Atlanta Tech Week and RenderATL, 2025. Rooms full of Black engineers, designers, founders. Not a panel called inclusion. The actual conference.
RenderATL is Justin E. Samuels’ thing. Tech Square all week. Mixers, AI talks, soul food somewhere in the schedule, a rooftop kickoff with AfroFuture — Afrobeats, arcade, diaspora cocktails over the city.
Day two had Zillow, Netflix, Black Ambition, Essence. David Banner sat down with Samuels and Okla Jones and talked about moving through music and tech without dropping yourself at the door. That is the conversation worth the flight.
Black women ran rooms that usually have one person in the back. Atlanta did what Atlanta does. Feet hurt. Notes app a mess. The week looked like the people it was for.
Tech weeks usually put Black engineers on a slide. RenderATL put them in the room. Banner talking brand without dropping himself at the door is the conversation worth the flight.
