Pledge Expands Study.com Impact Efforts focused on Education
Originally published on PR Newswire.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Study.com announced today that it has joined Pledge 1%, a corporate philanthropy movement dedicated to making the community a key stakeholder in every business. Pledge 1% continues the company’s commitment to Making Education Accessible through social impact programs focused on increasing access and equity in education for underserved learners, non-traditional students, and educators.
“From day one, our founders believed that companies should positively contribute to society and set out with a mission to make education accessible,” said Dana Bryson, SVP Social Impact at Study.com. “Pledge 1% further solidifies this commitment to empowering learners to overcome obstacles in seeking education.”
Study.com has donated $23 million in-kind value across social impact programs, including millions to help schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pledge 1% aims to expand on the company’s previous social impact initiatives, which include:
- The Working Scholars program offers a bachelor’s degree pathway for adult learners to start or finish their degree without any financial burden or debt. Over 100 graduates have benefitted from the program, which currently serves communities in California and provides students with academic advisors, degree mapping, transfer assistance, and success counseling.
- Through the company’s partnership with DonorsChoose, Study.com has donated subscriptions to hundreds of educators and provided online learning access for 40,000 students, primarily from Title I schools.
- To promote teacher diversity, Study.com partnered with the California Center on Teaching Careers. The program serves four colleges and 16 school districts across primarily rural California and provided access to Study.com’s CSET test prep courses for 67 pre-service teachers.
- Study.com partners with the Oregon Youth Authority providing opportunities for system-involved youth to prepare for college credit-granting exams.
“Bringing together Study.com’s non-profit, industry, and community partners to help drive access and equitable outcomes in education will continue to be a focus of our social impact efforts under Pledge 1%,” continued Bryson. “The programs we offer support a wide range of people. In every instance, the support we provide taps into the power of our microlearning and video-based platform to meet each learner where they are and support them in achieving their goals.”
About Study.com
Study.com is an online education platform that helps learners excel academically and build knowledge confidence. From test prep and homework help to earning affordable college credit, Study.com’s online courses, short, animated video lessons and study tools have made learning simple for over 30 million learners and educators. Study.com was founded in 2002 and is a privately-held company located in Mountain View, Calif. Find us online at Study.com or download the mobile app from the iOS app store or Google Play.
About Pledge 1%
Pledge 1% is an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Rally, Salesforce and Tides to accelerate their shared vision around integrating philanthropy into businesses around the world. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities, because pledging a small portion of future success can have a huge impact on tomorrow. Pledge 1% offers companies turnkey tools and best practices, making it accessible for any company to incorporate philanthropy into their business model. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit www.pledge1percent.org.
Kicking off our two-part series on Employee Engagement, this session highlighted the opportunities for engagement strategies in the new hybrid work environment, as well as critical initiatives to foster community and support employees remotely. Read the recap below and access the session resources here.
The continued uncertainty around in-person gatherings has improved our tactics of virtual employee engagement, leading to strategic shifts in our Pledge 1% programs around volunteering, giving, and awareness campaigns. Whether your social impact teams are organized within the Marketing, Corporate Affairs, or People departments in your company, successful programs need to adapt to the hybrid environment as we face the challenges of the post-pandemic workplace.
In this session, Pledge 1% Chief Executive, Amy Lesnick spoke with Erin Dieterich of New Relic, Kathy Gu of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Nisha Kadaba of PagerDuty about the integration of the new work environment into their social impact programs over the last 18 months. We also heard from Christina Frantz, Director of Social Impact at Twilio, who shared an update about the next WePledge 1% cohort starting in February 2022.
Here are our 4 takeaways from the event:
1. Human interaction should be at the center of employee engagement.
Getting people to connect with their coworkers and local communities should be at the heart of employee engagement. With hybrid workplaces on the rise, traditional ideas about volunteering, employee giving, and community connections are changing towards “learning and doing” where employees are brought together to learn the simple actions they can do in their own lives to make a difference.
2. Reflecting on feedback is essential to combat engagement fatigue.
Companies are finding a correlation between people who participate in their social impact programs and their retention. As employees continue to face uncertainty on a global scale, the engagement strategies implemented to employees as well as new hires need to be accessible. Tools like Benevity help make it easy for employees to track their impact, choose which partners they want to volunteer or donate, and open doors to participate in causes with their colleagues.
3. Expanding employee engagement across borders has never been easier than today.
Enhancing the VTO (Volunteer Time-Off) policy includes meeting employees where they’re at, given the resources and interests within their local community. Being more flexible and open-ended about where employees spend their time volunteering is a huge first step in breaking the barrier to engagement, as companies are starting to include peaceful demonstration and voting as ways to participate in corporate citizenship.
4. Employees are change agents waiting to be empowered.
Companies should provide the tools and resources for employees to engage. Activating employees to become a more central part of your organization’s social impact strategy is a journey best shared with like-minded people who want to create impact, collectively. Twilio has open-sourced their WePledge 1% approach and has partnered with Pledge 1% to guide small groups in developing employee impact programs.
You can learn more about WePledge 1% here.
You can also watch the full recording below:
Originally posted: October 15th, 2021
Originally published at AvidXchange Newsroom.
AvidXchange recently joined Pledge 1% as part of its transition to become a public company listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Pledge 1% is a global movement that encourages and empowers companies of all sizes and stages to donate 1% of their staff time, product, profit, or equity, or any combination of the four, to philanthropic endeavors of their choosing.
AvidXchange will join the more than 15,000 companies in 100 countries around the world that have used Pledge 1%’s framework to ignite over a billion dollars in new philanthropy this year alone.
“Joining Pledge 1% was a no-brainer for us when we were exploring ways to make a bigger impact outside our office walls following today’s milestone,” said Michael Praeger, CEO and Co-Founder of AvidXchange. “Corporate giving is a part of AvidXchange’s DNA and we look forward to leveraging this new commitment as an opportunity to give back to the communities where we work and live.”
“We are thrilled that AvidXchange has joined the Pledge 1% movement and that their commitment has already had such an immediate and meaningful impact,” said Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive of Pledge 1% “As an industry leader, AvidXchange is paving the way toward a future where social impact is part of every company’s culture, values, and business model.”
AvidXchange began its focus on giving-based initiatives in 2005 when the AvidXchange Foundation was founded in response to helping elementary school children impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The Foundation has continued to grow, taking on the mission of positively impacting the lives of youth in the communities where AvidXchange employees live and work.
To learn more about the AvidXchange Foundation, click here.
And to learn more about Pledge 1%, click here.
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
What is your name and title?
Shani Hurwitz, Senior Case Manager at Discovery Life.
Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.
I am a Senior Case Manager at Discovery Life. I assist clients who are going through disabilities to try and help them achieve their optimal life goals, despite the trauma that they are going through.
How did you get here? Please share any quick stories from past work experiences.
I am a qualified physiotherapist and love working with people. Working as a physio, people tend to “offload” their emotions during their treatment. It was then that I began to realize, not only the inherent link between pain and emotion, but the power of attitude in creating or destroying the ultimate story of your life, and I knew that I had to try and use this information on a greater scale.
In your opinion, what’s the #1 decision or move you’ve made that has helped advance your career?
Even when you are hating what you do at that moment, do the absolute best you can and treat every single human that you come into contact with, with the utmost respect.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned this past year?
Gratitude. In your darkest hour, there will always be something to be grateful for. And once you find it, you will find the light.
What’s the number one challenge you face as a woman in your industry?
I am pleased to say, that women are treated with absolute respect and authority. This is due to the company’s culture of diversity and strong leadership. We constantly raise each other up and encourage greatness in every woman and man in the organization.
Do you have any mentors? What does mentorship mean to you?
I have multiple mentors throughout the organization and in life. From each mentor, I try and find that part of myself that radiates and reflects the energy given off by that person. Sometimes, that energy may be practical, like learning to study while having a baby, and sometimes it’s a paradigm shift, like putting yourself out there without any fear of failure.
What advice do you have for women who are just starting their career?
If you follow your passion and only seek to do good, you will find success. Also, set smart goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely—and then keep resetting them.
What is one thing companies can do, big or small, to help create an environment that advances women into leadership positions?
Companies help advance women through education and conversation. Intellectual leadership is born through opening up the space for women to speak and allowing their voices to be heard. Helping to educate women will always open up opportunities.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish in the next year?
I would like to set up a platform within the company to try and reduce mental disabilities. There are so many people at the moment struggling with mental health issues, many in secret and alone. I believe that the pandemic has exacerbated an already very frightening situation. By opening the conversation around mental health, and brainstorming ways to help the community as a whole, we can try and help some of those that are struggling in silence.
Is there a cause that is particularly close to you? If so, why this cause and how did you get involved?
I am passionate about mental health and wellness. Your mental state will affect the outcome of any illness or injury that you face and it will allow you to either achieve your goals or it can destroy you from the inside out. I assist those suffering from mental illness, whether it’s their primary disability or a result of another life changing trauma, through counselling and rehabilitation programs at the company.
What does Pledge 1% mean to you?
Pledge 1% shows that when we each do something small collectively, we really can change the world.
What do you like to do outside of the office? Any interesting (or unique) habits or interests?
I love to travel. Learning about other cultures and witnessing every raw, untouched, and magnificent part of this planet enlightens my soul.
Are you reading/listening to anything interesting at the moment? Please share your most recent favorite book or podcast!
I love listening to TED Talks. It’s an easy way to find daily inspiration, even when my days seem crazy, I can listen to other peoples’ stories or deep insights into random topics while driving or exercising. It might sound cheesy, but learning from everyone’s passion tends to help me find my own.
What’s been the one (or two!) things that have helped you navigate this past year? Any tips or tricks to dealing with remote work?
Aside from creating a healthy routine, where work does not flow over into “after-work time”, find a way to get out of your comfort zone and do things that you can be proud of. I was never able to cook, but the extra time has allowed me to whip up some gourmet meals for hubby!
In joining the Pledge 1% network, airSlate commits to providing all interested nonprofits with a 10% discount for each of its products on the Salesforce AppExchange
BOSTON, MA — October 7, 2021 — airSlate, a leader in document workflow automation solutions, announced today that it has joined Pledge 1%, a global corporate philanthropic community that empowers positive social impact at the local level. airSlate is joining over 12,000 companies around the world who have committed to pledge 1% of either their product, profit, equity, and/or staff time to the charity of their choice. Boston‑based SaaS vendor is proud to announce its commitment by offering its digital solutions at a discounted rate for all nonprofit organizations.
airSlate’s team has always been passionate about giving back to the community, especially to those social causes that require IT support. One of airSlate’s ongoing projects is to provide software and hardware supplies, along with dedicated IT support, for Computer Science classes in rural high schools. Now, airSlate is pleased to offer nonprofit organizations a 10% discount across its entire suite of products available on Salesforce’s AppExchange: airSlate, signNow eSignature, and DaDaDocs’ PDF editor and form builder.
“We are honored by the opportunity to join the Pledge 1% global community. 2020 and 2021 have been very challenging years for everyone, especially nonprofits. When operating under pandemic and post‑pandemic conditions, NGOs need workflows that are 100% paperless, digital, and automated. We are happy to provide all of the above at discounted prices,” explains Borya Shakhnovich, CEO and co‑founder, airSlate.
By joining the Pledge 1% network, airSlate encourages other SaaS vendors to take similar pledges and leverage their business success towards meaningful social impact.
For more information on airSlate, visit www.airslate.com or follow the company on social media channels: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
airSlate is a global SaaS technology company that serves over a hundred million innovators worldwide with its no‑code workflow automation, electronic signature, and document management solutions. The company’s portfolio of award‑winning products, signNow, pdfFiller, airSlate, and US Legal Forms, empower teams to create, innovate, and automate in order to digitally transform their organizations so they run faster and easier.
Pledge 1% is a global movement that inspires, educates, and empowers every entrepreneur, company, and employee to be a force for good. Over 12,000 members in 100+ countries have used Pledge 1%’s flexible framework to ignite half a billion dollars in new philanthropy. To learn more about Pledge 1% and to take the pledge, visit www.pledge1percent.org.
Originally published at PR Newswire.
NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Justworks, the software platform that gives small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) access to benefits, payroll, HR, and compliance support—all in one place, announced today that it is launching Justworks.org. The charter of Justworks.org is to create equitable access to entrepreneurship.
To realize this charter, Justworks has pledged to donate 1% of the company’s equity and profits—joining other influential tech leaders in the Pledge 1% movement. With these resources, Justworks.org will work to level the playing field for entrepreneurs who have historically faced inequities in opportunity along race, gender, sexual orientation, and other socioeconomic lines.
“At Justworks, we’re driven by our mission to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow with confidence,” said Isaac Oates, founder and CEO of Justworks. “Entrepreneurship is challenging enough on its own, but disparities in access to resources and opportunities can be an obstacle for many entrepreneurs—preventing them from having a fair shot at realizing their potential. Through Justworks.org, we’ll build on our mission and level the playing field for more founders.”
Making entrepreneurship more accessible is what sparked Oates to found Justworks in 2012. He saw first hand that the needs of growing businesses had become more complicated, but the infrastructure to support them hadn’t kept up. Last year, Justworks launched the Just Thrive program to make its platform more accessible for both new and existing minority and women-owned businesses (MWBE). Through Just Thrive, MWBE customers get access to special discounts, resources, networking opportunities, and additional visibility for their business. Justworks has also developed its grantmaking muscle through the Spring Forward Fund, an annual $25,000 grant for one of its non-profit customers. The company also encourages all of its employees to volunteer, as well as providing them paid time off specifically to do so. With Justworks.org, the company’s goal is to build on these initiatives and introduce new ones that amplify its reach and support for underrepresented founders.
Justworks.org will initially focus on high-impact grantmaking for incubators and other organizations that help early-stage MWBE businesses access the fundamentals of entrepreneurship: raising financing, building products, finding customers, and ultimately delivering revenues and profits.
To spearhead this effort, Justworks has brought on seasoned diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social impact veteran, Yrthya Dinzey-Flores as Vice President of DEI, Social Impact, and Sustainability. Dinzey-Flores has led philanthropy, social responsibility, diversity, equity, and workplace inclusion in the private, non-profit, and public sectors, including the NYC Department of Education, Robin Hood, Toyota, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner, and most recently, Open Society Foundations. At Justworks, she will execute the vision for Justworks.org and lead a comprehensive and forward-thinking diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging strategy to support Justworks’ mission and drive toward sustainable outcomes. Dinzey-Flores will also formalize and grow the company’s environmental, social, and governance commitments.
“I am thrilled to be joining such a dynamic company with a bold vision and unique potential,” said Dinzey-Flores. “Throughout my career, I have been driven by an innate desire to help people use the power of their voice for progressive change, whether in a corporate, public, or civic setting. I’ve been inspired by Isaac’s vision for Justworks, including his sincere commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and responsibility. I know that together we can become an agent of lasting change.”
This fall, Justworks.org will open up a call for submissions for organizations supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs to apply for high-impact grants. Learn more.
About Justworks: Justworks makes it easier to start, run, and grow a business. Founded in 2012, Justworks, the fastest growing HR technology company, is a modern support system for work and life. With Justworks, entrepreneurs and their teams get access to big-company benefits, automated payroll, compliance support, and HR tools—all in one place. By combining the power of a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) with expert 24/7 customer service, a simple and intuitive platform, and access to Time and Attendance solution Justworks Hours, Justworks gives teams of all sizes the confidence to work fearlessly. To learn more, visit www.justworks.com, follow us on Twitter @JustworksHR and Instagram @Justworks_HR.
Contact:
Wahaj Khan
wahaj@dittopr.co
SOURCE Justworks
Related Links
Originally published in Yahoo! Finance.
The Xometry Scholars Program is part of the company’s commitment to support sustainability and educational initiatives through Xometry.org
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Xometry, Inc. (NASDAQ: XMTR), a leading AI-enabled marketplace for on-demand manufacturing, today announced the creation of the Xometry Scholars Program in partnership with Howard University. Xometry will pledge more than $900,000 to provide eight scholarships over the next four school years to students enrolled in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture.
In conjunction with Manufacturing Day, which seeks to raise awareness about advanced manufacturing careers and prepare the current and next-generation workforce for the skills and jobs of the future, the scholarships will be awarded to students in need who are studying for a mechanical engineering undergraduate degree and are interested in pursuing a career in manufacturing.
“Manufacturing and Design is one of the top competencies within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, so this partnership in support of historically underserved and underrepresented groups of STEM students is incredibly timely. By enabling students to acquire the top-notch training we provide and current knowledge of industry practices, there is a win-win future where the current manufacturing skills gap is reduced and the US human capital pool can continue to remain relevant and become the model,” said Nadir Yilmaz, Ph.D., P.E., chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture.
The creation of the Xometry Scholars Program is part of the Xometry.org donor-advised fund launched earlier this year. This initiative is dedicated to supporting sustainable manufacturing initiatives and providing educational opportunities for underrepresented communities.
Under the Xometry.org program, over the next five years, Xometry will pledge 1% of its equity to fund educational opportunities for underrepresented students, environmental conservation efforts, and a variety of socioeconomic causes to build a more sustainable future. The program will focus on continuing education, early education, energy production, and conservation.
“Xometry has always supported causes ranging from education to environmental conservation to civic responsibility and we are proud to formalize this program through the creation of the Xometry Scholars Program,” said Laurence Zuriff, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Xometry. “Part of re-establishing U.S. manufacturing leadership is expanding the cohort of talented mechanical engineers, machinists, and technicians. In order to accelerate innovation, the U.S. needs more than just material infrastructure. It needs to invest in training the next generation with the skills that are essential to modern manufacturing. We are proud to do what we can to make an impact here.”
According to a recent report by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, the worker shortage in manufacturing has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Xometry’s priority is to support underrepresented communities in STEM across the United States through tuition support, particularly for those pursuing mechanical engineering degrees and vocational training to simultaneously provide new opportunities for underrepresented communities while addressing the manufacturing skill shortage and subsequently revitalizing U.S. manufacturing.
The Xometry.org program will also support efforts to increase clean energy production and will devote significant funds to offsetting carbon emissions through land and sea conservation. In 2020, the company implemented a carbon offset program within its Xometry Instant Quoting Engine, which calculates each order’s estimated carbon footprint and the cost to offset the emissions.
For more information about Xometry.org, please visit www.xometry.org.
About Xometry
Xometry is a leading AI-enabled marketplace for on-demand manufacturing, transforming one of the largest industries in the world. Xometry uses its proprietary technology to create a marketplace that enables buyers to efficiently source on-demand manufactured parts and assemblies, and empowers sellers of manufacturing services to grow their businesses. Xometry’s buyers range from self-funded startups to Fortune 100 companies. Learn more at www.xometry.com or follow @xometry.
Media Contact:
Ellen Miles
fama PR for Xometry
Xometry@famapr.com
With such a strong response from the March 2021 Day of Shecurity event and the high demand for jobs in the cybersecurity field, Secure Diversity and the Lookout Foundation will host its next virtual Day of Shecurity on October 28 and 29, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PDT (UTC – 7). For the first time, the conference will occur over two days to ease any concerns about devoting a whole day to conferencing and breaking it up for fewer hours over more dates.
Presented by Secure Diversity and The Lookout Foundation, Day of Shecurity is an initiative that launched a San Francisco-based lunch and learn in 2017 to provide career development and skills training to women interested in pursuing cybersecurity careers. The founding partners have since hosted five in-person conferences, including one international event – all free of charge to attendees. The inaugural virtual event, held on March 23, 2021, drew 1,711 registrations and 933 attendees from 53 countries. There were 85 unique presentations by 117 speakers between the main stage and session rooms. The majority of the presentations are available on the Day of Shecurity YouTube channel. This content does not include the number of technical and non-technical presentations provided by the sponsors in their expo booths.
Some highlights from the main stage included:
- Cybersecurity consultant and researcher Tomiko Evans turned poetry into a rap as her presentation asked the question, “Do we really take security seriously in this industry?”
- Hacker and security evangelist Alyssa Miller talked about the value of women in cybersecurity and made recommendations about how to be successful and achieve goals.
- Technology and cyber leader Jameeka Aaron from Auth0 discussed using emotional intelligence as the framework for cybersecurity culture.
The event was made possible – and provided training opportunities for participants – by the 46 corporate and non-profit sponsors:
- Founding: Lookout and Secure Diversity
- VIP: Atlassian, Auth0, AWS, Boston Cybernetics Institute, Bridgecrew, CyberSN, Detectify, Okta, Palo Alto Networks, & Patreon
- Gold: Earnin, Gusto, Google, Highmark Health, Lyft, Oportun, Ramagine, Salesforce, Security Innovation, Segment, & Snap
- Silver: Flexport, Netflix, PagerDuty, Pinterest, Raytheon Technologies, Technium, Verkada, & Virsec
- Bronze: Chime, CircleCI, Open Raven, Sequoia Capital, Snyk, & Tinder
- In-Kind: CyberPreserve, CyberRisk Opportunities, NIFTWIT, INE, Innovation Women, Sightline Security, We Hack Purple, Wehmeyer & Associates, & Women’s Cyberjutsu
A Critical Need
A recent study found that women now comprise up to “30% [of cybersecurity workers]…up from 24% the year before. While men still make up a majority of the cybersecurity workforce, the growing percentage of women, and their positions within organizations, suggests cybersecurity provides a rewarding career path for women who choose to pursue it.”
Although numbers of women in cybersecurity rose according to the (ISC)2 2020 data, the pandemic resulted in an estimated 2.3 million women leaving the U.S. workforce between February 2020 and February 2021. American women are participating in the professional workforce at the lowest rates since the late 80’s.
The cybersecurity workforce demand has increased, evidenced by a 2020 report from The Tessian Opportunity that found:
- The cybersecurity workforce needs to grow by 145% to meet the current global demand.
- There are more than four million unfilled cybersecurity jobs.
- If the number of women working in cybersecurity rose to equal that of men, the industry’s economic footprint in the U.S. would increase by $30.4 billion.
To register, visit https://www.dayofshecurity.com/fall-2021-conference.
HELP US KEEP DAY OF SHECURITY FREE FOR ATTENDEES. BE A SPONSOR.
Sponsoring the Day of Shecurity Conference allows organizations to connect directly and support women interested and actively working in the cybersecurity field. Sponsors will be able to: recruit top security talent, expand the talent pipeline for the future, share products and services with the community, and align their brand with caring for diversity and inclusion.
This effort is completely funded by sponsorships, generosity, kindness, and the belief that collectively, we can make a difference.
If your organization wants to sponsor a future Day of Shecurity Conference, please fill out the form here.
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
What is your name and title?
Jessica Lauretti, Founder at Laurels.
Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.
I run a marketing consulting practice that partners with executives and startups to build and launch new ventures.
How did you get here? Please share any quick stories from past work experiences.
I used to be a singer in a band and started my professional career at VICE in the early 2010s. From there, I became the Head of Content at Purpose, a social impact agency, and went on to become the Global Head of the award-winning RYOT Studio with Verizon Media. I started my own business to be able to work on projects I care about with people I love.
In your opinion, what’s the #1 decision or move you’ve made that has helped advance your career?
I’d say my ability to pivot and evolve has been my greatest professional asset. I’ve always been open to new opportunities with steep learning curves and dynamic environments, as well as a willingness to change industries and companies regularly which has enabled me to learn and grow in any role very quickly.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned this past year?
Hold on tight to everything you hold dear, and leave the rest behind.
What advice do you have for women who are just starting their career?
I always tell women who are just starting their careers to stop. I think it’s more valuable to spend that time pursuing things you are passionate about, learning what you like and are good at, and collaborating with peers on projects that are meaningful to you than to work at any entry-level job.
What is one thing companies can do, big or small, to help create an environment that advances women into leadership positions?
I think it’s important for companies to share the eligibility, methodology, process, and criteria for internal promotion and raises. With a transparent roadmap, you can then create a set of actionable items to direct your work effort towards while simultaneously creating a set of data and accountability for tracking when, how, and why women are or are not promoted into leadership positions.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish in the next year?
I’d like to finish the book I’ve been writing with existential career advice. The working title is Everything I Thought I Knew.
Is there a cause that is particularly close to you? If so, why this cause and how did you get involved?
I’ve been involved in politics and activism since my youth, so the causes I am passionate about have changed over the years. Recently, I’ve been really focused on entrepreneurship and access to capital as social equity issues. As someone who grew up without generational wealth and an elite pedigree, creating my own opportunities was one of my only options for employment. I was able to turn a startup I ran in my 20s into a successful professional career, and I see it as one of the best ways to bridge the equity gap. I then began to build wealth from scratch. Currently, I mentor at TechStars, Combine, and other accelerator programs; and I have been working with startups and founders at both WeWork and SoftBank.
When did your company join Pledge 1%? What does your impact program mean to you?
I joined soon after launching, back in the spring of 2019. I pledge 1% of my time and participated in several mentoring programs and speaking engagements for young people. There was a time in my life when someone gave me a shot and opened doors for me that I couldn’t get into on my own, and I have always felt like it’s really important for me to do the same for others.
What do you like to do outside of the office? Any interesting (or unique) habits or interests?
I love politics, I love to cook, and I’m obsessed with my dog. I also spend as much time as possible at the beach.
What’s been the one (or two!) things that have helped you navigate this past year? Any tips or tricks to dealing with remote work?
Write this on a post-it note, “Life is all memory except for the one present moment.”