The Black Innovation Leaders of Florida (BILF) was created in February 2022 to help provide and share resources amongst innovation organizations across the state. Participating organizations and leaders are committed to ensuring engagement and initiatives supporting innovation within the black community align with addressing needs to push equity, wealth, and opportunities.
BILF is committed to addressing these issues at their roots while fostering an environment where Black talent and communities can flourish. We do this by focusing on five pillars: Capital, Talent, Education, Procurement and Public Policy. BILF oversees a range of programs and services across these pillars.
Mission Statement
Unite and provide access, education, advocacy, and technical support to Florida organizations and leaders, focusing on elevating innovation in the black community.
Organizational goals
● We create connections among organizations and educational institutions focused on innovation, public policy improvement, access to capital, education, procurement opportunities, and talent development across the state to enhance innovation and advocacy through collaboration and knowledge.
● We co-sponsor events to promote innovation for children and adults.
● We facilitate sharing resources among member organizations to expand knowledge, effective practices, and expertise across the innovation ecosystem.
● BILF also supports connecting member organizations with resources, fostering growth, and facilitating opportunities for black-owned businesses, talent, and leadership.
● BILF assists non-innovation organizations in implementing programs that support innovation and tech companies. It also helps individuals create nonprofit organizations to execute their vision for supporting the innovation community.
Ebony Vaz is the Founder and CEO of Above Promotions, a marketing technology, and public relations company in the Tampa, FL area. She is also the author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation” and a marketing instructor.
Ebony interweaves her engineering background and government research with her public relations and marketing expertise to help implement science and technology into storytelling for public awareness campaigns, growth strategies, new products, and in-person events.
For over 15 years and 100+ brands, she has worked on campaigns for AT&T, AAA, AOL, Cold Stone Creamery, and Verizon Wireless to smaller national and international organizations and public-funded organizations, like the University of South Florida. She has brought her depth of knowledge to campaigns and projects with budgets ranging from four to seven figures leading clients to increased revenue and higher returns on investments. She has been successful in helping create compelling messaging, engaging, fresh stories, and increased leads for organizations. She also positively affects internal teams and processes, leaving clients with a healthy and high-performance work environment.
As a diversity and tech contributing writer and speaker, Ebony has educated those in business worldwide with her insights and is well-respected in her field. She was featured on MSNBC.com, Food and Wine, Social Media Today, Food Fanatics, BizBash, AdWeek, PR Daily, Yahoo.com, the Retail Customer Experience, Business 2 Community, NewsOne.com, and other publications and panels. Awarded as one of the Top 50 Black Marketers on the Rise by AAMA, she is frequently invited to speak on emerging technology for marketing and public relations strategies, crisis communication issues, emphasizing cybersecurity, consumer psychology, research, marketing trends, startup ecosystems, and STEM and diversity. Ebony leads colleagues across the U.S. through online groups focused on crisis communication topics and creative services for the business community.
She continuously gives back to her local community as the Founder of A Few Creatives, Board Director for InfraGard Tampa Bay, Impact Board Member for Synapse Florida, serves on the Pasco EDC Global Coalition Committee, Advisor for Pasco County Career & Technical Education, USF College of Education Cybersecurity Advisory Board member, Soaring Cities Advisory Committee, International Womens Forum Suncoast Chapter Member, Small Business Development Center Expert Consultant, Tampa Bay Smart Cities Alliance member and a member of the Tampa Bay Organization of Women in International Trade.
Ebony is a graduate of Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Black in Business Cohort One, Venture Deals Kauffman Fellows Academy, and Techstars participant and judges startup pitch competitions throughout the year.
Keep up with Ebony’s column on diversity and tech for Moguldom.com here.