About Us

Real Industry was founded in 2014 with a mission to educate, empower, and inspire university and college students at the intersection of arts and technology. In the Spring of 2019, our board made a clear directive - increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering the intersection of arts and technology. We started with a small, but generous gift and a handful of partners: Cal State Monterey Bay, Loyola New Orleans, Spelman, UC Riverside, University of Hartford, and Wayne State.

The pandemic represented a setback. Our traditional sources of revenue dried up, namely the corporate-funded design challenges at campuses that Fortune 500 companies like to recruit from… like Stanford, UMICH, and Carnegie Mellon.

But, that didn’t stop us. The inequity in outcomes and social unrest inspired us to ramp up our level of activity. We interviewed students, faculty, university stakeholders, and business professionals. Verizon contacted us with the offer of leveraging their 135,000 employees eager for virtual volunteer opportunities. We put them to work. We launched an Hour of Mentorship, holding weekly mentorship sessions with hundreds of students and mentors on topics like project management, team collaboration, and more. We built out a series of short, weekly design challenges and virtual events. called Make It Until You Make It. 

As we enter the Fall of 2021, we picked up on something we kept hearing from our students. Black students wanted to squarely address race matters they’ll invariably face at work and in life. And, allies of other races wanted to know how to be better accomplices, holding the door open for others. As a result, we conceived of the Equitable Leaders program in 2021. In 2022 and 2023, we piloted the program within three college communities and one industry setting, delivering what participants called a transformative learning experience that increased participants’ knowledge and confidence in talking about race. We believe we’ve hit on a winning strategy. This year, we’re excited to grow the program and introduce the K12 Facilitators Guide to expand this work through Civics, American History, and Social Studies classes. The arc of the moral universe is long, but we shall do our part to bend it toward justice.

We Need Your Help

Now, more than ever, we are counting on your generosity to continue this important work. When you give to this initiative, you give underrepresented students the opportunity for a better future. Help contribute to a more equal future in the workplace!