Diversity & Belonging at Soofa: 2020 Learnings & Updates
By Molly LaFlesh, Director of HR
In 2019 (2019!), less than 3% of VC money went to all-female founding teams like Soofa’s, and even less funding—about 2%—went to founders of color.
Since day one, Soofa has taken on the work to build a balanced team across gender identities and to bring Soofa Signs—the free neighborhood news feed—to a diverse set of communities. As Soofa continues to grow, we commit to building an organization that reflects the diverse population of the U.S. beyond gender identity—including race, age, ability, and more.
In anonymous surveys, our team consistently describes Soofa's culture as "warm," "welcoming" and "like a family." When we open those same welcoming arms to talent from all backgrounds and grow a team that reflects Soofa's diverse neighborhoods, we can better serve unique communities all over the country.
While we have a lot of work to do and embrace the making-mistakes part of the process, we’re excited to share our learnings and updates for 2020 so far.
This June, we held our first Soofa Census. We’ll continue to survey the team and share our progress as we grow.
Here’s a snapshot of where Soofa’s full-time team stacks up against the U.S. population overall:
Looking forward to seeing more blue in the next census. Here’s how we’re going to get there:
Education and network-building were Soofa’s primary focus areas for Q3 2020 and beyond.
67% of job-seekers say diversity is important when considering job offers.
We’re more likely to bring in diverse candidates simply by making our commitment known. Done!
The majority of users on Linkedin, the world’s top platform for job-seekers, are white, male, and already making over $75,000 a year, so Soofa is going outside of these channels to find talent as we grow our team. Some of the diverse professional networks we love are Out in Tech, Sistas in Sales, and She+ Geeks Out. Which orgs are we missing? Let us know.
We prefer the term “belonging” over “inclusion” because belonging is harder to achieve.
More than half the team opted in to use their anti-racism stipend this quarter (I used mine to purchase and work through Me and White Supremacy), and the discussion continues through Slack and book club. We also created an internal glossary with definitions every accomplice should know, like these, and continue to teach each other every day.
Soofa is for everyone, and we need your feedback to serve our communities and spread the Soofa Love.