Tech Maven

If You Ask Engineer Stephanie Lampkin, Eliminating Workplace Bias Is as Easy as Downloading Her App

- Marquita K. Harris

Growing up in Prince George’s County and Charles County, Maryland, Stephanie Lampkin was a competitive tomboy in a low-tech household. There was no Super Mario Kart or cable. Yet her interest in computer science flourished, thanks to the influence of her tech-savvy aunt and her entrepreneurial-minded mother. Lampkin learned to code at age 13, majored in engineering at Stanford and went on to pursue an M.B.A. at MIT. Her deep dive into the tech and business worlds ultimately led her to create Blendoor, a recruiting app that eliminates bias from hiring practices. Blendoor levels the playing field by removing a job applicant’s race, gender, name and age, leaving hiring managers with only a prospective employee’s qualifications. As for the app’s name, its creator explains that “blend is about diversity and doors are about opportunity and transparency.” Here Lampkin reflects on her evolution from playing with Legos to running a company that is changing the way we get hired.

ESSENCE: What was your first job?