We had the good fortune of connecting with Napiya Nubuya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Napiya, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
The Next IT Girl is a nonprofit organization focused on educating, mentoring, and advancing young African American, Black, and women of color to pursue technology careers. We create the community of programs and representation each young women needs to excel and succeed in technology careers. Our programs focus on exposing students to multiple career opportunities in technology including; cloud computing, drone technology, cyber security, web design, and much more. Our organization exists to bridge the current race and gender gap in technology. We are implementing a progress pipeline in communities nationwide to educate students on the importance of the use of technology and how its become the leading tool in every industry.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As an IT Engineer, I manage my organizations infrastructure platform. From creating scripting automations for less hands on processes to deploying and managing new apps for the company. I’m most proud of being able to thrive in an industry where I’m not often represented. My goal is to continue to educate African American and Black aspiring techies about the capabilities of tech and the need for more representation in this industry. I became a technologist through a traditional route of pursuing a Computer Science degree, I’ve learned many concepts that have allowed me to apply to many different roles over the last 5 years. Technology is ever changing, now more than ever it’s important to stay on the next best trend. My ways of continuing education are online courses and local dev meetups.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My go to recommendation for anyone visiting Atlanta is to spend the day experiencing the Atlanta Beltline trails. Some of Atlanta’s best hidden gem restaurants and shops can be found on the extensive trail covering majority of the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout is dedicated to the amazing team members of The Next IT Girl. Much of our accomplishments and success are because of their hard work and sacrifice of time and expertise to make sure our programs are efficient and impactful.

Website: www.itgirlnapi.com

Instagram: @itgirlnapi

Twitter: @itgirlnapi

Image Credits
J.Lorraine Photography

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutAtlana is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.