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Women of Color Volume 13 Number 2
Alicia Boler-Davis
2014 Technologist of the Year
But there is so much more to say here. It really is time for Americans to give up exulting over the achievement of a single Black American — or any other individual woman of color, that matter — in reaching high rank in the technology enterprise. It is long past time we recognize that, in tracing the arc of a climb like that of Alicia Boler- Davis, the picture that emerges shows that she and all the other women of color working in technology are rapidly changing the face — some might even say the heart — of American business.
Look at the numbers: A 2010 National Science Foundation report on “scientists and engineers working in science and engineering” counted 108,000 Black women, 84,000 Hispanic women, and 271,000 Asian women working in technology. Many observers, focused on percentages rather than the actual impact of those numbers, decry the small share of the engineering workforce that represents, compared to the nearly 2.8 million white male engineers out there.
So it is also true for the women of color in American industry. The impact of their achievements in reshaping the product lines, re-making management perspectives as they go, and sharpening the focus on quality in corporations that compete head-to-head against competitors all across the globe cannot be understated, and should never, ever be underestimated.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, where as she says, “the auto industry was everywhere,” Davis, who describes herself as “always passionate about cars” as a youngster, got a chance to see automobiles being made when as a high schooler, she took a tour in a GM plant. Her father had worked for the automaker for part of his own career, and it might even be said that young Alicia Boler-Davis, passionate about cars herself, was stamped with GM’s brand on that tour.
