How These Black Creators at Meta Work To Build Diversity, Inclusion Into The Metaverse

While Mark Zuckerberg races to release his company’s first AR glasses in 2024, Meta’s internal Black creativity and innovation culture drive big dreams into reality.

Black creators Brandon C. Dudley and Jahmeilah Roberson are valuable Meta employees on the virtual reality teams working to make a difference. With their combined knowledge and experience, the pair are dedicated to building diversity and inclusion into the fabric of the metaverse.

As a product manager at Meta, Dudley leverages his early experiences working with engineers to build automotive products for his role in the tech world. He takes pride in the creativity that it takes to produce new things, thanks to Meta actively encouraging employees to embrace their innovative talents and drive for change.

“I often bring together different pieces of tech, different subject matter experts, and design elements to produce new things. There’s quite a bit of creativity in that. That’s been true of my role at Meta,” Dudley told Afro Tech.

As Meta’s product design manager, Roberson is no stranger to the tech world, having learned the roles of technology from both her “techie” parents. Being Black in tech was a journey she knew how to navigate. She uses her experiences as an inspiration for her work. Roberson believes in the power of creativity, which is ultimately a component to the future of an accessible and inclusive future for the evolving metaverse.

“We are pulling inspiration from our lived experiences, both [in real life] and on the internet, as well as from pop culture and our imaginations, to build software and hardware that is forging a path towards a more immersive technological future. We can’t do that without creativity,” Roberson said.

While working to make the metaverse more inclusive, Dudley can “see a bit of a culture shift already in how [Meta] is starting to think about equitable experiences for people with disabilities on our products.”

Team collaboration makes the dream work, but in this sense, the virtual and augmented reality. Roberson and Dudley collectively champion Black creators and technologists, especially within the 3D networks.

“We know that Black people drive culture and innovation, so I’ll continue to push for Black creators in the product work I’m doing right now — especially as we define what it means to be a creator in AR/VR (augmented and virtual reality) and for the metaverse,” Roberson added.