Tech Founder Tariqua ‘Tai’ Nehisi Launches Tulsa Tech Week As The Oklahoma Town Grows Its Tech Hub

Tariqua “Tai” Nehisi has always had a heart for technology.

The Brooklyn, NY, native founded Organizely, an AI-powered future workplace platform that supports adult learning and continuing education to streamline processes and increase productivity. Organizely’s launch in 2021 coincided with an opportunity for Nehisi to bring her footprint to Tulsa, OK, the following year through a program called Tulsa Remote. According to its website, the program provides a $10,000 grant for an eligible remote worker to move to the city and have a stake in its future. It requires a one-year commitment but workers are encouraged to stay long-term. Nehisi applied in 2022 and was immediately accepted but didn’t officially transition until the following year.

“I made a decision to move here at least for the year and see what Tulsa looked like. And in that moving here, I came at a time when there was a really great concerted effort to support the rebuilding of Black Wall Street through a technical lens with Black- and brown-focused tech companies. And I got into an accelerator to accelerate my business, and that’s how everything really started,” Nehisi told AFROTECH™ in an interview.

Tulsa Tech Week

Nehisi recognized the city’s potential for wealth-building opportunities and saw abundant local talent, but also noted the unequal distribution of access and opportunity.

She saw that the city received $51 million from the Biden Administration in 2024 through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), which is confirmed in an EDA press release. The investment was given to the Tulsa Hub for Equitable & Trustworthy Autonomy, which was recognized as one of the designated tech hubs in the nation under the Tech Hubs Program. The program is focused on scaling “U.S. leadership in critical technologies and industries,” according to the press release.

Nehisi told AFROTECH™ that the Tulsa philanthropic community also matched Biden’s commitment.

“The Tulsa philanthropic community here matched that $51 million by the Biden administration with $49 million to take it to $100 million…. But there’s no singular place or anywhere around this city that lets you know that there’s $100 million here to support the building out of a tech hub or that there’s any technology here, though it is bursting with it. So I waited and I waited, and then I decided ‘I’ll do it myself,’” she explained.

After extensive planning, Nehisi is set to launch Tulsa Tech Week on Sept. 22. The week-long event promises a series of activations to make discovering and connecting with Tulsa’s tech ecosystem easier. According to its schedule, attendees can anticipate sessions including, “How to Use Al to get Alternative Capital”; “Access by Design: Building for Everyone, Not Just the Majority”; “Startup Grind — Built to Last: What Founders Should Expect form Lawyers and Accountants”; and “From Pitch to Portfolio: Banking & Fundraising with SVB (Silicon Valley Bank).”

“The people, from our children through our elders and everyone in between need to have exposure. Representation is key, from the tech-averse to the tech-savvy. You need to discover. But you have to know that there is so much wealth here,” Nehisi expressed to AFROTECH™.

She shared that Tulsa Tech Week has at least 50 partners, which includes Langston University, the state’s only HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). This partnership will amplify healthcare majors on campus and “the voices of Black people in Tulsa from the collegiate perspective,” she explained.

“I’m also trying to highlight the Black experience here in Tulsa, OK,” Nehisi mentioned.

“I’m not the voice of it. I am a voice. And there’s tons of all-Black towns in Oklahoma because this was a place that they were like, ‘Just let them go. Just let them be. We don’t want anything to do with Black people. Just give them the land. They can go ahead…” And [Tulsa Tech Week] is another way to amplify the identity of Black Americans within Oklahoma, specifically Tulsa,” Nehisi added.

Tulsa Tech Week will take place Sept. 22-27 with registration available on the event’s website.