👩🏫 Issue #23: Professorship & Entrepreneurship
D&I expert, best-selling author, business professor, and now entrepreneur
💬 Welcome to issue #23 of Between the Lines
We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and Holiday weekend. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who is still having Thanksgiving leftovers for most of my meals. 🤤 Rumor has it, Miles took advantage of the break and spent most of his Thanksgiving training with his dad to beat me in pickleball…. 🤷
This week we are back to our usual routine and here for a pick-me-up during these intra-Thanksgiving-and-Winter-holiday blues — this Thursday likely involves more work and less turkey than last. Hear from a best-selling author and founder, schedule your next career coach, sign up to share your startup idea, read about all types of leaders in the Claremont community, and more.
~ Josh (& Miles)
👤 Community Spotlight: Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson
Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson is a business professor at Colorado Boulder, a best-selling author, a researcher who graduated from CMC, and a recent entrepreneur. Her research focuses on the intersection of leadership and diversity, and she works with the best companies to implement evidence-based practices to reduce unconscious bias and increase inclusion. She is also the author of the National Bestseller, Inclusify: Harnessing the power of uniqueness and belonging to build innovative teams, which is a finalist for the International Latino Book Awards Best Business Book for 2021. Additionally, she publishes her work in top journals and has received ~$4M in external grant funding including funding from NIOSH, CDC/NIH, NASA, and Army Research Institute. Outside of anything work-related, she has a long-lasting love of Mountain Dew which she used to drink by the gallon in Collins Dining Hall.
You are one of few professors among the Claremont community who is also simultaneously working on a startup. Have there been any unique challenges or benefits that you have experienced as a startup founder given your background as a professor, and are there any interesting overlaps between teaching a class and building a company?
Starting a company is so different from being a professor. Being a professor is a very solitary pursuit. But, starting a company — or at least at Inclusify.com — is really about working with a team. It’s so funny because I serve as a mentor to startups through Techstars, and the founders always talk about how much “the team,” matters. Now that I am working with a brilliant team of people who all bring in unique expertise, I can totally see why the team aspect is so important.
In the past few years, it seems that D&I has slowly been changing from a “nice to have” to a “must-have,” and rightly so. In your opinion, what are you seeing as emerging trends in the D&I space, and what do new startup companies need to know about D&I that they probably aren’t hearing?
One huge trend is that young employees are demanding diversity and inclusion in their companies. They won’t accept a job without believing in the company, and for many people, that means that the company supports diversity and inclusion. With so many employees resigning right now (the great resignation), job seekers really do have their pick of jobs and that means that companies have to listen to these demands. Startups should be aware of this coming trend.
The ongoing pandemic has certainly shifted and changed all kinds of workplace and office norms, including new norms around remote work and Zoom meetings. How would you say that remote work has impacted D&I at companies and in business, if at all?
INCLUSIFY focused on how leaders can create an environment that values uniqueness and belonging. Everyone wants to be their authentic self but, at the same time, we still want to belong. Before the pandemic, the biggest challenge I saw was helping to create the space where people can be their authentic selves. But, with most people working remotely, I think there is less pressure to conform to office norms and such. Instead, the greater challenge I see at this time, is how to build belonging in an environment where people are so disconnected. If work is just about the work — and not the people — it is so much easier to leave for another job with similar work. There is a true benefit to working in a place where you feel a sense of community and that is hard to replicate, which partially explains why we are seeing so many people leave their jobs right now.
On the other hand, the pandemic has created an immense opportunity to rethink diversity and inclusion at work. Some workplace changes that have resulted from the pandemic, including greater flexibility, create an opportunity for increased equity. As we rethink work, we can actually redesign systems and structures through a DEI lens — meaning that we actually create a more equitable workplace - is a huge opportunity. We can create a workplace that actually works for everyone.
Read more about how Dr. Johnson got her start, her new company that recently launched, and her best-selling book 👇
🚨Claremonster Call-Out: Julia Starr
Julia Starr, M.Ed., is a CMC grad who has taken her career from management consulting to manufacturing (hello family saw business) to the world of adult development psychology and coaching. Through her journey, and subsequent coach training at the University of Minnesota and Harvard, she's become highly skilled at facilitating foundational shifts in her clients’ lives and work.
Over the last five years, she has partnered with clients to hone their leadership skills, develop work styles that amplify their strengths, and overcome limiting beliefs to design the lives and careers they most desire. Her clients' backgrounds include BCG, McKinsey, Accenture, Deloitte, GM, Monzo, DoorDash, Baxter, UBS, and beyond. Check out her website to learn more about her work with Julia Starr Coaching. Originally from northern Minnesota and now based in Bend, OR, she has traveled and worked extensively around the globe, from LA to Dubai to Kuala Lumpur! Curious? Reach out to Julia to learn more!
📣 Pardon the Announcement: Kravis Concept Plan Competition
Each year, the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University hosts the Kravis Concept Plan Competition, an opportunity for alumni and current students of the Claremont Colleges to pitch their business idea to a panel of experienced judges with the chance of winning prize money to bring that idea to life. Interested in competing? Attend an info session TONIGHT, December 2, from 12-1 p.m. PT to learn more. Register here to get your spot. For more on the Kravis Concept Plan Competition, including important dates, check out their website. Questions? Email Brittany Pervorse, Director of Programs and Student Life at Drucker.
💼 Who’s Hiring?:
Stellar Health is a healthcare technology company that helps providers and health insurance companies improve quality and financial performance by prompting providers and their practice staff with recommended value-based actions and real-time payments at the point of care. Ben Kraus (PO) is a Co-Founder at Stellar Health. They are also currently hiring for the following positions:
Check out all the other 5,500+ open jobs at 400+ Claremont-affiliated companies here on our Storyboard!
Sign up for free to the talent network to start getting updated on jobs/companies in your interest cluster
Check out the 40+ part-time roles
Over 930 remote jobs are available
140+ internships available at companies like Cruise, Cisco, & Samba TV
As always, if any of these roles catch your eye 👀 , apply and mention Between the Lines! Or if you are an employer and are looking to hire tip-top Claremont talent, fill out this form to have your jobs featured!
🗣️ Conversations on the Interwebz:
This week’s top read 🔥
What’s better than one Claremonster? Two, of course. Listen in to Sunil Rajaraman (CMC) interview Head of Growth at Solana, Matt Taylor (CMC), all about Crypto and why it matters
Everything else you need to know….📖
Jessie Pollak (PO) at Coinbase shamelessly shares some of his thoughts on the Web 3 culture.
Check out some of Adam Altman’s advice on SEO strategies and API documentation. He’s the CEO and Founder of both Redocly and Rebilly.
A little humor to brighten your Thursday - courtesy of Pomona alumnus, Dani Van de Sande (Founder of ULO).
Congrats to Sarah Chen for her very special recognition as a Rhodes Trust Scholar!
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🍽️ BTL Snacks:
🛒 “One of the most transformative e-commerce companies of our generation”….. Read more about founder Peter Ombres and his company Curated that has 300% YoY growth
🍂 A note to future founders….. Brian Eckhardt’s journey with Tealeaf might not be ending exactly how he planned, but he and his co-founder share some post-mortem thoughts to help others
📺 Another Claremont-founded company is hitting the streets….. Ashwin Navin’s company Samba TV just filed to go public
🏗 The inflection point for the Industrial Evolution….. Seth Winterroth and Eclipse Ventures just raised a $500M+ Early Growth Fund in their efforts to modernize our old-line industries
Feedback? We love to hear it. Hit us with an email. 👊🏼