Welcome to Dreaming in Color LIVE, a special series within the Dreaming in Color universe, hosted by Darren Isom, a partner with The Bridgespan Group. This is our live conversation and convening series held in small rooms, at shared tables, recorded in real time with a live audience. The format is different, but the spirit is the same: the equitable future we seek requires celebrating the genius of today’s leaders of color. Later in the year, we will return with our rich Dreaming in Color one-on-one conversations. In the meantime, enjoy following us on the road as we wrestle with the boldest questions of our time.
Today’s episode comes live from LA Tech Week. A future where technology reflects community, culture, and justice doesn’t happen by accident but through intention and imagination. We sit down with Ebele Okobi, Principal at Revolutionary Projects; Afua Bruce, Founder and CEO at ANB Advisory Group; and Will Drewery, Founder and CEO at Diagon Technologies. Together, they reflect on how identity, cultural intelligence, and lived experience inform the way they understand and reimagine technology. Alana Cheeks-Lomax and Gary Johnson, Co-Founders and CEO at UNTOLD kicks things off and closes us out.
Jump straight into:
00:00 Introduction.
08:09 “Imagination is infrastructure” — the importance of envisioning before we build.
13:18 The value of imagining new systems rather than reshaping the ones we’ve been given.
18:29 AI can improve systems, but must not replace community and connection.
22:13 Much of what we call AI is marketing, which is resource-intensive and widely misunderstood.
25:32 Solidarity is essential, and creativity and art are strengths worth protecting.
29:26 Our basic needs stay the same, and AI is becoming part of how we address them.
33:36 We need real education on what AI actually means, not just how to use it.
35:34 Respect expertise and fund the people already doing the work.
38:03 Building community power starts with investing in each other.
