Tondi Allen
(Photo Credit: Tondi Allen)
Name: Tondi Allen (twitter)
Occupation: Technology Coach
Favorite Restaurant in Town? Firebirds Wood Fired Grill (Beachwood)
What's something useful, magical, or wonderful about Cleveland? Cleveland Hts. is my magical place. No matter where I live, there is no place like it. I love the little quaint neighborhoods, with its cute little boutiques, and diverse community. It has an energy that can’t be found anywhere.
Q: Tondi, you are a Technology Coach at Urban City Codes. What does a technology coach do and what is Urban City Codes?
A technology coach at Urban City Codes helps to guide and keep a student on track to a successful career in technology. A coach helps you to establish your niche, create a strategic plan, and keeps you accountable. We also help to identify obstacles that could prevent you from completing your skills goals by finding solutions early on.
Urban City Codes is a culturally-focused technology training center focused on closing the tech gap for minority students. We offer a variety of evening and weekend tech workshops, courses, and certification prep classes for the under-served, under-represented, and under-resourced community. We have an entire team of instructors, coaches, and mentors here to guide and make sure students meet technology career goals.
We are one of the partners of the Access Tech initiative powered by Jumpstart and funded by Verizon. They have supported Urban City Codes with getting our students access to sponsored tech classes and provided them with a laptop and wifi. We are extremely proud of this project.
Q: As a frequent speaker at Cuyahoga Community College and its IT Center for Excellence, what are some of your favorite topics to speak on?
I love public speaking especially on my favorite technology topics. My favorite so far is my “Future of Work” presentation. Its amazing watching my audience react to various future careers and all the possibilities it brings.
I have another presentation called “How to Create Technology” that I present to a more youthful crowd. This particular presentation is super fun because it's highly interactive and the crowd goes wild.
I have presented on other topics like BlockChain Technology, Diversity and Inclusion in Tech, Introduction to Mixed Reality, and Automation workflow.
Q: It seems like you have a passion for giving back. The list of non-profit boards you are on and memberships you have is it too long to list here. How did you get involved with the Better Business Bureau?
My husband and I started MassTechism, a web design and app development agency. Our goal was to focus on transitioning black-owned brick and mortar businesses to online companies.
Over the years, we have experienced significant growth and great feedback from our clients. We have a solid reputation for sticking by our clients and producing great work. With that said, the Better Business Bureau puts great emphasis on being ethical, establishing trust, and having integrity. We make it our top priority to maintain those standards and was referred by an existing member to become part of the board.
As an existing BBB member, I was put on the ballot and was honored to be voted in. I am considered a technology SME for the board and very excited to contribute insight for this organization and make sure we are continuing the work of uplifting the standards of BBB.
Q: What is your role at MassTechism? How do you balance that role with all of the other activities you are involved in?
MassTechism is web design and app development agency that meets the needs of companies who are ready to transition online and create automated workflows. We have an entire team of designers, developers, content writers, content creators, and social media managers.
Since we started, our goal was always to provide opportunities for the under-represented and under-resourced community to participate in real technology projects and build technology portfolios. We have partnered with several organizations that provide us with students interested in technology careers or tech internships. Our ecosystem has provided a way for companies to receive quality service while allowing students to gain real tech career experiences.
My focus is to educate clients and offer automation workflow tools that make having an online business work more efficiently and become more productive. I would be considered an IT strategist for automated tools. When my calendar allows, I make time during evenings and weekends to meet with the team and train them how to work with our clients. In some cases, I make time to meet with clients directly but I mainly focus on developing the next generation of automation IT strategists.
Q: Where do you think the biggest areas of innovation and change are in healthcare information technology?
After directly participating in one of the biggest turning points of Healthcare and IT, the experience exposed me to some huge areas of opportunities in Health IT. I would say the top three areas would be IOT, Remote care/Telemedicine, and Blockchain.
For example, with the installation and upgrade to 5G, IOT (Internet of Things) will make a huge impact on healthcare. Healthcare professionals will be able to monitor preventative care plans, watch inventory of prescriptions, and obtain data in real time. This will help patient communication tremendously.
I would say the same for Remote care. I believe we were already working towards implementing Telemedicine but Covid-19 sped things up. Remote care with the help of IOT will make it possible for someone wearing a device to get monitored by their personal physician or manage chronic illnesses miles away. This will be significant, especially for those who live in rural areas or people with limited access.
Lastly, Blockchain has made significant waves especially in healthcare. I personally don't think there will be anything that will secure patient data like blockchain technology. However, although beneficial in a number of ways, I think it will be a long while before hospitals start implementing this technology. It's certainly something to watch out for.
