The Challengers – Anthonia Ogundele, Founder, Ethọ́s Lab

We launched a new series here at EQ that we call The Challengers. After all, we're a Challenger Bank, and we want to showcase some other incredible people who we feel live and breathe what it means to be a Challenger. This month, we talked to Anthonia Ogundele, Founder of Ethọ́s Lab. Ethọ́s Lab is described as “Hogwarts meets Wakanda meets coworking space”. The digital-first community encourages youth aged 13-18 to come together to experiment with emerging technologies and see what’s possible when there are no limits. With an online virtual arena and safe, limited-attendance in-person workshops, Ethọ́s Lab powers safe, accessible, anti-racist, technology-forward youth spaces created from the imagination of the Black community, and for all youth.  

What is Ethọ́s Lab?

Ethọ́s Lab is the people; it’s the community. We are a non-profit organization that leverages culture as a vehicle to access STEM education. We focus on designing our programming centering the humanity of the Black experience. What that does is that it allows us to create a space where Black youth are respected, reflected and protected. It’s really the grounding for what creates an inclusive environment. We are open to all young people being a part of it, but I think it’s just the time to start interrogating what types of spaces we want to create to ensure all young people are represented.

Can you describe to us the moment when you knew this was a space you needed to create?

The beginning was really having a family. That started inspiring me to think about how to create a space for my teenage daughter and other teens like her. I saw there was a deep need to address the lack of Black girls, Black youth, and underrepresented communities in STEM. That was really the impetus of it – I didn’t want my daughter to grow up in a world anymore where she didn’t feel included or to be able to create the future that she wants.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

One of the most memorable moments was actually when the pandemic happened. About two weeks earlier, we had launched the idea of Ethọ́s Lab in front of about 150 people. At that point in time we were running events every week in Surrey, and we weren’t necessarily getting a lot of people coming. We had a March Break camp all set up with 30 kids registered called our “Co-Creation Camp”. Then Covid hit, and we had to cancel. Microsoft and Urbanarium came together and offered to do a hackathon and explore what it means to be in this digital space. That had always been the direction for Ethọ́s Lab. So we very quickly shifted gears, and it’s been awesome for us to be able to engage kids in Vancouver. We’ve had kids across the country, and as far as San Diego involved in our programming. We do have an amazing core of “Ethosians” that have been there right from the beginning, and we are only hoping to continue our community. So I would say when the pandemic hit and the families that came together to keep it going, that’s the most memorable moment for me, because we wouldn’t be here without all of them.

Is there a challenger you look up to and why?

The “Ethosians”. I really look up to all of them. They are so bold, they ask a lot of great questions, and they’re very creative. They are not afraid to talk about really big issues. We talk about STEM, robotics, and coding, all these different things ... what's really important at Ethọ́s Lab is talking about how these intersect with what’s happening in our world right now. Ethọ́s Lab is about finding innovative ways to solve different problems. I feel like the Ethọ́s Lab young people have really challenged me, who takes the stance of letting my actions speak louder than my words, to really be able to stand up on issues that are important to me and the community at large.
Watch the full interview with Anthonia, and stay tuned to our Instagram for interviews with future Challengers!