Hello World! I'm Brianna McGowan, a developer, poet, data scientist, advocate, and dancer passionate about intersecting worlds and building Equitism.
I encourage people to boldly envision a future that defies the status quo.
I code to move women and people of color into tech, and change the face of the industry. We challenge the bias in our data and demand integrity. Humans don’t need big data, big data needs humanity.
I am committed to projects that promote social responsibility and community vibrancy. I am a co-organizer for Delicious Democracy: DC's Creative Advocacy Lab. I am the Python Director for Women Who Code D.C. and a volunteer for Black Girls Code. I attend hackathons, write poetry, teach modern dance, and advocate for D.C. Statehood, Ranked Choice Voting, and my communities.
I am endlessly curious, goal-driven, and lead through service.
Check out my TEDx talk, "Know Your Values in the Age of Automation."
DC's Creative Advocacy Lab: We fuse the cultural with the political, systems redesign with personal & collective transformation art with strategic advocacy & action. We are advocating for DC Statehood,
Rank the Vote DC, Food Equity, and Infinite Play.
We are building EQUITISM:
Soulful politics and a delicious lens to eat the apocalypse. Equitism is grounded in community ownership, balancing systemic tensions, infinite play, and delicious food. Equity means having a seat at the table and a stake in governance, accountability, power, and collective prosperity.
Coding actualizes ideas and transforms abstract dreams into tangible tools and systems. Systems reflect the values of those who are in the develop and design process. The world is governed by technology, and the way to shift power and build strength is to own and govern technology ourselves. To build Equitism, women and people of color need to be at the table - not only in technological development and design, but also in decision making, resource allocation, and ownership.
Poetry with intention can be a mirror to society’s injustices, and heal us at the same. I write poetry to go through the mud of feelings and experiences, to process them, and ultimately to heal myself and those experiencing the poem. Since I could write, poetry of any form or structure has allowed me to express thoughts and feelings where prose and colloquial language failed. Open to interpretation, a successful poet can awaken the person experiencing the poem to new experiences, feelings, and thoughts, making reflection irresistible.
For 12 years I was classically trained in ballet and jazz tap. When I turned 15, I took an Alvin Ailey master class, and that was when I was awakened to the grounded, rhythmic, and elastic possibilities of human form. It is the organic, and creative movement that defies conventional structure for more natural and thought-provoking art. I have performed, taught, and choreographed modern dance pieces as lobbying for HR1 in Congress, and am experimenting with movement as language. I am ever-moving, curious about our human form and how we can mold and bend it to tell stories and share emotions.
Know Your Values in the Age of Automation isn't prescriptive, but rather a suggestion of how to build systems that nourish us in the age of artificial intelligence and automation. Understanding who you are, what you want, and what you can do with what you have are critical in deciding what systems we should implement in order to practice equitism - a system of equity. Brianna grounds her talk using her background in economics, computer science, and art to provide a vision of how we can use artificial intelligence and automation to help us maintain our humanity and implement equity for social, political, and economic systems.
Queen of the wild things: The intersection of utter breakdown and empowerment.
The intersection of being a woman and being a human.
The intersection between self-discovery and embracing identity.
Creating a new language and culture for healing that focuses on community building.
It sounded like she was singing the blues every time she spoke.
I sew red thread into my skin Bleeding an embellished pattern Twirling thorny stems with soft fingers Oh rose, I’m getting older
Washington, D.C.
Email or Tweet me and let's exchange digits!
