Community Spotlight: Marin Moran
Tech workers from across the Bay Area have joined TechEquity’s network and are giving their time, skills, and financial support to make their communities more equitable. We’re proud of our growing community full of smart, passionate, engaged citizens and we want to show them off!
Meet Marin
Marin is an Audio Creative Lead at Pandora Media, heading up audio for video and live music recording initiatives. She’s been an audio producer working in radio, music and audio storytelling for the last 15+ years. Marin is also the Allyship Lead for Mixtape, Pandora’s Community of Color. As part of the Ally Task Force, she helps develop and promote events and programs across the three Pandora communities (Mixtape, Pride, Women) and works to bring everyone in as allies. Marin lives in Oakland with her rad 8yr old daughter, Cleo.
What is your professional passion these days?
My passion is in providing and encouraging support, visibility and empowerment for Pandora’s underrepresented employees. The position of Allyship Lead for Pandora Mixtape is a great honor and responsibility and a lens through which I view everything I do within my job. Allyship works both on a broader level of providing support and advocacy to employees across the three Pandora communities and also on a more individual level of showing up for your colleagues, championing them and their work and speaking up to surface and combat inequities and bias.
What does it mean to you to be a responsible citizen while working in tech?
As a tech employee in the Bay Area and Oakland specifically, I think it’s really important to understand the history of the place where you work and how the presence of tech influences change there. Gentrification feels very palpable in Oakland and there’s so much we can do to offset our contribution to it. This includes everything from getting to know our neighbors and the people who were here before us, to voting for and sponsoring changes in housing and workforce policies. The fact that gentrification is rooted in racism and historically racist housing policy means that we have to work hard to be anti-racist and promote equality in all that we do.
How has TechEquity impacted civic participation?
I discovered TechEquity through their partnership with Pandora and I’ve been so grateful for TechEquity’s insight and the ways they have helped us understand how to better support the community we are in. They have hosted multiple events at Pandora including a fantastic voter guide overview before the recent midterm elections. I then hosted a ballot explainer party led by TechEquity at my apartment and everyone who attended was so grateful for the information and discussion (so much to wade through and understand!). One of my friends even said that they weren’t planning to vote before attending the event and it led them to change their mind and vote this time! Each TechEquity event has been incredibly informative and has led us to real actions we can take to be responsible citizens of the Bay Area and of California. I’m excited for the future and to see what more we can do together!
Why is it important for the tech community to become more civically engaged?
Tech still has a long way to go when it comes to partnering with the communities it enters and ensuing that the company’s influence will be positive for all and not just the newcomers. Not only do we need to work harder on supporting diversity and inclusion within our walls but we need to be more thoughtful and mindful members of our communities. We need to give back to to the community instead of changing it to suit our needs. In order to do this, we need a real commitment from senior leadership as well as the grassroots efforts and organization of individual employees.
TechEquity offers corporate programming that plugs tech workers into strategic community engagement opportunities that drive equitable growth in the Bay Area.
TechEquity programming helps your company develop leaders, boost employee morale, and provide positive public exposure. If you’d like to learn more about how to bring programming like housing policy 101, nonprofit boards training, or a voter education session to your company, get in touch with us at info@techequitycollaborative.org!
Join supporters like Marin
We are organizing the tech community to advocate for a tech-driven economy in the Bay Area that works for everyone. We believe the tech industry can and should generate widespread opportunity instead of inequality and displacement. Join our growing community today!
