Angie Jones is what you might call a multi-hyphenate. If you strung all of her titles and responsibilities together, they would read something like: automation engineer/ patented inventor/ mentor/ international speaker/ certified Java programmer/ advocate for women and minorities in tech. Not only is she an automation engineer at Twitter, but she’s also active in Black Girls Code, an organization that works to increase the number of women of color in the digital space. Jones has spent a lot of time considering her own status as a minority in her field, and in particular, the way she wears her hair.
Her journey from straightened hair to natural mirrors the trajectory of her professional growth. “Now it’s big and bold, and so am I,” Jones says of her hair.
In one of the career talks she gives, Jones encourages fellow programmers to “rise up and own our narrative.” How? “By climbing out of the box that we’ve been placed into as testers.” If you couldn’t already tell, Jones isn’t a fan of being put in one limiting box. She prefers to make a statement, and she helps others to do the same. Watch the video to learn about Angie’s career path and what fuels her to encourage girls who look like her to work in tech.
About the Director
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Roxy Hunt is a New York-based award-winning director and producer who has created content for CNN, Refinery29, Women Vote!, The Women’s March, The Guardian, LogoTV, Mashable, Fast Company, Adobe, Intel, Chevrolet, and more. Most recently she directed the six-episode CNN Original docu-series Mostly Human with Laurie Segall, which was nominated for an EPPY Award, as well as the Fullscreen docu-series Present Tense with Jillian Rose Reed with executive producer Morgan Spurlock. The original comedy series Vicky & Lysander she produced was nominated for 2 WGA awards, and her work on the short film In Motion for H&M won a Clio award. The political ad campaign she produced, “James Franco Presents, The Most Interesting Woman In The World,” was named one of the Best Political Ads in 2016 by AdForum. In addition, she is a Festival Director for The Lower East Side Film Festival which champions emerging underdog filmmakers and will be going into its eighth year in June 2018.
Roxy on Angie:
“Angie is not only fearless in her own career and identity, but she also took on the responsibility of being a powerful voice that allows younger generations of women to see their own goals through her successes, which is a whole other kind of fearlessness that every woman should aspire to."