It was a standing-room-only crowd at The Gathering Spot for the second consecutive year at the 2024 State of the Atlanta Black Ecosystem Summit, Powered by UNCF on Jan. 11.
The event was three hours of panels and networking for some of the biggest Black names in tech and venture capitalists.
After the summit, rolling out spoke to The Gathering Spot co-founder Ryan Wilson and Goodie Nation founder Joey Womack.
For another year, this event has been packed out. What was it like to see everything work the way it did?
Womack: It was amazing. This is Atlanta. You look from wall to wall, and there’s just dope Black people. Dope Black people that stayed the entire time, like three hours listening to amazing people, getting inspired, getting motivated, and more importantly, getting primed to act.
That’s what we’re about here at Goodie Nation. This is what we’re about in the Atlanta Black tech community.
Wilson: It’s always good when we get together.
This is one of those events at TGS that I’m always really proud to host because you see the power of what’s happening in our ecosystem. There are a lot of amazing founders and investors. The whole thing is here. And that’s what tonight was about.
What is the biggest takeaway from tonight for people who weren’t here?
Womack: If you didn’t take anything else from tonight, just be amazed at the sheer talent level of the people in the room–and then the sheer number of Black tech people in the city. It was said time and time again: Black people in executive Atlanta have tenacity. It’s a lot of us, we’re super dope and we’re everywhere.
Our influence is everywhere. We all know that Atlanta influences everything, and tonight only reinforced that.
Wilson: You should know that this ecosystem is large. It is connected, we’re very community-driven and we’re doing the work.
We talked about a lot of the challenges and that’s what tonight was about–understanding the barriers that are in front of us. But we also are running through a lot of barriers. That’s the lesson I left with. It’s something that I knew, but it’s always good to come in and see and feel it.
Where can people keep up with you?
Womack: You can follow us @goodienation and also @atlblacktech
Across all the socials, check the hashtag #atlblacktech, and also go to atlblacktech.org.
