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Tears for Charleston

Posted on June 21, 2015

I stood at my desk - reading. Well, not so much reading, as absorbing the details and reaction of the #CharlestonShooting on social media. As I kept scrolling, I felt my eyes welling up. Before I burst into tears, I quickly closed my browser then looked around cautiously to make sure that none of my co-workers noticed me as I struggled to keep it together. I went through the same process throughout the rest of the day. Open Twitterbook, read, weep, close, repeat. I was grieving. Why? I didn’t know any of the victims personally.

But, I did - in the same way that I acknowledge another person of color that I’ve never met before. That is make eye contact and nod head ever so slightly. It’s an acknowledgement that we are in the same struggle together as Black Americans. This shared struggle binds us like the DNA that binds me to my family.

Therefore, when I look at Clementa, Sharonda, Myra, Tywanza, Ethel, Cynthia, Daniel, DePayne, and Susie, I don’t see strangers. I see family. They transform into my mom, my dad, my brother, and my son…all slain because of the rich melanin in their skin. And that transformation makes the senseless loss of their lives so much harder to bear.

About

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Hi, I'm Don Pottinger.

I love building things with computers. At 10 years old, I wrote my first program using BASIC. I built my first computer when I was 12 years old.

I graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I have a background as a technology consultant and software engineer.

Now, I'm a co-founder of LanguaTalk, a language learning platform, and an engineering manager at Google.

I live in Atlanta with my amazing wife and kids. For fun, I play too much soccer and follow my favorite clubs, FC Barcelona and Arsenal F.C.

My CV so far

  • Engineering Manager at Google (2022 - Present)
  • Co-founder at LanguaTalk (2020 - Present)
  • Cloud Engineer at Google (2019 - 2022)
  • Founder and CEO at Kevy (2014 - 2019)
  • Co-founder and Head of Technical Development of Body Boss Fitness (2010 - 2015)
  • Engineering Manager and Software Engineer at Big Nerd Ranch (2012 - 2014)
  • IT and Management Consultant for Accenture and Slalom Consulting (2008 - 2012)
  • Graduate of Georgia Tech with BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2008)

Facts About Me

  • I was born in Jamaica and raised in the United States.
  • I speak English, Spanish and Jamaican Patois.
  • I love to travel. So far, I've visited Peru, Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Canada, Jamaica, Hawaii, Mexico and England.