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Aufgabenblock II

1.
Sum up the biographical information on Clarence Wooten.
(30%)
2.
Analyze the way the author presents Clarence Wooten and his startup STEAM Role.
(30%)
3.
Choose one of the following:
3.1
"[B]eing based in Palo Alto as an African-American entrepreneur who has had some success in tech and in Silicon Valley, you know, to some degree is like a black unicorn, which is unfortunate."
(ll. 25-27)
Taking the quote as a starting point, discuss the accessibility of the American Dream for people of color.
or
3.2
You are taking part in a TEDxTeen event, an international platform that invites young people to give talks on current topics.
For this event, write a speech, assessing the factors that determine a person’s success in life.
(40%)

Devin Thorpe: Successful African-American Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Feels 'Like A Black Unicorn'

1
Originally from inner-city Baltimore, Maryland, successful tech entrepreneur Clarence Wooten,
2
46, got into tech and computers through video games as a kid. He played on the old Atari,
3
ColecoVision and Commodore platforms.
4
From those modest beginnings, a career blossomed. As a youth, Wooten looked up to people
5
like Bill Gates and Reginald Lewis as role models. […]
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Still in Baltimore in the late 90s, Wooten founded ImageCafe, a startup that provided website
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templates for small businesses, something like what Wix and Squarespace do today.
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"We were getting ready to raise a big venture round when Network Solutions, who was the
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GoDaddy of that time, swooped in and acquired us," Wooten says. The deal was concluded
10
for $23 million at the end of 1999, near the top of the dot com boom. "Sometimes it’s better to
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be lucky than good." [...]
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He moved to Silicon Valley and has started several companies since. "I’m this guy who takes
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wacky ideas and turns them into things," Wooten quips. To ignore race in the context of
14
Wooten’s success would be to ignore one of the glaring issues facing Silicon Valley today. The
15
treatment of women and minorities became the hot-button topic of 2017.
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Wooten moved around a lot as a kid. Starting out in the inner city, virtually all his friends were
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black. Later he moved to a virtually all-white school. "I felt like I had a pretty diverse social
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upbringing and as a result you know I was never uncomfortable around anyone." Wooten’s
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personal philosophy doesn’t allow him to blame others for the challenges in his life. "You know
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you really can’t think about how you may be being held back for reasons that are beyond your
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control because if that enters your mind and stays in your mind you will not be successful
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because it will weigh you down."
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He has no apparent resentment toward the Silicon Valley culture — why should he? He’s been
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successful there. He says he’s treated about the same there as elsewhere. Still, he
25
acknowledges the challenges. "I mean, being based in Palo Alto as an African-American
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entrepreneur who has had some success in tech and in Silicon Valley, you know, to some
27
degree is like a black unicorn, which is unfortunate. So, my dream is to see more success for
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African-Americans in tech."
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Wooten’s latest startup, STEAM Role, is his effort to fulfill that dream. The name is first a
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reference to Silicon Valley’s areas of focus — science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
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He points out that Apple proved the value of adding the arts to STEM. The name also provides
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a clue to the secret sauce: role models. "We aim to provide companies with a platform to
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inspire, track and hire diverse STEAM talent by leveraging their existing employees as role
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models to attract future hires," he says.
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Flipping the lens, he adds, "We aim to provide a roadmap for anyone to acquire their dream
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career by following and learning from role models that they can relate to." [...]
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To build an audience for the enterprise clients, STEAM Role is partnering with middle through
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high school guidance counselors and the startup has created a brand ambassador program
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across colleges and universities.
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"You can learn anything you want to know on-line and virtually for free. Information is widely
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available; however, inspiration is not," Wooten says.
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"Think Tinder," Wooten says of how the mobile app works. "But instead of swiping through
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your potential dates we’re showcasing role models that you can relate to. We show you their
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company, their job title, a one sentence description of what they do and we pull from
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Glassdoor their salary range." Don’t confuse role models with mentors. "Mentorship doesn’t
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really scale because it’s one to one,” he says. One role model can influence thousands of
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aspiring professionals on STEAM Role. "So, if there’s an African-American, teenage female in
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Baltimore, we will try to show her African-American women who are STEAM professionals —
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successful." Ultimately, the app will show her role models based on her interests, regardless
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of gender and ethnicity.
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When she clicks on a role model, she can see all the skills that person acquired to get that
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position. She can also see where she can learn those skills and ultimately get someone to
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endorse her for having the skill.
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Wooten says the design was inspired by watching his daughters use SnapChat and Instagram.
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The idea is to create a sense of intimacy and authenticity that today’s young people — who
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grew up with super computers in their pockets connected to all the world’s information — crave.
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[...]
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"In the last ten years, I came to the realization that the first third of your life you learn, the
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second third you earn and in the last third you return."
(791 words)
Thorpe, Devin (2018): Successful African-American Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Feels 'Like A Black Unicorn’. Forbes. 15 January, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2018/01/15/successful-african-american-silicon-valley-entrepreneur-feels-like-a-black-unicorn/ 28.10.2022

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