April 6, 2017
Seeing Is Believing: Creating More Stock Images of People of Color in Tech
While creating a website, Christina Morillo and Stephanie Morillo (no relation) noticed something. There are few stock images of women of color in technology on the internet.
As a Latina in the cybersecurity industry who is active in supporting other women of color in tech, Christina teamed up with Stephanie to launch a website filled with images of women of color in various tech roles. They not only created the website, but recruited friends and colleagues as models and arranged the photo shoots. The images were made available to download by anyone; the only request being proper attribution to the site.
There is a growing movement to create more stock images of people of color engaged with technology–and not just showing a black person holding a smartphone. Many tech leaders of color are recognizing the need to show men and women of color in startups, working in data centers, building code, and in other professional technology roles.
Jopwell–a career startup focused on connecting job candidates from underrepresented communities to employers, is also taking action with diverse stock images. On Tuesday, it announced the launch of “The Jopwell Collection,†an online repository of over 100 stock images of ethnic professionals at work.
“Our community often isn’t represented–or is misrepresented–in corporate stock photography. Envisioning your career potential can be challenging, when people who look like you are not shown in [the] imagery of the modern workplace, especially in depictions of boardrooms and senior leadership positions,†said Porter Braswell,  CEO and co-founder of Jopwell, via email.
“The Jopwell Collection is a step towards changing that. We’re sharing these images to create visibility for our community of Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American professionals while providing content creators–from media outlets and agencies, to marketers and HR professionals at companies–with access to free-to-download images that portray the representation we’re working toward. As a career platform for Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American students and professionals, Jopwell provides its members with resources to unlock opportunities, and we see these images of standout professionals from our community in the workplace as an opportunity to further the national dialogue, and support the change we’re working towards,†he said.
The Jopwell Collection photos are available for anyone to download. Jopwell encourages companies to use “representative imagery, when looking for illustrations on their websites or other corporate materials.â€