Venture Out Profile: Larissa Holmes on Diversity, Fintech, and her LGBTQA+ Experience

Larissa Holmes is the Head of People Operations at Borrowell where she leads recruitment, retention, and scaling efforts and sits on the management team

VO: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us today!

LH: My pleasure, happy to be here.

VO: I wanted to get started by learning a bit more about your journey. How did you get involved in tech/entrepreneurship?

LH: I was a management consultant at Deloitte dedicated to financial services, which is where I was first exposed to the fintech world. We kept hearing talk of disruption in financial services and started looking into fintechs in Toronto and KW to partner with. Eventually, I decided that I wanted something more fast paced where I could make a bigger impact. After Deloitte, I went to an HR tech startup, where I grew the customer base and spent some time on the product side. After meeting Eva Wong (Borrowell COO) on a panel for Venture Out last year, and then the rest of the management team, I was fortunate enough to join the Borrowell team.

VO: What impact (if any) has your LGBTQ+ identity had on your career?

LH: I look at my LGBTQ+ identity as an advantage. Living in Toronto has been very helpful as the tech community is very tight-knit, with people always willing to help. Being LGBTQ+ has opened up some amazing networks and groups of supportive people as well. I think it’s a testament to the tech community here — that we’re very friendly and welcoming. The LGBTQA+ community in particular is also very welcoming and willing to help, so when you combine those two communities, you end up with a great network. Reaching out to other LGTBQ+ folks was incredibly helpful, especially in my move from Deloitte into the tech space.

VO: I know that one of the key cultural values at Borrowell is diversity. How does diversity show itself in the day to day at the company?

LH: It starts in the recruiting process where we often ask each candidate what diversity means to them. This helps to get the diversity conversation going. You can learn a lot about a candidate based on how they answer. Is this something they’ve thought about? Is it a priority to them? This also gives us a chance to talk about what diversity means to us as a company and how we live this specific value.

For us, diversity goes beyond visible minorities, sexual orientation, gender etc. We want people who think differently - people who represent our customers.

In order to best serve our customers, we need to understand where they are coming from and who they are, so we need a workforce that reflects the diversity of our growing customer base.

We really take diversity to heart; last year we participated in Venture Out even though there were no out employees at Borrowell at the time. Diversity is something we care about and we recognize that there is constant improvement needed.

VO: What is one thing managers or those in leadership positions can do to make their teams / workplaces more inclusive?

LH: Having an openness to re-evaluating programs or initiatives (quarterly or semi-annually). As your organization changes, the needs of the organization also changes, so it’s important to always be re-evaluating. Something we have at Borrowell is a culture of always learning. A lot of people shy away from conversations around diversity because they can be uncomfortable. As a management team we have these conversations openly and we see others in the company joining in the conversation, which is where there is the most value.

VO: What is one piece of advice you have for LGBTQA+ folks just starting out in their careers in tech or entrepreneurship?

LH: I’ve always seen my identity as an asset and not a roadblock. This has been instrumental in my career. I think if you see it as a roadblock, people will pick up on that, but the same goes the other way, so it really comes down to personal accountability. If I’m comfortable and confident, people will be comfortable with it too.

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