,PC Magazine and CNET.Curtiss was born and raised in Silicon Valley where he still resides.
What motivates you to become successful?
In life: I would have to say my wife motivates me, she has been on this ride with me since the beginning. Her support allows me to stay motivated when things don’t go the way I plan. She is a tough little Nigerian woman that brings out the best in me.I call her my co-founder for life!
In business: Other startups and their founders motivate me. I love the raw and unfiltered premise of a new startup ready to take on the challenges of building a business.I also get motivated by helping them to overcome challenges that I myself have faced as an entrepreneur.
You can follow the status of 29 Days of Diversity 2012 on http://28daysofdiversity.com, http://socialwayne.com/category/28-days-of-diversity/ and syndicated on BlackWeb 2.0.
