Photo: Black Business.com
Bukola Somide, and her 8-year-old daughter, Olusomi, the creators of the first-to-market African American interactive Somi, the Computer Scientist doll, are celebrating having won the 2022 ExCITE Innovation of the Year award presented by CodeCrew. The doll helps to increase a child’s knowledge and interest in STEM.
“Having my work recognized by my peers is a great honor and it encourages me to do more to positively impact the lives of our children,” says Bukola. Inspired by her daughter, she created the interactive Somi doll to bring change, serve a need, and excite children (especially Black girls) about learning Computer Science (CS).
As the founder/CEO of Innovant Technologies based in Phoenix, Arizona, Bukola believes that cultivating innovative thinking in early childhood is important to uplifting our Black community. She comments, “We live in a fast-paced digital age so we cannot afford to allow our children to be left behind. Access to relevant, quality, easy-to-understand, equitable CS education that features Black characters can inspire a child to dream big and envision new possibilities. It’s a much-needed mindset shift! We need more inventors in our community that are capable of telling our own stories, meeting our unique needs as a collective, and building a legacy of wealth that could be passed down for generations.”
Read more: https://www.blackbusiness.com/2022/11/bukola-somide-black-mom-daughter-first-interactive-stem-somi-doll-win-innovation-year-award.html