Kayla Young Of Phase Genomics On How To Create More Inclusive Workplaces
An Interview With Rachel Kline
Create pay transparency: We have clear salary banding policies and leveling frameworks for all positions across the company. We provide these bands to every employee or individual negotiating for a role. This ensures that individuals are being paid equitably across roles and that they know their colleagues are also being paid equitably. We then re-evaluate bands on an annual basis and adjust where necessary.
Creating inclusive workplaces is crucial for any organization that wants to get the most out of its talent. This means creating an environment where everyone feels like they belong, has equal opportunities, is empowered to do their best work, and feels comfortable making requests and contributing ideas. In this series, we asked prominent HR and business leaders about the steps they take to create more inclusive workplaces. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Kayla Young.
Kayla Young, PhD is at the forefront of growing Seattle biotech, serving on numerous boards and in leadership positions where she fosters a culture of inclusivity throughout the broader Pacific Northwest life sciences ecosystem. In her role as Chief Operating Officer at Phase Genomics, she oversees human resources, operations, marketing, and public relations. She developed the company’s equitable hiring practices, leads the company’s training programs, and is passionate about the employee’s workplace experience.
Since joining Phase Genomics, Kayla has maintained close ties to the region’s largest biotech convener, Life Science Washington, where she has bridged the gap between discovery and commercialization by providing mentorship and counsel to the founders driving industry growth, and shaped their approach toward inclusive leadership at the earliest stages. At Puget Sound Ventures, Kayla has identified and evaluated early-stage biotech companies for equity investment, playing a critical role elevating founders within the region’s startup ecosystem. Throughout her career, she has mentored early-stage founders and professionals as a part of the Washington Innovation Network (WIN) and the Seattle chapter of Women in Bio.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we drive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
When I started graduate school, I knew that I wanted to follow a “non-traditional career path” for academic scientists. I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, and luckily for me, this was about the time when universities and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) started investing in graduate-level career development programs for PhD scientists. Through one such program at Vanderbilt University, I took every class that was offered, from patent writing, to teaching, to law, to business courses, and quickly realized that I wanted to pursue a business-facing role within a life science company. After I finished my degree, I started my first job at Life Science Washington (LSW) helping support entrepreneur education and mentorship in Washington state. I was exposed to all aspects of running a life science company, seeing firsthand and in action the topics that I had learned about in graduate school. Part of my role included running the Washington Innovation Network (WIN) which is a mentoring program for seed-stage companies in the Northwest. This was an incredible opportunity early on in my career as I interacted with and recruited executive-level mentors for companies, identified appropriate portfolio companies, and subsequently sat in on all their internal meetings, witnessing early-stage, executive-level decision-making in action. In the sense that Vanderbilt provided my PhD, LSW provided an MBA. Following this role, I transitioned to an operations role at Phase Genomics (a WIN company), steadily gained responsibilities and grew into my current role as Chief Operating Officer. I am still very active with LSW mentorship, guiding WIN companies and serving on the board for the sister organization Life Science Washington Institute.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In preparation for my graduate school qualifying exam, I studied metabolic pathways, examining the pivotal roles played by various enzymes and proteins within them. To streamline studying, I memorized acronym names instead of the full biological nomenclature. After months of studying, I confidently entered the examination room, only to be met with the first question: “What do those acronyms stand for?” I drew a complete blank. Despite having a comprehensive understanding of the function of these enzymes, their names eluded me, and I had to say as much to my committee. I completed the next two hours of questioning, fairly certain I would fail for not knowing the name of the enzymes. Luckily, my knowledge of the functions proved to be more important than the names and I passed the exam. This incident served as an early lesson that, despite my best efforts, complete mastery and knowledge of every detail is an unrealistic expectation. This was one of the early points in my career where I learned that not only is it ok to not know something, it is also incredibly valuable to find the strength to admit when you do not.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Dr. Richard O’Brien, my graduate school advisor, played a pivotal role in shaping my career journey. As a student, I knew from the outset of graduate school that I wanted to pursue a career outside academia — which was not common at the time. While Vanderbilt’s Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) grant provided resources to pursue these non-traditional interests, it was equally important to find an advisor who not only understood, but actively supported, my decision to deviate from the typical lab-focused career path.
During my lab rotation, I made my career aspirations clear to Richard, who was incredibly supportive. I had originally anticipated joining a cancer biology lab because that was my background experience, but my time in Richard’s lab reshaped my expectations. His support, flexibility in scheduling, clear expectations, and commitment to fostering my growth as a scientist were instrumental in my decision and the ability to forge my own path. This early lesson underscored the profound impact that mentorship and your work environment have in your life and career trajectory.
I owe a significant part of my success to Richard’s support during the beginning years of my scientific career. His encouragement and openness to unconventional career paths were foundational in allowing me to explore and eventually thrive in the role I have today.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I often think of Mumford and Sons’ lyric, “Where you invest your love, you invest your life.” It reminds me to direct my energy, affection, and time toward pursuits that are meaningful to me. When I invest my time into things that truly matter to me — whether it be my family, personal growth, or work projects — the experiences are richer and more fulfilling. Intentionally spending time on endeavors that align with my values brings me genuine joy and fulfillment.
Thinking back on your own career, what would you tell your younger self?
You belong in the room.
Let’s now move to the central part of our interview. What systems do you have to ensure your workplace is as inclusive as possible?
As Phase Genomics grows, we grow inclusively in a variety of ways, from engaging directly with employees via surveys to annual audits of key metrics and indicators. Each year, we review our benefits, PTO usage, salary bands, and pay equity, as well as our promotion, advancement, and retention rates. In my role as Chief Operating Officer, I have the privilege to champion practices and policies, and like any good science, the proof is born out in these metrics and results.
Based on your experience and success, what are your top five tips for creating more inclusive workplaces?
1 . Create pay transparency: We have clear salary banding policies and leveling frameworks for all positions across the company. We provide these bands to every employee or individual negotiating for a role. This ensures that individuals are being paid equitably across roles and that they know their colleagues are also being paid equitably. We then re-evaluate bands on an annual basis and adjust where necessary.
2 . Examine your benefits: Given that our employees span fully remote, hybrid, and fully in-office, we strive to offer a range of benefits that assist everyone, no matter their work environment. For example, we provide an annual stipend that can be used for either office/home expenses or for transit expenses.
3 . Grow from within: We are particularly proud of our average employee retention and tenure at Phase Genomics — which exceeds our industry average. One of the major contributors is a culture that encourages career growth and advancement. We pair this with thoughtful experiences for employees at all levels and continuing education resources for our managers so that they have the tools to be successful in a leadership position. This creates a cultural continuity within the company and indicates to employees that we value their contributions and performance.
4 . Hire fairly: We have developed a rigorous interview process that is fair and equitable. Included in this process are eliminating biases in job descriptions, posting salary bands, posting jobs in diverse trade groups and job boards, blinding all resumes prior to review, clearly defining process and timeline for candidates, and crafting a core set of similar questions that are asked to every candidate. Hiring is the first interaction an employee has with your company, and if the process is fair, it sets the tone for the employee that it is a priority within the company.
5 . Offer flexible work policies: We recognize that employees may have different working preferences and responsibilities outside of their careers, so we strive to create an environment at Phase Genomics that supports work-life balance. Importantly, we also make a best effort to ensure that people are using these flexible options when they are not. For example, on a quarterly basis, we review time-off balances so that managers can encourage employees who fall below a specific threshold to schedule some days away from the office.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen businesses make while trying to become more inclusive? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
- Viewing “inclusivity” as a checkbox instead of a strategic priority. Inclusivity is something that is not achieved but instead consistently worked toward. This can be avoided by including it as a topic in human operations-related planning meetings.
- Promising superficial initiatives. We are honest with our employees about what we can do with the resources we have. By being transparent about our plans, and only promising to invest in initiatives we can deliver on, we are able to develop and maintain trust with our employees.
- Failing to track/measure impact. Fostering inclusivity drives positive results across an organization, and it’s important to keep track of these metrics on a defined basis. We regularly review our growth and retention of our employee base.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your DEI efforts?
To ensure we’re truly creating and fostering an inclusive organization, we track performance indicators like employee tenure, turnover, and hiring metrics. And to ensure this is felt at the individual employee level, we measure employees’ use of their time off and other benefits. We also assess our salary bands annually to make sure that everyone is paid equitably.
Are there other organizations you admire for their approach to DEI? Can you please explain why?
Life Science Washington Institute (LSWi) is a standout in this regard. As a non-profit organization dedicated to entrepreneurial education and fostering the life science ecosystem in the northwest, LSWi has positioned itself to nurture the next generation of diverse life science companies. What sets LSWi apart is their comprehensive commitment to enhancing inclusivity at every stage of their pipeline. From providing matching funds to diverse founders to the selection of speakers for events and mentors, the diverse portfolio of companies they support, and even the thoughtful provision of childcare at networking events, LSWi leverages its influential position in the Northwest’s life science ecosystem to proactively promote and prioritize founders who are traditionally less supported. Their proactive and holistic approach exemplifies a commitment to not only fostering innovation but also ensuring that the benefits of that innovation are accessible and equitable for all.
What do you do to address Proximity Bias? How do you ensure remote workers are treated the same as onsite workers and have equal access to opportunities?
We embrace a culture of flexibility at Phase and have designed our benefits and policies to support that value. We operate from the assumption that people need flexibility within their lives, and when we start from that belief base, all of our employees benefit. We also provide opportunities for people to work in-person that are not normally able to come into the office. To that end, we host an annual weeklong retreat, help small teams get together on their own, and send teams to industry conferences together, or host virtual gatherings to promote team crosstalk.
We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.
I would love to have lunch with Jane Goodall. The first book reports I remember doing in school were on Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Susan Butcher. Exposure to these female trailblazers at a young age significantly influenced and shaped my perspective and sparked my passion for becoming a scientist. Jane Goodall — a pioneer for women in science, an environmentalist, and a humanitarian — is a major role model for me.
How can our readers further follow your work?
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
