Brēyana Ray

The Center for Rural Innovation (CORI)

Brēyana is a community engagement specialist who works with communities to develop strategies that increase participation in tech with a particular focus on engaging untapped participants. Prior to CORI, she spent four years at Codefi, the first tech and entrepreneurship incubator in southeast Missouri, most recently as the Director of Coworking and Community Engagement. She managed the daily operations of the coworking space and was responsible for connecting internal members, stakeholders and the community. Brēyana also spent seven-plus years in the Aerospace Engineering industry, holds a B.S. in Business Marketing from Penn State University and an MBA from the University of New Mexico.

 

For Brēyana's Thought Leadership Project she created a website that amplifies the voices of BIPOC women in tech as disruptors of how tech currently looks:

The Rural Slice is a storytelling initiative highlighting the stories of women who are challenging assumptions and breaking barriers about who can succeed in tech. After a national call for participants, I’ve selected a dynamic handful of women of color who are living in rural America and working in tech. The Rural Slice will be a platform for them to share their journeys (the highs and the lows) and their vision for the future.