Yeshimabeit "Yeshi" Milner is an American technologist and activist.[1][2] She is the executive director and co-founder of Data for Black Lives.[3][4]

Yeshimabeit Milner
Born
United States
Alma materBrown University
Occupation(s)Technologist, activist
AwardsRoddenberry Foundation Fellowship (2018)

Early life and education

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Yeshimabeit Milner grew up in Miami, Florida.[5][6][7] Starting in her late teens, Milner became involved in activism and data science.[8][9][10] She worked with the Power U Center for Social Change as a high school senior.[1][6] Milner attended Brown University, graduating in 2012 with a BA degree in Africana Studies.[11][7]

Career

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In 2013 at age 22, after returning to Miami after college, Milner started working with the Power U Center for Social Change and looking at Black infant mortality rates locally in trying to understand why they were disproportionately so high.[12][6] They were able to retrieve data from 300 mothers, and as a result changed local policy.[12][third-party source needed]

One of her classmates at Brown University was mathematician Lucas Mason-Brown, together they founded Data for Black Lives in November 2017.[13][14] The Data for Black Lives (D4BL) annual conference was started in 2018 by Yeshimabeit Milner and Lucas Mason- Brown.[15] They use the slogan, "Abolish Big Data!" with hopes to redesign big data and to "put data into the hands of those who need it most".[16][17] In 2020, the group was able to compile state-level data about the impact of COVID-19 on Black people and are working on compiling a nationwide database of technologies used by police departments.[18] In 2021, Milner co-wrote a research piece for Demos on algorithmic racism from Big Tech companies.[19][20]

Awards and accolades

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Milner served on the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee.[1] In 2018, she was awarded a Roddenberry Foundation Fellowship, which honors and invests in extraordinary people who can change the world.[21] In 2020, Data for Black Lives and its founders were awarded the Forbes 30 Under 30 and the New York Times 2020 Good Tech Awards.[3][22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Yeshimabeit "Yeshi" Milner". Equal Justice Society. 2018-06-22. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  2. ^ D'Ignazio, Catherine; Klein, Lauren F. (2020-03-17). Data Feminism. MIT Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-262-04400-4.
  3. ^ a b Roose, Kevin (2020-12-30). "The 2020 Good Tech Awards". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  4. ^ "9 Black Women in Data Science to Know | Built In". builtin.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  5. ^ Cocco, Federica; Smith, Alan (July 22, 2020). "Race and America: Why Data Matters". Financial Times. The Financial Times Limited. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  6. ^ a b c "Yeshimabeit "Yeshi" Milner". Netroots Nation. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  7. ^ a b Lo, Puck (2018-05-30). "Practitioner Profile: Yeshimabeit Milner". #MoreThanCode. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  8. ^ "2019 Speakers". Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH). 2019-07-31. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  9. ^ "Yeshimabeit Milner on Abolish Big Data and Data 4 Black Lives". IGSF. McGill University. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  10. ^ "Databite No. 129: Abolish Big Data". Data & Society. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  11. ^ Rosenfeld, Maia (2019-02-21). "University event highlights complexities of data power". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  12. ^ a b "Why We Need Data For Black Lives". Forbes. Ashoka. December 11, 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ^ "Profile: Data for Black Lives". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  14. ^ "Predictive policing algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  15. ^ Miller, Sandi (December 13, 2017). "Calculating the cost of tech-fueled discrimination". MIT News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  16. ^ Donovan, Joan (2020-01-14). "Redesigning consent: big data, bigger risks". Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. 1 (1). doi:10.37016/mr-2020-006.
  17. ^ Kilgore, James (2022-01-18). Understanding E-Carceration: Electronic Monitoring, the Surveillance State, and the Future of Mass Incarceration. The New Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-62097-615-9.
  18. ^ Roose, Kevin (31 December 2020). "The 2020 Good Tech Awards". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  19. ^ "Data Capitalism and Algorithmic Racism". Demos. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  20. ^ "The Capitalist in the Machine: Decoding Data Capitalism". Nonprofit Quarterly. 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  21. ^ "Yeshimabeit Milner". Roddenberry Foundation. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  22. ^ "30 Under 30 2020: Social Entrepreneurs". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
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