Madongorere is still trying to figure out what impact heβs supposed to make in Austin. He and his wife moved to the capital city from Boston with their children two and a half years ago, after someone suggested he visit SXSW.
βI got off the plane and everyone was smiling and happy,β Madongorere said. βAnd I found that to be so weird, because I grew up in NYC, and I was from Massachusetts. And the only place Iβve seen that warmth is when I lived in Africa for four years. But I was just like, βwhat is happening? I donβt know what this place is, but it feels different. It feels like home.ββ
It wasnβt a difficult choice to leave the Northeast, he said. He was starting to feel disconnected like no one understood the value of a content creation firm that focused on tackling injustice through media.Β
Austin is like a coloring book and thereβs still pages that haven’t been colored
βMassachusetts and Boston felt like tech had already begun, and everyone coming into it now, you were almost too late, so you almost had to prove yourself and keep proving yourselfβ over and over, he said. βCompeting with people made me feel yucky.β
βAustin is like a coloring book and thereβs still pages that haven’t been colored, and there’s a box of crayons here for you to color with. New York is like, there are no more pages.β
It helped that a Facebook friend who had given Madongorere his extra SXSW passes invested in MOON Ultra, Madongorereβs answer to poorly-lit selfies, on the spot. And heβs been able to find a core group of Black entrepreneurs in tech who help build each other up.Β
βHere in Austin, you have an ability to write a new story,β he said. βIf enough of us win, then we can show other entrepreneurs who are Black that Black people can come here and win.βΒ
Madongorere is used to having to find a different path. He was raised by a mother, whom he describes as βvery much a dreamerβ who believed there was never a roof or boundary box that could contain oneβs dreams. His dad was very much the opposite β practical and focused. The balance between imagination and discipline, he said, has stuck with him throughout his entire life.Β
I had never seen so many people who were doing important things who looked like me
As a young child, he lived with his family in Jamaica, Queens, but his family moved to New Hampshire, where he would go to predominantly white schools. He moved to Zimbabwe for four years as a teen and had an opportunity to go to school in the country of his parentsβ descent.Β
βI had never seen so many people who were doing important things who looked like me,β he said. βI go to Africa, and the pilot is black and the doctors are back.β
Madongorere said those three distinctly different foundational childhood experiences all impact the way he views diversity and inclusion, and particularly impact his ability to get along with other people, despite their differences. When it came time for college, he got into the design school of his choice, but his family didnβt have the money to send him. When he realized he wouldnβt be able to pursue formal higher education, Madongereβs desire to learn only intensified. Everything he felt he wanted to do after that, he put every ounce of his energy into learning how to do it, and not just the craft itself, but all of the supporting processes.Β
βI really want to help inspire people as a founder going from nothing to something and see that thereβs a path from nothing,β he said. βBut what I really want to do is, in the process of doing that, find a way to inspire inclusion,β Madongorere said he found many diversity and inclusion conversations muted and shallow. His hope is to βcreate that story from multiple lenses of people that look like us, (and) inspire that move from people who look like us β¦ regardless of how you grew up,β he said.Β
The path to doing that, he said, would be to βjust become obsessive about content.βΒ
He knows what itβs like to be evicted, he knows what itβs like to live in his car. He has attended predominantly white schools, lived on very diverse blocks, and lived internationally in a place where everyone looked like him. The youngest Madongorere son has autism, and he said a lack of diverse content about kids who have autism or other learning differences also drives him to push for diversity and inclusion in all areas.Β
βOne kid is different than the next,β he said. βWhen you think about Black kids (with autism) versus white kids (with autism), β¦ if youβre a white kid and youβre having a meltdown, then the way youβre looked at is different than a Black kid thatβs having a meltdown.β
In police encounters, for example, Black people with autism are treated as noncompliant, he continued. And the idea of shedding light on these stories βthat can have a massive impactβ — βno oneβs really sharing these stories, because people are in the middle of it, so no oneβs thinking to share or capture it,β he said. But βwe want to be more intentional about finding ways to tell these dynamic stories.β
βWhen it comes to being athletes, musicians, things that weβre expected to be, we tend to be really fearless, but when it comes to being an entrepreneur or whatever else, we tend to be really fearful,β said Madongorere. βI truly want to see people win, and win in a way thatβs not detrimental to their betterment.β
You can connect with Madongorere on his company’s website. To see the full list of 2021 Innovative Leaders βΒ click here.