I don't think the lack of diversity is an issue at all. Programmers provide solutions to problems...computers don't care about your race, age or gender when executing code.
I'm a famous black programmer...you just haven't heard much about me :)
In Engineering we learn about a "black box" - a device that accepts an input and return an output. We couldn't careless about the parts/components inside that black box.
Sometimes we have to treat programming like a black box. All we care about is getting the desired output. There will always be time to make the code efficient later.
The end user and manager only care about the output.
You should work on the simplest idea you can think of. Start small and improve as you go. Launch something and just focus on covering the hosting cost.
Making a constant $1/day is really hard. If money is the only motivation then you'll give up really easy.