Andrea Perdomo_E14: Code Switching to Techstars [9–14–2020]
Andrea Perdomo, Network Catalyst for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Techstars in Boulder [9–14–2020]
Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.
INTRO:
1:28 Shares background moving from Colombia, South America to North Carolina. Talks about “following one’s truth, and letting opportunities guide”. Also highlights her continued interest as an Entrepreneur in positive social impact.
SECTION1: The Revolar Story
3:25 Talks about inspiration for starting Revolar, and the idea of a “magic button” used for people needing to call-for-help. The CoFounder’s (Jacqueline Ros Amable) family story inspired the idea. And led Andrea and Jackie to launch the company in Denver
4:00 The idea of a magic button resonated with Andrea, given the kidnapping of her grandmother in Colombia, and how amazing it would have been to have had, in that situation.
5:30 Talks about the exploration of identity, and acknowledging her experience as an immigrant. She discusses her parents being Architects and had to reinvent themselves here to find their cultural fit. She talks about hardships growing up, and feeling different. Her experience of changing her name, and how it tied into her identity experience. Talks about the experience of ridicule leading to a decision to change the name; recently realizing that fitting into culture as a ‘different’ person is okay.
9:30 Discusses ‘code-switch’ and finding pride in being Latina, and her given name.
10:00 Shares the experience of unconscious bias, in pitching, and feeling like an outsider with experience within a male dominated fundraising environment. Sometimes were the only women in the room — being ‘not typical tech Founders’. Unconscious Bias: learned stereotypes that engrain behaviors.
12:30 Shares feelings about prejudices, and how her team adapted. Talks about confidence, in acknowledging her own differences. And highlights the need to be confident in herself — regardless of others’ biases. Addresses that being herself, and exploring her own identity in self compassion. Talks about leaving her legacy, as her true self is her ambition, bringing her authentic self. We discuss leaning in and being vulnerable is part of the acknowledgement.
SECTION2: Authentic Self
18:50 Break out into mental health for Entrepreneurs, and the importance. Shares her own story about depression, and the differences of Entrepreneurs in being driven to sometimes not take care of themselves. Shares her story of stress in running her startup — demands of 26 individuals counting on them. Expectations of leaders can compound stresses.
21:24 Personal safety, and saving peoples lives created a heavy burden, along with stories of survivors. Her experience of helping, and perhaps overhelping, led to some extra anxieties.
22:30 Realizing now, some behaviors weren’t healthy, including her husband trying to draw her out of a negative experience with challenges. Highlights healthy communication surrounding self-care and what matters in terms of mindset and wellness. Stopping, taking a breath and taking care of herself allowed her to manage.
24:00 Discuss personal and personalized mental and emotional health. We break out into GIVE AND TAKE by Adam Grant, and the topic of ‘giver burnout’. Talk about overgiving and exhaustion impacted by the Techstars #GiveFirst core values.
SECTION3: Techstars Global D&I
26:20 Attests to #GiveFirst as improving lives. Aim is to support any way they can, but the ‘give first fatigue’ can play into this. Andrea talks about setting boundaries, and delaying help when time is more optimal.
28:00 Talks about opportunities of weaving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion more into her daily work, in the context of giving. Uses maybe later, or reaching out to other people to help internally, to maintain the giving aspect. We discuss the ‘tough love’, and how Techstars uses ‘radical candor’ in being honest and direct.
29:45 Talks about honesty, how it is coming from a place of compassion. Discusses being blunt and honest, without sounding aggressive. She chooses ‘leading with examples’ as an approach to give constructive feedback. Acknowledging what’s worked and didn’t work.
33:00 Discusses the culture of a company as living and breathing. Brief advice: Get your stakeholders involved, and using analogy of engaging with product needs — giving a voice to individuals in the organization. D, E, & I is a value to make a great foundation in culture building.
35:45 Creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace should be part of your strategy from day one — it’s not a checkbox. Getting equitable systems in place, takes strategy like sales goals or launching products. Sees DE&I as a critical benefit to hiring, cost of retention of employees, consumers, and find the revenue driver of the purpose and personally aligned positive intentions.
SOURCES:
-Andrea Perdomo [Twitter]: https://twitter.com/dreperdomo
-Andrea Perdomo [LinkedIn]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaperdomo/
-Techstars [Entrepreneurship Toolkit]: https://toolkit.techstars.com/
-Techstars [Web]: https://www.techstars.com/
-Unconcious Bias [@Google]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLjFTHTgEVU
-Alchemy [Rory Sutherland]: https://trendwatching.com/quarterly/2017-03/truthful-consumerism/empowerment/
-Techstars [Give First]: https://givefirst.techstars.com/
-Generousity Burnout [ ‘Giver Burnout’]: https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/01/beat-generosity-burnout
-GIVE AND TAKE [Adam Grant]: https://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Helping-Others-Success/dp/0143124986
-Principles [Ray Dalio]: https://smile.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1501124021/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=principles&qid=1599789860&sr=8-3
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Song Credit: The Croft — By Joakim Karud
[ No Copyright on Music and Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 ]
