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Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

By Mel on January 30, 2020

Clorama Dorvilias, Founder and CEO, Debias VR

Debias VR is a company that creates gamified immersive experiences to combat racial and gender biases. The company was launched after Clorama Dorvilias and Jessica Outlaw won a 2017 Oculus Launch Pad scholarship* for developing the immersive experience now known as Teacher’s Lens. Dorvilias’s personal experience of feeling treated unfairly in her graduate program and a deep discussion with Outlaw about implicit bias and how it creates unwelcome classroom environments led to the creation of Teacher’s Lens: a simulated classroom interaction with students to help teachers identify and reflect upon their biases and develop empathy to create more inclusive classrooms.

Dorvilias, who is from San Jose, California, completed her B.S. in Political Science at Santa Clara University, taught herself the Adobe Creative Suite and how to code, became a freelance designer, and earned her M.A. in Interaction Design Communication at the University of the Arts London. Her impressive work experience includes working at nonprofits such as Americorps and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, in government as a public official for the City of San Jose, and in virtual reality companies Pebble Code and Oculus VR, which have both been acquired by Facebook in recent years.

Dorvilias’s entrepreneurial nature, technology expertise, and dedication to solving social issues, along with the emergence of VR as a powerful, up-and-coming force in training and development, provides the perfect opportunity for her to lead Debias VR to become a leading company in diversity and inclusion development and training.

*It is important to note that even after receiving funding from Oculus, the project had difficulties raising capital from investors, as only 2.2% of investor funding in 2018 went to women-led startups, according to Forbes.

Gamifying Empathy to Foster Equality – Arm

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2 Feb Posted on Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

Dorvilias's story and motivation to create Debias VR is inspiring, which I think is a good mark of an entrepreneur. As others have also noted, it is impactful to see women entrepreneurs diversifying the technology sector. Less than 10% of startups are lead by women and even less women of colour. Some researchers have even argued that the lack of diversity in the tech sector is leading to the exclusion of women and minorities in productization and market participation of these sectors. Dorvilias's company not only adds to the diversity in the tech sector, but it also aims to "debias" using technology. While Teacher's lens tackles bias in the classroom, perhaps one day Debias will tackle bias in the tech sector.

2 Feb
0 Thumbs Up!
amanda klassen @alk301

Dorvilias's story and motivation to create Debias VR is inspiring, which I think is a good mark of an entrepreneur. As others have also noted, it is impactful to see women entrepreneurs diversifying the technology sector. Less than 10% of startups are lead by women and even less women of colour. Some researchers have even argued that the lack of diversity in the tech sector is leading to the exclusion of women and minorities in productization and market participation of these sectors. Dorvilias's company not only adds to the diversity in the tech sector, but it also aims to "debias" using technology. While Teacher's lens tackles bias in the classroom, perhaps one day Debias will tackle bias in the tech sector.

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2 Feb Posted on Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

Great post, Mel! Clorama Dorvilias is leveraging the empathy-generating power of VR to make the world a better place, not only for herself but for all who experience bias and discrimination. I particularly appreciate her tenacity not only for finding opportunity in her painful grad school experience, but also in terms of her self-teaching and landing impressive opportunities with industry giants such as Oculus. Thank you for sharing the video of her story. It really brings her amazingness to life!

2 Feb
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kirsten mckinnon @kmckin03

Great post, Mel! Clorama Dorvilias is leveraging the empathy-generating power of VR to make the world a better place, not only for herself but for all who experience bias and discrimination. I particularly appreciate her tenacity not only for finding opportunity in her painful grad school experience, but also in terms of her self-teaching and landing impressive opportunities with industry giants such as Oculus. Thank you for sharing the video of her story. It really brings her amazingness to life!

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2 Feb Posted on Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

Clorama Dorvilias turned her personal struggles with discrimination and racism into an opportunity to reach out and create a solution for this social problem. By overcoming rather than succumbing to the negative biases being thrown at her, Dorvilias shows great strength and determination as an entrepreneur and leader of social change. Although funding was challenging to obtain for the company, Debias VR, her resilience and belief in the greater good her products and services could have in society make this ed tech start-up something to look out for in the coming years.

2 Feb
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cass @casschan

Clorama Dorvilias turned her personal struggles with discrimination and racism into an opportunity to reach out and create a solution for this social problem. By overcoming rather than succumbing to the negative biases being thrown at her, Dorvilias shows great strength and determination as an entrepreneur and leader of social change. Although funding was challenging to obtain for the company, Debias VR, her resilience and belief in the greater good her products and services could have in society make this ed tech start-up something to look out for in the coming years.

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1 Feb Posted on Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

Clorama Dorvilias comes across as a very driven person that has accomplished incredible things over the last few years. Her diverse academic background, tenacity to go out and learn new skills in order to achieve her goals and the social impact value of her venture are inspiring. She is a true "go-getter" and it's been this characteristic that has helped pursue opportunities that she has uncovered along her journey.

1 Feb
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Carla Pretorius @cp101

Clorama Dorvilias comes across as a very driven person that has accomplished incredible things over the last few years. Her diverse academic background, tenacity to go out and learn new skills in order to achieve her goals and the social impact value of her venture are inspiring. She is a true "go-getter" and it's been this characteristic that has helped pursue opportunities that she has uncovered along her journey.

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31 Jan Posted on Clorama Dorvilias, Debias VR

I think Ms. Dorvilias is a most inspiring entrepreneur, for many reasons! 1) We need more women entrepreneurs in the world. As of this posting, only about 10% of the most recent Founders Parade profiles here are of women, and the Forbes statistic quoted in Mel’s post is even more illustrative of the lack of female representation among startup CEOs; 2) Dorvilias’ business venture was motivated by personal experience and authentic passion for social change that will benefit humanity at large, not just the business owner; 3) The company’s showcase product (Teacher’s Lens) combines research-based content with contemporary technologies and design knowledge; 4) Dorvilia’s career path models the use of resources and sponsorship programs that exist for young innovators, and thus stands out as an inspirational success story, particularly for visible minorities and women.

31 Jan
1 Thumbs Up!
shuebrook @intigr8r

I think Ms. Dorvilias is a most inspiring entrepreneur, for many reasons! 1) We need more women entrepreneurs in the world. As of this posting, only about 10% of the most recent Founders Parade profiles here are of women, and the Forbes statistic quoted in Mel’s post is even more illustrative of the lack of female representation among startup CEOs; 2) Dorvilias’ business venture was motivated by personal experience and authentic passion for social change that will benefit humanity at large, not just the business owner; 3) The company’s showcase product (Teacher’s Lens) combines research-based content with contemporary technologies and design knowledge; 4) Dorvilia’s career path models the use of resources and sponsorship programs that exist for young innovators, and thus stands out as an inspirational success story, particularly for visible minorities and women.

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