Celebrating Black History Month

Every February, the United States commemorates African Americans who have overcome adversity throughout history and gone on to inspire others. Black History Month is about togetherness, and the people who have shown us that our differences and diversity are what ultimately make us a stronger and more compassionate country. This sentiment is close to us at NRG as we continue to celebrate inclusion and diversity as one of our Power Values. Our employees’ individual differences help fuel innovation and understanding so we can best serve each other and our customers.

In celebration of Black History Month, we are highlighting African Americans who have made significant impacts on the energy industry. Throughout February, we will feature three inspiring individuals, so be sure to check back often and share this blog with your friends and family.

Jessica O. Matthews    

It takes an innovative mind to correlate a soccer ball with electricity. It takes an entrepreneur — a modern-day pioneer like Jessica O. Matthews — to turn such an item into a source of energy for the developing world. But that’s exactly what she did. Growing up in Poughkeepsie, New York, she quickly developed a passion for science, attending fairs and shadowing her parents’ technology business.

Matthews went on to attend Harvard Business School where, in her junior year, she attended her aunt’s wedding in Nigeria. During this trip, she witnessed a frequent occurrence — a power outage – which required the locals to turn to diesel-powered generators for electricity. The generators ran for long periods of time, often in the same vicinity as children playing soccer. Concerned about the children breathing in diesel fumes, Matthews brainstormed how she could make a difference.

Upon returning to Harvard, Matthews and classmate Julia Silverman created Soccket — a soccer ball that harnesses and stores kinetic energy. The soccer ball was designed so efficiently that playing with it for just half an hour generated enough energy to power an LED light for up to three hours. This allowed kids in developing countries to turn their favorite pastime into a way to provide enough light to do homework once it got dark. Shortly after, Matthews created another power-generating toy — a jump rope that produces up to three hours of power for an LED with just fifteen minutes of jumping.

Matthews’ work continued to evolve, but her drive for change in the power industry remained the same. She expanded her horizons and got involved in global infrastructure projects, helping develop a 30 MW hydropower dam in Nigeria, among the first hydroelectric dam projects privatized in the country.

Matthews’ success is recognized widely. She received the Innovator of the Year award from Black Enterprise in 2013, and has been named on both the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2014, and Fortune’s Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs in 2016.

Hazel O'Leary

We are proud to feature Hazel O'Leary — the first African American Secretary of Energy — as our second Black History Month highlight. With a background as a prosecutor and a consultant, O’Leary was appointed to a number of positions by President Jimmy Carter, including assistant administrator of the Federal Energy Administration and administrator for the Economic Regulatory Administration at the newly established Department of Energy.

O’Leary then served as executive vice president of public utilities provider, Northern States Power Company. In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated her as Secretary of Energy — a monumental accomplishment as she became the first female and the first African American to serve in the position. During her tenure, she focused heavily on reducing the United States’ investment in nuclear weapons while increasing investment in renewable energy sources. She advocated forward-thinking and understanding how government decisions today would influence future generations. With this mentality, O’Leary made partnerships with nonprofit organizations and manufacturers to help commercialize environmentally friendly and energy-efficient products.

After four years as Secretary of Energy, O’Leary undertook many high-level positions and became president of her undergraduate alma mater, Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, TN. Today, Hazel O'Leary is officially retired, but not before a storied career that significantly influenced our country’s approach to energy development.

Lewis Latimer

Lewis Latimer was an inventor and author who specialized in drafting and illustrating patents — many of them electricity related. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Latimer spent much of his career moving around the Northeast, assisting and advising on breakthrough inventions that set the groundwork for today’s electricity-based technologies.

In 1876, Latimer was hired to draft the necessary drawings for the first patented telephone in the United States under Alexander Graham Bell. Just a few years later, U.S. Electric Lighting Company hired Latimer, where he and a colleague invented a light bulb with a carbon filament — a significant improvement on Thomas Edison’s paper filament design. In 1884, he wrote the first book on electric lighting, Incandescent Electric Lighting, and supervised the installation of public electric lights around New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. Latimer literally brought light to cities all across the world.

A true pioneer, Lewis Latimer paved the way for modern day electricity. His combination of technical skills and sheer passion contributed to the brighter, much more electrified world we live in today.