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What to expect

Part memoir, part searing revelation, Seen Yet Unseen takes readers behind the scenes of some of the world’s biggest tech companies and exposes the way their exclusion of and, at times, hostility toward Black women have lasting impacts on the technology we use every day.

Over the years the products of big tech companies and Silicon Valley have become indispensable to our lives. They impact the way we socialize, make purchases, and even our medical decisions. But what happens when a major segment of the population—in this case Black women—isn’t included in these companies?

For over a decade, Bärí A. Williams has worked to carve a space for herself as a Black woman in the incredibly white male sphere of major tech companies, eventually becoming a lead counsel at Facebook and architect of their supplier diversity program. However, she also experienced the peculiar feeling familiar to Black women in the workforce: being both unseen and too seen. In raw and personal stories, Williams recounts balancing on glass cliffs while battling the burnout that so often forces Black women out of these companies, and how the industry’s lack—and loss—of Black women not only harms the businesses themselves but has troubling ramifications for their products, particularly as the promises of AI and the Metaverse loom large.

In a tone both forthright and revealing, Williams dissects how a culture that has largely excluded Black women—and people of color more generally—is at a tipping point and that only through embracing and listening to Black women can we prevent the further weaponization of these technologies against marginalized communities. From fledgling in-house diversity initiatives to gentrification and the rise of AI, Seen Yet Unseen takes the reader inside the obscured machinations of big tech companies and makes a case for why diversity is essential to the future of technology.

Critics Review

  • “Amidst the increasing interest in algorithmic injustice, Bärí Williams steps in to center Black women in the broader discussion of how tech contributes to inequality—and how tech can remedy inequality. Framed by Williams’s own experiences as a Black woman in Silicon Valley, Seen Yet Unseen is a timely and important intervention.”

    Melissa Murray, professor of law, New York University School of Law; former dean of Berkeley School of Law; MSNBC contributor

  • “A new era in technology delivers the opportunity to rebuild with equality at the core. Seen Yet Unseen presents a framework to address this universal truth: that tech culture is skewed against women of color, that we must truly address the disproportionate representation found within its ranks, and that we can right the wrongs that Big Tech has done to consumers of color. Bärí A. Williams is a compelling voice who is uniquely qualified to tell a story that will be familiar to those who have been disenfranchised by the technology industry as well as those who benefit from it. This examination of the past combined with her vision for a more equitable future is our way forward. Seen Yet Unseen comes with a singular truth: that if Black women don’t advocate for ourselves, no one else will.”

    Monique Woodard, founding partner of Cake Ventures and former partner of 500 Startups

  • “Bärí A. Williams is a rare double threat. She’s an attorney with a record of thoroughly examining facts to find the real truth within, and a fearless diversity advocate who won’t back down. Pair that with being a terrific communicator with a wonderful ability to make those findings relevant, relatable, and actionable for a popular audience, and this is what you get.”

    Minda Harts, author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table

  • “Bärí A. Williams is one of the most dogged people I’ve ever met, and I’m very glad she’s aiming her uncommon persistence—along with her diversity and inclusion expertise and unflagging compassion—at a predicament that the tech industry has done far too little to address: the way it treats Black women within its walls and its consumers of color outside of them. We should all be yelling at the top of our lungs about this; Bärí’s one of the few people I know who actually is.”

    Samantha Walravens, coauthor of Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech

  • “Having also been a Black woman attorney in a white male dominated industry, I know what it’s like to have to be twice as good for half the reward…I saw myself in these stories.”

    Eboni K. Williams, attorney, former Fox News anchor, and author of Pretty Powerful

  • “I am a big fan and supporter of Bärí A. Williams. The issue of diversity in tech and tech leadership is super important and timely, and I’ve yet to see a compelling book (any book, really?) on this topic. Bärí is a star—she has tons of relevant lived experience as an industry leader, and she’s a superb, engaging writer. The topic of Seen Yet Unseen couldn’t be more timely given the increasing economic and cultural dominance of Silicon Valley. Bärí will address key questions in the book including: How do we fix tech industry inequities—especially toward Black women? And how do AI and automation exacerbate these problems? She’ll know how to solve them.”

    Marc Bodnick, venture capitalist, cofounder of Quora, early investor in Facebook

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