SnackWalls

Welcome to the 8th episode of the SnackWalls Podcast.

As a kind host, I try not to shock my guests, but after this interview, I dropped a bomb on Stehpond. Turns out we are long lost... cousins!?

While Stephond agrees there is a challenge surrounding diversity in the workplace, he doesn’t believe it would be difficult to FIND the talent if the recruiting process was adjusted. He proposes diversity and inclusion education as the first step in addressing the issue. Stephon is not all seriousness, he has produced about 10 shows in the Boston area including two block parties and two outdoor festivals.

Stephond Golar is an operations professional with ten years of experience. He has been providing strategy, training, context, assets and data to global sales organizations as well as implementing automated solutions to increase efficiencies. Stephond also plans and produces live events and performs as an artist. Stephond Golar and his wife are also involved in philanthropy; They are currently fundraising to have a primary school built on the premises of an orphanage in West Africa.

• Stephond Golar: www.linkedin.com/in/stephondgoler
• Acquia: www.acquia.com
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1280951

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

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Welcome to the 3rd episode of the SnackWalls Podcast.

I spoke to my man Gil who has a huge heart and thinks deeply about employees.

Gil takes a hard look at diversity and challenges management to analyze their organization’s underlying reasons for diversifying the talent pool. Once identified, is the organization truly structured to encourage and maintain a diversified workforce? Only then will companies successfully attract and retain diverse talent.

Gil Cohen is the Founder of Employee Experience Design (EX). He helps people-centric leaders and HR Outliers co-create inspirational employee experiences. Gil has helped numerous companies articulate the behaviors for success for their unique situation. Gil helps organizations focus on improving EX in ways that increase productivity, customer experience, retention, safety, and profitability.

• Employee Experience Design: http://employeeexperience.ca/
• Gil Cohen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilzcohen/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1280951

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

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Welcome back for episode 2 of the SnackWalls Podcast.

In this episode, we talk with one of my favorite local conduits for change Lean Chukoskie.

Leanne shares that there is plenty of diverse talent available, but in order for companies to find the diverse talent they seek, they will need to do things differently - including looking in different places and changing the hiring practices. Also, factoring retention into the strategy, employers will have to take a serious look at the workplace culture and determine if the culture supports diverse new employees for the long term.

Leanne is a trained neuroscientist and an associate research scientist at the Qualcomm Institute, UC San Diego. She is also Co-founder and Chief Science Officer at BrainLeap Technologies.

• PoNG: http://pong-center.ucsd.edu/
• BrainLeap: https://brainleaptech.com/
• Leanne Chukoskie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leannechukoskie/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1280951

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

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Put out your hand in the air and slap me five. Welcome to the 5th episode of the SnackWalls Podcast.

I spoke with the fabulous and talented Maira Benjamin. 

Maira works at Pandora, which was recently bought by Sirius. Mike’s looking forward to what that acquisition brings as a SERIOUS Sirius XM radio listener. According to Maira finding talent has a lot to do with the way companies are recruiting and where they're recruiting. A lot of companies think they need to find the best engineers and then they go to the same highly ranked universities and colleges. She suggests also starting looking at talent that's coming out of coding boot camps.

Maira Benjamin has a wide range of interests within and beyond the software development industry. Maira is an Engineering Manager, Project Manager, Database specialist, Java/Ruby/C#/C++ Programmer, Author, Poet, Forum Administrator, Certified Scrum Master, Lyricist, Novelist, Angel Investor. She wears a lot of hats ;) Maira is also the co-founder of the Tech Intersections Conference. This is the first conference of its kind directed with a focus on women of color in technology.

• Tech Intersections: www.techintersections.org
• Pandora: www.pandora.com
• Maira Benjamin: www.linkedin.com/in/mairabenjamin/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1280951

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

Please share like and subscribe for more reach 🙌🏾

Welcome to the 4th episode of the SnackWalls Podcast.

I met another Karen but this one is definitely breaking the mold for 'Karens' these days.

Karen Walsh mentions one of the things companies have to do especially as we're moving towards a more remote workforce is for companies to change how they're doing things. She said this is a moment where we can actually reach out to people and change how we're doing things. Karen posed some pretty important questions for employees including: What are you doing? What are you asking for? What do you want in an employee? A couple of other suggestions include following the #blacktech on twitter and go out to where people are at.

• Karen Walsh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geekykaren/
• Allegro Solutions LLC: https://allegrosolutionsllc.com/
• More episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1280951

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

Please share like and subscribe for more reach 🙌🏾