LOCAL
Ismael Lele, The Oklahoma Eagle
Tech week features over 100 events. Photo: Molly McElwain/Tulsa Flyer.
Tulsa Tech Week, the city’s inaugural tech showcase, kicks off Monday with nearly 100 events hosted by 90 different organizations.
“There’s a lot of technology here, but the everyday Tulsan, whether you’re a transplant like me or native like someone else, has no idea there’s a tech hub here,” Tariqua “Tai” Nehisi, the event’s sole organizer, told The Eagle.
Residents are able to reserve their seats for events on Tulsa Tech Week’s website. Most are free, though some have specific enrollment requirements with entry fees. Nehisi said she expects 3,000 people to attend events throughout the week.
A Brooklyn native, Nehisi serves as CEO of Organizely, an artificial intelligence software company. She moved here in 2023 through the Tulsa Remote program not knowing the city’s potential as a technological hub.
In 2024, Tulsa became a federally designated tech hub through a $51 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Philanthropic partners, Nehisi said, essentially matched the grant money with another $49 million. These milestones motivated her to bring more awareness to the city’s growing presence in the tech space.
Plans for the event started in June 2024, as Nehisi began connecting with what would become over 90 partners. Her goal is to change the perception that information on technology is only for people who work in the industry.
“I wanted to change that first and foremost, because if people are informed about the opportunity in and around them, they will be more compelled to contribute to it and make sure that in contributing to it, day by day, they would shape their future,” Nehisi said.
Downtown Tulsa Partnership, Black Tech Street and Gradient are among the groups participating in the first Tulsa Tech Week. Some events will be held virtually and other options range from networking opportunities for entrepreneurs and informational sessions for those who aren’t technologically savvy to financial literacy workshops.
Ray’Chel Wilson, the Tulsa-based CEO of Raise the Bar Investments, told The Eagle that she was sold when Nehisi told her the week “is not a conference, it’s an experience.”
“I share alignment with Tai in desiring to see a Tulsa that is more open to all, that allows for more social mobility,” Wilson said. “I saw the cultural benefit … but also the benefit for our economy, especially for those that often aren’t able to access those private and exclusive events that major organizations in Tulsa do have.”
Wilson will host two events centered around “financial trauma” from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to noon Friday. Both events will tackle how residents can leverage technology to support building better wealth practices.
Nehisi said she plans on launching a similar event in Oklahoma City next year.
“Technology is for everyone,” she said. “It’s for me, it’s for you, it’s for we, it’s for us.”
