The New York-based not-for-profit group Ascend Leadership examined the employment information of hundreds of San Francisco tech companies in 2007 and in 2015. Ascend used information from the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ascend found that black tech professional employment decreased from 2.5 percent in 2007 to 1.9 percent in 2015. It also found that, although there was a 43 percent growth in the number of black executives from 2007, blacks still made up just 1.1 percent of tech executives in 2015. Ari Melenciano is a student in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. She is African American. “You’re in a sea full of people that just don’t look like you,” Melenciano said of being black in the tech world. So, Melenciano decided to do something about it. She started Afrotectopia, an event that brings together and celebrates black technologists, artists, designers and activists. The first-ever Afrotectopia took place at New York University. Attendees discussed their work, as well as the difficulties of working in the mostly white world of tech and new media. “It’s really important for us to be able to see ourselves and build this community of people that actually look like us and do amazing things,” Melenciano said.