It's Pride Month! Here is how tech companies are supporting and celebrating LGBTQ+ employees in the workplace during Pride Month 2023.

Duck Creek is officially launching our PRIDE Employee Resource Group June 1st with Jonathan Eber, our Executive Sponsor, sharing his personal journey and what the ERG launch means to all Ducks, followed by Co-Leads Lisa McIntire and Darin Bond sharing more about the ERG’s mission, goals and company-wide PRIDE events. Events for June include an LGBTQIA+ Employee Panel Discussion kicked off by our CEO, Mike Jackowski, a Fireside Chat with Dr. Andy Silveira about queering workspaces and being queer in India, a Keynote Address from Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown on how understanding LGBTQ+ culture can transform your leadership practice, volunteer opportunities, a "Show your Pride" photo contest and Drag Queen Bingo & Trivia!   

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ERG members in our Lincoln, NE office are volunteering with Star City Pride, a non-profit focused on creating and producing inclusive and diverse local events for the LGBTQIA+ community

They’re also collecting stories about coming out or what Pride means to our members. They want to create an amazing space for sharing and understanding.

We’re also hoping to partner with our local public schools to learn more about LGBTQIA+ clubs and activities happening there and how might be able to reach out.

Finally, we’re rounding out the month organizing a watch party for the iconic film "Paris is Burning” for our member to have open discussions around race, class, gender, and sexuality in America

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This year, we are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a series of events in honor of Pride Month. Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) team is committed to creating a celebratory and inclusive environment that honors the vibrant and diverse experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. At our upcoming event, "Parenting with Pride," we will be hosting an internal panel discussion on how parents can show allyship to children who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. This event is essential as it highlights the importance of support and acceptance from family members, which is crucial for the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ individuals. The panel will feature parents who have supported their LGBTQ+ identifying children and will share their experiences, challenges, and successes in their journeys. Attendees will gain valuable insights into how they can support and become allies in their community. Additionally, we will host a guest speaker who will present on the lavender scare. The lavender scare was a period in the 1950s when the U.S. government persecuted members of the LGBTQ+ community by firing them from government jobs. The speaker will educate attendees on the history of this dark period and how it affected the LGBTQ+ community. It is through events such as these that we can learn from the past, celebrate the present, and work towards a more inclusive and accepting future.

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Motional, an autonomous vehicle company headquartered in the Seaport, will be promoting members of its Pride Resources Info & Support @ Motional (PRISM) Employee Resource Group (ERG) on its social media channels throughout June. PRISM will be hosting a LGBTQ+ history TRIVIA activity in June, and is also partnering with Motional’s Black Employees Advancing Technology (BEAT) ERG to have a mixer for PRIDE and Juneteenth.

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At Bamboo Health, we are excited to once again celebrate Pride Month. We’ll have a couple of opportunities to learn about intersectionality and inclusivity. First, Fahad Saeed, an experienced Diversity Manager, will share his personal story with employees and provide an introduction to intersectionality and LGBTI-sensitivity. Secondly, we’ll invite employees to hear from a variety of tech leaders who will share their personal stories and journeys of building inclusive teams.

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To honor Pride Month this year, EngageSmart has partnered with Modern Health to offer employees two sessions that focus on fostering and reinforcing our inclusive workplace, and supporting our queer colleagues. “LGBTQ+ Individuals: A Community Space," is designed to provide LGBTQIA+ team members a safe space to discuss their experiences. The other session, “Promoting Belonging in the Workplace,” is a place where all EngageSmart employees can come together to celebrate and support each other.

As part of our dedication to inclusivity, EngageSmart recognizes the power of employee stories. We are committed to amplifying the voices of our team members, providing a platform for them to share their personal journeys, experiences, and insights.

EngageSmart will be celebrating Pride across the organization all month long, and encourages employees to celebrate with their local communities, be it attending a virtual event, supporting an LGBTQIA+ organization, or showing support in whatever way feels right.

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During the year, our Bullhorn Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG) holds various events to celebrate and empower its LGBTQ+ members, share their stories and experiences, and provide education to the broader organization.

This June, our Pride ERG is excited to engage with our organization in various ways by launching our Pride swag store, with proceeds going towards organizations that support LGBTQ+ initiatives and share the importance of pronouns and being an ally for LGBTQ+ colleagues. Our Pride ERG will also educate the business by providing information and the significance of historic events, such as the Stonewall Riots and the remembrance of Pulse Nightclub.

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Liberty Mutual is dedicated to creating a workplace where employees feel seen, heard, and supported, and believes that everyone should be celebrated for being their authentic selves all year long. During Pride month, we embrace what makes our LGTBQ+ community great, while also reflecting on the struggles the community has faced. This year, our employee resource group Pride@Liberty, has pulled together a number of events around the theme, “Stories of Our Resilience,” which include a conversation with the first transgender athlete to compete on an NCAA Division I men’s team, gender diversity education opportunities and more. We will have representation at Pride Parades across the U.S., as well as have a featured giving opportunity that supports LGTBQ organizations that offer assistance to the LGBTQ+ community and fight for equal rights. Throughout the month, we’re encouraging all employees to engage, as allies are a critical component to advancing equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace and beyond.

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The Pridecones, Cedar's LGBTQIA+ Employee Resource Group, has planned five interactive events for Pride month, ranging from the educational and inspirational to fun and entertaining. Pridecones will host virtual drag bingo and drag trivia, a cocktail and mocktail making class and sessions that share stories from LGBT trailblazers throughout the 20th century. Pridecones invites the public to attend their upcoming June 14th panel called "Care you can be proud of". The panel focuses on reducing disparities and inequities experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community. Make sure to register today!

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To show our Pride, Advisor360°’s Brand Strategy & Communications team designed Pride-themed social banners and Teams backgrounds, which we've encouraged employees to utilize. We'll also highlight Pride-related news items, quotes, and prominent LGBTQIA+ figures via our intranet and digital signage. In addition, our HR and DEI teams have collaborated to host a company-wide parade featuring Pride flags, colors, attire, and music. Following the parade will be a celebration with an array of rainbow-themed desserts, SWAG, and more!

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At Acquia, we are excited to be celebrating LGBTQIA+ Pride Month with Acquia's Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG) by offering a variety of exciting events to honor the diversity and inclusion of our community. Our Pride events are focused on opportunities to learn, and build connections and community.

As part of our ongoing DE&I speaker series, this month we are hosting an educational session on LGBTQ+ Inclusion 101, Foundational Principles & Authentic Allyship. Weekly email content features an influential LGBTQIA+ figure from across the globe to learn about their achievements, challenges, and contributions to society. We are also providing a resource collection of internal and external online learning content and events, including our DE&I Resource Library in Acquia Academy.

We are also focused on building connection and community. We will host a virtual social hour to meet and chat with other LGBTQIA+ employees and allies, providing a great opportunity for the team to network and have fun. We are promoting opportunities for charitable donations and volunteering for Acquians to give back to the community. We are also hosting a fun and educational Acquia Pride Trivia.

Importantly, all are invited to join Acquia’s Pride ERG as a member or an ally.

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This year, Motus celebrates Pride by focusing on actionable support of the LGBTQ+ community. We're partnering with our team members for a donation match to charities chosen by our DEIB committee. They have also organized various activities, including a PRIDE Listen and Learn session, educational pieces promoting the normalization of pronoun and gender-neutral language usage, a social media campaign featuring our LGBTQ+ team members and allies, an introduction to our new Employee Resource Group, "MotusPRIDE," educational information on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the USA and how to contact state representatives to take a stand against hate, and a list of recommended binge worthy media for the month. Follow our Instagram channel, @Motusdotcom, to keep up to date with our celebration of Pride this month and all year round.

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This Pride Month & beyond, JOOR celebrates the LGBTQ+ community in and outside our workplace by reiterating the month's historical significance and origins, highlighting activists in our weekly newsletter's "Pride Pioneers" feature for June, and sharing resources throughout the year on what work is left to do to support the community every single day.

In terms of in-person programming, Svetlana Stoli, the Russian powerhouse, will also be honoring NY HQ and our virtual JOOR stars with her presence for our 2nd Annual Drag Queen Bingo game. We are also partnering with Confetti, for a virtual LGBTQIA+ Cultural Impact class where our JOOR team members will learn more about the history of the LGBTQIA+ community and uncover its contributions to American & European culture through music, art, and politics.

We are excited to both celebrate this year and honor the legacy of those who fought and continue to fight tirelessly for the LGBTQ+ community's right to live and love freely & authentically.

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Recorded Future's Out@RF leadership has organized a range of educational and celebratory activities for Pride Month. The month kicked off with a company wide event about equal dignity for all and the LGBTQIA+ journey towards recognition and respect. Various offices worldwide, including London, Gothenburg, Singapore, and DC, will host happy hours or celebrations. The largest celebration of the month is Boston’s, where OUT@RF Futurists, allies, and families participated in the Boston Pride For The People parade on June 10th. Remote employees can engage in LGBTQIA+ themed online games and participation will drive meal donations for LGBTQIA+ homeless youth. As a call to action, the ERG has also compiled a list of suggested activities to foster inclusivity and compassion, such as supporting queer owned businesses, adding pronouns to signatures, attending company events, volunteering for LGBTQIA+ focused non-profits, and more. Additionally, the ERG co-leads' work and stories will be highlighted through a dedicated blog and spotlights.

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During the month of June we have several events planned to celebrate PRIDE month. Some of the programs and fun events that we have planned include; Virtual Bingo night, Food Truck lunch, participation in the North Shore Pride Parade, Book Club, and we are giving out PRIDE bracelets in the office to show our support. In addition, we have donated to The Trevor Project which is the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning) young people.

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Celebrate Pride at Rue Gilt Groupe is all about uplifting Associate voices and encouraging active allyship. We’re bringing back our Open Letter event where Associates share letters they’ve written about what celebrating Pride means to them. We are also hosting a discussion event of the importance of fostering cultures of belonging. Instead of marching in a local parade, we are piloting a new virtual Pride parade experience so our Associates across the globe can come together and walk for Pride. Lastly, we are exploring the history of LGBTQ+ designers in fashion followed by a trivia event.

Additionally, in partnership with our Members, RGG has once again partnered with The Trevor Project; a portion of specially curated boutiques on Rue La La and Gilt will be donated to help The Trevor Project’s mission of supporting LGBTQ+ young people in crisis. Shop our Love All Ways boutiques on Rue La La and Gilt until June 15th to support this great cause!

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EnergySage is celebrating Pride throughout the month. Activities include painting banners to showcase near City Hall, celebrating LGBTQ films, and hosting a Center Plaza bake sale to raise funds for the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis support services for LGBTQ youth in need.

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At NuvoAir, we embrace and celebrate the diversity of our team and the wider community every single day. However, in the month of June, we go the extra mile to honor and uplift Pride Month!

We're excited to share that we've made some vibrant changes to our logo, both inside and outside the company, to reflect our solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community.

We created a Slack channel #pride-month to highlight, celebrate, support and recognize the impact that LGBTQIA+ individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. We do this by:

💗Sharing pictures of ourselves, family and friends

❤️Sharing podcasts, movies, websites

🧡Use the 🌈 emoji on our status all month long

💛Showcasing pictures of our pets😼

💚Sharing pictures and stories of historical figures

💙Sharing pictures of your town

💜Sharing our own stories

💟Change our own Slack photo image

🏳️‍🌈LGBTQIA+ Pride Month!🏳️‍⚧️

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PathAI is excited to celebrate Pride this year with several events! First, we'll be hosting an employee movie screening & social event to watch A Secret Love, the true love story of Terry Donahue and pro-baseball player Pat Henschel, who fell in love in 1947 and began a 65 year journey of love and overcoming prejudice. Next, we're hosting a community service event with Building Impact, a Boston-based nonprofit which provides safe and inclusive items for LGBTQ+ young campers to thrive, build confidence, foster resilience, and cultivate a sense of community. During the event, volunteers will have the opportunity to virtually assemble and personalize Camp Bins by gathering craft supplies, games, and engaging activities to provide countless hours of fun and meaningful connections among young campers. Lastly, we are promoting educational & development content around the theme of Inclusion this month to help our entire team be more inclusive.

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At CarGurus, we continuously build and nurture a global culture where inclusiveness is a reflex, not an initiative. For Pride Month, we kick our ongoing programming into high gear with numerous events that celebrate LGBTQIA+ culture and history including:

• A fireside chat with an inspirational LGBTQIA+ advocate and leader, followed by a happy hour featuring bites from a local, queer-owned restaurant
• Our LGBTQIA+@CarGurus ERG and Guru allies marching together in Boston’s Pride for the People parade
• A company-wide virtual Pride parade for which Gurus will post pictures with rainbow gear on Slack and be entered in a raffle to win several queer-centered books
• A community conversation to share tips to help allies support the LGBTQIA+ community
• A company-wide event that uses gamification to showcase LGBTQIA+ history and icons, and shares helpful tips for continuing to celebrate and support the community well beyond June. We'll make donations to an LGBTIA+ org for every Guru who participates in the event

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Vendasta (which acquired Yesware) is excited to celebrate Pride Month with our team members from all over the world. As part of the celebration and show of support for our 2SLGBTQIA+ friends, family & coworkers, Vendasta’s DEIB committee will be:

• Selling Pride t-shirts and for every t-shirt sold, Vendasta will be making a donation to OUTSaskatoon, an organization that supports 2SLGBTQIA+ people of all ages and backgrounds through peer support and counseling, queer-specific education resources, outreach, social gatherings and events, community referrals, and sexual health services.
• Partnering with another tech company in Saskatoon in the creation of a float that will be a part of Saskatoon’s Pride Parade.
• Launching a social campaign where team members from all over will share what pride means to them.

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Constant Contact is a champion of diversity and inclusivity. In fact, one of our company values is “You Belong Here,” and, throughout the year, we actively engage in various initiatives that reflect this commitment. During Pride Month in June, we always work to highlight our LGBTQIA+ employees and customers and help amplify their voices.

This year, we are launching a new section of our Constant Contact Community, called “Voices.” It's a forum where LGBTQIA+ and other small businesses from underrepresented communities can get inspired, explore new ideas, network and find resources to help them be successful. We also use our social media channels to spotlight these customers each week and help drive more awareness for their business.

Over the weekend, we proudly marched in the Boston Pride Parade to show our support for our LGBTQIA+ employees and customers, and we are working closely with our employee affinity groups to offer allyship training to all employees throughout the month of June. Inclusivity is at the heart of who we are at Constant Contact, and we look forward to continuing to be an advocate for unity. Happy Pride!

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At Aura, our mission is to create an environment where people of all backgrounds and identities feel invited, accepted and valued for their uniqueness so we can build the most innovative, inclusive and accessible product possible in order to make a safer internet for everyone. In honor of Pride month, our Inclusion Council (a group of employees representing different identities that work together to help accomplish our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging goals) has organized a variety of initiatives and campaigns to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community. We post weekly educational information around the history of the movement as well as resources, tips, and ways to and support the LGBTQ+ community; invited a speaker to talk to us about the reality of the global issues the community faces and why these matter at work; partnered with our Design team on a workshop about how to build products with accessibility in mind; arranged an in-person movie screening of a film showcasing how individuals of the LGBTQ+ community have contributed to important historical/technological events; and organized a couple special corporate volunteer opportunities to come together and make a positive impact on our local communities.

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Check out the six newest companies to join VentureFizz! These six companies have jobs open on our site across all functions, and are hiring in multiple regions, including many open remote jobs.  Check them out! 

RapDev

Industry:  Cloud & Developer Tools
Number of Employees: 51 - 100

 

RapDev is a team of experienced ServiceNow Wizards and passionate SREs contributing to the open-source community, who have built multiple enterprise-scale CI/CD pipelines and integrations to help your organization build velocity in your release cycle. 

 

CLICK HERE FOR JOBS

Kard

Industry:  Crypto, FinTech & Payments, Marketing & Sales Tech
Number of Employees: 51 - 100

 

Kard is building the first rewards-as-a-service platform to power the next generation of loyalty. Our mission is to reward consumers for their everyday purchases.

CLICK HERE FOR JOBS

Customers.ai

Industry:  AdTech, AI & Machine Learning, Communications, Marketing & Sales Tech
Number of Employees: 26 - 50

 

Customers.ai Sales Outreach Automation + B2C Prospecting Data Platform helps marketers and sales at Mid-Market B2C Businesses find their unicorns in a sea of donkeys.

CLICK HERE FOR JOBS

Hotel Engine

Industry:  Consumer, Enterprise Software / SaaS
Number of Employees: 500 - 1,000

 

Hotel Engine offers innovative technology and unrivaled support that connects businesses with lodging partners, driving savings and efficiency for both sides.

Explore Company page

Uptycs

Industry: Security
Number of Employees: 250 - 500

 

Uptycs secures every point of your attack surface and streams structured and normalized security telemetry into your detection cloud. 

CLICK HERE FOR JOBS

Labviva

Industry:  Enterprise Software / SaaS
Number of Employees: 26 - 50

 

At Labviva, our mission is to accelerate the pace of life science research by connecting suppliers, purchasing departments, and scientists through AI. 

CLICK HERE FOR JOBS

As the air gradually escapes from the hi-tech bubble, the transition from a feverish hiring frenzy to a more cautious approach is inevitable. Company success had previously been heavily weighted on headcount growth, but now efficiency of management and retention of working capital will be in laser focus. Many leaders who came up in ranks during the bubble may feel a bit constrained comparatively, depending upon their previous experience.

Having had the opportunity to collaborate with exceptional technical founders and executives, I found myself compelled to seek advice from some as a potential blueprint for growth and scale initiatives in the near future.

Ryan Houlette, VP of Engineering and Founder, and the executive team at Sense have always been focused on the long game; hiring based on defined goals, not measured from hiring exuberance.

As a technical founder/executive, what guidance would you suggest with regard to adding headcount to a growing startup? Are there levers or things that you think about in order to decide?

“One guiding principle is that I want to be reasonably confident that the role will be needed for at least a year. I don't ever want to hire someone knowing that I may have to let them go in six months. People's livelihoods need to be treated with respect and consideration. If I have a short-term staffing need, I'll look for a contractor or other solution.

I tend to be conservative by nature in hiring, since it's easier to grow a team than to shrink it. Setting a high bar for opening a req forces you to really think about what you're trying to accomplish with that hire and how important it is relative to your other priorities. Even if you have the financial resources to do so, hiring your way out of any problem is not necessarily the best choice. It can lead to a lack of focus and projects that continue on longer than they should under their own momentum. Rapid growth also brings its own organizational challenges and overheads; you aren't going to get linear speedup in delivery as you scale the team up.

Generally, I think a good rule of thumb is to assess the hiring need whenever a major strategic objective is added to the plan. If it really needs to be done in parallel to existing work, adding staff may be worth considering. The risk of increasing your burn rate too early before it is adequately supported by revenue needs to be balanced against a more subtle risk of failing to execute by peanut buttering the team too thinly across too many objectives.”

I asked the same from longtime friend and CTO, Mahesh Nair, who leans heavily on product road mapping to help justify hiring.

“Ensure that there is a good product management discipline that provides the business justification for adding and prioritizing features and capabilities on the product and technology roadmap. This process will help set the hiring timelines, velocity and determine the type of headcount to be added - full time hire, contractor resources, turnkey project deliverables or other options.”

In a situation when times are leaner, you may struggle with getting approval for a replacement headcount once someone leaves. To that, Mahesh also offered his thoughts about culture in more conservative times.

“Make a conscious ongoing investment in building and nurturing a positive work culture, a diverse and inclusive workforce, and a psychologically safe environment that fosters teamwork. To quote Michael Jordan: 'Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.'"

During the boom, many companies leveraged fractional CFOs in order to afford internal talent acquisition teams and HR leadership, which, after SVB and the banking debacles, might be taking pole position once again. To wit, I am including a few points from Michael Bayer, a longtime friend and present CFO for Wasabi, whom I have had the pleasure of advising and working with previously.

“People aren’t and shouldn’t be treated as fungible. Think about who you hire, and when you hire them, carefully. These are permanent investments and the most important investments you make as a business. I look at every new hire as another family member, another mouth to feed. We need to know we have a map to the revenue to support that hire.” Part of the CFO’s role is to look forward and project, and if you can’t pay employees’ salaries, then don’t hire them. The employer compact is real and important.”

As someone that has been helping companies with acquiring talent for over 20 years, the best advice I can personally offer is to forget the job description. Those that have worked with me know that I have never been a fan of them because job descriptions are just a snapshot in time. By putting a plan together containing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the particular role over the next 12 months, you will build a narrative justification for a hire. It also means that it will help in creating precision in your recruiting efforts, as well as a personal performance plan for your employee.

Kate Morgan is the Founder and CEO of Boston Human Capital Partners. 

SmartBear's tools are built to streamline your DevOps processes while seamlessly working with the products you use – and will use

We connected with Naveen, Director of Engineering, at SmartBear to get an inside look at the company's technology, various projects, the team's culture, and more.

Quick Hit Details

• Year Founded: 2009 
• Number of employees: 748 
• Number of engineers: 207 
• Industry: Software 

Can you share a summary about SmartBear? 

SmartBear provides a portfolio of trusted tools that give software development teams around the world visibility into end-to-end quality through test management and automation, API development lifecycle, and application stability, ensuring each software release is better than the last. Our award-winning tools include SwaggerHub, TestComplete, BugSnag, ReadyAPI, Zephyr, and PactFlow, among others. SmartBear is trusted by over 16 million developers, testers, and software engineers at 32,000+ organizations – including innovators like Adobe, JetBlue, FedEx, and Microsoft. With an active peer-to-peer community, we meet customers where they are to help make our technology-driven world a better place. SmartBear is committed to ethical corporate practices and social responsibility, promoting good in all the communities we serve.

What are some of the different technologies that the engineering team gets to work with and at what scale? 

Given the enterprise products that we develop and build, we have exposure to a broad spectrum of technologies. At a high level, our tech stack includes a mix of native HTML, JavaScript, AngularJS, and ReactJS for the front-end and Java, Elasticsearch, Redis, relational database management system (RDBMS), NoSQL Key-value Database, and a time series database (TSDB) for the back-end. All our products are deployed on AWS, and we use AWS Fargate containers for all our production load.   

What are some of the interesting projects that the engineering team is tackling? 

There are two major challenges that our teams are currently solving. One of these challenges is high data volume. With the rate at which data is being created and consumed exponentially, there is so much automation. Currently, our teams are focused on how to handle these high volumes of data hitting our systems and processing them in a timely fashion. The other challenge our teams are also working on is scalability, making our products and platforms to scale, horizontally and vertically, which will enable them to handle the increased traffic flowing into our systems.   

Does your engineering team have a chance to work on projects outside of their day-to-day responsibilities?   

Engineering teams at SmartBear thrive on innovation, and thus we have a formal Hackathon platform, conducted internally, that is provided to teams so they can collaborate across teams and geographies innovating and working on their pet projects. For the engineering teams in India, we also encourage the culture of contributing to open source projects as the culture of open source is deeply ingrained into the way SmartBear is structured.  

What is the culture like at SmartBear for the engineering team?  

Within our engineering team, we foster a generative culture. We are feedback-driven, and innovation forms the cornerstone on which our teams are built. We believe in teamwork, and we enjoy working in a collaborative environment. We have a flat hierarchy within our engineering team, so everyone is always available to help.  

What can a potential employee expect during the interview process?  

Interviews are straight forward. We don’t expect candidates to know everything outside the areas in which they have worked. Given that we have a broad spectrum in terms of our tech stack, we believe in hiring SMEs in a particular field where the interviews have a deep focus on technology. Non-technical factors like commitment, ownership, and ability to learn and adapt are also covered. The interview is also an opportunity for the candidate to meet with the team and get to know them a bit and ask any questions they might have about the role, team, or SmartBear.  
 
Are you involved in any local tech organizations or Meetups?  

We are involved in the Atlassian Community Bangalore Chapter as it closely relates to the products and the domain that we develop for. This provides us with a great opportunity to meet fellow developers and learn and share as a community.  

Rapid Fire Q&A 

Star Wars or Star Trek?  

Star Trek – I would say this best embodies our engineering team’s spirit given we believe in teamwork and endeavor to explore and uncover the unexplored frontiers of technology.  

iPhone or Android?  

I don’t think there is a clear winner here. I would say the camp is pretty much divided between both.  

Coffee - hot or iced? 

Hot, of course – the only way you can truly enjoy a cup of coffee.  

Favorite employee perk?  

Summer Fridays – For the entire summer, teams company-wide wind up early every Friday and spend the time unwinding with family and friends. This helps us recharge and keeps the team motivated. This is something everyone at SmartBear looks forward to.   

What TV show describes the engineering team’s culture? 

I would say Star Trek again as it depicts the team culture of bonding together and delivering as one team.   

Team Profiles

Syed Nurulla, Lead Software Engineer

Syed Nurulla is Lead Software Engineer at SmartBear. He has more than a decade of engineering experience.  

Neelakanta Reddy M, Lead Software Engineer

Neelakanta Reddy M is Lead Software Engineer at SmartBear. He has more than a decade of engineering experience. Previously, he was Senior Software Developer at Conformiq, Inc. 

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for an Intelligence Consultant at Recorded Future?

We connected with Cassidy O'Hearn to find out!

Interested in learning more about Recorded Future and their job openings?  Make sure to check out their company page on VentureFizz!

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I went to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. I graduated in the Spring of 2018 with  a major in Computer Science and a minor in Economics. My initial job out of college was with Booz Allen Hamilton as a candidate in their Cyber Immersion pilot program. Within the program we spent about 10 months transitioning between their Security Operations Center (SOC) teams. This gave me exposure and experience with red teaming, digital forensics, customer response, incident handling, vulnerability management, threat hunting, and cyber threat intelligence. After this experience I decided to stay with the cyber threat intelligence team for another two years before accepting a position at Recorded Future. 

Our Lead(H)er series features impressive women leaders in the tech industry. In this Q&A, we are featuring Hayley Islas-Wolf, Regional Vice President at Liaison International.

Where did you grow up and how would you describe yourself as a child?

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I was always fiercely independent, loved the arts, was a social butterfly and an achiever.  I could be found making art, playing the piano, singing, dancing, and working with my dad around the house on projects.  I am the middle child between two sisters.  With a family legacy in the entertainment industry, I had thought I would end up in that world, but I instead made my own path.

What did you study in college and what was your first job out of school?

I was an Interpersonal Communication major with a minor in Music at California State University Long Beach.  I worked throughout college and held several internships, but my first job post graduation was at Deutsch, an advertising agency in LA.  I was a human resources assistant and started hiring for all of the entry level jobs at the agency and running the internship program along with making lots of copies and filling. I quickly realized that human resources was not where I was going to stay and somehow stumbled into working on a college campus.

Can you share the details on your career path and what were the critical moments that got you to where you are today?

I got recruited to be an Admissions Counselor at a college and got bit by the higher education and technology bug.  I loved the tactical and strategic side of hitting goals and working smarter. I also enjoyed creating relationships with the incoming students throughout their journey and being an advocate for them. I found that by creating innovative strategies and events, students had better outcomes and, at the same time, the institution excelled. It was a win-win. 

I was quickly promoted to helping run the Admissions Office at a small regional school.  After spending a lot of time being scrappy and having to bring in big numbers and try new things constantly, I was ready for the next step in my career.  First I served as the Associate Director of Admissions at Azusa Pacific University. I then went on to serve as the Director of Admission at Pepperdine University for the undergraduate college. At the age of 29 I was the youngest director at a top 50 school in the nation while also managing to graduate with my masters in business.

I learned so much being on college campuses and running the office that brought in the revenue for the institution.  Not only did we need to do the basics and day to day functionality well, we needed to think creatively, maximize everything and serve the students and institution.  In my time on college campuses I ended up taking on the big technology projects like implementing a Student Information System and CRM.  I loved that data and strategy could then be paired with the human element of managing and empowering a team to then effect change at a larger organization.  It was exhilarating.

After working at three very different institutions - regional to mid to competitive, I realized that all colleges and universities had a lot of the same obstacles and problems. Some of which could be solved by technology and thinking outside of the box.  I knew at this point in my career that going into a more consultative and technology focused career path, I could effect more positive change in the world of academia and lean into my strengths.

What is your current role and responsibilities?

I am the Regional Vice President for Sales at Liaison International, a higher education specific tech, consulting and services company.  I oversee the western United States and all International new business.  I have a great team of AVPs that provide solutions and consult for colleges and universities in those areas.  I get to play a strategic role in our growth as an organization, serve as an executive sponsor for the universities we work with and help coach and mentor.

Looking back, is this where you thought you’d be professionally?  Was it always your goal to be in this position?

I don’t know if I had a particular goal of being an RVP early on in my career, but as I found my direction and what I was passionate about, it makes sense.  I love solving problems and thinking creatively - ultimately helping others achieve their goals and dreams. Technology and strategy removes barriers and enhances the human element.  I love the consulting side of my job - using what I have spent my career doing and helping colleges and universities at a much larger scale and then I also love my team.  It is also fun to be a part of our company’s strategies and helping to voice the staff and customers voices in the process.  I knew I would be in leadership and use my people and technical skills in a role, so though I may not have known I would be a Regional Vice President at a large technology company, I knew the skills and goals I had that align with my current role.

For people who are looking to be in a similar position, what advice would you give to others in terms of helping them achieve their career goals?

Sometimes it feels like you are working hard and not seeing movement in your career.  Especially as a woman, it is important to become your own advocate.  I had to really hone this skill and it took longer than I would like to admit.  I learned that by not buldosing or being docile - rather letting your work, relationships and achievements speak for themselves - you can then ask for what is next in your career. It is okay to ask and be ready for the next step in your career.

Remember, you are the only one who is in control of your trajectory and career.  It is important that you always put out the very best of who you are and when you are feeling frustrated and trapped, it is important to communicate and advocate for yourself.  Jumping job to job or company to company only solves part of the problem.  If you have a good boss and work for a good company, it is better to try to help make the changes you want to see and to ask for what you would like.  Questions like, this is where I would like to be in a few years or even now, what do you need to see from me, how can I enhance my skill set to achieve that, and what feedback (good or bad) do you have for me so I can be the best I can be.

What are the most important skills that you need to do your job well?

I think communication, collaboration, ingenuity, coaching and care.  Communication is essential in my role with my direct team, which all of the universities and colleges we work with and then across the organization as we continue to work on ideas and enhancements.  

This leads directly into collaboration.  This can be seen in all areas of work and ultimately we know that by collaborating and working together whether that is client to vendor or internally person to person, when we put our heads together and have candid and healthy collaboration we can achieve much greater results.  

Leading into ingenuity.  I love thinking outside of the box.  When faced with a problem or an obstacle that looks daunting or insurmountable, it is always very advantageous to take a step back and think about all of the ways to reach its summit. Often times when we think creatively and outside of the box, incredible results can be achieved.  I have done this in every role in my career and I think has lead to some of my best successes.

Coaching and care to me go hand in hand.  In my current role managing a team, it is important that I don’t just solve every problem that comes our way, rather work with my team and others to come to a solution.  This allows for others to be empowered moving forward.  Also, I manage out of a place of individuality.  Everyone is treated equally, but my approach with each person is different, because each person has a different need or way they thrive in their own unique personality style.  This has served me well and is how I like to be led.  It creates room for each person to truly thrive and flourish.

What do you find most interesting/rewarding about your work?  What’s the most challenging?

Working in the technology space in higher education can be challenging and my career in higher education prior as I am an innovator and often like to see results quickly.  Higher education can oftentimes feel like a very big ship that take a very long time to turn.  I guess it is also part of the thrill, when you can be a part of that change, but change moves slowly.  I truly believe in the work we are doing.  Whether I was in my roles as a Director of Admissions or now as a Regional Vice President helping Higher Education Administration and end users serve students better, we are indirectly and directly helping set up the future generation.  I am also very passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion.  It was a very large focus in all of my roles on campuses and I think even if technology or consulting can bring down some of the barriers or biases, then we are winning.  That is meaningful work!

What is your proudest professional accomplishment?

I think I look at my age and my career and I very proud of all the hard work I have done.  I have talked about getting to a top 50 university as a director of admission under the age of 30, my roles and career trajectory at TargetX and Liaison.  What I did not mention is that during the last 4 years my husband and I also opened up two bars!  I was able to balance and effectively run my career and two successful businesses that got featured on national news.  We have now sold one of them and are in the process of selling the other, but this to me is a huge accomplishment - all while never losing steam at my career.  It was the least amount of sleep or freetime I have ever experienced, but I feel a great sense of accomplishment.  I think in my entire career, I have proven that I am capable, competent and successful.  Now that the bars are sold/in the process of selling - I am so grateful for the new time I have to have work life balance.  This is a new phase in my life where I am not ever going to lose steam on my career or my aspirations, but now I get to balance it out (not working three full time jobs anymore) where I can enjoy walks with my dogs, pick up painting, playing the piano and ceramics and traveling and spending time with my husband.

Are you involved with any professional organizations outside of the company? Volunteer work?

As mentioned, opening up Quail State - the first rooftop craft cocktail bar in Fresno, CA, and then opening up Saint J - the first natural wine bar in Fresno, CA all while maintaining and growing in my career took up a lot of my time over the last 4 years, but I am excited to get plugged back into some of the organizations and volunteering I did prior to my crazy adventure.  In those 4 years, we really worked and helped in the revitalization of the Fresno downtown area and a lot of my time and effort outside of work went into that community.  My husband and I now live back in Los Angeles and are getting plugged into our local community.

Q&A

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Traveling - in the past 5 months I have gone to 9 countries alone.  It is something I love and am passionate about.  I also love to work out, hanging with our dogs, and spending time with my husband and friends.

How do you manage stress?

Taking care of my mental and physical health are essential.  I love being active - HITT, barre, hot yoga, weight lifting, hiking - it is such a good physical and mental reset for me.  Also, I think it is important to fuel the soul - for me this is being creative in the arts or gardening.

How many cups of coffee do you have in a day?

This is a funny question, but I hear you.  I typically have two cups of coffee in a day.  I try to not overdo my caffeine intake and I do not drink any other caffeine if possible in the day.

What advice do you have for recent college graduates?

It takes time to learn and master something.  Be humble, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but learn from them.  I think the best piece of advice is make the mistake and then never do it again.  That is what will set you apart from the rest and enhance your career trajectory.  Also, the other piece of advice I would have is that so much for my early career I was looking for the greener grass.  Ultimately, what I learned is the grass was never greener at a company or institution, but what was important was have a good manager, a caring work environment and a place that at the end of the day is doing something you believe in.

Episode #296 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jacqueline Claudia, CEO at SmarterX.

The business of doing good. It is an area where companies can build a profitable organization while doing something that is socially responsible. Companies like TOMS and Patagonia are great examples.

For JC, she had a successful career, but it lacked fullfilment and she finally hit a breaking point where it was time for a change.

From taking the entrepreneurial leap and building a responsibly farmed fish CPG company that reached distribution in over 4,000 stores and landing Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor, to what she is doing now as CEO of SmarterX, her career has aligned with her beliefs and values, all while working to create a more sustainable world.

SmarterX is in the business of using data for good through its Product Intelligence Platform™ which is leveraged by retailers and brands to gain product insights and identify how to best handle consumer products across the supply chain, to remain compliant, avoid fines, and reduce their environmental impact. The company has been recognized by Fast Company on two impressive lists that being World Changing Ideas and Most Innovative Companies.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

• A deep conversation on the importance of finding personal fulfillment in one’s career.
• JC’s background story in terms of growing up in rural Pennsylvania and the foundational years of her career.
• The full story of Love The Wild, from scaling up to ultimately making the hard decision to exit the business.
• All the details about SmarterX in terms of how its platform and business model works, plus its impact on the planet.
• The positive use of AI in the cleantech and sustainability industry.
• And so much more.

I don’t know if you heard but the team at VentureFizz has launched a new website called Just Product Management Jobs. We are combining laser focused job postings for Product Managers with high-value blog content that is written by expert contributors covering topics around career advice and the latest trends + best practices in the PM industry. If you are a PM looking for a new opportunity or if you are hiring Product Managers, go to justproductmanagementjobs.com.

Here's your look at the latest hires and promotions across the tech community at Collective Health and Cover Genius.

Did I miss your new employees? Send me an email with their name and details about their new role. I'll add them to next week's edition of Talent on the Move. 

Collective Health

HungChing Chan

 

Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Collective Health

Previously, Chief Analytics Officer at Medica

Cover Genius

Kyle Keogh

 

Chief Business Officer, Americas at Cover Genius

Previously, Managing Director, Automotive at Google