Mike Street Runs for NY Tech Meetup Board
In addition to his work at Syndicate, Street also has a few political motivations as witnessed in his current partcipation in the annual election for one of two seats on the 13 member board of the NY Tech Meetup group. As you’ve read in several articles, New York is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the tech arena with a growing number of tech startups choosing the city as their base of operations. The influence is evident as NY Tech Meetup currently boasts 15,097 members and counting. NY Tech Meetup covers many areas of tech and serves as a meeting place for some of the brightest and most influential minds in the New York tech scene.
In addition to Street, tech celebs such as blogger, technologist, and entrepreneur Anil Dash, and Tony Bacigalupo, Mayor of New Work City, “a community coworking space and center for independents in NYC,” are also in the running. Black Web caught up with Mike on the campaign trail to discuss his reasons for running, how diversity plays into the NY tech scene, and what he hopes to accomplish if elected.
NY Tech Meetup was Founded in 2004 by Scott Heiferman. Each month, six companies and developers demo technology they’ve been working on in front of a 700+ sold out crowd. The NY Tech Meetup is a community-led organization, and is not for profit. This is a very important space as the next Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or other life-changing technology is being developed within this community.How long have you been involved in the NY Tech Meetup?
I’ve been a member since 2007! I love going to the Meetup and participating via the message boards with the community. There is SO much information being passed back and forth it’s AMAZING!
Why are you running for the board?
I’m running for the board position of NY Tech Meetup because I’m very passionate about the tech. community as a whole. And as
a member I’ll focus on adding a greater level of transparency to the organization so that everyone will know all the levels and benefits of New York Tech Meetup and how they can maximize their experience. Secondly, I want to bring in more diversity to NYTM. I want to make NYTM a space space for women, minorities, and other under-represented communities to be able to participate. Finally, I feel that NYTM is a great resource for social good. The talent in the room on a monthly basis is POWERFUL. Thus, I want to activate this community through non-profit and Pro-Bono work to help serve the community for a greater good. I’m VERY passionate about NY Tech Meetup and is one of the reason why I’ve decided to run.How does this meetup influence the NY Tech Scene?
NY Tech Meetup is greatly influencing the NY Tech space. Many of the top developers, marketers, and companies are coming and engaging with the community to further grow the NY Tech Space. Programs such as the NY Big App competitions (http://nycbigapps.com/) taps into this community to create app’s for New York city and rewards developers with a cash prize. So it’s a HUGE opportunity for anyone to be involved with NY Tech Meetup.
What do you hope to accomplish as a board member?
It’s important for African Americans, Women, Latinos, and other underrepresented communities to sit at this table. Thus, what I want to accomplish is to allow for greater visibility, participation, and networking within this community. And again transparency, pro-bono work, and diversity are all the passion points that I will focus on by working closely with NY Tech Meetup.
How will diversity play into your candidacy?
It is one of the passion points for me running. I’d like to help increase awareness for NY Tech Meetup in other communities. There are still a lot of people who have not heard of the organization and who never attended to see the demo’s. It’s important to sit at this table, and learn from the talent at NY Tech Meetup. I encourage that EVERYONE attend! Go to http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/ to become a member.
Voting for the NY Tech Meetup Board ends on Dec. 17th and is only open to member of the group. If you’re currently an active member of this board, click here to vote. To check out Mike and the other candidates campaign platform click here.
About the Author Sherri is a freelance writer that has a love of all things fun and geeky including gadgets, gaming, anime, and comics. When she isn't writing or out on the town living it up, she loves doing 10-12 hour marathon sessions on her Xbox 360 or one of her older consoles. It's not an addiction, it's a way of life!
See all posts by Sherri L. Smith.
