Podcasts about code2040

My guest today is Danielle Hawthorne. Danielle Hawthorne is an experienced Senior Executive, Keynote Speaker, life & Leadership Coach dedicated to using her voice and rich experiences to authentically contribute, fearlessly advocate, and profoundly enhance every space she enters by connecting and engaging with people. She is passionate about eliminating systems of oppression, which led her to Code2040, where she championed strategic initiatives with transformative results as Vice President of Programs. As a responsive leader, Ms. Hawthorne restructured and expanded service offerings as Director of Early Career Programs. Today, Ms. Hawthorne is the Co-Founder and CEO of Worthy of Dignity, a life and leadership coaching and consulting firm committed to reminding women of their divine worth and dignity, and helping them make intentional decisions to build and live purposeful, powerful and intentional lives. Additionally, Worthy of Dignity works with leaders who desire to live and lead from a place of wholeness, and see others as whole human beings worthy and deserving of dignity and respect. In this episode we discuss relationships, leadership, connection, racial diversity and worthy of dignity. Website - https://www.worthyofdignity.comIG - https://www.instagram.com/worthyofdignity https://www.instagram.com/jewelofamomFB - https://www.facebook.com/worthyofdignityLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/worthyofdignity/In this episode you will learn:1. Strategies for sustaining momentum and commitment to diversity inclusion initiaitives.2. How leaders can create safe spaces for employees to express themselves and share their experiences authentically.3. One tip to start stepping into and embracing your inner leader. "I think it's my desire to equip and resource others, specifically women and leaders." - 00:04:37"I think courageous conversations have to be scaffolded through intentions, agreements and relationships, like I've said before. And I think that means the desire to be in courageous conversations have to be there."- 00:28:27"You are worthy. You have everything you need to live this life, to move through it." - 00:59:47Are you an author speaker coach or entrepreneur building a brand in today's very crowded marketplace? How do you stand out? Join me on Sept 27th and learn how to empower your message and shine as a guest on podcasts for just $97. Imagine stepping into that interview with clarity and conviction, connecting deeply with listeners who are eager to hear what you have to say. Imagine the satisfaction of knowing you've nailed it, leaving your audience inspired and wanting more. This would position you as an authority to thousands of people in your industry. Let's turn those nerves into excitement and make sure you shine on your podcast appearance. Together, we'll boost your confidence, polish your messaging for impact, and get you ready to deliver an interview that makes people fall in love with your from the first words. Ready to shine on podcasts? Let's do this! Click the link below to register.https://empowerographypodcast.com/empower-your-messageContact Brad:WebsiteInstagramLinkedInYouTubeX (Twitter)TikTok#empowerographypodcast #women #womensempowerment #empowherment #entrepreneurship #womeninentrepreneurship #empoweredwomen #empowerelevateeducate #findingyourpurpose #podcast #womensupportingwomen #soulalignment #heartcentered #selflove #resilience #personalgrowth #mindset #relationships #passion #heartspace #forgiveness #alignment #transformation #inclusion# #awareness #selfawareness #coach #coaching #leadershipdevelopment #personaldevelopment #worthyofdignity #leadership #connection #racialdiversity #courageousconversation #leaders #value #worth

"I had an authentic connection to the problem - a perspective on cultural connection. So it wasn't powering through rejection, it was neglecting it - because I just knew something they didn't.“ Tristan Walker is the Founder of Walker & Company Brands, where he was also the CEO when it was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018. Walker & Co. is best known for best-selling brands like Bevel & Form - Healthy and Beauty designed for communities of color. Prior to Founding Walker & Co, Tristan was Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Andreessen Horowitz, the prominent venture capital firm. He also served as Director of Business Development for Foursquare - managing strategic partnerships with brands like American Express, The New York Times, CNN, MTV, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Starbucks. Tristan's also had experiences with Boston Consulting Group and Twitter. Currently, Tristan serves on the Boards of Foot Locker, Shake Shack, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Tristan is also the Founder and Board Chairman of CODE2040, a program that matches high-performing Black and Latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for summer internships. Fortune Magazine named him as one out of 50 of the “World's Greatest Leaders.” You'll enjoy this candid conversation about neglecting the laziness of others, and truly empathizing with your customer's experiences. This is a replay of a past episode from February 2022 - from our partners at P&G's “More Than Soap” Podcast - available exclusively each week to P&G Employees at GetMoreThanSoap.com. On “More Than Soap,” P&G shares weekly conversations with Inspiring guests, unique perspectives, and unconventional ideas. “More Than Soap” is P&G's official internal podcast - available to all 100,000 P&G employees worldwide, and hosted by Dorion Positano, P&G's Director of New Business and Content Innovation and AI Integration Strategy. Interested in learning more about P&G's “More Than Soap” podcast, or P&G Studios? Reach out directly to Dorion on LinkedIn. GetMoreThanSoap.com

THE TERRERO BIOS This is our second episode ever with two guests and because it's our 22nd, it's therefore apt to have remarkable twin brothers as our guests: Sinohe and Kenny Terrero. With Dominican parents that raised them in the Bronx, their early days were as humble as apple pie, or mangu. The brothers thought they were going to be in the music business but life had different plans for them. They are both examples of what hard work, grit, determination and masterfully playing the hand you are dealt does to a life trajectory.   Sinohe is currently CFO, COO and CRO of Envoy, prior to Envoy he was CFO of Etsy and IndieGoGo, both trailblazing companies in the creator economy and crowdfunding spaces. He also sits on the board of Code2040 serves as advisor to Carefully, Soleil Entertainment and Simon Data among others. He is an active seed investor and is an entrepreneur at heart, he started his career in finance roles at Citibank and the Boys and Girls Club of New York. Kenny is a partner at Sidley Austin and has broad experience in corporate and compliance matters relating to corporate issuers, fintech companies, closed end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and digital assets and cryptocurrencies. He is a member of Sidley's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and an active member of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), Counsel of Urban Professionals (CUP), ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals For America), Dominicans on Wall Street (DOWS) and and the Chamber of Digital Commerce. “What got you here will not get you there”; “Hard work is table stakes” - Kenny “I did not realize the kind of opportunity I had stumbled upon”; “...it was extra cheese on my pizza” - Sinohe TERRERO RELATED LINKS CFO Thought Leader Interview - Sinohe  CFO as Organizational Enabler- Sinohe Envoy Profile - Sinohe “The Smartest Securities on the Block”, Thompson Reuters - Kenny Sidley Austin Profile - Kenny Cornerstone Award - Lawyers Alliance of New York - Kenny GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade & Bio: https://tinyurl.com/36ufz6cs  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com   THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS  

Welcome to a brand new episode of the ¿Quién Tú Eres? podcast, where we explore the conflict we often face between "professionalism" & being our authentic selves. This week, we have the pleasure of speaking with Joshua Encarnacion. Joshua is a 1.5 generation Dominican-American, and a proud Afro-Latino…with his heart set on growing and helping people grow into their full potential. He's helped build 3 tech-industry startups and worked in training & recruiting roles for big tech companies Uber & Google. Born in Manhattan, NY, and raised in Lawrence & Springfield, MA, Joshua has nothing but love for his folks and the people he's met along his journey as a lifelong learner consisting of a lot of sports, math, reading, perreo, bachata, y cafe bustelo. Throughout his career, he's serviced the following organizations: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, UBER, Airbnb, Netflix, Pandora, Slack, Twitter, Pinterest, Earnest, Gusto, Affirm, Abstract, Simply Business, Thumbtack, Yelp, Asana, Lyft, Atlassian, Tinder, First Round Capital, Kapor Center, General Assembly, Hackbright, Latinas in Tech, NextPlay, CODE2040, Hack The Hood, CODE Tenderloin, The Justice Collective, Change Catalyst, Techqueria, Big Nerd Ranch, and MANY more unlisted. He's coached people through various challenges by helping them grow the emotional intelligence and high-performance habits necessary to create their own professional success, which is a passion of his. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/quientueres/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/quientueres/support

"For me, the thing that stood out was my difference. I wasn't chasing the thing that others were chasing. I was chasing the things that lived with my values." In this View From The Top interview, Tristan Walker MBA '10, founder and CEO of Walker & Company, sits down with James Yan, MBA '23, to talk about his journey from Stanford GSB to entrepreneur. Walker shares a story from day he'll never forget: when he found a cafe, and sat down to write down his values. From that day forward, Walker says, built his business and life accordingly. In 2018, Walker merged his brand with Procter & Gamble, becoming the first Black CEO under the P&G umbrella in the company's 180-year history. He is also the founder and board chairman of CODE2040, a program that matches high performing Black and Latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for summer internships. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Remote work is here to stay. But it's not what you think. Storm Ventures' managing director Ryan Floyd reflects upon the new way people work and what that means for founders and investors going forward. Make sure to also: - Follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanFloyd for more content on building SaaS B2B startups, venture capital, and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to Ryan's blog at https://ryanfloyd.org, where he talks about why he invests in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out his #AskAVC​​​ podcast based on this channel - https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc About Ryan Floyd: Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures, where he invests in, and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and regularly contributes to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC​​​ YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode, he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as pitching to an investor and tackling sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally, he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single person, think about their work and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha interviewed Karla Monterroso, a long time leadership coach, racial equity advocate and the founder of Brava Leaders. We talked about her route into the leadership coaching space, but mainly sought to answer questions about the challenges facing executives today. Here are some of the topics we touch onDiverse leadership and the unique semblance of power on a person of colorHow she's thinking through the second-order impacts of Elon Musk's Twitter takeover and what signal it sends to the industry.Tech's homogeneity problem and if it's getting better or worseHow leaders can cultivate a workforce that leans into conflictAnd of course, we end with a lightning round - including but not limited to how Monterroso would define 2022 in a headline.We'll be back Friday with a festive rerun of an old episode. For those celebrating, happy Thanksgiving and, needless to say, we're very thankful to have you here.Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more!

Today's guest, LeShane Greenhill, is a thought leader with a passion to help small and medium size businesses succeed. LeShane has been described as someone who “maintains the utmost level of ethics, dedication, effort and service to his friends and business partners.” He is CEO and Co-founder of Sagents and Founder of SalesCocktail.com. In 2016, he was selected by Google and Code2040 to serve as an Entrepreneur In- Residence at Google's Tech Hub in Nashville, TN. A graduate of the University of Memphis, LeShane received his BBA with a concentration in MIS. LeShane has also completed the “Building High Performing Businesses” Executive Education program at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Visit salescocktail for more information.  Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review & share! https://therealjasonduncan.com/podcast This episode is sponsored by Dubb. Up your email game and make videos that convert! Get two free weeks and 50% off your first two months with this link: therealjasonduncan.com/dubb Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recurring theme we've seen throughout this season has been the importance of rest. On this episode, we sat down with Danielle Hawthorne, VP of Programs at Code2040 just after her three-month sabbatical. Danielle shares how she was able to reset and refresh herself, her spirituality, and her work with Code2040, a people of color Organization that serves to mobilize the largest racial equity community in tech. As the leader of a team that equips Black and Latinx technologists to be racial equity advocates in their careers, communities, and on their college campuses, she shares how important and how much of a privilege it is to be able to take time off in a world that rewards the hustle. Danielle also offers inspiration on how marginalized communities can still renew themselves and their spirits in the day-to-day. This is a soulful message every leader needs to hear. To get more content like this and learn more about ignite and PSR go to psr.edu.

The venture capital world is notoriously elusive - even for the founders seeking investments. But the process isn't intended to be secretive. Venture Capital investor Ryan Floyd and fellow partner at Storm Ventures, Pascale Diaine take you behind the scenes, revealing their firm's process step-by-step. Find out what happens after your initial pitch, what to note when talking to different VC firms, and the importance of culture & aligned values. Ryan and Pascale will leave you ready, confident and ready to impress at your next investment meeting. Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC podcast based on this channel (https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

The only certainty in business is uncertainty! No founder or investor could have predicted events like the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine - both of which had profound effects on the economy, and therefore SaaS and the venture capital investment trends. But there are ways that startups can prepare for unforeseen ups and downs. Venture Capital investor Ryan Floyd shares his advice on how SaaS starutps specifically can plan for, adapt to and thrive in times of economic uncertainty. Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter - for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures, where he invests in, and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and regularly contributes to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC​​​ YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode, he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as pitching to an investor and tackling sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally, he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Tristan Walker is the Founder & CEO of Walker & Company Brands which include the brands Bevel and FORM, both designed to meet the health and beauty needs of people of color​. He's also Founder and Board Chairman of CODE2040, which matches high performing Black and Latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for internships. He sits on the Board of Directors for both Foot Locker and Shake Shack. On this episode, Tristan speaks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about how Black culture leads all global culture, how he made his imprint on Silicon Valley, and why he decided to chart a new course in Atlanta. Follow Will Lucas on Instagram at @willlucas Learn more at AfroTech.com https://instagram.com/afro.tech Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest Bio: Aniyia L. Williams '07 Arts & Architecture is a serial entrepreneur and inclusion advocate. She is a principle at the Omidyar Network after previously founding and serving as chief executive officer of Tinsel, executive director of Black and Brown Founders, and co-founding Zebras Unite. She previously held roles at Voxer and in the arts administration space. As an African-American woman in Silicon Valley, Williams is breaking down barriers for others now and in the future. She has also been featured in Forbes, Ebony, and many tech and fashion websites and publications; and speaks through the country on diversity in tech, fashion tech, and entrepreneurship/startups. Williams has been the entrepreneur-in-residence for CODE2040, which also focuses on Black and Latinx Entrepreneurs and is powered by Google for Entrepreneurs. She is also a board member for Women's Audio Mission. Aniyia graduated from Penn State's College of Arts & Architecture with a bachelors of art in music with honors, as well as minors in business and Italian after beginning her journey at Penn State Berks. Episode Specifics: In this episode, Aniyia shares her insights on: · Building an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age · Starting at a Commonwealth Campus and perspectives on the Bunton Waller Fellows program · “DIY-ing” a major from available programs when Penn State doesn't have a major! · Getting involved in both student governments and in the performing arts · “Nerding out” by combining academic and personal interests and study abroad into the honors thesis · Working in arts fundraising and then moving into for-profit startups and then back into non-profit · Insights on the ups and downs of the startup ecosystem – and efforts to fix problems for Black & Brown founders in tech · Making the leap to start a company after finding an unmet need in the market and learning along the way from idea to manufacturing to consumer · Creating spaces for others, especially women of color, to excel as founders and funders · Lots of practical advice for start-up founders · Thoughts on parenthood, especially as a founder ----- Schreyer Honors College Links: • Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • LinkedIn • Upcoming Events • Scholars – Need Assistance? Book an Appointment! • Alumni – Learn Why and How to Volunteer • Make a Gift to Benefit Schreyer Scholars • Join the Penn State Alumni Association ----- Credits & Notes: This content is available in text form here. This show is hosted, produced, and edited by Sean Goheen ‘11 Lib (Schreyer). The artwork was created by Tom Harrington, the College's Web Developer. The sound effect is “Chinese Gong,” accessed via SoundBible used under Creative Commons License. The theme music is “Conquest” by Geovane Bruno, accessed via Pixabay and used under Creative Commons License.

"I had an authentic connection to the problem - a perspective on cultural connection. So it wasn't powering through rejection, it was neglecting it - because I just knew something they didn't.“ Tristan Walker is the Founder & CEO of Walker & Company Brands, acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018. Walker & Co. is best known for best-selling brands like Bevel & Form - Healthy and Beauty designed for communities of color. So Tristan is not exactly a P&G Alumni, so what's the deal? Alongside our partners at P&G, we're thrilled to share a sneak peak of P&G's “More Than Soap” podcast - available exclusively each week to P&G Employees at GetMoreThanSoap.com. On “More Than Soap,” P&G shares weekly conversations with Inspiring guests, unique perspectives, and unconventional ideas. Prior to Founding Walker & Co, Tristan was Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Andreessen Horowitz, the prominent venture capital firm. He also served as Director of Business Development for Foursquare - managing strategic partnerships a brands like American Express, The New York Times, CNN, MTV, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Starbucks. Tristan's also had experiences with Boston Consulting Group and Twitter. Currently, Tristan serves on the Boards of Foot Locker, Shake Shack, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Tristan is also the Founder and Board Chairman of CODE2040, a program that matches high-performing Black and Latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for summer internships. Fortune Magazine named him as one out of 50 of the “World's Greatest Leaders.” You'll enjoy this candid conversation about neglecting the laziness of others, and truly empathizing with your customer's experiences. “More Than Soap” is P&G's official internal podcast - available to all 100,000 P&G employees worldwide, and hosted by Dorion Positano, P&G's Director of New Business and Content Innovation. Interested in learning more about P&G's “More Than Soap” podcast, or P&G Studios, can reach out directly to Dorion on LinkedIn. GetMoreThanSoap.com

Net dollar retention and customer experience are highly critical for the success of your SaaS business. I had a chance to connect recently with Gaby Moran, director of customer experience at Workato. Before her current role, Gaby spent quite a few years at Medallia, customer experience management software with a world-class NPS of 60+. Our conversation turned out to be a fantastic "customer experience 101" overview, with key terms defined; and many burning questions I get from entrepreneurs all the time - answered. How do you collect and use data to inform your customer experience function? How to account for possible bias in the customer feedback - both positive and negative? How to get started with customer experience as a SaaS startup founder? Listen to the episode to get the answers to all these questions - and more. Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter - for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures, where he invests in, and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and regularly contributes to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC​​​ YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode, he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as pitching to an investor and tackling sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally, he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

In this episode, I talk about the latest cybersecurity threats you should be aware of as a founder of a small business (what your startup essentially is). Alastair Paterson, Co-founder and CEO of a cybersecurity company Digital Shadows, joined me to answer your questions about the dark web and more. How has the global pandemic affected the cybersecurity landscape? How security threats can impact your success as a startup? What are the latest phishing techniques you should be aware of as a founder? Watch the video to get the answers to all these questions - and make sure you are better equipped to tackle the latest cybersecurity threats your business is facing. Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at https://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Net dollar retention (NDR) is critical to your SaaS startup's success. I talked quite a bit about churn in the early days of this channel. Mastering NDR is the next logical step you should consider as you continue to grow your startup. In this episode, I am sharing 4 tips that will help you take control of your net dollar retention metric - and take it to the next level: What is the difference between gross churn and net dollar retention? Can your startup have negative churn? What can you learn from Salesforce when it comes to NDR? Listen to the episode to get the answers to all these questions - and get the complete list of 4 tips that will surely help you master your net dollar retention. Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at https://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

In the latest #AskAVC episode, we talk about understanding and the importance of diversity, inclusion, and equity in startups. I am joined by Aubrey Blanche, Director of Equitable Design at Culture Amp, The Mathpath (Math Nerd + Empath), and a startup investor and advisor. Aubrey is a recognized thought leader when it comes to building more equitable businesses - and our conversation is full of actionable insights that any startup founder can utilize right away. Why using the word "diversity" might be counter-effective? Why you as a startup founder should care about equity (and no, we are not talking about ownership)? How to go about creating an inclusive culture at your company? In the episode, we give answers to these questions - and much more. If you are ready to level up your understanding of diversity, inclusion, and equity, and learn how you can apply it in your business today - tune in! Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at https://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

On this episode of the Humans of DevOps, Jason Baum is joined by Brandon Durbin, Founder & CEO of Akava - a Silicon Valley software engineering consultancy who helps start-ups and enterprises such as Disney, Oracle, Lbrands, Cisco and Uber build innovative cloud, devops, web and mobile solutions.. Brandon Durbin is a tech entrepreneur, investor and advisor. They discuss entrepreneurship, his background including overcoming hurdles and lessons learned, community building, continuous learning, advice and more! Brandon is part of the DevOps Institute family proudly serving as the inaugural Committee Chair for the Silicon Valley chapter as well as Chairing the organization's membership committee! He's exceptionally passionate about increasing diversity in tech and volunteers as a mentor for BUILD.org and Code2040. Brandon is an avid sports fan and enjoys traveling the world while indulging in local cultures and cuisines. Want access to more content like this? Become a Premium member of DevOps Institute. A Premium Membership gives you all-access to what DevOps Institute has to offer including 30% off certification exams, ADOC to assess your teams' DevOps Capabilities, SKILbooks to support you during your DevOps Journey, members-only networking and more. Get started today for the price of a cup of coffee. Learn more. Use promo code HODPOD21 at this link for 20% off your Premium Membership.

In this episode, I share with you 8 ways to finance your startup - and that doesn't include venture capital! It might seem odd coming from a VC investor. However, my goal for you as a startup founder is to be aware of all the options that are available to finance your business - along with their respective pros and cons. When you do partner with a VC like myself, you need to be sure that it is, in fact, the best way forward for your startup. What might be the reasons NOT to take venture capital? How to be more like Sam Walton, Walmart's founder? Should you be scared of taking on debt to finance your venture? Listen to the episode to get the answers to all these questions - and get the full list of 8 ways you can go about financing your startup! Buy "Sam Walton: Made In America" book I recommend in this video on Amazon Read Paul Graham's full essay "Do Things That Don't Scale" that I mentioned in the video Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast is based on About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in and works with, early-stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure-related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's the host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

This ELC Hiring Summit special feature explores tactics & strategies to help you build powerful relationships & professional network! We cover the impact of vulnerability, why you should focus on “giving” first, how to break down power dynamics, prepare for important introductions & more with Dan Portillo (Managing Partner & Founder @ Sweat Equity Ventures) & Jim Cook (CFO @ Orbital Insight). DAN PORTILLO Dan is a former Talent Partner @ Greylock. Previously, he was VP of Success & Engagement at Rypple, and VP of Organizational Development at Mozilla, creators of Firefox. Earlier in his career Dan spent a decade building out successful early-stage, venture-backed consumer and enterprise companies. Dan also served as a Council member for Code2040.org, a non-profit creating opportunities for underrepresented minorities in tech. JIM COOK, CFO @ ORBITAL INSIGHT Jim Cook is the CFO at Orbital Insight and he has scaled some of Silicon Valley's most iconic brands. Companies like Intuit, Netflix, Mozilla... He was one of the first finance hires at Intuit. He was one of the original six founding members at Netflix. He also launched the Bench Board Executive Network, which is a leadership network and knowledge sharing network for operational executives. SHOW NOTES Early career lessons on people, relationships, & “giving” (2:24) Vulnerability & the impact of lowering your guard (8:37) Building authentic relationships & trust long-term (12:55) Breaking down power dynamics & building up “relationship credits” (14:49) Learning from mistakes, burning bridges & removing your ego (19:38) Tactics for effective relationship building & networking (24:27) How to prepare for an important introduction (28:24) How to balance your priorities & invest time to help others (29:21) SPONSORS Jellyfish - Jellyfish helps you align engineering work with business priorities and enables you to make better strategic decisions. Learn more at Jellyfish.co/elc Bugsnag - Bugsnag monitors application stability so you can make data-driven decisions on whether you should be building new features, or fixing bugs. Check out their 2nd Annual Application Stability Index report at https://www.bugsnag.com/ Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC RESOURCES/LINKS (book) "Give and Take" by Adam Grant - https://www.adamgrant.net/book/give-and-take/ (article) 'How to Work with Me' - Reid Hoffman - https://coda.io/@reidhoffman/meet-reid --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/engineeringleadership/message

Wrapping up Series 1 of Lead Time Chats,  Jean Hsu, VPE at Range, chats with Marc Hedlund about the topic of sponsorship, and how to do it in a way that actually makes a difference.Marc has been an engineering leader at companies such as Mailchimp, Skyliner, and Stripe. He also is a Director for Code2040, a non-profit that works to bring under-represented minorities into engineering and entrepreneurial roles in tech.Jean and Marc discuss: Ways to actually learn from and support under-indexed folks in tech that isn't just performative.Not falling in the trap of basking in the attention of getting credit for diversity-related work, as a white man.As a member of a majority group, how and why to give away opportunities that come your way.Measuring your success by your outcomes, whether the actions are small (making an intro, writing a testimonial) or large (revamping a hiring process).

As you grow your enterprise SaaS startup, opportunities to engage various sales channel partners will most certainly come your way. The prospect of partnering with a leading telco or some other big corporation might seem very appealing. However, there is a lot you need to know before entering any agreements - and to make sure it works out well in the end. What are sales channel partners and how to choose the right ones? How to make sure they are successful in growing your business? What pitfalls to avoid? Watch my full interview with Christof Baumgärtner, ex-Chief Revenue Officer at MobileIron, one of the leading enterprise security companies today. Christof did an outstanding job of finding & partnering with the best sales channels that fueled the growth of MobileIron. Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVCYouTube channel this podcast is based on (https://www.youtube.com/c/AskAVC) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Tristan is the Founder and CEO of Walker & Company, a leading CPG company making health and beauty simple for people of color. Walker & Company products included the Bevel shaving line for Black men and FORM Beauty, a women's hair care collection designed for all hair textures launched in 2017. Walker & Company raised over $30M in venture funding from funds like Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Collaborative Fund, GV, Upfront and Felicis. Walker & Company was acquired by Proctor & Gamble in 2018. Tristan is also the founder of CODE2040, a non-profit dedicated to promoting diversity in the tech industry, and is on the boards of both Foot Locker and ShakeShack. Tristan has been named USA Today's Person of the Year, was on Fortune's 40 under 40 list, and was on Ebony's 100 most powerful people list. In this episode, we get into: How Tristan leveraged his own unique lived experience The importance of identifying an opportunity based on your own unique lived experience How to turn your unique experience into a strength How to react when someone tells you the market you're in isn't big enough The power of optimism and authenticity Why focus is so critical in the early days and what happens if you lose it The six values that guide all of Tristan's decisions Why the secret to freedom is ownership

Startup equity and convertible notes are about to be fully explained! Early-stage entrepreneurs have to learn a lot of new vocabulary, technical & legal details, to ensure their initial rounds of outside financing go well. In this video I am being interviewed by Fellows at ASIF Ventures, European micro-VC, focused on student-led startups, and we do a deep dive into: Comparing direct startup equity investments vs convertible notes Discussing intricacies of founder's dilution over time Tackling valuation challenges ... and much more! Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVCYouTube channel this podcast is based on (https://www.youtube.com/c/AskAVC) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

"How much to pay startup advisors" is the question I often get asked by even experienced entrepreneurs. In one of my previous episodes, I gave an intro to the topic of startup advisors - what do they do, how to find them, etc. In this one, I dive deeper into the specifics: What's the difference between consultants and advisors for your startup? How should you think about cash pay versus equity? Are you missing out on leveraging "free" advisors you might already have? After listening to this podcast, you will have answers to all these questions - and a pretty good idea of how much to pay your startup advisors! Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVCYouTube channel this podcast is based on (https://www.youtube.com/c/AskAVC) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

This episode is something I have not tried on my channel before. This is a deep dive into a specific concept - in this case, enterprise automation - from a technical point of view. We dive deep into the idea of workflows automation, talking about its definition and benefits, as well as giving specific examples. In the 24th episode of the #AskAVC channel, you can expect to find answers to the following questions: What the commonly used in this space terms - RPA, API, etc. - are all about? How has enterprise automation evolved over the past several years? What the future of workflows automation is going to look like? ... and much more! Tune in to my interview with Markus Zim, head of the strategy and business development at Workato, a portfolio company of mine that recently became a unicorn. Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVCYouTube channel this podcast is based on (https://www.youtube.com/c/AskAVC) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

As your startup company will become more successful, naturally there will be more and more people eager to share their advice with you. It's a smart strategy to surround yourself with people who know more than you in various business areas - be it sales or security. There are a few things any founder needs to keep in mind, however, to make sure that taking advice will help their company as opposed to hurting it. As a startup CEO, you must figure out: How to find and choose the right advisors for your business? How to separate good advice from bad? How to maintain a strong relationship with an advisor even if you reject his or her advice? How to compensate your startup advisor? There is no question that the right set of advisors will make your startup stronger. Watch this video to get answers to the questions below - and much more! Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVC podcast based on this channel (https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Code2040 is a nonprofit activating, connecting, and mobilizing the largest racial equity community in tech to dismantle the structural barriers that prevent the full participation and leadership of Black and Latinx technologists in the innovation economy. Through events, trainings, early-career programs, and knowledge sharing, Code2040 equips Black and Latinx technologists and their allies with the tools, connections, and care they need to advocate for and achieve racial equity in the industry. This one-shot comes from the Uncaged Anthology Vol. 1 and is written by Kat Kruger. Check out FeatherFall TableTop on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkfV...Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/featherfallttTwitter: https://twitter.com/FeatherFallTTPodcast Feed: https://anchor.fm/featherfalltabletopDiscord: https://discord.gg/aFsDpcN

Code2040 is a nonprofit activating, connecting, and mobilizing the largest racial equity community in tech to dismantle the structural barriers that prevent the full participation and leadership of Black and Latinx technologists in the innovation economy. Through events, trainings, early-career programs, and knowledge sharing, Code2040 equips Black and Latinx technologists and their allies with the tools, connections, and care they need to advocate for and achieve racial equity in the industry. This one-shot comes from the Uncaged Anthology Vol. 1 and is written by Lynne Meyer. Check out FeatherFall TableTop on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkfV...Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/featherfallttTwitter: https://twitter.com/FeatherFallTTPodcast Feed: https://anchor.fm/featherfalltabletopDiscord: https://discord.gg/aFsDpcN

Host Gemma Milne is joined by Mimi Fox Melton, General Manager and Acting CEO of Code 2040, to discuss Code2040’s efforts to redesign work cultures and spaces to be more equitable for Black and Latinx tech workers, how the organization has managed the challenges of the pandemic (including retooling their internship program), remote and onsite work practices, company benefit policies, and how companies can identify systemic problems and direct their missions toward improving equity. About Mimi Fox MeltonAs General Manager for Code2040, and recently its Acting CEO, Mimi Fox Melton has been instrumental in expanding Code2040 from serving as a bridge into high-tech industries for Black and Latinx people to organizing and supporting the overall changes necessary to dismantle racist systems and ensure racial equity in the innovation economy. Her work is focused on all aspects of tech companies, from their operations and products to their corporate cultures, as well as how those aspects impact Black and Latinx workers and their communities. Her areas of expertise include coaching external staff, tech industry executives, and managers. She also oversees the operations of Code2040, including designing curriculum and facilitating learning experiences.Learn more about Code2040:https://www.code2040.org Topics of discussionCode2040’s response to COVID-19 (04:48)How Code2040 protected their internship program (09:09)Does improving equity take new policies or is it bigger than that? (22:04)Inspiration and insights about employee policies (30:17)How to track which changes are working and which aren’t (37:19)First steps toward improving workplace value and equity (42:45) Sponsor linkDynamics 365 delivers next generation ERP and CRM business applications, helping employees at every level reason over data, predict trends and make proactive, more-informed decisions. Request a live demo of Dynamics 365 today at: https://aka.ms/AA8vns5 Helpful linksFollow us on social mediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/msftdynamics365LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/microsoft-dynamicsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJGCg4rB3QSs8y_1FquelBQ

In this video, I talk about the biggest enemy of all SaaS businesses - customer churn. It is safe to say that nearly every single startup faces this problem at some point or another. As scary and uncomfortable it might be, having customer churn is not the end of the world - but you do need a war plan. Have you asked yourself: How is your product contributing to the problem? What the entire team can do to make customer success folks more successful? Should you keep growing the business while trying to fix your customer churn problem? Watch the video to get answers to all these questions - and more! Make sure to also: Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel this podcast series is based on (https://www.youtube.com/askavc) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

玩過由台灣網銀國際自製的PC射擊遊戲 CODE2040的封測以後，我只能說 .....還是期待，不過有很大的機會這款遊戲在這麼激烈的市場中會活不久 YT版本 : https://youtu.be/ZxPRzR-ONh0 Twitch : https://twitch.tv/captainsartiz FB : https://www.facebook.com/captainsartiz/

There is so much content out there about the legal language of term sheets, valuations, etc. However, it would be a mistake to see your interactions with potential investors as purely transactional. The key is to build a relationship with a person on the other side of the table. And a lot of goes into it: - Should you be spending time with junior team members at VC firms? - How much info do you share with potential investors? - Can you negotiate a term sheet? Watch the video to get answers to all these questions - and more! Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC podcast based on this channel (https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

When you are ready to raise some outside capital to scale your business, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered to make the process successful. For example, there are many different types of investors you can turn to. One of the most frequently asked questions I get is - what is the difference between angel investing and venture capital? In this episode I address topics like: What do angel investors look for? Are angel investors a good idea? How much do angel investors invest? Listen to the episode to get answers to all these questions - and more! Make sure to also: - Follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RyanFloyd) for a lot more content on building SaaS B2B startups, as well as venture capital and entrepreneurship in general - Subscribe to my blog at http://ryanfloyd.org/, where I talk about why I invest in certain companies and broader tech industry issues - Check out my #AskAVC YouTube channel that this podcast is based on (https://www.youtube.com/askavc) About Ryan Floyd Ryan is a founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures where he invests in, and works with, early stage enterprise SaaS startups. His primary focus is applications and cloud infrastructure related companies. He is always interested in hearing from passionate technology entrepreneurs. Ryan is a skilled writer and commentator on all things SaaS. He's written for Techcrunch, Sifted, Thrive Global and is a regular contributor to The UK Newspaper. He's host of the recently launched #AskAVC YouTube channel aimed at enterprise entrepreneurs. In each episode he tackles a different issue relating to building and scaling B2B startups - topics such as how to pitch to an investor and how to combat sales churn. When he's not working with his portfolio founders, Ryan is active with Code2040, a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology for underrepresented minorities. And occasionally he finds time for surfing! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ask-a-vc/message

Tristan Walker is the Founder & CEO of Walker & Company Brands which include the brands Bevel and FORM, both designed to meet the health and beauty needs of people of color​. He’s also Founder and Board Chairman of CODE2040, which matches high performing Black and Latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for internships. He sits on the Board of Directors for both Foot Locker and Shake Shack. Tristan chat’s with Will Lucas about if and why Black people should aspire to sit on corporate boards, and how Black culture leads all global culture.

We're matching donations up to $500 to Campaign Zero in support of their data-driven efforts to reduce police violence in the US. We think this is a cause that everyone can support no matter where you are on the political spectrum. Donate Here:The Dungeon Dads are Raising Money for Campaign Zero (GoFundMe) More About the Organization:Campaign Zero8 Can't WaitWe the Protesters (Parent Org) More Resources:John Oliver Explains the IssuesDM's Guild is Sponsoring Charity BundlesRoll20 is Raising Money for Code2040

What should be the role of engineering leaders in recruiting? What levers do they have at their disposal? In this fireside chat, you'll hear the perspectives of two recruiting heavy-hitters, Aditya Agarwal & Dan Portillo, on how engineering leaders can optimize for successful hiring outcomes. ADITYA AGARWAL - Former CTO Dropbox; Partner-in-Residence @ South Park Commons (@adityaag) Aditya Agarwal is a Partner-in-Residence at South Park Commons - a collective of technologists, tinkerers, and entrepreneurs who have come together to freely learn, explore new ideas, and help each other launch their next venture. Aditya was the CTO and VP of Engineering at Dropbox. He scaled the Engineering team from 25 to 1000 and was responsible for new product development, infrastructure, and technical operations. Aditya came to Dropbox via the acquisition of Cove, a company that he co-founded. Prior to Cove, Aditya was one of Facebook’s first engineers. He helped build the first versions of key products like Search, NewsFeed and Messenger. He was Facebook’s first director of Product Engineering, overseeing engineering for products like NewsFeed, Profile, Groups and Events. Aditya serves as an independent director on the board of Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce company, the advisory board of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science and on the board of trustees of the Anita Borg Institute. He is also an active investor and advisor to Silicon Valley startups. DAN PORTILLO - Talent Partner @ Greylock (@dan_portillo) Dan is Talent Partner at Greylock. Previously, he was VP of Success & Engagement at Rypple, and VP of Organizational Development at Mozilla, creators of Firefox. Earlier in his career Dan spent a decade building out successful early-stage, venture-backed consumer and enterprise companies. Dan also served as a Council member for Code2040.org, a non-profit creating opportunities for underrepresented minorities in tech. SHOWNOTES Have you ever not promoted an engineering leader because they couldn’t recruit a good team? (3:18) What is the role of engineering leaders in the recruiting process? (5:21) Sourcing advantages from Aditya’s experiences from Dropbox and Facebook. (7:34) On taking the long view and thinking long term about recruitment. (9:42) How Aditya closes candidates creatively. (11:21) Aditya’s favorite story from Dropbox closing a talented intern. (14:23) How to leverage compensation, even if you’re a small stack at the table. (18:59) What Aditya tells engineering leaders who are building teams for the first time. (21:48) Does comp asymmetry reward good performers or good negotiators? (23:03) Using comp as a tool to value, reward, and recognize performers not on the sexiest problems. (25:32) Recruiting when you don’t have a brand. (27:58) What engineering managers need to know to effectively sell the company and recruit. (29:53) Join our community of engineering leaders at sfelc.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/engineeringleadership/message

3 razones por las cuales debes darle play al episodio Escucha la diversidad de mujeres que nos inspiran en diversas industriasIdentifica qué pueden aportar las mujeres al mundo tech Aprende cómo otras mujeres han crecido en la industria de la tecnología. Conoce a Lincy Ayala & Xiomara Figueroa Lincy Ayala is Co-Founder and CEO of BookSloth is a web developer with a passion for design. Over the last years, she's worked with several companies and organizations as a freelance developer and designer. Her work has included designing responsive and interactive designing website layouts, mobile apps, user experiences, and physical products, among many others. Her technical experience includes knowledge in UX/UI Design, Web and Mobile Design, prototyping tools and project managing software. When she's not busy working, you'll find her cuddled up reading a good book. Xiomara Figueroa is Co-Founder and Mobile Engineer of BookSloth. She considers herself deeply committed to diversity in tech and education. That led her to co-found Include Girls, a student-led non-profit organization for women in STEM fields. She attributed her community-driven attitude to her fellowship with CODE2040, a non-profit organization that supports Black and Latinxs in tech. Since then she has focused her work on building with technology and giving back to the community by serving as a mentor and role model. En nuestra conversación con Lincy & Xiomara

Join me and my new friend Karla Monterroso to talk about her important work as CEO of Code2040. In today's high-flying tech economy, Code 2040 is committed to dismantling racial barriers that keep Latinx and Black tech workers from the highest levels of leadership. Karla shares the work that she does with the tech community and beyond to help break down the systemic barriers to racial equity in many different industries. We talk about actionable things that leaders can do to start to build an equitable system, why most DEI initiatives suck and how you can know where you are on the spectrum of racial equity advocate. Plus, there's a quiz! For more about Code2040, visit: http://www.code2040.org/ To take the quiz, visit: https://medium.com/racial-equity-in-tech/five-types-of-racial-equity-advocates-in-tech-c72e5c384335 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nonprofitlowdown/support

Zach chats with Michelle Kim, co-founder and CEO of Awaken, in this episode centered around effectively creating inclusive leadership cultures. Michelle shares her journey into social justice work with us, including what led to the creation of Awaken, and she explains why she and her organization prioritize the needs of the most marginalized people in the room.Connect with Michelle - she's on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn!Check out Awaken's website and social media pages! Twitter, IG, FB, LinkedInYou can read Awaken's Medium blog by clicking here.Want to learn more about Build Tech We Trust? Here's their website and Twitter!Click here to read the Salon piece mentioned in the show.Visit our website!TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, everybody? It's Zach. Yes, again, it's me. Your boy, your host, your friend, your co-worker--maybe your co-worker, I don't know. If you work with me you know that I have this podcast, and, I mean, hopefully if you're checking it out, you know, hopefully you're having a good time. Shout-out to you. I'm not gonna say your name, but you know I'm talking to you. What's up? Look, you know what we do. We serve to amplify the voices of black and brown people at work, and we do that by talking to black and brown people in a variety of spaces, right? So these could be executives, public servants, activists, creatives, entrepreneurs, anybody, and we try to have these conversations in approachable and authentic ways, centering black and brown and otherwise underrepresented experiences and perspectives at work, and today we have with us a very special guest, Michelle Kim. Michelle is the founder and CEO of Awaken, a firm that empowers leaders and teams to lead inclusively and authentically through modern interactive and action-oriented workshops. Prior to Awaken, she had a successful consulting career working with C-suite and VP-level executives at high-performing companies around the world, helping them set ambitious business goals and align their teams to achieve them. While working in management consulting and technology start-ups, she experienced and validated first-hand the urgent need for modern, up-to-date education that empowers leaders to be more empathetic, agile, and culturally aware. Come on, now. Culturally aware. Pay attention. Michelle's experience in organizational change management, strategic goal setting and social justice activism set the groundwork for Awaken's multi-disciplinary and action-oriented learning programs. As an immigrant queer woman of color, Michelle has been a life-long social justice activist and community organizer. Michelle, what's going on? Welcome to the show.Michelle: Hey, thank you for having me. I'm so honored.[yay sfx]Zach: No doubt. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Michelle: Those are the sound effects that you told me about. [laughing]Zach: Yes, yes. So for those who are newer to the show, I have a soundboard. I have all types of sounds on here, you know what I'm saying? You know, we add a few things from time to time, and, you know, just enjoy yourself. If you're new to this space, sit back, grab something to drink--it doesn't have to be alcoholic, you know? I respect your choices, your boundaries. But enjoy the soundscapes that are gonna be coming to you in this episode and many more to come.Michelle: I love the production.Zach: You know what? We gotta add a little bit of razzmatazz, just from time to time. So let's do this. You know, I gave a little bit of an intro, but for those of us who don't know you, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?Michelle: Sure. Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Zach, for the intro. I think you covered a lot in my intro, but I think something that some people might be familiar with is actually my writing. I am an [?] writer. That's how I communicate my thoughts and perspectives to the world, in addition to facilitating workshops and doing speaking like this one or on stages all over the country. My passion is in really closing the gap between how we talk about social justice in our society today and how, you know, quote-unquote diversity and inclusion gets done, and quickly. So I think that there's a lot of work that we can do to help bridge the gap in understanding and awareness of how we communicate with each other. And also a fun fact about me is I'm a Virgo.Zach: Shout-out to Virgos. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You said you're a Virgo?Michelle: I'm a Virgo.Zach: Man, shout-out to the Virgos one time. I'm also a Virgo. [air horns sfx] You know what I'm saying? They don't know about us like that. But please, tell us about your Virgoness.Michelle: You know, a lot of my friends who know me closely know my tendencies to be highly critical, but I also think that's what--I think being critical gets a bad rep, but I actually think that being critical is what makes me decent at my job. I also think that I have perfectionist tendencies, which I don't think is healthy, so I'm working on that. I like being organized. I am a huge fan of to-do lists. And I love--my love language is acts of service, so I think that also aligns with me being a Virgo. So I tend to, you know, go overboard when it comes to supporting other people, sometimes to a fault, 'cause I need to prioritize self-care and boundaries and all of that, but I'm not. I'm not perfect at that stuff.Zach: I just feel so--I feel so seen in you talking about yourself.Michelle: [laughing] Good. I'm glad, I'm glad. Virgos unite.Zach: They do. And honestly, like, you know, here we are, two people who over-extend for others sitting down, having a conversation that really helps to amplify one another. Isn't that something? [look at us sfx] Not me, you know what I'm saying?Michelle: That's right.Zach: [laughs] You were about to say something.Michelle: I said "Do you know who else is a Virgo?"Zach: Beyonce.Michelle: Beyonce's a Virgo. So whenever I feel like I need to be [?] about being a Virgo, I look to Beyonce for inspiration.[ow sfx]Zach: I'm right there with you. I mean, if she can do it, certainly I can do it. And, you know, my dad's a Virgo, so shout-out to my dad. He was born on the 6th, I was born on the 4th, and, you know, we're a lot alike. Okay, so yeah. Let's talk a little bit about your inspiration for social justice, and I really want to--'cause social justice is such a broad term. It's often even, like, used as a pejorative these days. So, like, when you say social justice in, like, your history, what does that look like for you?Michelle: That's a great question. My journey into social justice work really began with the lens of being a queer person. You know, I think my journey really started with my coming out. So I came out as queer and bisexual when I was 16. So I was in high school, and I was really confused. I didn't know about, you know, any social justice issues beyond--I think what people were talking about then were women's rights, and, you know, now I understand that to be white women's rights, but we'll get into that more. But when I came out as queer I didn't have a lot of resources, so I was really actively searching for community and support to make sense of who I was [and what I could do about my identity.] I was really fortunate to have found a great support group within my high school that was kind of an underground support group, and through that I found out about this program happening out of UC Santa Barbara where they were doing youth activism summer camp kind of stuff for LGBTQ young people. So that was my entryway into social justice work, and that's where I learned how to organize, how to, you know, stage protests and knowing my rights as a student activist, and that's where I learned about social justice activism and writers who wrote about social justice, like Audre Lorde. So that was my entryway into understanding social justice, is through the frame of my being queer and learning from queer trans activists, also young people, and that's also where I learned about the intersections of being queer and also being a person of color and all of the nuances of the different identities and the intersections of different types of marginalization and oppression and how often times they all come from the same root and source of, you know, patriarchy or white supremacy. So, you know, I'm throwing a lot of [?] here, but really at the end of it, for me social justice is about, you know, understanding that we're all in this struggle together, and in order for us to achieve equity and equality and justice that we need to have solidarity in this frame of social justice.Zach: And so I'm really curious, right? Let me talk to you a little bit about my perspective, it being singular and limited, right? So I don't believe this is the way it is. This has been, like, my perception as I look--a cishet black man, Christian black man, looking across this, like, D&I space, right? Like, I'm seeing, like, different camps and groups, right? So I see this group that is largely white and who--like, they're invited to a lot of the fancy things, but they're not necessarily credentialed other than being in a certain social strata, but they're not really credentialed in any type of lived experience, nor are they credentialed in any specific level of education, but they're credentialed in, like, certain experiences from, like, again, just being in certain spaces, right, that are afforded to them because of their class and race. I then see another group of people that are very much so, like, activists. Like, they're on the street. If they're using social media, it's to mobilize something tangible. It's to affect a change in some type of grassroots community level. And then I see, like, another group that is kind of--like, they're in the corporate space and they're doing a few things, but they're not necessarily really, like, enacting anything beyond whatever the company needs them to do to kind of mitigate litigious risk, but I think--I'm kind of seeing, like, tensions against each of these groups. I'm curious about, like, your perspective, considering your social activist background and the work you do today. Do you see similar camps in the space, and, like, if not, what are you seeing? Do you think I'm oversimplifying kind of, like, the various camps and groups, or, like, what's your perspective on that?Michelle: I don't think you're oversimplifying per se, 'cause I do see what you're saying. I hear you in terms of there being different--because identities [are?] also a different approach to doing diversity and inclusion work inside the workplace. I think--a couple things that I want to clarify in terms of my beliefs is that I don't think anyone can truly call themselves a D&I expert. I certainly don't call myself a D&I expert, because I believe fundamentally diversity and inclusion is about lived experiences, so it's all about how we make sense of our lived experiences in relation to the systems that we inhabit, so I think everybody's an expert in their own lived experience, and I can't ever claim that I'm an expert in your life, right? So I think that's one belief that I have, that we all are experts in our owned lived experiences. And then another belief that I have is that, you know, social justice activism isn't just about being out in the street and marching and protesting. You know, there's a lot of activism happening inside of workplaces today as well through corporate activism, but also just daily acts of survival for a lot of folks, especially black and brown people, underrepresented people of color and trans and queer people inside workplaces. I think what they're doing, just by mere survival and speaking up when they can, is an act of activism. I think there is a greater sense of responsibility that I'd love for D&I professionals to have, whether they're inside or outside of the workplaces, in really making sense of how change happens and pushing the boundaries to serve the most marginalized people in the room. I think that's where my criticality comes in, when you start to talk about mostly white--I think I've seen a lot of white women take up the role of head of D&I. That's where I start to question whether, you know, are they understanding the positionality of being a white person, doing this work inside workplaces, holding a position of power? And, you know, I start to question sort of how change is being [assisted?] inside companies while prioritizing the needs of the most marginalized people. So I do think that people without the social justice frame, as in--you know, I think the root of my education and the foundation of my social justice education that I've gotten from, you know, activists who were organizers at the community level, what they've taught me is that in order for us to enact change, we need community, we need solidarity, and we need to approach everything through the lens of centering the most marginalized people and their needs, 'cause then everybody in-between and all of us will rise together. So that is sort of my approach when it comes to education or policies, whatever organizational design we're talking about. If we can center the most marginalized people, then everybody else will benefit. So that's the social justice framing that I use to approach all of my work, but I think I see some D&I people in the corporate space doing D&I work as if this is a new discipline that's not tied to social justice at all, right? That this is--in a vacuum, this is just about recruiting the most, you know, diverse set of candidates, that it's about retaining those people once they get there, but it's sort of in a vacuum without the understanding of systemic issues and history that has fueled D&I to exist in the first place. I think that's my biggest sort of criticism about how D&I gets done in the corporate space today.Zach: And I get that, right? It resonates with me, which is why I was so excited, because I really enjoyed--like, I've read some of your written work, and of course I follow you on social media. I love what Awaken is doing, right? And really, based on what you're sharing, I'm curious, how does that translate into the work that Awaken does? Because everything you're saying, I'm hearing it, right? But I guess I'm trying to understand--how does that effectively translate in majority-white spaces in the work that--and I'm making an assumption that the spaces that you engage are largely white. If they're not correct me, but from what I'm looking at it seems like the spaces are largely white, and it seems to be that when I talk to other D&I professionals, the subtext of a lot of the work, and even some of the, like, backhanded critique that I've received--because I'm often times received as "Well, you're passionate, but you're not really credentialed, right?" Like, "You're a person of color and you have a certain lived experience, but, you know, you don't have the same foundation that I may have as a quote-unquote D&I expert, so your point of view only goes so far," or it's only limited to the black experience. There seems to be, like, a subtext of "Let's not make people too uncomfortable," but the work that you're talking about in centering underrepresented or the most marginalized, that--I feel as if the argument could be made that you're automatically making other people uncomfortable. So again, just what does all of that look like as it translates into your work with Awaken?Michelle: Yeah, that's a great question. And I'm also so curious about these credentials, right? [both laughing] 'Cause I see these credential programs or certification programs. Like, what are you certifying people for? I'm so curious. I think there are absolutely some skills that we can learn, whether that's facilitation or curriculum development or policy design, that we can get better at, but in terms of understanding other people's lived experiences and the identities that folks hold and the complexities that come with that, I don't know if we can truly ever be credentialed enough to be, you know, discounting other people's experiences and opinions. So that's my perspective on it. And in terms of how our approach translates into our work, you know, I think we can talk about sort of the founding story, why we were created in the first place. So, you know, after having done organizing work when I was in high school and college, I decided to pursue a career in, you know, the for-profit space because I needed to make money, let's be real, and I was told actually by my activist mentors, who have gone onto pursuing social justice careers as career organizers and non-profit folks, that they were also experiencing very sort of similar harm, because even non-profits are predominantly led by white people, right? So I think the issues that we think are non-existent in progressive--quote-unquote "more progressive" spaces, they continue to exist, while folks are not making enough money to make ends meet. So--[straight up sfx]Michelle: [laughs] I love the sound effects. Knowing that and knowing my situation as a--you know, I grew up low-income, and I needed money to support my family. The advice I got from my mentors was "Hey, you can create change in certain spaces." They warned me about the toxic culture, but I went in sort of ignorant about what I was getting myself into. So I also really am grateful for my journey, having started my career in management consulting and in tech. I think I have experienced a lot of different things that I wasn't ready for but I'm grateful for nonetheless. But when I entered in those spaces, I was exposed to and I searched for D&I spaces, right? Because I thought that that was what I knew to be social justice work. So when I joined an employee resource group, I was, you know, disappointed at the level of conversations that were being had around what it means to be inclusive, what it means to be a diverse place, and I was surprised and disappointed and disillusioned by what companies were talking about as D&I was quite surface-level and marketing-oriented rather than real actionable behavioral change or cultural change that were being modeled by leaders of the company. So, you know, I was going through different workshops and trainings and just kept feeling like I was not seeing the level of conversations that actually needed to take place in these spaces, and it felt really safe. It felt safe. It felt white-washed. It felt diluted. As, you know, somebody who was just sitting in the room and constantly challenging the facilitator, I felt like I was doing all of the work. [Zach laughs] And after the [?] is over, you know, unfortunately the burden of re-educating other people who went through the workshop who now thinks that they are quote-unquote "woke" or who say that they checked the box, right? "Okay, we went through this unconscious bias training, so now we're good. Now I'm back to being a progressive person who cares about this issue." [Zach laughs] You know, [it was?] a challenge to really think differently, but the burden of their action, their unchanging behavior, their unawareness, and they're now feeling like they know what they're talking about, falls on the most marginalized people in the room, and I think that was a frustration that kept coming up for me as I was going through different types of trainings, whether that was done by external vendors or internal people, that people weren't pushing people enough, and I genuinely felt the need for a compassionate space for uncomfortable conversations, and that's our mission statement, to create a compassionate space for uncomfortable conversations to developing inclusive leaders and teams, and the way that we do that is by centering the needs of the most marginalized people, meaning we don't pat on ourselves on the back when a workshop goes well from the perspective of a bunch of white men saying that that workshop was great, you know? That may be true, but if, you know, the one black person in the room says that that workshop wasn't good while a bunch of white people say that the workshop was great, we don't pat ourselves on the back for that, right? But if we can support the most marginalized people in the room, you know, in tech and also in many other spaces as predominantly black and brown folks, trans, queer, people of color, if they give us the stamp of approval, if they feel like they were seen and heard and lifted and that they didn't have to do all the work, that's success for us, right? So by designing our curriculum to speak truth to them and to, you know, have that frame of "Can we lessen the burden on people who are the most marginalized in these spaces by saying the things that they can't say because there are too many risks and repercussions that they fear?" That's our job, and I don't think enough D&I practitioners out there are taking that approach, because, you know, if they're internal, their job is at risk. I get that. So I think as a third-party, we coming in--we have a different level of risk that we get to take because we don't have that kind of repercussion that we need to worry about, besides not being able to come back to that place again.Zach: Right. And, I mean, at that point that, you know, they don't let you back, I mean, you already got the bag anyway, so... [cha-ching sfx] You know? Michelle: [laughs] Well, and usually we can come back, because we don't often take on one-off workshops. I think that approach is pretty harmful, and, you know, companies come to us and say, "Hey, we just want to do a one-day, like, [?]." We tend to say no to those engagements because we really believe in delivering impact and working with people who are genuinely interested in real change. So, you know, I think the mistake people make is thinking that meeting people where they're at needs to be done by diluting the message. I don't think that's true. You can meet people where they're at with compassion and criticality. So you don't have to coddle people, but I think you can be compacted and make your content accessible for folks that they understand and they can move along the journey while feeling and embracing some tension and discomfort that comes with challenging their beliefs.Zach: So it's funny, because you see, like, even in, like, our current political tone and tambor today from, like, mainstream media, it's still around, like, the idea of respectability and quote-unquote kindness, kind of pushing against this idea of, like, call-out culture or just, like, keeping it real, like, just saying how things are, and it's interesting, and I hear what you're saying about, like, coddling versus accessibility. Do you have an example of what it looks like to effectively call something for what it is while at the same time making it accessible for folks to actually grasp and understand. Like, I don't think there's enough work that you could do to cater to or mitigate against fragility, but I would love to hear, like, kind of what Awaken does and, like, what that looks like for you.Michelle: Mm-hmm. Hm, let me think of an example. I think that's a great question, and I'd love to be able to contextualize it just a little though with an example. I think--I don't know why this example keeps coming up in my head. I think it's because we're designing a curriculum right now around inclusive interviewing practices, and one of the common questions that comes up is this idea of not lowering the bar and hiring in this sort of notion of meritocracy, and I think, you know, one way to approach that is really sort of making the person who said that feel like they don't know what they're talking about and, you know, calling them racist and all of that... I think is one way. [both laugh] I think another way could be really helping unpack why meritocracy doesn't currently exist, even though that is an ideal that we can strive for together, and how people who are currently in companies today may not have been hired purely based on merit. Zach: And how do you prove that though?Michelle: How do you prove that?Zach: Yeah.Michelle: I think there's a lot of data that actually backs up the claim around how meritocracy doesn't exist. I mean, what we often talk about is that, you know, meritocracy is a concept that was created as a vision that we can all work toward, but we falsely believe that right now there is sort of meritocracy in a sense, but there's lots of data that shows that actually there's a lot of biases in the hiring process, whether it's from the referral stage or, you know, the interview stage or the deliberation stage. I think there's a lot of data that actually shows discrepancies in the ways that we make decisions, and I think, you know, calling that out specifically I think is really helpful. I think the harmful alternative of sort of diluting that fact of, you know, not having meritocracy is that I have sometimes heard, you know, folks explain that to people in a way that actually equates hiring people of color or women as lowering the bar and that being sort of the, you know, unfortunate short-term solution. Like, yeah, but we need to hire more people of color and women, so, you know, we want to make sure that we are getting that quota filled. So I think there's, like, a lot of weird ways of people explaining difficult concepts to make people feel comfortable, because the discomfort in this conversation is the fact that you may not have been hired based on your merit, right? I think that's the tension, is that if we debunk meritocracy, people who have these jobs in higher-paying positions, they are feeling attacked because they feel like they warrant--they didn't get to where they are purely based on merit, and recognizing that they've had privileges that weren't afforded to another demographic groups, I think that in and of itself is the discomfort, and I think a lot of folks have a hard time calling that out, because we're then directly sort of highlighting the fact this may be an awful position that they're in. And I think talking about privilege in general is something that's really difficult for people. It's not an easy topic for any of us to really grapple with, but I think if we can't have those tougher conversations where we are directly highlighting and shining light on the fact that, you know, there are--"Yes, we worked hard, and there are struggles that we didn't have to go through to get to where they are." I think if that conversation doesn't happen, it would be a huge miss.Zach: You know, Michelle, when you and I first spoke, you know--we do our thing, we try to get to know each other first, and then we do the episode. A little bit of background behind the scenes for y'all, but anyway, when you and I first spoke we talked about people of color and that term, right? And we had conversations about Living Corporate and how, you know, we don't really use the term "people of color," we say black and brown. And then you and I had a conversation about how you don't really consider, or you don't count, Asian-American or, like, that space, East Asian, in the "people of color" category. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that?Michelle: Yeah. I think that's a great question. So I think, just to clarify, I do count Asians as a part of the people of color community, but I think there's context that we need to put into place whenever we're using the term. So I think the term people of color is a useful term when we're talking specifically about non-white people in the context of talking about white supremacy and how that impacts all people who are not white who experience racism and other forms of oppression because of their race. Where I don't feel comfortable using the term people of color is when we're discussing specific issues that impact black and brown communities. For example, when we're talking about police brutality or the murders of black trans women, I think it's really important for us to be specific about who we're talking about, because as an East Asian person, I don't have the same type of fear or risk when I'm around police. I think that is really important for us to specify, and I think that understanding around how there are very specific forms of racism, like anti-black racism. I think that clarity is so needed in having this conversation in a more effective way, and also for, you know, Asian-American folks to be able to show up in solidarity with folks who are experiencing very specific forms of marginalization. Zach: I just... you know, one sound we don't have on the soundboard is, like, finger snaps. [snapping fingers] But I'ma put these in there. Yeah, I love it. And it's interesting because, you know, we're moving at the speed of the Internet when it comes to a lot of this stuff, right? And certain things become trendy or become--I don't know. They kind of just catch fire, and I think the term people of color, it has a place, and I've seen it be used interchangably when people are just talking about black folk, right? It's like, "Why are we using that term right now when--" If we're really talking about something targeted for black Americans, if we're talking about something that's targeted for Latinx trans Americans--these groups, as niche or as just unique or small as they may seem to you, these represent actual human beings. So I think it's great that we're using them, but sometimes for me--it sometimes almost gets used as, like, a catch-all, and you end up erasing a lot of identities and experiences and points of view.Michelle: Totally, and I think if we can't be specific about the actual issue, then how can we solution around it, right? If we can't name what the actual issue is? It's not police brutality against all people of color, right? It's [?] against black and brown people specifically, you know? People who are seen as a quote-unquote "threat" to cops. I think it's really important for us to get specific around that so that we can solution around it, because it wouldn't make sense for us to do--you know, to solve for all people of color experiencing police brutality because that's not true. I think, you know, when we talk about black maternal [debts?], that's not happening to Asian-Americans that it's happening to black folks who are giving birth. So, you know, I think specificity is important for solutioning the right outcomes, and also, like you said, it doesn't erase people's experiences. I think tech is starting to incorporate more of the term around underrepresented POC, because, you know, Asian-Americans are overrepresented in many tech companies, but, you know, Asian-American also, similar to POC, is a very broad terminology, so I'd love to be able to see some dis-aggregated terms that we can use to also talk about underrepresented Asian-Americans. But yeah, I think specific language is always helpful in most cases, and I think there's also purpose to the term people of color when we can really mobilize and build a coalition across all people of color.Zach: I think it's just so interesting. I do think a function of white supremacy is, like, keeping things as surface as possible so that--because the more surface you can be, like, to your point, the less specific and targeted you can be in your solutioning, and if you're not targeting your solutioning, then you're not really gonna be able to affect true change. 'Cause, you know, and the last thing about this in terms of, like, just keeping things general and grouping people all together is, like--I know that in Europe there's a term that's called... it's black--it's like people of color to the max, right? So it's called "BAM," black, Asian, and Middle-Eastern. Like, what is that? Michelle, like, that's--that is nuts. You can't--huh? Like, when someone told me that--like, I just learned about this maybe, I don't know, like, a couple months ago. Like, a colleague told me, and I said, "How is that possible?" Like, those are thousands of identities and experiences and cultures and languages and histories. Like, how are you just going to just lump--so you're just gonna take all the non-white people and put 'em in one big cluster? Huh? Considering the history of, like, colonialism and, like--oh, my gosh. Like, that's nuts. You can't do that. And so, anyway... okay, okay, so from this conversation, what I'm hearing, I don't think that we always give, like, members of the majority enough credit in their ability to have an honest conversation when it's framed effectively, right? I think a lot of times it's kind of like, "Well, we don't want to bring that up because then that makes people uncomfortable," or "We don't want to bring that up because then they shut off," and it's like... eh. I mean, yes, people are fragile, but, like, come on. We've got to be able to have some type of--some level of authentic conversation around something. So that's--Michelle: Yeah. I wouldn't go as far as giving them credit. [both laughing] You know? I think there is a reason why--you know, why people are hesitant to have that conversation. I think it's because of the backlash. It's because of the fragility and it's because of [?] and also frankly the repercussions that people face. So I think while we sort of finesse the way that we deliver certain messages without losing the criticality but also having compassion and being accessible, what we also need to be doing is building the resiliency on the part of the dominant or the privileged group so that we can receive that information and check their fragility or check their defensiveness, and I think that education needs to be more prioritized than the other stuff.Zach: I agree, and thank you. Thank you for pushing back. [laughing] I do think there's a low level of fluency and stamina, right, when it comes to these conversations, and it's interesting because I just read an article, and it was published on Salon, and it was called "Diversity is for white people: the big lie behind a well-intended word." Have you read that yet?Michelle: I have not.Zach: Yo, I'ma send this to you. But it's just interesting because it's really this conversation in a really tactful rant form just around, like, how D&I is often phrased today, and it's, like, phrased with, like, white comfort in mind as opposed to the perspective and experiences of the marginalized in mind, and so I just find that very interesting. Okay, so look, you're the first East Asian-American person that we've had on the show, and so first of all, you know what I'm saying, shout-out to you. [air horns sfx] You know, shout-out to you for that and just being here, you know? [coin sfx] Michelle: Thank you for having me. I'm honored.Zach: Nah, I'm honored. I mean, I'm excited. I think there's this--like, despite civil rights history and all of the work especially done, like, within California, L.A., Oakland, in the '60s, and of course, like, during the era of the Black Panthers, there's this stereotype that Asian-Americans don't really care about social justice. Like, have you heard this before, and, like, why do you think that that is?Michelle: Yeah. Yes, I have heard that before, and I continue to hear it quite often. I think something that I hear when I meet people for the first time and I talk about what I do and we get to know each other a bit better, a weird sort of form of compliment or they think it's a compliment that they pay me is this fact that, you know, I'm one of the unique ones, right? Like, "Oh, wow. I've never met another Asian person who is like you," or "I'm so glad you're doing this work, because we need more Asian people doing this," and I have mixed emotions about that, because while I appreciate the acknowledgement of the work, I think that there's also this continuing erasure of the historical work that different Asian-American activists have done, whether that's the labor movement that was led by Filipino activists or folks marching [?] or even current activists working as prison abolistionists who are Asian-American racial justice organizer or disability justice organizers like [?], queer trans [?] activists. I think there's a lot of folks who are doing really radical work who continually get erased, so it leaves sort of a bitter taste in my mouth when I hear that because I think that with that simple sentiment we're erasing so much of history and current work that's being done. I also think that some of that comment is valid in that, you know, I do see a lot more work that can be done on the part of Asian-Americans specifically. You know, East Asians in tech is sort of the reputation that I hear about where people can be more active in doing D&I work or social justice work, and I think there's a real sort of lack of awareness or even the sense of solidarity amongst Asian-Americans in what their place is, like, what our place is in this conversation around social justice activism. So I think it's a complex topic. I do think that we can do more. I think all groups can do more, and I think there's a serious lack of education around Asian-American history and sort of--even the current facts around, you know, the struggles that Asian-Americans are going through, that if more Asians knew about that and if more Asian folks found commonality between our oppression and other marginalized communities' depression that we may be able to build a coalition to do more amazing work.Zach: One, thank you for--that's a really thoughtful answer. All of your answers have been very thoughtful. It's almost like you're very... awake. [haha sfx] What's really interesting, to your point around just, like, history, is as much as the Black Panthers--I really think that the way that we think about--and when I say we, I mean just, like, Americans, right? Like, the way that Americans categorize and think about the Black Panthers has to be, like, some of the most effective example of American government propaganda, right? Like, we think of Black Panthers as the equivalent of the KKK, like, the black equivalent, like they're these terrorists and that it's just full of these angry black people, and we don't think about the fact that Richard Aoki was--he was a founding member of the Black Panthers, right? Asian-American. And he's not, like, this ancient figure. Like, he passed away in 2009, but we don't really talk about that, and I'm really curious as to--'cause, like, the Black Panther Party, and, like--not the new Black Panther Party, but the initial, original Black Panther Party was not, like, hundreds of years ago, and so it's just so interesting how we are uneducated, right? We're uneducated just on civil rights history, and we're certainly--I don't remember in high school or in college hearing anything about Asian-American participation or engagement in the civil rights movement. That was not anything that I remember being taught, nor do I remember that being something that was, like, readily available for me to learn, you know?Michelle: Right. And I think that lack of education is within the Asian-American community itself, right? I think I feel like sometimes I know more about, you know, black history than my own sort of Asian-American history here in the U.S., and I'm an immigrant, so I think I grew up with a different set of history lessons. So there's a lot of catching up for me to do as well, and I think that the--I mean, even in the school system, I'm sure you've been talking to your guests around the lack of real education around what really happened in history too, right? Not just for Asian-Americans, but for, you know, black Americans and, you know, Latinx Americans. I think there's a lot of, you know, untrue history that's being taught to our youth, which is problem #1, and I also think there's a lot of internalized racism and oppression that exists in the Asian-American community, and there's a lot of complex topics that I don't know if we have time to get into, but things like the--Zach: Well, pick one. Let's go. I have time.Michelle: You know, the myth of Asians being closer to white people and the sort of model minority myth, and that's a very prevalent stereotype, and I think there's a lot of interrogating that we need to do when we talk about those things around, "Well, who were the initial group of Asian-Americans that were allowed to come to the country? What were the ramifications of that? What are some of the current statistics that we can talk about, even in the workplace, around Asian-Americans being the least likely group to advance to senior leadership positions even though they are overrepresented in industries like tech and, you know, [?] in an analyst position?" "How does that impact the continuing stereotypes and narratives around Asian-Americans?" Being good at math, and, you know, I think there's a lot of complex, intertwined stories that we tell about our people, Asian-Americans, and also we're combining an entire continent when talking about Asian-Americans as this monolith of a people when if we were to dis-aggregate that data, there's actually a ton of lessons to be learned around who's actually marginalized within the Asian-American community, right? I recently learned that 1 in 7--I think that's the stat--1 in 7 Asian-Americans are undocumented, and they're the fastest-growing population that's undocumented in the United States currently, but we don't hear about that, right? We don't hear about that narrative, and I think the way that white supremacy works is this sort of untrue and erasing of different stories that make the people of color the collective question and also not able to work alongside each other, and I think that's the--the most difficult thing that I see in the sort of solidarity that we need to be able to move the needle on this work is that there's so much of a lack of education on everyone's part, including myself, that we need to do a lot of work to be able to, you know, truly practice that solidarity with each other.Zach: Man. You know, and, like, Michelle, you've been just casually dropping just bombs, like, this whole conversation, right? So I just gotta give you at least one. [Flex bomb sfx] 'Cause it's been ridiculous. But one thing you said--and it brought something back to my memory. So I'm not gonna say the consulting firm. If y'all want to look on my LinkedIn, y'all can make a guess as to where this was. It's not the one that I'm at right now, but I'll never forget, Michelle, I was at a team dinner--this was some years ago--and we were talking about... so, you know, I'm at the table, and then there's senior leaders, and then there's, like, super senior leaders, and there's me, and I was, like, a junior-level person at this point in time, right? This was, like, five or six years ago. And so I'm a pretty junior person, and there's somebody in there talking about this one particular employee, and they said, "Oh, Insert Name Here is the perfect little Asian. He just does exactly what I tell him to do. He does his work and then he goes home." And I remember I was just eating my dinner--I literally stopped, I looked at the person who said it and was like, "Oh, my God. I can't believe you just said that." And she looked at me, and then you could tell that she, like, quickly averted her eyes and was kind of, like, "Oop--" You know, like, she got caught, but just that idea of this subservient just worker bee that just does whatever I tell them to do... that just stuck with me forever. I was like, "Oh, my gosh." Like, that's not--I'm still flabbergasted by that, as you can tell, and I told my coach. I said, "Hey, this is not okay," right? I said, "This is what happened." And they were like, "Oh, well, you shouldn't have heard that." I was like, "No, no, no. It's not about me shouldn't have hearing it. Like, they shouldn't have said that, but beyond them saying it, they shouldn't believe that." So yeah, I just wanted to share that. Like, I'll never forget me hearing that. And, like, they were talking about the person like they were a--you know, like a resource, and, you know, they call talent that in consulting, resources, but in a genuine, like, piece of property [way], right? And it makes you just question, like, "Well, damn, okay. You felt comfortable enough to say this at a team dinner." And it was a white woman, by the way. But, like, you felt comfortable enough saying this in, like, a mixed group at a team dinner. Like, God forbid, what are you saying about me, what are you saying about other people, what are you saying about this person in, like, more private settings, you know what I mean?Michelle: Right. Well, the scary thing though is that sometimes that kind of trope or narrative is almost seen as a compliment, as if we should be celebrating that. "Well, you know, why is it so bad for us to say Asians are good workers or Asians are good at following orders?" And what have you. I think sometimes that trope gets weaponized to divide the people of color community even further, which is--you know, I think we saw that divide also in the recent affirmative action case, right, where Asian-Americans--there were arguments on both sides around how Asians are being discriminated against for getting good grades and all of that kind of unfortunate, annoying [?], but that's a conversation for another time.Zach: No, you're absolutely right. And to be specific for our listeners who may not be abreast, recently that was the affirmative action case that went before Harvard, correct?Michelle: Correct.Zach: Yeah, and so it was interesting--so, like my perspective, as I was kind of, like, reading and understanding it was, like, some people were saying--so I'm on this app called Fishbowl... this is not an ad, but Fishbowl is, like, this anonymous posting app for consultants and other, like, different industry professionals, and people on there were talking about the case, and so basically the commentary was, "Yeah, you're excluding us and you're letting in these black and brown people who aren't smart enough to get in, but you're trying to fill in these racial quotas." And I was like, "Wow." I don't think that that's the point, and I think the data showed that the people who are the most advantaged by this current system of applications and acceptances were legacy students, right? It was people that--but again, like, to your point, then you'd see people arguing, then you'd see black and brown people arguing with Asian-Americans about, you know, "Well, we deserve to be here--" Again, I think that's--white supremacy is winning again when we start having those types of... when it starts devolving in that way, you know what I mean?Michelle: Right, exactly. And I think it also comes from the fact that a lot of people don't understand the point of affirmative action and why it got started in the first place. It's almost like people think that we're just trying to fill quotas or, you know, have diversity for the sake of diversity, but I think this is where the concept of D&I falls short 'cause we're not actually ever talking about justice and correcting past mistakes or historical oppression. So I think there's a lot of conversations that we need to have that we're not having right now around this concept of justice and sort of historical wrong-doings being corrected with some type of mechanism, and I think similar conversations, you know, are being had in tech and other industries where they're focused on quote-unquote "diversity recruiting" where folks are talking about that concept of, you know, lowering the bar for the sake of diversity and, like, all of that stuff I feel like are interconnected and they're just happening in different spheres, and I think for me it's always coming back to the lack of basic communication around history and social justice concepts and people not understanding how all of these struggles are connected. I think there's just a lot of room for improvement in how we're talking about these issues.Zach: You know, we gotta have you back to talk about the connection--like, to really talk about justice in diversity, equity and inclusion work, because, like, I have all these questions, but I want to respect your time. [both laugh] So let's do this. First of all, let's make sure we have you back. We definitely consider you a friend of the pod.Michelle: Thank you.Zach: Yeah, no, straight up. So thank you for being here with us today. Now, look, y'all--now, I don't know what else y'all want from me. I'm talking to the audience now. You know, look, we come at y'all, we bring y'all some amazing guests, you know, we're having these really dope conversations. I mean, [what more do you want from me? sfx] what more do you want? Like, I'm not even trying to martyr myself. I'm just saying, like, "What do you want?" And when I say me, I mean Living Corporate. Like, you see this guest. Michelle Kim is a beast. Like, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. Now, look, before we get out of here though, Michelle, I have just a couple more questions. First of all, where can people learn more about Awaken?Michelle: You can learn more about Awaken at our website, www.visionawaken.com. You can also follow on Twitter @AwakenCo and our blog. Please check out our blog on Medium, www.medium.com/Awaken-blog. I'm all on Twitter, I'm on LinkedIn. You can follow me. I also have an Instagram. So all of the social media platforms there's gonna be me or Awaken, so please follow us and subscribe to our newsletter.Zach: All right, y'all. Now, look, she said all the stuff. Mm-mm, hold on, 'cause you're probably driving or you're doing something, you know? You're in your car or maybe you're typing something up on your phone, but what I really need y'all to do is I need you to stop... [record scratch sfx] and check out the links in the show notes, okay? Make sure y'all hit up all those things. I want y'all clicking on them links like [blatblatblatblat sfx]. You know, check them out, okay? We'll make sure we have everything right there for you. Now, Michelle, any shout-outs or parting words before you get out of here?Michelle: Well, I think we're living in a really interesting time right now. There's a lot going on in so many different communities and our society, so my shout-out is to everyone who is doing their best to survive and to thrive to take care of themselves, to stay vigiliant, to educate themselves, and to be in community with people that care about you. I think that's so important in this climate. One last shout-out I want to give is to this new initiative that I'm a part of called Build Tech We Trust. It's a coalition of different CEOs and tech leaders who have come together to say enough is enough around white supremacy spreading online on social media platforms and other tech platforms. It was founded by Y-Vonne Hutchinson and Karla Monterroso of Code2040, and check out our work. We're doing some really important work to build coalition around this issue of radicalization happening on tech platforms. So Build Tech We Trust, and I can send you the URL so you can link it.Zach: Please do. Y'all, this has been--first of all, Michelle, again, thank you. Great conversation. We look forward to having you back, because we will be having you back. If you would like to come back--it's not a directive, you have agency. Michelle: [laughing] Of course. I'd love to. I'd be honored.Zach: Okay, super cool. Listen, y'all. This has been the Living Corporate podcast. You know, make sure you check us on Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, Instagram @LivingCorporate, and then--now, the websites. Now, look, y'all hear me rattle off all these websites every time - livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.tv, livingcorporate.net, right? Livingcorporate.us I think we even have. We have every livingcorporate, Michelle, except livingcorporate.com, but we do have living-corporate--please say the dash--dot com. Now, if you have any questions or any feedback for the show, just hit us up. We're at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. Hit us up on DM. All of our DMs are wide open for your convenience. That's right. We take on the emotional labor of keeping our DMs open so that you can reach out to us, okay? So you hit us up and you let us know if you need anything. If there's anything else, just Google us, right? Type in Living Corporate on your browser. We're gonna pop up. We're on all the different streaming mediums. Make sure to tell your momma about Living Corporate, your cousin, or your weird uncle, or your racist uncle at Thanksgiving. So you make sure you--come on, shoot the link over. We got all kinds of stuff on there, so we out here, okay? What else? I think that's it. Shout-out to Aaron [thank you], shout-out to all the listeners, and God bless y'all. Or, you know what I'm saying, bless y'all, 'cause I'm not trying to offend anybody, but bless y'all, okay? And what else? I think that's it. This has been Zach. You've been listening to Michelle Kim, founder, educator, activist, public speaker, and of course CEO of Awaken. Catch y'all next time. Peace.

Podcast Description “When I go in and I’m working with companies, I tell them you have got to design your systems, your culture, your norms, your communication for the most marginalized person. If she’s okay, then the rest of the people in your company are going to be okay.” For 25 years, Nicole Sanchez has served as a leading expert on workplace culture with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Nicole has transformed workplace culture for Fortune 500 corporations, tech startups, and mission-driven organizations. She consults globally, advising tech executives on best practices in diversity and inclusion. Previously, Nicole served as VP of Social Impact at GitHub and Managing Partner for the Kapor Center for Social Impact. Nicole earned a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business where she has also been a lecturer on workplace diversity. Nicole serves on the Board of CODE2040, and has received numerous awards for her work. She is a mother of two teenagers and lives with her family in the East Bay, where she was born and raised. Twitter Nicole Sanchez Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo. Learn more > All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud. Listen to more great #causeascene podcasts full podcast list >

On this episode of the cavnessHR podcast we talk to LeShane Greenhill – CEO and Co-founder of Sagents and Founder of SalesCocktail.com https://www.cavnessHR.com jasoncavness@cavnessHR.com @cavnessHR  across social media @jasoncavnessHR across social media Sign up to join the cavnessHR waitlist at https://cavnesshr.co/nrw A native Nashvillian, LeShane is CEO and Co-founder of Sagents and Founder of SalesCocktail.com. Prior to his current ventures, LeShane Founded Pishon Sales Outsourcing. In 2016, he was selected by Google and Code2040 to serve as an Entrepreneur In-Residence at Googles Tech Hub.  A graduate of the University of Memphis, LeShane received his BBA with a concentration in MIS. LeShane also completed the “Building High Performing Businesses” Executive Education program at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.  He has served and currently serves on numerous non-profit boards including: Metro Nashville Municipal Auditorium (Commissioner), The Exchange Club Family Center, Young Leaders Council, and Girl Scouts of Middle TN, Dan and Margaret Maddox Foundation, Trustee; Nashville Chamber Leadership Connect, Vital Signs Task Force; WorkIT Nashville, Ambassador; Belmont University Business School Ethics Advisory Board; Alignment Nashville Tech Team, and YPNashville, Founding committee member. LeShane served as President & Chairman of the Nashville Area Junior Chamber of Commerce in 2008. As a facilitator for the Kaufmann Foundation FastTrac program, he also helped design and facilitate a 10-week entrepreneurship program for New Level Community Development Corporation. In 2017    He is a 2005 graduate of Nashville Emerging Leaders and a 2009 graduate of Young Leaders Council. LeShane is also a member of the 2008 Leadership Nashville class. Nashville Business Journal named him a Top 40 under 40 in 2010 and Power 100. In 2013 LeShane was awarded the Spirit of the Chamber Award by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. LeShane has been a featured speaker for Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, International Business Innovation Association, Vanderbilt School of Engineering, SXSW, MTSU, Pathway Women's Business Center, Karen Hunter Show on Sirius XM Radio, and many other outlets LeShane is married to Gealita Greenhill. Together they have a daughter and son. We talk about the following: His companies, Sagents and Salescocktail.com The importance of public speaking Why it is important to give back Reasons to adopt SaaS LeShane's Social Media LeShane's Twitter: @LSGreenhill Sales Cocktail Twitter: @SalesCocktail LeShane's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leshanegreenhill/ LeShane's Resources I've put together a PDF form of 15 different SaaS platforms that we've used personally within our company. For your listeners who want that PDF file, they can just text us sales cocktail, the word sales cocktail 615-510-6364 .  LeShane's Advice I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons why small businesses don't use technology is because when they Google it, they get so many options. They don't know which one is best for them and they just give up. On our website Sales Cocktail, we have a recommendation engine. Where we ask questions, like the size of your company, the industry that you're in and the type of software you're looking for and then your name and email.  It spits out a recommended list of platforms from the criteria you just entered in in there and there's no cost for that. The reason why we did that is because we want small businesses to get over this analysis of trying to figure out what to do and what to use. So, I guess that that's a long way of saying, use technology to increase your bottom line.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Walker & Company makes beauty and health products for people of color. Prior, Tristan was the first African American entrepreneur in residence at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is also the founder of Code2040, a program that connects Black and Latino coders with Silicon Valley startups for summer internships. Tristan speaks with Jessica […]

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! This week, I spoke with Damion Wright, Head of Talent Acceleration at Intuit, Inc. In this position, Damion works with his team to build out the strategy and delivery for Intuit’s internship, new college graduate, and diversity programs for US Inside Sales. Damion first came to Intuit in a sales role, having 15 years of sales leadership experience, and moved organically into his current role, where he is highly involved in the growth and professional development of recent college graduates. Known primarily for their financial software such as Quickbooks, Turbotax, and Mint, Intuit has been on the list of best companies to work for in the US for the past 16 years. Intuit also has a reputation for diversity and inclusion, having secured a spot on Fortune’s “Best Workplaces for Diversity” in 2017. Damion and I discussed the strategies Intuit uses to attract and retain a diverse workforce, and how they’ve become leaders in inclusivity among the major tech companies. Part of what sets Intuit apart is a conscious commitment to their core values, fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture. “We’re a company of 8 thousand people who function like a family. Everyone accepts one another for who they are, there’s no judgement. You can bring your whole self to work.” In forming partnerships with organizations such as Girls Who Code and Code2040 (among others), Intuit targets those that have the best fit culturally. “We’re  always working to ensure that this is a relationship — not just a partnership.” The diversity in Intuit’s workforce stems in part from the fact that their employee base mirrors their customer base, creating an unmatched synergy between company and customer. They also deliberately showcase diverse talent from within the company at diversity events. Not only does this highlight Intuit’s commitment to diversity, it also creates a space for better dialogue. “We’re able to relate, and to answer the tough questions that people might not ask of people who don’t look like them. People want to be around people they can relate to.” Affinity groups are another factor in Intuit’s success with retaining diverse talent. These employee networks — including the Mosaic group for those of African ancestry and the Pride network, among others — are open to anyone within the company. “It doesn’t matter what part of the company you’re in, you can connect with people all over the company through the affinity groups. [...] Every group is represented at each Intuit site. They put a lot of time and money in to ensure that these networks are supported.” Damion, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing these insights in to what makes Intuit a diversity leader in the tech sector. Thank you also to my listeners for tuning in this week. If you’d like to get a hold of Damion and learn more about Intuit’s diversity programs, you can get in touch with him via LinkedIn. See you next week!   Connect with us Website | Twitter | Instagram

Apple released the public beta of iOS 12 this week and Megan and Henry downloaded it so they could play with the new Memoji feature. Their feelings are mixed. Also this week Microsoft improved its facial recognition technology to better detect darker skin tones. Some improvement. And finally, they spoke to Karla Monterroso, CEO of Code2040, an organization dedicated to ensuring equal representation of black and Latinx people in tech. Want to go to Disrupt SF 2018? Yeah, you do. Visit the Disrupt SF 2018 hub and get a special 15% discount if you use code CONTROLT. Links: Apple just released the first iOS 12 beta to everyone Microsoft’s facial recognition just got better at identifying people with dark skin

  Chelsea Barabas: How to balance AI and criminal justice (Ep. 136) MIT Research Scientist Chelsea Barabas and Joe Miller discuss how to balance AI and criminal justice to affect better defendant outcomes. Bio Chelsea Barabas (@chels_bar) is a research scientist at MIT, where she examines the spread of algorithmic decision making tools in the US criminal justice system. Formerly, Chelsea was the Head of Social Innovation with the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative. She has worked on a wide range of issues related to the use of emerging technologies to serve the public good around the world. Chelsea’s graduate research at MIT was on understanding the U.S.’s ongoing struggle to cultivate and hire a diverse technical workforce, and she conducted her graduate thesis in partnership with Code2040. She attended Stanford as an undergraduate, where she earned a B.A. in Sociology.  Resources Chelsea Barabas, Karthik Dinakar, Joichi Ito, Madars Virza, and Jonathan Zittrain. 2018. Interventions over Predictions: Reframing the Ethical Debate for Actuarial Risk Assessment. In Proceedings of the Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAT*) conference (FAT* 2018). ACM, New York, NY, USA. Virginia Eubanks, Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor (2018) News Roundup T-Mobile and Sprint announce merger plans T-Mobile and Sprint have announced merger plans again. It’s a $27 billion deal that would include Softbank giving up control of Sprint.  The combined company would be called T-Mobile and, with 98 million subscribers, the combined company would become the second largest wireless carrier, behind Verizon’s 116 million. Brian Fung and Tony Romm report in the Washington Post. Comcast launches bidding war against Fox for Sky Comcast announced that it would seek to acquire European pay TV provider Sky for $31 billion. The Murdoch’s 21st Century  Fox already has a bid for Sky on the table, but it’s $15 billion lower than Comcast’s, even though Fox already has a 39% stake in Sky. 21st Century Fox had rejected a separate bid by Comcast to acquire Fox’s entertainment assets, which Disney is now planning to purchase for $52.4 billion, which was also lower than Comcast’s proposal. Shalani Ramachandran, Amol Sharma and David Benoit report in the Wall Street Journal. EU investigates Apple’s Shazam bid EU antitrust regulators are investigating whether Apple’s bid for music identification service Shazam is anticompetitive. Apple had announced back in December that it was looking to acquire Shazam for an undisclosed amount. The EU is concerned the acquisition could limit consumer choice. Foo Yun Chee has more at Reuters. Senate confirms Nakasone to Lead NSA/Cyber Command The Senate unanimously confirmed U.S. Army Command Chief Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone to serve as both the head of the National Security Administration and U.S. Cyber Command. He’ll replace Mike Rogers. Nakasone will also get a fourth star. SEC fines company formerly known as Yahoo! $35 million The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Altaba, the company that now owns Yahoo!’s remaining assets, over $35 million. The fine is for failing to disclose a 2014 data breach that compromised the data of over 500 million Yahoo! users. Jacob Katrenakes reports in the Verge. FTC warns app firms about collecting children’s data The Federal Trade Commission has warned app firms in China and Sweden about collecting the data of U.S. children. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prohibits the collection of such data and applies to foreign companies. The China based- Gator Group and Sweden-based Tinitell, both sell smartwatches to children. In other news related to Children's privacy, YouTube has announced new parental controls for YouTube kids. Parents will now be able to limit recommendations and suggestions will now be made by humans. Did Diamond and Silk commit perjury? In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last week, conservative African American internet personalities Diamond and Silk said under oath that President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign never paid them. But there’s a 2016 Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing showing that the campaign paid them $1,275 for “field consulting”. Harper Neidig reports in the Hill. CBC members to meet in Silicon Valley to discuss diversity The Congressional Black Caucus is sending the largest delegation of lawmakers it has ever sent to Silicon Valley to discuss diversity. Just 3% of Silicon Valley tech workers are black, according to a Center for Investigative Reporting study. Shirin Ghaffary reports in Recode. Facebook warns SEC about more data misuse In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Facebook indicated that additional reports of the misuse of user data are likely forthcoming. The social media giant said it is conducting a third-party audit which it anticipates will reveal additional improprieties. Google’s Sergey Brin warns about AI threat Finally, Google co-founder Sergey Brin warned in the company’s annual Founders’ Letter about the future of AI and the fact that it is already transforming everything from self-driving cars to planetary discovery. Brin said he is optimistic about Artificial Intelligence and said that Alphabet is giving serious consideration to the ways in which AI will affect employment, how developers can control for bias in their algorithms, and the potential for AI to “manipulate people.” James Vincent notes in the Verge that Brin’s letter does not discuss the dangers of using AI for military intelligence, although the company has said its technology would be used for “non-offensive purposes only”. Still, several employees at the company are urging Alphabet to withdraw from its plans to work with the Pentagon.

Have you ever been curious about taking a gap year after high school? Fisher Adelakin is the perfect example of someone who has definitely reaped the rewards of a gap year. Not only did he discern his passion for computer graphics during this time, he also made time to explore networking opportunities that led to his internship at Pinterest. We also discuss the controversial topic of field experience vs. graduate school. Internship Experience: Diamond, Pinterest, Qualcomm, Tesla, and Slack (Summer of 2018) Organization Affiliation: Bay Area Blacks in Tech (BAYBIT) and Code2040

From the archives: While still in her undergrad at Dartmouth College, Kaya Thomas developed her first app: We Read Too, a book resource application that showcases a directory of hundreds of children's and young adult fiction books written by and for people of colour, which contains over 600 books and has over 4,000 downloads. Kaya has held software engineering internships at Time Inc. and Intuit working on mobile applications. She was a CODE2040 2015 Fellow and is a technical volunteer mentor for Black Girls Code. For her work in education and technology, Kaya was honoured by Michelle Obama at the 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards. She joins us to talk about her favourite books, breaking into coding, and diversifying the publishing industry.

Rianie Strydom is the General Manager and Winemaker at Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Wines. A graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, Rianie decided to become a winemaker at the age of 14 working in Burgundy, Bordeaux and travelling extensively throughout Europe, America and Australia before returning to South Africa to work within her native country's terroir. After ten years as winemaker at Morgenhof Estate, Rianie took up the dual role of General Manager and winemaker at Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Wines in the Helderberg. And in 2009 her Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007 won three trophies (Best Shiraz, Best Red Wine and Best Wine of Show) at the prestigious Tri Nations Challenge – the first time in the competition's history that a South African red wine had won these top spots. Since then, Rianie's passion and dedication to ‘improving the breed' of South African wine has seen her career go from strength to strength  – including an invitation to join South Africa's prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild – one of only two females in the country to be a member. This episode touches on many career cornerstones including: - The practicalities of marketing yourself and your product - Why honesty and loyalty are key to carrying your career - Three foundational skills for a successful career: Being friendly, being goal-oriented, and showing enthusiasm in everything you do On the subject of wine, Rianie also shares some great tips on: - How to approach wine if you don't feel like enough of an expert on it and why experience is so much better than education - What ‘terroir' means, and why it's important You can read more about Rianie's wines: https://www.haskellvineyards.com And read more about Rianie's accolades: http://www.capewinemakersguild.com/users/rianie-strydom Please note: There's a little bit of background noise in this episode. That's because the episode was recorded, literally, in the middle of one of Rianie's wine cellars and you will be able to hear some of the barrells being moved at some points! Thanks to our patrons for this episode: - Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com - Megan Quinn who supports Code2040: http://www.code2040.org - Caoimhe Keogan: http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan - Alexandra Cosma: http://alexandracosma.com - Emma Harris If you too want to support us in creating The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels

DeRay talks with Wes Moore about his new role fighting systemic poverty at Robin Hood, #closerikers, and hope. Laura Weidman Powers of Code2040 joins DeRay to discuss the important of diversity in the tech industry and her time in Obama’s White House. Thanks to our sponsors: MACK WELDON mackweldon.com Promo code: PEOPLE WORDPRESS wordpress.com/PEOPLE

Lydia Denworth is an author, science journalist, and speaker. Lydia's most recent book of popular science is I Can Hear You Whisper. The book is a memoir of her youngest son's deafness and her subsequent exploration of sound and language and the brain. Reviewers called it “rigorous,” “enthralling,” “tender” and “luminous." She is working on her third book--about the biology and evolution of friendship--and writes regularly for Scientific American and Psychology Today. Her work has also appeared in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Parents, Vogue, and many other publications. Lydia and I talked about her journey of becoming a journalist and reporter – first for Newsweek, then as the London Bureau Chief of People Magazine during the time of Princess Diana's fatal accident. About her return to the United States, of becoming a mother three times, and learning that her youngest son is deaf. Connect with Lydia: http://lydiadenworth.com/mailing-list/ Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/LydiaDenworth and Facebook http://fb.me/ScienceWriterLydia Her Brain Waves blog for Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-waves] Her website http://www.lydiadenworth.com Special thanks to our patrons on Patreon: Megan Quinn who supports Code2040: http://www.code2040.org Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Tim Herbig https://twitter.com/herbigt Johannes Kleske https://johanneskleske.com/ Caoimhe Keogan https://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Eileen Williams https://www.switchup.de/stromvergleich If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels

Beth Comstock is the Vice Chair at General Electric, one of the largest companies in the world. At GE, she leads efforts to accelerate new growth. She operates GE Business Innovations, which develops new businesses, markets and service models; drives brand value and partners to enhance GE's inventive culture. This unit includes Current, GE Lighting, GE Ventures & Licensing and GE sales, marketing and communications. In this episode, Beth and I talk about what makes a good leader, how to learn to ask for help, how to embrace feedback, how to build a network – both internally and externally, how she defines success and how she decides to spend her time. Follow Beth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethcomstock LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjcomstock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethcomstock/ Medium: https://medium.com/@bethcomstock Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethComstock/ –– Special thanks to our patrons on Patreon: Megan Quinn who supports Code2040: http://www.code2040.org Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Tim Herbig https://twitter.com/herbigt Johannes Kleske https://johanneskleske.com/ Caoimhe Keogan https://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Eileen Williams https://www.switchup.de/stromvergleich If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels

Dr. Robin Berzin is a doctor and entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Parsley Health, a service that is redefining medical care. Robin believes that medicine should put nutrition, wellness and prevention on the front lines of health care, while simultaneously making care smart and data-driven to meet our needs in today's world. Parsley Health, the company that Robin founded, is her answer to the question how she would rethink medical care from scratch. Parsley's mission is to redefine how we think about and deliver medical care, and how we put the patient at the center. In this episode, Robin shares what it was like to leave a job she didn't like, how and why she started Parsley Health, and how she spends her time in the role of the CEO. Robin shares advice about how to fundraise, how to work with investors, and what she looks for when hiring people into the company. Follow Robin on Twitter and Instagram: https://twitter.com/robinberzinmd https://instagram.com/robinberzinmd https://www.parsleyhealth.com/ Special thanks to our patrons on Patreon: Megan Quinn who supports Code2040: http://www.code2040.org/ Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Tim Herbig https://twitter.com/herbigt Johannes Kleske https://johanneskleske.com/ Caoimhe Keogan https://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Eileen Williams https://www.switchup.de/stromvergleich If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels

Future-thinking companies are operationalizing diversity of thought and redefining how they harness and retain talent. In this panel, guest speakers from Upwork, Code2040, and Andela debate and discuss the changing work environment with Lean Startup’s Melissa Moore, as well as what they’ve learned as they’ve built their organizations from the ground up. They’ll cover some of the key issues surrounding the future of the workplace, from hiring on-demand talent to providing an environment that allows employees to share their views, opinions, and authentic selves.

In our conversation with Alivia Blount, a Code2040 fellow, Data Analytics intern at Intuit, Winner of the 2015 USC "Hack the Gender Gap", and sophomore at UC Davis, you'll learn about how she pivoted into tech, what makes her an extreme learner, and the value of accidental mentors.

Laura Weidman Powers is co-founder and CEO of Code2040, an organization focused on ending structural racism in America by smoothing the pathways into tech for people of color. She shares her ‘aha’ moment, how she got involved in this work and why it’s critical for companies to rethink their current approach to diversity.

“People like genuine people. People like people who are authentic, people lke people who show up with their true identity. And being Chickasaw is part of who I am.”-Heath Clayton One of the areas in which I love to dabble is what I call “life system hacking.” The basic idea is finding ways to create a life, circumvent expectations or bypass the norms of which we all are led to believe cannot be bypassed or circumvented. There are a lot of people who write about the subject online, and it can get a bit of a reputation as self-help like content. But I continue to expose myself to it because I think there are gems that can be found, if you know what you are looking for. I was excited to interview someone I think hacked the system quite successfully. That person is Heath Clayton (Chicksaw). Heath earned a Bachelor’s degree for about $3,000 without stepping foot onto a university campus. After “college” he worked in the White House at age 21. Not after 21 years of working in politics. At 21 years old. After home school and then earning a bachelor’s degree without going to college, he earned a Master’s from Carnegie Mellon University Heinz School of Public Policy. Oh, he also achieved a goal of visiting 100 countries by the time he turned 30. Now he is working to give back to other young Native people with the goal of showing them that much more is possible than they may realize. He’s mentored 40-50 people by his estimate. It’s a story that you need to hear. It’s a good reminder that there are amazing resources out there to utilize, and there are amazing people that will help you along the way. Have a listen. -- Heath's bio When he is not busy working in corporate philanthropy for a consulting firm, Heath Clayton is usually visiting a new country to feed his insatiable curiosity of the world. He spent the last few years working towards a goal of visiting 100 countries before his 30th birthday, a goal he achieved in January 2017. Heath is Chickasaw Indian and attended Carnegie Mellon University for graduate school on a tribal affairs fellowship. Heath previously worked in The White House under the George W. Bush Administration and on Capitol Hill before beginning his consulting career. Mentoring native youth on potential careers in corporate America or public policy excites him, and he is always looking for ways to stay in engaged with his tribe and Indian country.  -- Some random links mentioned in this episode: Code 2040 Interview with Laura Weidman from Code2040 on Recode/Decode Native American Political Leadership Program Resources from Carnegie Mellon FEMA College Courses

Filling the gaps of underrepresented cities across the country with entrepreneurship How communities can take control of their narrative Less than 2% of black founders raise venture capital Underrepresented communities haven’t begun to solve their problems -- huge opportunity Jason leads Groundwork.vc, a D.C. & Oakland based startup accelerator and seed fund focused on supporting emergent market entrepreneurs. Jason launched national initiatives such as CODE2040’s Entrepreneur in Residence Program, a Google-backed startup accelerator providing funding & support to founders from Black and Latinx communities. As the Broadband.com co-founder, Jason advises civic leaders, tech inclusion orgs & tech hubs on access to capital and building startup ecosystems. Jason sits on a number of boards, including the African Economic Expansion Network (AEEN), the Congressional Research Institute of Social Work and Policy (CRISP). & The Releaf Group. http://www.groundwork.vc/ https://blavity.com/ http://www.code2040.org/

Code2040 CEO and co-founder Laura Weidman Powers talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the mistakes employees and managers make when they talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Companies need to make fundamental changes to how they hire and operate to be welcoming destinations for underrepresented minorities, Weidman says. She discusses the inherent flaws in most "unconscious bias" training and what Code2040 has done differently when it partners with tech companies, finding jobs for hundreds of black and latino students over the past five years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The SXSW Education conference and festival this year highlighted equity, fairness, and justice as a major theme. How does this apply to engineering and computer science education? This episode explores the views of various speakers and attendees at SXSW, starting with Dr. Chris Emdin, who emphasized that education is a civil rights issue. Then it looks at the relevant views of college students, educational leaders, teachers, and industry professionals. Finally Aditya Voleti and Michelle Ching share their thoughts on equity in educational technology, coming from the perspective of two teachers-turned-entrepreneurs. Mentioned in this episode: • Dr. Chris Emdin's SXSW Edu talk: https://youtu.be/XbBwM1c-6xM • Proposed Texas Senate bill for student input: https://legiscan.com/TX/research/SB508/2015 • Proposed Texas House bill for student input: https://legiscan.com/TX/research/HB1585/2015 • Hidden Figures movie on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/ • Code2040: http://www.code2040.org/ • Laura Weidman Powers' SXSW Edu talk: https://youtu.be/eYh0fVfFggY • Oracle Academy: https://academy.oracle.com/ • The University of Texas Center for STEM Education: https://stemcenter.utexas.edu/ • Landmark Consulting Group: https://www.consultlandmark.org/ • Literator: http://www.literatorapp.com/ • The Lean Lab: http://theleanlab.org/ • Startup Weekend EDU: https://startupweekend.org/interests/EDU Our closing music is from "Late for School" by Bleeptor, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Subscribe and find more podcast information at: http://www.k12engineering.net. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com. Check out the book and ebook “Engineer's Guide to Improv and Art Games” by Pius Wong, on Amazon, Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, and other retailers: http://www.pioslabs.com/improv4design.html

Hey ya’ll! We’re really excited to release this special episode of Three Unicorns. Last December we went up to San Francisco Public Library to record a special episode in partnership with CODE2040 (www.code2040.org/) in StoryCorps’s (storycorps.org/) StoryBooth. We all dug deep into the impact of being CODE2040 Fellows during our summer working in Silicon Valley, how it felt to go to work in the midst of tragedy, and how we think the tech industry could be radically different. Listen, enjoy, and tell us what you think.

Kaya Thomas, creator of the app We Read Too, joins BookNet on the podcast this month. While still in her undergrad at Dartmouth College, Kaya developed We Read Too—a book resource application that showcases a directory of hundreds of children's and young adult fiction books written by and for people of colour—which contains over 600 books and has over 4,000 downloads. Kaya has held software engineering internships at Time Inc and Intuit working on mobile applications. She was a CODE2040 2015 Fellow and is a technical volunteer mentor for Black Girls Code. For her work in education and technology, Kaya was recently honoured by First Lady Michelle Obama at the 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards. She joins us to talk about her favourite books, breaking into coding, and diversifying the publishing industry. techforum.booknetcanada.ca

Andile Masuku got to hang with two interesting African-American entrepreneurs who were in South Africa on business, and gleaned insights on the start-up scene they hail from. Talib Graves-Manns is the Entrepreneur in Residence with Google for Entrepreneurs and Code2040 at the American Underground in Durham, North Carolina. Talib is also the Co-Founder of three startups: RainbowMe Kids, Point AB, and Life on Autopilot. Brien Jordan-Jack is an aerospace engineer, and a celebrated commercial airline pilot for a leading global carrier. He’s also had a long stint working in investment banking. Currently, he’s leveraging all his technical training, professional experience and impressive network into launching various ventures in new media and international property investments.

CODE2040's flagship program places top performing Black and Latino college level computer science students from around the country in an intensive summer career accelerator in the San Francisco Bay Area. We Internship Phillip Loya, National Student Recruitment Manager, and Chardai Page, 2015 Code2040 fellow about the program, Chardai's experience interning at Pandora, and the application process. Applications for CODE2040 summer program are now open. Deadline is Nov 12th. Apply at https://boards.greenhouse.io/code2040/jobs/72324?t=yuxv3n#.VkFdgK6rTOQ

Kaya Thomas is an undergraduate in Computer Science at Dartmouth and is interning this summer at Intuit on the Mint iOS team. She's also a Code2040 fellow and has both a YouTube channel with tech tutorials and a book resource app called We Read Too in the iOS App Store. She and Scott talk about the difference between coding in school vs. the real world.

"I'm dedicating my life to supporting entrepreneurship in our communities and making sure that we're not only supporting our top performing founders from non-traditional communities...but that I'm also doing the work of inspiring our young people to pursue startup life as an option"   Jason Towns is the director of residency with CODE2040, whose mission is to create access, awareness, and opportunities for top Black and Latino/a engineering talent to ensure their leadership in the innovation economy. Jason has 15 years of experience as a founder and advisor to startups, campaigns and nonprofits. Before heading to the Silicon Valley, he sat on the Washington, DC Mayor’s Tech Roundtable and served as an advisor to Digital DC, an initiative formed to promote and invest in the continued growth of DC’s tech ecosystem. Jason is a lifetime learner committed to the idea that technology can be a great equalizer and served as a CODE for Progress Fellow, focused on creating software to tackle large scale social issues. Jason and I chat about: The importance of diversity in tech Issues surrounding launching a startup, including team building The role of women and women of color in tech Current events and diversity initiatives in tech, including Project Diane, Stanford's new free tuition program and the launch of Tidal by Jay-Z and others Where Jason and I disagree on the best hip hop album And much, much more   Tweetworthy! I just learned so much from @jhtdc of @CODE2040. My biggest takeaway was...        Click above to tweet at Jason and share your greatest takeaway from his interview! Resources from our conversation: CODE2040' s website has all of their information including for the Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Fellows program Connect with Jason and CODE2040 on social media: Jason Towns Twitter - @jhtdc CODE2040 Twitter - @CODE2040 CODE2040 Instagram - @CODE2040 Free tuition for Stanford students Learn more about ProjectDiane DC Code for Progress DC Web Women R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center in Southeast Washington, DC Each week we highlight a woman-owned business in her own words-FOR FREE. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming episode and here on our website email [email protected] with your questions and comments. Michelle Y. Talbert is an author, recovering attorney and the curator of the Her Power Hustle Community. She’s passionate about networking and relationships and writes on business and entrepreneurship topics for a number of sites, including Black Enterprise and Killer Startups. Her new ebook, ‘Why White Guys Having Fun Make Great Mentors for Black Women,” (2015) chronicles advice and mentorship for Black women in business gleaned from her conversations with Guy Kawasaki, Peter Shankman and other guys in business having fun and at the top of their industries.     Fill out the form below for more information on having your business featured for FREE on an upcoming episode of the Her Power Hustle Podcast

2:55 - Introducing Joseph Mastey and Jill Lynch Enova 3:20 - The origins of Enova’s apprenticeship program 6:20 - Creating and teaching the curriculum Rails Guide to Active Support Code School 11:05 - Realities of implementing an apprenticeship program 15:30 - Jill’s experience 21:10 - Feedback processes 22:50 - Advice for setting up an apprenticeship program 24:20 - Ideal candidates and mentors Women Who Code Code2040 Girl Develop It 28:05 - Apprenticeship and new hire diversity 28:45 - Experimenting with bias, communication, and engagement 33:20 - Do trainees take too much time away from regular employees? 37:05 - Teaching the codebase 39:50 - Firing apprentices 42:05 - Advantages of working at a lucrative company 45:45 - Learning outside the program Edx Coursera 47:40 - Breaking into the industry Email panel@rubyrouges.com with your experiences 58:10 - Who decides the circle? Picks: Ruby Tapas (Avdi) Nozbe (Avdi) Postach.io (Avdi) Neo4j (Caroline) Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows (Caroline) DeskTime (Charles) “Codes of Conduct 101 + FAQ” post by Ashe Dryden (Joe) The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Joe) Practical Object-Oriented Design by Sandi Metz (Jill) Edx CS50 Class (Jill)

2:55 - Introducing Joseph Mastey and Jill Lynch Enova 3:20 - The origins of Enova’s apprenticeship program 6:20 - Creating and teaching the curriculum Rails Guide to Active Support Code School 11:05 - Realities of implementing an apprenticeship program 15:30 - Jill’s experience 21:10 - Feedback processes 22:50 - Advice for setting up an apprenticeship program 24:20 - Ideal candidates and mentors Women Who Code Code2040 Girl Develop It 28:05 - Apprenticeship and new hire diversity 28:45 - Experimenting with bias, communication, and engagement 33:20 - Do trainees take too much time away from regular employees? 37:05 - Teaching the codebase 39:50 - Firing apprentices 42:05 - Advantages of working at a lucrative company 45:45 - Learning outside the program Edx Coursera 47:40 - Breaking into the industry Email panel@rubyrouges.com with your experiences 58:10 - Who decides the circle? Picks: Ruby Tapas (Avdi) Nozbe (Avdi) Postach.io (Avdi) Neo4j (Caroline) Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows (Caroline) DeskTime (Charles) “Codes of Conduct 101 + FAQ” post by Ashe Dryden (Joe) The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Joe) Practical Object-Oriented Design by Sandi Metz (Jill) Edx CS50 Class (Jill)

2:55 - Introducing Joseph Mastey and Jill Lynch Enova 3:20 - The origins of Enova’s apprenticeship program 6:20 - Creating and teaching the curriculum Rails Guide to Active Support Code School 11:05 - Realities of implementing an apprenticeship program 15:30 - Jill’s experience 21:10 - Feedback processes 22:50 - Advice for setting up an apprenticeship program 24:20 - Ideal candidates and mentors Women Who Code Code2040 Girl Develop It 28:05 - Apprenticeship and new hire diversity 28:45 - Experimenting with bias, communication, and engagement 33:20 - Do trainees take too much time away from regular employees? 37:05 - Teaching the codebase 39:50 - Firing apprentices 42:05 - Advantages of working at a lucrative company 45:45 - Learning outside the program Edx Coursera 47:40 - Breaking into the industry Email panel@rubyrouges.com with your experiences 58:10 - Who decides the circle? Picks: Ruby Tapas (Avdi) Nozbe (Avdi) Postach.io (Avdi) Neo4j (Caroline) Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows (Caroline) DeskTime (Charles) “Codes of Conduct 101 + FAQ” post by Ashe Dryden (Joe) The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Joe) Practical Object-Oriented Design by Sandi Metz (Jill) Edx CS50 Class (Jill)