SnackWalls

We have been working hard to get your Wednesday off right. Here is the latest and greatest episode of SnackWalls!

In this episode Kevin Withane was able to give us an insight to his experience working in the legal world. He has observed that there is no lack of diverse talent, just companies that don't recruit in the right places. When it comes to diversity, companies don't need to think outside the box, they should assume the box doesn’t exist and use the whole space to find talent. As more companies experiment with remote work, it could shape a future where recruiters can look beyond their geographical boundaries to supply their talent pipeline. Large tech companies should also target diverse school districts to establish apprenticeship programs with kids before they finish high school. For companies to retain their talent they need to build equity from the top. The c-suite executives must drive their company culture to be inclusive.

Kevin Withane is a Senior Legal Director and Group Ethics and Compliance Director for TI Fluid Systems. He is passionate about pushing forward DE&I and offers pro bono support and consulting to companies and other organizations that are serious about developing or revamping their DE&I programs. Kevin also hosts the Cocktail Leadership podcast where he discusses how business is changing towards a more sustainable, all-stakeholder model.

• Kevin Withane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwithane
• Cocktail Leadership Podcast: https://cocktailleadership.libsyn.com/website
• TI Fluid Systems: https://www.tifluidsystems.com
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Mondays are hard.

During our convo, Marc spoke about his experience trying to find diverse applicants to fill tech roles. He found that underrepresented groups and people from low incomes, in general, aren't aware that certain jobs (ex. Agilist) exist. If no one in your family/friends can model a tech role, then you are unlikely to pursue a career in tech. Marc doesn't believe that a CS degree is necessary for tech roles, since a few of the best developers he has worked with didn't have degrees. Apprenticeships are great because many tech jobs are not formally describable and you have to learn from the shoulder of people you learn from. Companies can retain diverse talent by providing mentorship and treating employees like assets, not commodities.

Marc is passionate about finding ways to create and develop agilist from non-traditional backgrounds. He serves as a Regional Director for Cprime and provides services to companies that are looking to improve their business agility. Marc is an expert in Lean and Agile methodologies, as well as frameworks including SAFe, DAD, LESS, Kanban, Scrum. 

• Marc Danziger https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcdanziger
• Cprime https://www.cprime.com
• Minds Matter https://www.mindsmatter.org
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Got the Monday Blues? Take a SnackWalls break for a quick pick me up!

In this episode we interviewed Brock Weatherup, a serial entrepreneur who has found it difficult to find diverse talent. He feels the problem lies in our current system that makes it hard for people of color to find good tech jobs. On the other end of the spectrum, people looking for diverse talent don't always know where to look. Brock believes apprenticeship and internship programs give young folks the opportunity to trial and understand how to navigate the system. Once someone understands the system, their likelihood to excel in a career grows significantly. To increase and retain diverse talent, companies have to define a process and understand that it will require extra effort. Additionally, leadership needs to commit to an endless set of networking because one connection will lead to another and then another. You never know where the pebble goes when you knock it off the mountain, but you hope it lands somewhere great!

Brock is a founder, mentor, c-suite executive and passionate leader of high growth consumer businesses. He is currently the CEO & Co-Founder of Metamorphosis Partners - a company focused on creating extraordinary value in the pet industry through innovation. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, father of two amazing girls, and pet owner to an english retriever named...Boulder.

• Brock Weatherup https://www.linkedin.com/in/brockweatherup
• Metamorphosis https://www.metamorphosis.com
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Here is your much awaited SnackWalls Episode #32

A while back we spoke with Paul Lopushinsky about the importance of maintaining a playful culture to retain diverse talent. It turns out there are 8 types of playful personalities. Some companies will set up ping pong tables or happy hours to keep employees engaged, but he has found that these methods do not work on all personalities. Organizations should seize the opportunity to customize their onboarding experience and show new employees that they are valued. Paul mentioned that many fields can benefit from the notion of using projects to show readiness of a position vs a degree with no experience.  The apprenticeship model has been used for thousands of years for a reason, it works.

Paul founded Playficient to help organizations with their employee experience through the use of the design thinking process. He also believes that having a strong onboarding process will help employees get up to speed quickly and reduce turnover in the long term. Paul works with organizations to create a playful mentality in the workplace for all employees.

• Paul Lopushinsky https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulplayficient
• Playficient https://www.playficient.com
• Breakthrough Play https://www.breakthroughplay.com/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to SnackWalls Episode #31

Here is the latest episode of SnackWalls...get it while it's hot! 

Terrence and I are both fast talkers so this episode is definitely snack-sized.

Dr. Underwood believes that finding diverse tech talent is possible if you look in the right places (ex. HBCU’s or professional associations). A challenge for many recruiters and talent management teams is that they only look within their sphere of influence for candidates. To retain diverse talent, change needs to come from the top. Leadership teams that are open to undergoing diversity and inclusion training can often implement needed change to provide tools and support to their employees.

Dr. Terrence Underwood is the founder of the National Association of Minority Speakers and a strategic organizational and development professional with human capital consulting and in-house Human Resources experience with a focus on organization design, talent management, diversity & inclusion, employee engagement, and change management. As a Diversity and Inclusion Practitioner, he has helped organizations across North America, Asia, and Europe solve their toughest Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues and has experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. 

• Dr. Terrence Underwood https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrence-underwood
• National Association of Minority Speakers https://www.namspeakers.com
• Catalyst Inc. https://www.catalyst.org
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.c

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to SnackWalls Episode #30, the big threeeeee zeeeeero.

Changing things up a bit with this convo, we talked about changes that need to happen in education.

Many students of color live in communities where they may not have the same level of access to technology and resources as their white counterparts. Students don’t often recognize how much STEM is involved in things that they are passionate about. Young women of color may not know how much chemistry or math is involved with things that they may be interested in like Makeup. Brianna feels like if they knew that about makeup then you might get more women of color involved in STEM careers. Creating more content is the A in STEAM. It starts with students producing content instead of only consuming it. We need to emphasize hands-on experience with Education. Undefeated folks need to see people that look like themselves teaching and doing workshops as role models. This will increase diversity.

Brianna Bennet works in the area of student data management closely with charter schools throughout disadvantaged communities. She actively promotes academic development and educational enhancement of students, with a focus on achieving graduation and higher learning requirements. She holds a Bachelors degree from SDSU and a Masters of Public Administration from Cal State Northridge.

• On LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-n-bennett-mpa-90998a14/
• Brianna Bennett: briannabennett.org
• Black Girls Code: https://www.blackgirlscode.com/
• iUrbanTeen: https://iurbanteen.org/
• National Urban League Young Professionals: http://nulyp.iamempowered.com/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to episode #29, we are back!

I had to hire someone to help me. Podcasting is hard. Diego is going to make sure we are crushing it with new episodes released daily.

A while back I spoke with Terry Jones. She has a big goal to increase the population of diversity in terms of the tech industry. At a STEM conference, she realized that talking about gaming made her a rock star. While at UCLA they had a thing called the dinner for 12. It was an opportunity for people in the industry to network with students. There'd be other people around the table and they would be helping folks. When you can find a mentor or program do it.

Terry Jones is an experienced Director and Producer. She has worked in the entertainment industry and is skilled in Media Production, Feature Films, Digital Marketing, and Video Gaming. She earned her Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) focused in Directing, Production and Screenwriting from UCLA MFA. Terry is currently creating both a video game simulation design program and an esports program for Los Angeles City College.

• Terry Jones: www.linkedin.com/in/terry-jones6b27b858
• LA City College: www.lacitycollege.edu
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to the 29th episode of SnackWalls.

I took a siesta yesterday, but we are back with a great one!

Katy Scott shared that especially in technical roles there tends to be a bias that's built into recruiting processes and some job descriptions. Over-reliance on things like years of experience or educational background and under reliance on transferable skills and other evidence of talent can constrain the interview pools and the candidate pools in ways that also reduce diversity.

Katy acknowledged that she has to be really careful not to only look for candidates that look like her. A good way to test that is to look at the diversity of people coming out of colleges in those fields and compare them to the number of candidates making it to and through the process.

It's good for business to invite people to your team who will challenge you and your team in a different way and bring different perspectives and hold each other accountable to do better and change.

Katy Scott is an inspiring and influential leader seeking to deliver novel solutions to patients of unmet medical needs. She is skilled at driving robust and inclusive decision-making, collaborating across disciplines, and learning quickly to meet new challenges. Katy holds dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and Liberal Arts from The University of Texas at Austin. Experience includes management, engineering, and compliance in biologics and chemicals manufacturing. Katy is passionate about accelerating employee development and growing high-performing teams. 

• Katy Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-scott-3b193a7/
• Roche https://www.roche.com/about/business/diagnostics/about-diagnostics.htm
• PoNG https://pong-center.ucsd.edu/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to the 27th Episode of the SnackWalls podcast. 

I am so excited to share this episode with you. iAsia and I had a great conversation around DEI and she shares important aspects of her lived experience.

iAsia shared that when talking with candidates they may be the best-qualified person for the job, but you could miss the hire. If you feel that you would have difficulty working with them because of your own biases then you might not hire the best person for the job based on a flawed decision-making process. Technology is experienced-based and you can't get it all from books because, by the time you've read it, it's already changed.

Don't hire diverse candidates because you want someone to fill a bucket. If you want someone on your team to challenge you and change the thoughts and the views, add value to your organization, that makes more sense. You have to allow people to make mistakes because if they don't make mistakes, they're not going to learn.

According to iAsia it’s important to meet folks where they are. You might be very well versed in managing and dealing with a particular type of person. When diverse staff comes in and they challenge your thoughts you need to be prepared to learn and grow.

Ayesha Brown is a program manager on the fast track for Azure team at Microsoft.  She is a veteran of the US Marine Corps and Air Force. iAsia is a customer-obsessed, performance-oriented, global professional with significant experience bridging the gap between Business and Technology. She has a strong background in IT and is an amazing artist.

• iAsia Brown: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iasia-brown/
• Artwork on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaded_az_jai/
• MSIgnite2020: msft.it/6004Tskz8
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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Welcome to #26.

It was great to talk with someone about DEI that often shapes the conversations and public discourse.

According to Scott sourcing diverse talent falls more on the priorities of each company. Is it just lip service or do they really understand the value of hiring a diverse staff and hiring diverse cultures? It's less about the difficulty of finding diverse applicants and more about how important the employers are really making it. There's an intrinsic value because you're connecting with people that might be like your customers. A lot of the startups Scott works with are so nimble and so fast they'll care less about title and less about the degree and more about...Can this person really do this? Do they really have the potential? Whether it's an internship or formal apprenticeship you have to pay them a fair wage. The days of free internships and free labor are over.

Scott Rosenblum is the Founder of LEVEL PR which has worldwide reach from an intimate boutique firm. Scott is a seasoned public relations professional with over 20 years of experience. A graduate of Syracuse University he specializes in working with fintech, payments, and e-commerce/retail tech startups. He is bringing startups and well-established companies to the next level by creating media strategies and fostering connections with media, analysts, and influencers.

• Scott Rosenblum: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrosenblum/
• LEVEL PR: http://www.levelpr.co/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.com

SnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.io

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