What is your true north?
The life of an entrepreneur is full of ups and downs. It can feel like you’re sailing a ship on a tumultuous sea.
I started my journey with <div>ersity two years ago at the Go Code Colorado hackathon. I co-founded the company in the beginning of 2018 with the goal that we were going to change the face of tech by creating equity in the workforce.
I was lucky enough to surround myself with a team of people and a board of advisors who were there to not only provide me with guidance for the business, but to support me emotionally as I navigated the waters.
I hear a lot of startups hit this two year hump, where you’ve gotten to understand the problem you’re working to solve much more deeply, and you’re trying to figure out how to pivot to come up with the best solution.
As I was sitting through my frustration of hitting this hump, I met with one of my board members. She listened to me and asked me a fundamental question. “Nina, what is your true north?”
I had to sit for a few seconds and think about it. But I knew deep down what the answer was.
I want a world where EVERYONE feels seen, valued, and heard.
A world where people of color feel seen, valued, and heard.
A world where the neurodiverse feel seen, valued, and heard.
A world where people with visible and invisible disabilities feel seen, valued, and heard.
A world where underrepresented minorities feel seen, valued, and heard.
A world where anyone who has ever felt “othered” feels seen, valued, and heard.
The question was. . .how do I make that happen?
Earlier this year, we launched a platform that created a safe and anonymous place for tech talent to voice their work experience, and connect to companies that value inclusion.
The grassroots organizer in me believed that if enough of us spoke our truths and leadership listened, we, together, could change the face of tech.
I still believe that is true.
What I learned is that it’s only part of the solution.
Over and over and over again, I kept on seeing and hearing that the only way to effectively create institutional change at companies is to have the C-Level leadership completely bought in to a vision of creating equity in their company. Leadership who have prioritized building an inclusive culture and ingrained that into every other company goal are the ones who succeed at building teams where everyone feels seen, valued, and heard.
I thought the only way to make this happen was to have more employees show the value to the current C-Level leadership that building inclusive teams is important.
But, there’s another way.
What if we found the people who already valued this? What if we found them and helped them get into the C-Level and Director level roles where they have the power to implement this institutional change?
I want to be part of that solution.
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining Jobber Group as the Head of Executive Culture and Inclusion.
I joined Jobber Group because they’ve built a system that I believe executes on institutional change. They create alignment on the leadership team around cultural values and find executive level candidates that companies may never have been able to reach or even consider. I believe I can help connect the dots between finding leaders who already value inclusion and connecting them to companies who are looking for fresh leadership. Jobber Group has always focused on people and human connections. Joe Thurman, UB Ciminieri and the Jobber Leadership team have practiced the philosophy of helping others first. I’ve seen it first hand with everything they’ve done for <div>ersity. And I’m excited to join a team of people who share my values.
I will be continuing my work as the CEO of <div>ersity with the goal of scaling the company through our platform. I believe that this work in conjunction with my new role at Jobber Group is what MY true north is.
I will help build a world where EVERYONE is seen, valued, and heard.
