The Curious Cultivator
We invite you to take some time to read our blog ‘The Curious Cultivator’ that features articles with our latest research, stories of people at big companies making positive change (what we call our Cultivator Profiles), guides and toolkits, and much more. Let us know what you’d like to see more of as we look to publish the latest on how to continue to build a more empowering culture, drive change and communications, and build community at work.
Exploring Design Thinking: From Ideation to Impact
Dive into the world of design thinking with Steven Panza. Discover how empowerment allows for experimentation, smart risk-taking, and pivots.
Advancing Ideas: Empowering Cultivators in Corporate Environments
Discover how people within any large corporation can drive meaningful change and create a significant impact, no matter their position.
How Cultivators Work: Meet Karima
Meet Karima Moustafa, Social Learning Coach at Mars Global Services, and a member of our Cultivators Community. She has a deep passion for the importance of embracing discomfort to build vibrant, inclusive communities - and honoring yourself in the process.
Here’s what Karima had to say about staying motivated and supported at work…
Celebrating Queer Voices: Inside Shopify’s “Free To Be Me” Campaign
We’re over “representation matters” being used as a buzzword, and so is Calvin McKee, Senior Diversity and Belonging Specialist at Shopify.
This is why we needed to talk to him about the “Free To Be Me” photo campaign, which featured LGBTQ+ employees from across the organization, showing multiple diverse experiences of being queer at Shopify.
Cultivator Profile: Empowering Quiet Cultivators
Janine is not only an L&D Leader at Google, but an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas MBA program, an executive coach, and a USC doctoral candidate finishing up her Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) with an emphasis in Organizational Change and Leadership. In her doctoral program, she is focusing her dissertation research on the Sense of Belonging for Women of Color in the technology industry.
Cultivator Profile: Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling
Victoria Liu has been a Cultivator since day one…literally. In May 2019, she started at Indeed (the employment platform) where she joined two Inclusion Resource Groups (IRGs) on her very first day of onboarding. Her initial goal was simply to meet new people and get to know the company she was a part of. Ultimately, her work with IRGs (particularly Asian Network and Women at Indeed) shaped her experience and growth at the company where she spent the last 4 years, most recently as Deputy Chief of Staff.
Cultivator Profile: The Importance of Knowing Your “Why”
A few years ago, Justin, who has now been at Highmark for 17 years, clicked on an internal email and responded “yes” to an event. This quick gesture set the wheels in motion that led us to today. With that quick yes, he became a member of the Mission & Vision Pack at Highmark, an initiative led by Cultivator Penny Schnarrs.
How Cultivators Work: Meet Alvin
Continuing our How Cultivators Work series is Alvin E. Haygan, Jr., Change Management Principle at Seagen, and a new member of our Cultivators Community. We caught up with Alvin as his family welcomed their second child and so first, we have to start by saying a big Cultivator Congratulations!
Here’s what Alvin had to say about staying motivated and supported at work…
Cultivator Profile: Celebrating International Women’s Day with Women in Supply Chain
Whether she’s working on her own professional development, co-hosting our Curiosity Club within the Cultivators Community, or working on her book, Caroline is a Cultivator who centers learning in all she does. It’s not a surprise that she finds herself leading Learning and Education for Women in Supply Chain (WISC), a new and growing employee community within her workplace.
Cultivator Profile: Is ‘Design Thinking’ the Future-Proof Skill Your Team Needs?
In a way, Steven Panza, Innovation and Design Thinking Lead at Experian, takes his work home with him. His knowledge of Design Thinking and his commitment to finding innovative solutions extends beyond his work hours, even leading him to test different layouts in his kitchen to optimize the experience of making his morning coffee!
Introducing: The CultivatorCon Awards
We take celebrating Cultivators seriously. We want to hear the story of the community that got you through this year, supported you on your best (and maybe worst) days, and spotlighted opportunities for your career development. We want to hear the story of the person in your network that’s been making waves and taking names!
Cultivator Profile: Passion as a Catalyst for Growth and Change
Elizabeth is the Vice President of Clinical Strategy Execution & Business Operations at Highmark Health, Inc., and the former lead of the Evolve internal development program. With a Ph.D. in Training and Performance Improvement, Elizabeth uses her expertise, her experience, and her passion to drive change through community-focused learning and development.
Cultivator Profile: Leveraging Social Learning for Global Community-Building
Recently, we got to sit down with Eva and Deborah to talk about how they’re leveraging social learning and community-building to create a massive impact within a global corporation at Mars.
How Cultivators Work: Meet Pinaki
Cultivators do a lot. They’re the folks who are going above and beyond in their role to make a positive impact on their company or team. And that means that staying motivated and preventing burnout are necessary parts of how they succeed. Every Cultivator is different, and so our curiosity got the best of us…we decided to ask them just how they do it!
Pinaki Kathiari, CEO and Co-Founder of LocalWisdom, and an active member of our Cultivators Community was game to go first. Here’s what he had to say about staying motivated and making time for care:
Cultivator Profile: Building Collaborative Culture through Project Management
Stefanie Hausner likes a challenge. Alongside her work as a Senior Designer on the Marketing Team at an investment management firm, Stefanie has made a habit of driving community-focused change; founding and leading the Women’s ERG to taking initiative across DE&I and culture change efforts within the organization. So, when the Chief Marketing Officer noticed that the department was consistently behind on delivering on projects, it wasn’t surprising that they tapped Stefanie for a fresh approach.
Celebrate the Pivot: A Simple, Powerful Way to Develop a Learning Culture at Work
Creating change within our lives or work can be difficult. As a Cultivator, you know *in theory* that the route to change is often winding, with many stops to regroup and strategize along the way. Oftentimes, a change in direction on a strategy or project can feel like a failure…but what if it didn’t have to? What if instead, you chose to look beyond that moment of change and celebrate the ways you changed course?
Cultivator Profile: Fostering Inclusion through Community Technology
This is the story of how Netta collaborated with CAMP sponsor and community champion company, West Arete, to create the CAMPfire app, a fully accessible, inclusive, and camp-themed social app…in less than one month! I recently got to speak to Netta and Natalie of the West Arete team, about their inspiring collaboration.
DE&I is a Global Conversation
DE&I is a critical topic with more companies than ever focused on creating more equitable organizations and inclusive teams. Simultaneously, due to expanded access to technology, paired with the pandemic-induced rise of remote work, companies and teams exist in an increasingly global context. As teams become more international, effective DE&I strategies and initiatives need to account for the varied perspectives, cultures, and political contexts of their team members.
Getting a Yes: Learn to Sell Your Ideas in Ways that Resonate
One of the most common questions we hear from Cultivators is some variation of, “How do I get buy-in for my change initiative?”. Whether you’re seeking peer support to launch an ERG, or leadership buy-in for an organizational culture initiative, challenging the status quo is hard without support, and even the best ideas can be shut down before they start. So how should we go about getting buy-in? What happens when we hit common blockers? How can we move past a "no"?
Cultivator Profile: How One Changemaker Facilitated a Powerful Celebration of Black History
In what she called a “whole People Team effort,” Darriell and her colleagues curated a stunning multi-prong celebration of Black history that engaged teammates on both an individual, and collective level. I recently got to chat with Darriell about just how she did it.