Happy New Year from ReadySet!
This article originally appeared on the ReadySet Blog.
2018 was an amazing year for ReadySet, and we wanted to share some updates from HQ and beyond. We launched our new website, added several new members to the team, and couldn’t be more excited about the road ahead. Please enjoy some updates below, and let us know what you’re working on and excited about.
Meet the Newest Members of the ReadySet Team
Our growing team is comprised of experienced practitioners from a variety of professional and academic disciplines. We’re as diverse as the complex organizational challenges we face, and this diversity of thought strengthens our approaches and solutions — we have regular, spirited, internal conversations about everything from pedagogy and methodology to the best Vietnamese food in Oakland. Because, priorities.
And you can read more about the team here.
Rachel Marcuse: COO
Rachel just joined the team, coming off her previous role as the VP of People Ops at NextGen America, which ran the largest youth voter registration program in U.S. history. With 15 years of experience in operations, HR, and people management, she’s passionate about helping people do their work even better.
Kim Tran, Ph.D: Consultant
Kim approaches diversity, equity and inclusion consulting from a practical, people-centered background. For over a decade, she has facilitated trans-inclusion and anti-Black racism trainings for a wide array of organizations.
Paloma Figueroa: Consultant
Paloma is fascinated with cultural and organizational mechanisms that facilitate happy, healthy, & productive work environments. Often hired as the first “People Operations/HR” person in startups, she has collaborated with leadership teams to build and develop thoughtful people programs.
Rory Gerberg: Facilitator & Consultant
Rory applies behavioral science, neuroscience, and adaptive leadership to make change in organizations. For the last decade, her work has crossed contexts and geographies — from workplace sexual harassment & campus sexual assault in the US, to sexual violence in Latin America.
Willie Jackson: Facilitator & Consultant
Willie is a facilitator and consultant at ReadySet, and a serial entrepreneur. A technologist by trade, Willie now spends most of his time at the intersection of event production, behavior change, and leadership development.
Lily Jampol, Ph.D: People Scientist & Consultant
Previously a professor and researcher at a UK business school, Lily uses evidence-based strategy, behavioral science, and data analytics to solve organizational challenges. Lily was born in NYC but grew up in a hotel in Costa Rica, which inspired her lifelong interest in human behavior and cultures.
What We’ve Been Up To
- Y-Vonne interviewed the inimitable Professor Anita Hill (!) at Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.
- Kim’s piece Transformative Justice, Explained was published in Teen Vogue.
- Lily wrote a Medium piece and delivered a talk at Tech Inclusion on the danger of Diversity Myopia.
- Willie moderated a panel Black Men in Tech: What’s Missing from the Conversation? at Tech Inclusion.
- Paloma was featured on the Temple of Geek Podcast about diverse representation in fandom.
New Website & Branding
We’ve got a shiny new website! We worked with the fine folks at Paladar Studio to reimagine our web presence. The new design embodies the dynamism, motion, and vibrancy we bring to our work.
ReadySet has historically focused on delivering value for clients to the exclusion of (almost) everything else but as the company has grown, so has our vision. This next iteration of our branding brings our impact and services front and center so the work we’re doing can reach the folks who need it most.
Our Amazing Clients
“People often assume that if someone with similar experiences as mine achieves success, then they must no longer have to deal with the direct and indirect effects of “growing up in the hood.” As one of comparatively few Black men doing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work within tech, I often have to operate within two worlds; the world of privilege that tech has provided me, and the world of poverty that many of the people close to me are still struggling in.”
— Maurice Wilkins at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is modeling the power of making DEI personal in his piece On Preserving Dreams & Taking Luck Out of the Equation.
Catch Us If You Can
- Kim and Willie will be co-facilitating an Ally Skills Workshop at Tech Intersections on January 26th.
- Rory is in Cambridge this month teaching Adaptive Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Happy New Year!
Let us know what you’re working on or excited about in Q1, and how we can support the change you’re making in the world. We’re honored to be on this journey with you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Subscribe to the ReadySet Newsletter here.
Elsewhere on the ReadySet Blog
Be sure to check out Paloma’s Inclusion Tips for Successful Onboarding
“For many organizations, the beginning of the year comes with an influx of new hires. And as well all know from personal experience, a new employee’s first few weeks set the tone for their experience with an organization.
When deployed effectively, onboarding can be an incredibly powerful way to align new members of your team to the kind of culture your organization is actively developing, while also welcoming their individual perspectives and identities.”
