As much as people would like to believe otherwise, race can impact all aspects of life, including the professional tech sector that many consider to be a meritocracy. Matt Joseph, aka @_mattjoseph, leaned on his experience to shed light on how conscious and unconscious biases affect people of color in Silicon Valley.
Matt Joseph didn’t expect to be the center of attention when he hit send on a string of posts Saturday afternoon.
The 27 year-old was at his Mountain View apartment, tired after a long day of planning for his company’s upcoming Y Combinator demo day.
Just another tech founder venting via social, right?
That’s where his story takes a turn.
By Sunday, his 30-post tweet storm had garnered thousands of likes, retweets, and comments.
Joseph hit a nerve.
His story isn’t like every other founders’. He’s an immigrant, a person of color, and very well-educated.
But despite an Ivy League background, he says he’s constantly judged by investors based on his skin—to the point that VCs are more comfortable speaking to him about music or politics than his business.
Glad that’s over ? – now for the real work pic.twitter.com/8tVKHZztwi
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 24, 2016
