When they aren’t working to build forward-thinking, diverse teams here at Alfred, they’re an integral member of the New York City queer community by creating a universal sense of belonging as Development Director of NYC Pride and continuing to advocate for equal rights. As you can imagine, it’s a full time job being unapologetically authentic and passionate about the things that matter most.

Let’s start with a fun one. What’s your coffee order?

I actually don’t drink coffee, if you could imagine me on coffee I don’t think that’s something the world is ready for. But I do drink a ton of tea, I have an entire cabinet of different types of tea. If I’m out, I love a London fog with an alternative type of milk and a little lavender syrup spritzed in. Otherwise it’s an iced black tea….the larger the better or an iced green tea….the larger the better.

What’s your pump up song?

I have so many good pump up songs! I was actually on a swim team, so for me we had an entire playlist of walk out and pump up songs. But one that always comes to mind for me, that is a die hard choice- Black and Gold. But not the one you’re thinking of, it is by Sam Sparro.. Highly recommend a listen.

What’s something you learned during the pandemic?

I was consulting during the pandemic and something I wished I learned sooner is that my entire life doesn’t need to be defined by my career 24/7 and that it is okay to put your work down. Also, I realized that it is okay to acknowledge that you have emotions. I came up in a pretty toxic, work culture form working in big tech and startups in New York City where I tried to assimilate in order to get ahead. I recognized over the past few years that I have had to unlearn a lot of that, and that I contributed to it as well. Being cognizant and making sure that there is time for you during the day. It’s really important.

What are the apps you can’t live without on your phone?

Spotify is definitely #1. Then Instagram, one of my love languages, is sending memes to people that I care about. It’s the main way that I stay in contact with friends and past colleagues and to say “hey I’m thinking about you” throughout my day if i see something that relates. And lastly — Libro.fm. I recently transferred from Audible because I am no longer contributing to Amazon in any way and gave up all subscriptions to them.

What is something you’re excited to make happen at Alfred?

One thing that I’m really excited to make happen is pretty holistic, covers a lot and is part of the reason the team wanted to hire me. Yes, I am a senior technical recruiter, which is considered a niche speciality in recruiting and talent, but my actual speciality is that I am certified in D&I recruiting and talent development. Creating a holistic space is really important, that’s part of the reason why I started to move into talent to begin with and the experiences I went through personally (being tokenized, being the only person that was queer, being the only person of color, being the only person that looked the way I did). I am nonbinary, but I get mistaken for being a woman on a regular basis based on assumptions of how my gender presents. It’s really important for any company who is focused on the changes in today’s workforce to recognize what people are looking for in their career and personal lives, especially because of the pandemic. For me, it’s not about being reactive to what other companies are doing to address societal and cultural incidents — it’s about being authentic and taking a stand for what matters most to you and to your company.

Something that has been really positive here at Alfred is the push for EDI — equity, diversity, and inclusion. How we’re looking at that from all different angles, and while the team that is taking that on said “well maybe we’re being over ambitious”, I’m here saying “well we should be!” There’s a lot that we need to be accountable for and there’s accountability in this organization. I’m really excited that we’re starting to take that on and I’m able to use my skill set to look at our recruiting methodology, look at the way we are interviewing and how we are starting to move away form the status quo while continuing to bring on great additions to the team. So, whether it’s small things like verbiage that we’re using to figure out how to market ourselves, to larger things like how we’re caring for our employees and being the employer of choice. There’s a core list of things the team already had here, and being able to add to that makes me really excited.

Unlike many other companies that I was speaking to, Alfred took accountability during the interview process in a way that was like “no we do not have all the answers to your question, but that’s okay” and now that’s put a path forward for what interviewing honestly can look like. It’s one thing to say that we need to fix it, but now allowing people to actually do that and on a scale that can have some feeling is incredible to be a part of and lead.We’re trying to re-examine what it means to be home and we’re in a world that is trying to examine what it is to be home, we’re living that value.

We want to tell the story and make sure it’s coming true. My favorite thing about this company is that you can get promoted at any time, that is not normal, not at any startup in NYC or Big Tech. And, it’s really important that we bring that forward and talk about it because it’s happening consistently here.

Allie said it best, “at Alfred we’re trying to re-examine what it means to be home while living in a world that’s trying to understand what it is to be home. We’re living that value together.”

If you’re interested in joining our growing team and community- visit our careers page to see where we need you.