Eight Questions: Cindy Val, People Team Recruiter
Welcome to Eight Questions, where we profile individual members of the Anchorage Digital team, diving into their career paths, what brought them to crypto, and what makes them tick. Why eight? Because it’s the number of decimal places a bitcoin can be divided into. It’s also the last single digit number in a Fibonacci Sequence, and we like that.
Leslie Ankney
Next in our series, meet Cindy Val, who joined Anchorage Digital as a recruiter on the People team in May 2021. Prior to Anchorage, Cindy brought in talent and ensured a great candidate hiring experience at COFCO International and Farfetch. When she’s not hiring talented team members in Portugal, Cindy likes to practice yoga and spend time with her family.
- Since hiring in Portugal is a key focus for you, what are the top three things you tell candidates about Anchorage?
One of the things I always tell candidates is that Anchorage Digital is planting the seeds for a new financial system. It’s important for them to understand that what we’re doing today is going to shape the world of tomorrow. Anchorage is a place where they’ll have a voice in the future and have the opportunity to work and grow with inspiring colleagues. Lastly, we really have a village, or a community here, where everyone is ready to help each other.
2. What is a key lesson you learned in your career that still guides your day to day at Anchorage?
One of the things that I love about Anchorage is that I feel supported in a way that I can be vulnerable with my team and colleagues. It is so empowering when you can ask for help because you know people are not going to judge you. I truly believe that this is a value that needs to be at the base of each company and I’m proud that I found one that shares it with me.
3. What advice do you have for candidates thinking about joining a crypto company like Anchorage?
Be ready to do something you’ve never done before. You can have tons of knowledge but at Anchorage you’ll encounter many firsts for your role, for the industry, and for your field. You’ll be trying, failing, and conquering so much on this journey. And, in 30 years from now who knows, maybe you’ll tell your grandchildren about your work here.
4. What got you interested in joining Anchorage? Do the same reasons you joined also speak to the talent you hire?
When the Anchorage opportunity came along, I wasn’t looking, and I also wasn’t even sure I wanted to continue working as a recruiter. I vividly remember my interview with our CEO Nathan McCauley before I joined. He told me about a scene in “The Greatest Showman” where Barnun is trying to convince Phillip to join the circus, and he says: “Don’t you wanna get away to a whole new part you’re gonna play?” And I thought to myself, yes, I’m ready to take the risk because I believe there is truly something special going on here.
During the recruitment process I also felt this sense of caring, and that’s proven itself to be true in my day-to-day experience here over the last year. Similar to my own interviewing experience, I hear candidates, even those not selected, feel a sense of belonging just from the interview process and that is something right?
5. What is Anchorage culture to you?
There is a value that we have and I believe says so much about our culture: “shared consciousness”. Anchorage is a place where everyone shares their knowledge and there is an open flow of communication. At any moment, you can reach out to anyone to help you and they will do it, with a smile and feeling happy for helping you. To be able to do that in a remote world and keep the connection and culture across a spread out team is huge. You could say that we work as this one big organism.
6. When a candidate is a really good fit for the Anchorage culture, what are they like?
When they embrace our culture pillars: they know the value of working as one team, we’re building the future of crypto so they’re not afraid of being creative and out of their comfort zone to find solutions for the problems we face and they understand how important is to share knowledge and keep everyone on the same page.
7. What are some of the commonalities you find across our global team? What are some differences in Portugal?
We are all devoted to what we’re building, between the states and Portugal, and everywhere in between — we all want to see Anchorage succeed. There’s willingness to go above and beyond and humility in learning and taking on new challenges every day.
Culturally speaking, one difference from Portugal is that in the U.S. people are used to working long hours and can struggle to find a balance between work and life. I see our two countries learning from each other, and people in the states looking to our approach and finding that balance themselves. The lesson we take from our American colleagues is gaining confidence in taking risks and accepting failure. We are learning to fail and not be afraid or ashamed, we stumble and pick ourselves back up and try again. It’s a freeing feeling to know it’s not only okay to fail but that’s expected.
8. You have some amazing hobbies outside of work, including yoga, that help your wellbeing. Can you tell us about these and what keeps you grounded?
It is so refreshing to see a company where we can speak openly about the things that make us feel alive and energized. I learned that It’s so important for us to prioritize self-care because you can’t help others without taking care of yourself first, therefore, I started doing yoga because this practice has helped me embrace life in all its full colors. Yoga helps me regulate the levels of stress I feel and to cultivate an awareness during the day that has had a huge impact on the way I approach challenges at work.
Interested in working with Cindy and the Anchorage teams? Anchorage is hiring for a variety of roles in Portugal, the United States, and Singapore, check our job opportunities here.
Disclaimer: Holdings of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets are speculative and involve a substantial degree of risk, including the risk of complete loss. There can be no assurance that any cryptocurrency, token, coin, or other crypto asset will be viable, liquid, or solvent. Nothing in this communication is intended to imply that any asset held in custody by Anchorage is low-risk or risk-free. Digital assets held in custody are not guaranteed by Anchorage Digital Bank National Association and are not FDIC-insured.
