Lola Odelola

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Lola Odelola is a software engineer and campaigner who works to improve diversity in technology. She founded Blackgirl.tech, a non-profit space that helps Black girls, women, and non-binary people learn and explore tech.

Odelola studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Kingston University, graduating in 2013. While trying to build her own writing website on a tight budget, she taught herself to code. Realizing she enjoyed coding, she joined a coding boot camp. After working in London and finding few opportunities, she noticed that “diversity” was a common buzzword in tech, but Black women were often left out. So, in 2014 she started Blackgirl.tech to create a learning community for Black girls and women.

By 2016, Blackgirl.tech had a dedicated team and ran monthly coding workshops. The group received funding from 38 Degrees and hosted events like a private screening of Hidden Figures at RichMix. In 2017 they screened Black Panther and launched a scholarship program. Blackgirl.tech closed in 2019 after mentoring and hosting events for over 300 Black women, girls, and non-binary people.

Odelola has shared her views on underrepresentation on BBC Inside Science (2018). She also hosts the Lost in the Source podcast, where she talks about her journey in tech and explains technical concepts. She works as a Core Support Engineer at Heroku. Her achievements include being named one of Code First: Girls’ top UK women in tech under 30 (2016), being recognized as an inspirational woman in tech (2018), and being highlighted by Computerworld as one of the most inspiring Black women in UK technology (2019). Tech Nation also listed her among the “50 most inspiring, prominent, and influential Black voices in UK tech.”