Katelin Halloway, Reddit’s vice president of people and culture, will be on campus for a public discussion Tuesday, Sept. 5, to kick off a campus series called Be Woke. The free, public talk will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Wolf Law Wittemyer Courtroom.
Who: Open to the public
What: Be Woke: “Defining Culture at Reddit: Building Communities with an Open Heart”
When: Tuesday, Sept. 5, 5 to 7 p.m.
Where: Wolf Law, Wittemyer Courtroom
In her discussion “Defining Culture at Reddit: Building Communities with an Open Heart,” Halloway will talk about how Reddit builds culture and community in the workplace. She’ll also share her vision for Reddit’s culture and talk about how she’s helping build teams and tools that are reflective of the diversity that exists across Reddit’s thousands of online communities to work every day.
"We chose Reddit as our first company and case study in the series because they are a well-known technology company seeking to diversify their talent, while facing a history of accepting and dealing with intolerant communities," said Andrea Guendelman, co-founder and CEO of BeVisible. "The question we will be asking is how do you break the intolerance cycle from the inside out."
The CU Boulder Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement has paired with the startup BeVisible to host a series of Be Woke campus events, culminating in a hackathon on Oct. 13. The purpose of the BeWoke series is to address and discuss diversity and inclusion issues in corporate America, particularly in tech, with an aim to increase the access of diverse students to opportunities and foster inclusive communities. Many of the opportunities for economic empowerment today can be found in the tech sector, according to Guendelman.
“We are delighted to partner with BeVisible to launch the Be Woke series,” said Alphonse Keasley, associate vice chancellor in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement. “CU Boulder is looking to provide leadership in diversity and inclusiveness, and this collaboration will benefit our entire community of students, staff and faculty.”
The Oct. 13 hackathon event will be hosted by the head of inclusion and diversity at Lyft, Tariq Meyers, and the head of diversity and inclusion at Comcast, Maria Arias. The goal of the event is to gather students, industry leaders and community members to hack the hiring process.
“The hackathon aims to connect diverse students with corporations and partners in the innovation economy, and also dispel any misconception that an interest in diversity and inclusiveness is limited to colleges and universities,” Guendelman said.
Next up: Kevin Foster, regional recruiter from Intel Corporation, will meet with diverse students with engineering and computer science backgrounds Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Idea Forge in the Engineering Building. He will discuss topics such as nailing the interview, success in the workplace, getting the first job, a day in the life, employment strategies and more.
