Corvida Raven is an American writer, technological artist, entrepreneur and public speaker who lives and works out of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, New York. She has been garnering national attention since the age of 19 for her blog, shegeeks.net, and other projects aimed at making technological skills and information accessible to the public at large, and particularly to youth, people of colour, women and marginalized communities.

Background and education

Raised in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida, Raven began blogging in eighth grade. She majored in Computer Science at

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...

while working at Blockbuster before taking a sabbatical and moving to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. Her trademark plain-language approach to blogging about tech is informed by her experiences teaching family members how to resolve computer problems. Speaking on the challenges of being a black woman in a largely male dominated field, Raven has said: “I do my best to let my passion or workingwith new technology speak for me. I also make a point of highlighting and recommending other women — black, white, Latina and Asian — within my network, because the change starts with me. Sometimes you have to expose others to the things you’re already exposed to. That’s what helps you become successful in an office, boardroom and on the Web.”

Career

Raven’s blog, shegeeks.net, is her main platform for educating others about navigating social media, the internet and technological devices. Since founding the site in 2008, Raven has worked as a social media advisor for

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and for General Motors' ChevyVolt Unplugged Tour. Once a freelance contributor to Laptop Mag, she has also served as Blog Editor for Mr. Tweet and as a Community Manager at ReadWriteWeb, the Industry Standard, Fast Company, and TED. She is co-founder of everythingtwitter.com and the Social Geeks Roundtable podcast.

Awards and recognition

shegeeks.net was awarded Best Technology Blog at the 2008

Black Weblog Awards The Black Weblog Awards was an online awards event which recognizes bloggers of African-American descent for their contributions in blogging, video blogging, and podcasting. The Black Weblog Awards started in 2005 with 11 categories, and grew to ...

, and named one of the Top 100 Social Media, Internet Marketing and SEO Blogs in 2013. Fast Company named Raven as one of The 50 Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009 and a Social Media Curator to Watch. She was listed as one of Glamour Magazine's 21 Amazing Young Women of 2011, and recognized by Essence Magazine as a Power Player and one of the Top 25 Black Women Entrepreneurs. Time Magazine's Techland Blog listed hers among 25 Facebook Profiles You Should Subscribe to Right Now, and she is a recipient of a 2012 Women Interactive Digital Vanguard Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raven, Corvida American women computer scientists American computer scientists Living people American women bloggers American bloggers American non-fiction writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers