Meet Marcus Carter

How did you learn about PDXWIT and what keeps you coming back? 

I'm sure some of the amazing women at Cloudability put PDXWIT on my radar (s/o to current and former Cloudy women!). I attended a PDXWIT event early on during my time at Cloudability and was blown away by the depth of conversations happening at their events. Beyond my initial engagement with the organization, the purpose, energy, and intentionality of Megan Bigelow resonated with me. 

I continue to rep PDXWIT for a number of reasons. First, I think womxn should control the narrative as it pertains to their experience in tech and beyond. PDXWIT continues to evolve and harness its influence within the local tech community. I hope I'm fortunate to witness (and support) its future growth. Second, I'm a big fan of Elizabeth and Hazel –together and separately we've had a wide range of conversations and every moment I've shared with them sharpen my analysis as an ally. 

Can you give us some background on your career in tech? Did you intend this career path? 

I started in tech roughly 9 to 10 years ago, working at a staffing agency, placing people on tech teams across Nike, Jive, US Bank, IBM, BPA, etc. It was in that role where I got to experience diverse environments, be it large enterprises to startups. In addition, I cultivated a sense of brand equity and social capital as candidates were transparent about their experience across various employers throughout the local tech ecosystem. Since that role, I've been fortunate to recruit in various industries but have always made my way back to tech. I intend to stay in the industry as I believe its greatest area of opportunity is to sustain innovation with people across all walks of life. For example, employers can enhance inclusion and employee engagement beyond open office environments, other perks, policies, and annual company off-sites. Tech can accelerate new standards of quality and development regarding the employee life-cycle. I'd love to hear more organizations within the industry highlight the future as not algorithms or machine learning, but instead center the industries’ capacity to scale by way of the influence and leadership of womxn and BIPOC. 

A passion or activity you pursue with dedication.

In many ways, it's difficult to center my on-going projects as the world navigates a global pandemic. Our current situation provides us an opportunity to reflect on systems and ideologies that do not serve us – ones that are absent of care, community, equity, and justice. While I and so many others attempt to adapt to this climate, we must acknowledge that survival is a state that so many communities navigate, daily. May their voices, persistence, and resistance hold space at our table as we build solutions beyond this pandemic.