Data-Driven Approach for Inclusive Coalition Building
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Village Up San Diego is a collaborative initiative to increase diversity and access to the San Diego innovation economy. We bring together affinity groups to identify existing barriers to entrepreneurship and talent recruitment from underserved communities and to develop pathways to overcome them. In this session, we will walk participants through our data-driven approach to creating and maintaining an effective DE&I strategy. We will share our process for constructing an inclusive survey to understand the issues facing underrepresented members of our community. We will then explain how we used those results to drive systemic changes by partnering with key stakeholders.
Learning Objectives:
- Fostering an inclusive coalition.
- Constructing an inclusive survey.
- Developing a needs-assessment based on survey data.
- Creating and maintaining task forces to address systemic issues.
Sonia Steinway
Sonia Steinway is a fintech entrepreneur, angel investor, and “recovering attorney.” She is an Executive Director in JPMorgan Chase’s Connected Commerce group. As the former founder/CEO of an auto finance start-up, Sonia is passionate about entrepreneurship and developing communities to support founders. She is one of the co-founders and President of the Board of Village Up, a collaborative initiative to increase diversity in and access to the San Diego innovation economy. She is also on the Board of NuFund Venture Group. Sonia has a BA from UPenn and a JD from Yale Law. She is a member of the California and New York Bars. Sonia has no spare time; she spends all of it working, rock climbing, hiking, diving, reading, crossword puzzling, learning Latin, and testing out new recipes for her partner and son.
Taryell Simmons
Taryell Simmons is an HR Services Manager for the Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Division in the County of San Diego. The Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Division aspires to help create and sustain a countywide culture of belonging and interconnectedness. Taryell and his team have collaborated with various stakeholders to craft a future where all members can fully realize their potential through our diversity, strategic initiatives, partnerships, training, and policy development.
After working in building workforce programs and Talent Development for over eight years, he became more involved in efforts to integrate EDI as internal support, specifically in recruitment, hiring, professional development & career advancement.
Taryell Simmons is also a Board Of Director for Village UP, powering inclusivity in the San Diego Startup Space. Village Up is a collaborative initiative to increase diversity and access to the San Diego innovation economy. After winning a startup weekend pitch competition hosted by Google and Techstars, Taryell became more involved in D&I efforts to help bring diversity to the Tech Startup space.
He is a RISE Urban Leadership graduate and a 2020 Rockwood Leadership Institute fellow. With an obsession with lifelong learning, he has worked with thousands of students, employees, entrepreneurs, and startups, supporting them through workforce development, employee training, strategic data-based strategies and partnership, execution of workforce program development, and vital alliance-building.
Julius Alejandro
Julius Alejandro strives for innovative approaches to solving social issues and has years of experience in grassroots organizing, the nonprofit sector, and startup ecosystems that have crossed intersections from economic development to health disparities that affect communities of color. He received his master’s in organizational leadership from National University and a bachelor’s in sociology from San Diego State University, as well as professional certificates from Accessory and Notre Dame University on entrepreneurship and business strategy. He co-founded Village Up to use data-driven research to inform best practice and create systemic change for the San Diego innovation economy.