Executives from Lyft, Comcast, Molson Coors and 5280 magazine, among others, will be on campus Friday, Oct. 13, for an interactive discussion and networking event addressing diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace. The event, titled Be Woke: Hacking Diversity in Corporate America, is open to CU Boulder students, staff and faculty and will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at the University Memorial Center.
Who: Students, faculty and staff
What: Be Woke: Hacking Diversity in Corporate America
When: Friday, Oct. 13, 1 to 4 p.m.
Where: University Memorial Center, room 235
Event highlights:
- Network with representatives from diversity and inclusion departments of serveral national and local companies and organizations.
- Learn about the hiring process for major companies and why an inclusive workforce is critical for company success.
- Bring resumes and business cards to share during the networking session.
- Question and answer session will follow the panel discussion.
Hosted by the CU Boulder Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE) and the startup BeVisible, the event also includes representatives from FWD.us, Made Movement, Flatirons LGBTQ Tech Meet Up and Travelport.
"We will be having an active discussion about diversity and inclusion in the hiring process and will hear from several executives who are part of the hiring process for some highly influential companies," said Andrea Guendelman, co-founder and CEO of BeVisible.
"Even if this doesn't affect you personally, these are important issues for anyone who wants to be a candidate for a global company."
Sarah Gilliard, student diversity coordinator with ODECE, has helped coordinate the event with the goal of helping diverse students view their differences as assets when it comes to the job search. She also hopes the event can be a learning experience for all CU Boulder students who want to learn about the value of a diverse workforce in today’s global economy.
"At the Be Woke event, company leaders will address the aspects of their identities that have been barriers in the job market," Gilliard said.
"These include anything from culture and religion to the way you choose to wear your hair to even your name. I believe all companies should be pushing their communities to embrace differences in people across all spectrums, whether it is identity, gender expression or sexual preference."
Be Woke panelists
Maria G. Arias
Arias is the vice president of diversity and inclusion at Comcast Corporation. In this role, she leads the implementation of strategic initiatives for diversity and inclusion across the company. Prior to her current role, Arias served as vice president of operations for Comcast Cable’s southern Colorado systems, where she led technical operations and alternative sales channels. She also held various leadership roles at Comcast, including vice president of operations for Comcast’s West Division, interim vice president of technical operations for the West Division and interim general manager for Comcast’s Colorado Mountain Area and Tucson, Arizona, cable systems.
Before joining Comcast in 2007, she had leadership roles in law and government affairs at AT&T Corporation, AT&T Broadband and Adelphia Communications. Earlier in her career, she was a partner with McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago. Her leadership has been recognized with the following honors and awards: Most Powerful Women in Cable, Multichannel News; Moves Power Women, Moves Magazine; Most Influential Minorities in Cable, CableFax; Top 50 Influentials, CableFax; and Donald McGannon Award, National Urban League.
Brian Clark
Clark is the chief people and diversity officer for Molson Coors International. He is responsible for building and sustaining organizational and leadership capability while ensuring the international division retains, develops and attracts top talent to deliver strong business results across 42 markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Originally from Oklahoma, Clark launched his career in human resources in Tianjin, China. Since then he has lived in South Korea, Japan, India and Costa Rica, while also working in a number of countries on projects advising companies and institutions across several industries on how to navigate the implications of expanding internationally. He has been with Molson Coors since 2010, supporting its growth into emerging markets. He is SPHR and GPHR certified and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian studies from Oklahoma City University and an MBA in leadership and organization from the University of Southern California.
Mercedes Jenkins
Jenkins is the inclusion and diversity specialist at Lyft. She is a fierce advocate for social justice and quality education for all. With over 10 years in traditional and non-traditional educational spaces, she brought her love for building inclusive environments to Lyft, where she focuses on elevating the employee resource group program and building partnerships with community organizations.
Tamara Hale
Hale, co-organizer of Flatirons LGBTQ Tech Meet Up, is an accomplished UX research leader and UX strategist specializing in empowering leading technology companies to build exceptional products, services and user experiences in digital transformation through deep understanding of their target audiences. She is currently principal UX researcher at Workday and previously has led the UX strategy across mobile, desktop, web and enterprise applications for international clients in industry, public and non-profit sectors.
She has a PhD in cultural and cognitive anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is the author of numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and Market Research Society award-winning research reports. Flatirons LGBTQ Tech Meet Up, a diversity- and inclusion-focused tech meetup, is based in Boulder.
Jeff Waraniak
Waraniak is a writer, journalist and currently an assistant editor at 5280 magazine in Denver. Originally from Detroit, his work has also appeared in places like National Geographic books, Thrillist.com and recently in a book of essays titled The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook.
Kaitlynn Fidler
Fidler is a senior talent resource consultant at Molson Coors International. She is responsible for leading the recruitment efforts in international emerging markets with a primary focus on the commercial function. She is also supporting the global recruitment strategy, social media planning and reporting. Fidler joined Molson Coors in 2015 as a talent resource consultant with five years of previous staffing and corporate recruiting experience. She graduated from Marquette University with a bachelor of science in finance and in commercial real estate.
Kaytia King
King is a Colorado organizing manager for FWD.us, a bipartisan organization started by key leaders in the tech and business community to promote policies to keep the United States competitive in a global economy, focusing on immigration reform and criminal justice reform. She is responsible for recruiting tech and business voices to engage with their members of Congress and amplifying the need for immigration reform.
Scott Prindle
Prindle is founder and chief technology officer at Made Movement, where he leads the digital team in creating some of the most effective and innovative technology in the industry. He spent 10 years as a developer and technology director at R/GA Interactive in New York, where, in addition to working on IBM and Ericsson platforms, he led the development of innovative digital platforms, including NIKEiD.com and other Nike properties.
His arrival at Crispin Porter + Bogusky marked the beginning of the agency's expansion into the digital space, where he helped lead the build-out of agency digital capabilities, including software development, emerging media innovation, mobile social and digital strategy. He was instrumental in helping CP+B achieve Digital Agency of the Year three times in five years and was recognized by Adweek as one of the industry's top 10 technologists in 2012.
