Collaborating Across Difference:
Insights from a 30-Year DEI Career
Nicole Sanchez
Nicole Sanchez is a 30-year practitioner interested in the ways that people can collaborate across racial + ethnic difference without re-inflicting and reliving historical harm.
Nicole is the former VP of Social Impact at GitHub: Her team's work contributed to GitHub tripling in size and nearly quadrupling in valuation prior to being acquired by Microsoft. Nicole is a firm believer in Open Source as a tool for positive social change.
As Founder & CEO of Vaya, Nicole has transformed workplace cultures, from start-ups to multinational organizations. She served as a lecturer on workplace diversity at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and consults and speaks globally, with organizations in the midst of massive culture changes. Nicole previously served as Associate Director for Ethics in Society at Stanford, and was named a 'Game Changer' by Spelman College. She earned her BA from Stanford University ('94) and MBA from UC Berkeley ('12).
In this talk, I will share insights from my 30-year career about what does—and doesn't—work in helping us to collaborate across our differences. Drawing heavily from my years as VP of Social Impact at GitHub, I will illuminate the specific ways that open source methodology can contribute to massive positive social change.
For 30 years, I’ve made a career of bringing the topic of diversity into the room— teaching, coaching, and training people as they attempt to collaborate across differences. I spent most of those years naming what simmers just below the surface of polite conversation and guiding people to new understandings. I have seen a hell of a lot of things that don’t work and quite a few that do.
In the last act of my career, I am seeking opportunities to share what I have learned so new generations are not destined to make the mistakes of their predecessors.
- Date:
- Duration:
- 50 min
- Room:
- Conference:
- SeaGL 2023
- Language:
- Track:
- Community and Culture
- Difficulty:
- Open