Inclusive Collective
By Rifelion Media
We’ll celebrate the essence of an industry and share the perspectives of those who advocate for change. Our invited guests, consisting of leaders, teams and experts in various industries, will share their perspectives of how they strive to implement inclusive workplaces within the business world, cultures, and everyday interpersonal interactions.
Hosted by Nadia Butt and Rob Hadley.
Produced by Rifelion Media.
Inclusive CollectiveJul 28, 2022
Season 1 ConverFlections Wrap-up Extravaganza
Tune in to hear Nadia & Rob’s final thoughts on Season 1. They ‘ConverFlect’ dance-off style on their guests’ perspectives and offer additional advice. You don’t want to miss this one!
Building and Leading a DEI (+B!) Function in a Fast-growing Tech Company with Maggie Roque of Zapier
Maggie Roque, Director of DIBE at Zapier, shares her invaluable insights from stops at multiple fast-growing tech firms, the things she will never do again, and the recipe for success she has found at Zapier.
Building DEI into an Organization as the HR Function Matures with Precillia Redmond
Consultant, Fractional CPO and HR Executive Precillia Redmond of Maeve Solutions shares her advice creating a sense of belonging as companies are doubling in size and infusing DEI practices and behaviors while people processes and operations are being built.
Human-centered Approach to Inclusive Workplace Culture with Steve Arntz of Campfire
Steve Arntz, CEO and founder of Campfire, joined Nadia & Rob this week to chat about his beliefs on the value of building more diverse and inclusive workspaces to drive collaboration and innovation. Steve discusses the importance of role modeling as a leader - even if it means forcing himself NOT to work(!).
Transformative & Inclusive Leadership with Mohammad Anwar of Softway & Culture+
Description: Nadia & Rob welcome Mohammad Anwar, President and CEO of Softway and Culture+, and Best Selling Author of "Love as a Business Strategy: Resilience, Belonging and Success." He shares lessons from his transformational leadership story and walks us through his reflections on how he had to make behavioral changes to be the leader he was destined to be.
All leaders can benefit from Mohammad's learnings. Tune in now!Softway is a technology-as-a-service company focused on delivering innovative technology and creative solutions to clients around the world. Culture+ is a culture-as-a-service company focused on bringing humanity back to the workplace by transforming behaviors of employees and leaders. Learn more about Softway. Learn more about Culture+
Power of Inclusive Venture Capital with Senofer Mendoza of Mendoza Ventures
This week on IC Pod, Senofer Mendoza of Mendoza Ventures, joins Nadia and Rob to chat about the value of bringing DEI into the venture capital space, mentoring “under estimated” entrepreneurs and how she advocates for her firm to role model inclusive practices.
Senofer Mendoza is a founder and General Partner of Mendoza Ventures, a Boston based pre-seed Fintech, AI, and Cybersecurity venture capital firm. After having a career in enterprise sales and hospitality design, she began Mendoza Ventures to address the growing funding gap in the pre-seed investment stage. The firm was launched in January of 2016 and invests internationally in the Cybersecurity, AI, and Fintech space.
Senofer is alsoa published author, innovator, and thought leader in the technology, startup, and VC space with a passion for equity and diversity.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Three Forms of Bias in Early-Stage Funding with Rachel Sheppard of Mars Petcare
This week, Rachel Sheppard, Director of Ventures at Mars Petcare, joins Nadia & Rob to share how founders can take full advantage of an accelerator or incubator experience and offers her observations and insights on systemic bias in the entrepreneurial space and suggests ways to mitigate that bias.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Opening the Door Wider for Everybody with Molly Levitt of Remarkable US
Molly Levitt, Director of Remarkable US, joins Inclusive this week to talk about how products designed for people with disabilities drive broader innovation, power dynamics between VCs and entrepreneurs, and how her background as a teacher, founder and marketing director provided her the skills needed to advocate for an underrepresented group.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Public/Private Partnerships to Fund Innovation with Abid Siddiqui of BARDA
This week on Inclusive Collective, startup advisor and advocate, Abid Siddiqui, chats with Nadia & Rob about accelerator and incubator programs designed for founders, how the government strives to be forward thinking in the entrepreneurial space and his observations on inclusion in the startup ecosystem.
About Abid:
Abid has over 15 years of experience working across finance, commercial strategy and operations, and product management. He currently serves as a strategic advisor to the innovation division at the Biomedical Research & Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the US federal government's pandemic and emergency response team. In this role he is responsible for advising how the organization builds and funds early-stage Biotech and Digital Health companies that will shape the future of healthcare delivery and emergency response. Prior to working with the BARDA team, Abid spent the early part of his career working in corporate finance at organizations such as KPMG and Baker & McKenzie. He subsequently went on to join as the first employee at a technology startup called Bytecubed where he was responsible for building out and leading the finance and business operations functions for the company. ByteCubed was later acquired by Intellibridge. After exiting Bytecubed, Abid went on to lead the design and launch of a data analytics product at a venture backed digital health startup called ZappRx, which ended up being acquired by AllScripts. Abid holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and an MBA from Babson College.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Converflections with Nadia and Rob
Nadia and Rob welcome...each other, in a Season 1 halftime extravaganza and share their highlights and learnings from discussions with founders on ideas, founder relationships, marketing and product development and raising money.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Fundraising Adventures and Alternatives with Melissa Corto of Education Modified
This week on Inclusive Collective, Rob and Nadia chat with Melissa Corto, co-founder and CEO of Education Modified (EdMod), a one-stop platform that makes it easy for educators to collaborate around the unique needs of every student. Melissa shares the advice (at times ridiculous!) she received while fundraising, the value she found in accelerator programs and how you don't have to have a business background to achieve success!
About Melissa: Melissa Corto was a special educator in Brooklyn, NYC at a Title I high school for 9 years. She led her school’s inclusion & co-teaching program & served as a Mentor for new special educators. She also was an assistant Varsity Coach for the Girl’s Basketball team for 7 years. Melissa is now the Co-Founder & CEO of Education Modified, an edtech company that uses the latest research & technology to help teachers improve outcomes for students with special needs.
About Education Modified: Unlike compliance systems, EdMod streamlines workflow, saves time & enables all teachers to improve outcomes for students with special needs & learning plans. www.educationmodified.com
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Raising Capital for a Socially Conscious Lifestyle Brand with Chad Patterson of ROBE Looks
This week ROBE Looks co-founder and CEO Chad Patterson joins Nadia and Rob to talk about his experiences fundraising, the cultural disconnect that can occur with some venture capitalists, and how founders can put themselves in the best position to raise money. Also, Chad offers some thoughts on how Rob can bring some sauce to his fashion game.
Chad Patterson is a serial entrepreneur, fashion enthusiast, community leader, and sustainability activist. When Chad is not working, you’ll catch him reciting music lyrics (often incorrectly) playing sports, and creating a beat (that’s in his head) on a random table or wall.
About the company: ROBE Looks is a media/tech lifestyle company that curates experiences focused on product, pop culture, social responsibility, creative arts, and entertainment.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Empowering People to Feel Great with Fashion Tech Entrepreneur Jessica Arredondo Murphy of True Fit
Jessica Arredondo Murphy, co-founder & COO of True Fit, joins Nadia & Rob to discuss the early days of startup life, leveraging customer data from an inclusive lens and the lessons learned on how to mitigate machine learning and AI bias in the fashion world. She shares her lived experiences of being a bi-lingual, Latina and how her identity played a part in her co-creating a multi-million dollar, global leading fashion technology empire.
Oh—Jessica also shares the unimaginable reception she got from Oprah!
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Falling in Love (with a Problem) and Product Iteration with Hoda Mehr of Stockcard.io
This week on Inclusive Collective, Nadia & Rob welcome Hoda Mehr, Founder and CEO of stockcard.io, to chat about the benefits and drawbacks of an immigrant identity when starting a company, how non-technical founders can find the right people to help build their vision, and how she continuously reassesses consumer needs through research, data, observation and listening.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Product Development, Inclusive Marketing and Branding with Nisha Dearborn of Fresh Chemistry
In this episode of Inclusive Collective, Nisha Dearborn, CEO and founder of Fresh Chemistry, joins to share her experiences of collecting customer feedback on her skincare line, iterating her products and her commitment to inclusive marketing practices. She'll walk us through her branding decisions and how at pivotal moments she was reminded to use an inclusive or diverse lens.
She had Rob & Nadia GLOWing by the end of the episode (so much so that Nadia ran out and grabbed Fresh Chemistry's Glow Getter Brightening Serum!)
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Founder Alignment and Diversity with Anthony Clay of Indi
Anthony Clay, Founder and CEO of ERG platform Indi brings the energy and walks Nadia and Rob through how he thinks about founding team values and mission alignment, how investors value both results and culture, and how he works to understand diversity at a deeper level.
Indi is the most advanced ERG enablement platform. Single source of truth. Fully automated. Totally replicated in Slack/Teams.
Hosted by Nadia Butt & Rob Hadley
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
For more information email us at info@rifelion.com.
Founding Team Dynamics with Prem Kumar and Andrew Gardner of humanly.io
This week humanly.io founders Prem Kumar and Andrew Gardner share with Nadia and Rob how trust is developed between founders, how they work through issues together productively, and how inclusive communication between the founders impacts the culture of the company. Oh, they also talk about their super cool company, humanly.io, and how companies can root out bias in their talent acquisition processes.
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
Inclusive Collected is hosted by Nadia Butt and Rob Hadley.
Startup ideas with Melissa Mitchner of The Bark Shoppe
This week Nadia and Rob talk with Melissa Mitchner, Founder and CEO of the Bark Shoppe about finding inspiration in reality TV, how being an industry outsider can be an advantage, and perseverance in the early days of a startup.
Meet Melissa or read her profile in Forbes.
Check out The Bark Shoppe and The New York Institute of Grooming.
Melissa recommends All About Love by bell hooks.
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media. Learn more.
Hosted by Nadia Butt and Rob Hadley.
Introduction to Season 1: DEI in Startups and Venture Capital
Nadia and Rob introduce the Inclusive Collective podcast and preview Season 1, where they focus on DEI in the world of startups and venture capital.
Inclusive Collective is a production of Rifelion Media.
Welcome to The Inclusive Collective - Official Trailer
The Inclusive Collective podcast is a conversation with and for those who seek to understand the complexities around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the business world. We’ll celebrate the essence of an industry and share the perspectives of those who advocate for change. Our invited guests, consisting of leaders, teams and experts in various industries, will share their perspectives of how they strive to implement inclusive workplaces within their startup organizations, cultures, and everyday interpersonal interactions. Our guests offer their own challenges and successes from their own lived experiences and answer questions along the way. Inclusive Collective is hosted by Rob Hadley and Nadia Butt, two DEI experts and advocates.