Hi and welcome. My name is Carrie Freeman and I'm here to talk about building inclusive economies. I am trying to see if people can actually hear me and see me. So if someone would please just type in the chat if people are in the session.Ok, everything works fantastic. Um Welcome. I hope everyone has been enjoying these sessions and has gotten a lot out of them. I had the opportunity to engage in a networking session just now and found that a really great opportunity to connect with others who are really advancing the um equality of women in the tech space just broadly. And so what I would like to do is aha not do that. This is supposed to be a little bit more smooth. Ok. Um I'd like to share about the work that we're doing at second muse uh to build inclusive economies, economies that work for everyone and for the planet. And so I'll be going through some examples of what we're doing, but more importantly, stepping back and zooming out and just giving you some perspective on what we do and why we do it.

Our ambition as a company is to bring communities together and those communities are meant to build economies that benefit people and protect the planet. We feel that economies when faced with hardship recover more quickly when they are resilient and they're inclusive and sustainable.

I think we're seeing that now all around the globe as we look at um economies recovering from the pandemic, we're still in the midst of the pandemic. Those that are much more inclusive and sustainable are going to be ones that thrive and where humans are are really able to um bounce back after hardship. Our story started um started really about 13 years ago as a company and our founders came together and said, you know what the problems the world is fa are facing are not going to be resolved by our siloed approaches that have been in place for so long. They're not going to continue to be solved by um markets working against negative externalities instead of recognizing those and addressing those. And so in 2008, we started working with the World Health Organization and we have been really looking at this collaborative, innovative approach of getting in and working with communities for over a decade now. And we really have seen year over year that the more that we really focus on building inclusive economies, the better off um the better off we all are. So how do we do this?

We do this by engaging very specifically with entrepreneurs and ecosystems around them, what we found is that by supporting these new markets or markets that are ready for a transformation, we're able to infuse um new thinking and we're able to include new, infuse new ways of doing things where as entrenched um economies are much harder to shape and to influence.

And so whether that is looking at um clean tech, whether that is looking at more broadly wellness and ethics in uh data and more broadly technology or whether it's looking at um regenerative food systems. It's really this notion of how we can support entrepreneurs that are doing the cutting edge work to make the world a better place. And so that's really where our um our work begins. And it's, it's working with these amazing, amazing people trying out new things and doing different, different work. Our approach really consists of um three different areas in which we engage. The first one is very specifically using open innovation methodologies. And that is saying, how can we find the absolute best ideas? They're such a collective genius um addressing these challenges that the world's face and how can we engage people solving these problems and identify prototypes and solutions that need to be supported. And so this is a very simple thing that started as hack with hackathons, I would say over a decade ago and has really grown to a very mainstream practice in trying to identify new solution areas. So think about it in terms of, you know, outsourcing R and D think about it in terms of grand challenges.

But we are really at the forefront of that when we're saying, how do we tap into a broader set of ideas and people around the globe and really identify some of the best prototypes and solutions out there. One of the things that's been fun and maybe this group may uh be familiar with is the Random hacks of Kindness program that's launched literally over a decade ago. And this was really thinking about how do we bring together um coders and other creatives to really develop solutions um for the betterment of humanity. And so that's something that we're working on. We're actually getting ready to do a very large scale hackathon with NASA that is using open data and really addressing some of the earth challenges that we've seen with that. So, so open innovation is something that is core to the work that we do and we use it um regularly to identify some of the best solutions out there to some of these global challenges from that. Um We support entrepreneurs and we support entrepreneurs and organizations that support entrepreneurs in truly accelerating their solutions. So this takes on a whole host of um typical I would say acceleration and um incubation type of work.

But it also really looks at it in terms of how can cohorts work work and learn together. Cause oftentimes we know that some of the best ways in which we um grow and really develop out our ideas and grow. As leaders grow, as engineers grow as, as really people um that are in a professional way, advancing things is through learning with each other. So sharing and learning with our peers. So we do significant work at the cohort level as well. And then ecosystem development, we really kind of see this as the umbrella um effort that we support. And this is how do we build, bring all these different pieces together through different types of um solutions, support organizations and catalyze an entire economy. And so we look at this by saying, what are all the things that need to happen to really achieve a just full and inclusive economy that means connecting people and money and ideas and customers and clients and understanding cultures and narratives and some of the more invisible barriers that have kept um people from accessing the systems and a accessing the opportunities.

And so we don't just look at ecosystem development in terms of some of the really basic um market mechanisms that have been used in the past, think of it as in, in terms of policy lovers or capital or resources, we look very broadly and say what needs to be changed in this ecosystem to make it a much more um inclusive and vibrant system.

And so that's at the core of what we do. And we operate um around on seven continents um around the globe, day in and day out to drive these economies. And we've seen really significant successes in multiple sectors in which we work over the years. We have come up with a set of intentional design methodologies or principles if you will. And these are incredibly important to step back and think about as you're going in and identifying opportunities to engage and opportunities to um really engage at the ecosystem level. The first one is to expand intersectional inclusion whenever possible, right? Don't just think of, you know, one type of human and just say, ok, we're going to just focus on women, say actually, you know, there's a, there's a much broader perspective here. So really thinking about the intersectionality um that are necessary to create an inclusive ecosystem and environment. And we significantly focus on relationships as opposed to transactions and times world in the end of world. We're thinking about how do we get this transaction completed?

How do we mark off this deliverable? And while that is absolutely necessary, the intent is how do you take an opportunity to enhance and build relationships all along the way instead of just thinking things as transactional? Because relationships are what change systems, right?

Humans, people make these these systemic changes ultimately because we have to make the decisions, even if there's a technology solution behind it, you have a human decision maker oftentimes and for the most part making those decisions. So relationships are essential, respect the system to change the system.

Our systems have built over um decades, centuries and oftentimes they are working to a certain degree they're still in place. They um are benefiting people, they are making improvements in the world. So rather than trying to completely disassemble a a system, think about how to respect it and how to change it. The next one is expand beliefs. So take a much more expansive perspective in terms of what is possible. So rather than thinking about the narrow definition or, or, you know, a much narrower perspective of the opportunities that exist, really do expansive thinking on what is possible. So don't, don't uh don't be limited. I was in, I was speaking at another event this morning and someone said, why do you have the ar you know, tell us about the arrogance that you have and how do you feel about um thinking you can change economies and make them more inclusive and it's like, well, we absolutely can and if you don't think you can, can do these things, well, you're not going to achieve them.

So um definitely take an expansive perspective and really core to everything we do is think about how do you partner, how do you collaborate with relevant organizations whenever possible? Um It can be messy. Partnering can be messy, it can be hard. But at the end of the day, we go so much faster and are so much more creative and have better solutions whenever we partner and collaborate. So I'll weave these examples back into some of the conversations um that I'm going to, to share with you on the work that we're doing. But it's a really important takeaway in terms of how do you build just economies. We've also learned quite a bit about equity along the way and how do you create uh more justice for the humans in these systems? And this is not meant to be a an incredibly comprehensive list. We know there is some really amazing best practices out there. This entire um conference is chock full of good suggestions, known, um methodologies, known practices for increase increasing equity. But these are some of the ones that are near and dear to our heart. So the first one is to harness the power of sy symbols and signals to promote inclusion. What does that mean in practice?

That means we should look around and see that women are in the field that women are doing this, that women are leading, that they are inventing that they're designing, that they're engineering. Um Women are welcome, right? You hear voice voices. There are um childcare opportunities at different um work establishments and different events. There are um nursing stations so that new mothers can actually join in. There's a whole host of things that say women and people that identify as women are welcome here and we want them and they are, they are part, they are part of this. And so it's incredibly important to just make sure that um women see themselves. Another one is intentionally creating safe spaces. So years ago, whenever we were working to increase the uh number of participants in the NASA Space Apps challenge, we were at about a 12% on a global scale. And so now we operate in over 200 cities around the globe, 100 and 50 countries. And what we saw was that the participation of women in these events, they let's say they are 48 hour events was at 12%. And we know this, right. All of us have lived and worked in these spaces, we understand it.

But I think until you really recognize how critical it is to create safe spaces so that can be done through code of conducts that can be done through ways of saying, look, this is a place where we respect one another and it is safe for everyone to be there. And so being incredibly intentional about that, whether that's a virtual online space, a workplace, an event, whatever it may be, create that safe space. Another one that we really um embrace is never let women walk alone. So if you are going to a pitch session, if you're going to an interview, if you're doing whatever you're doing, especially for a first time, for a first time experience, don't let them go by themselves. Um This is one I've spent um over 20 years broadly in the tech industry and supporting um tech. And I can't tell you how many times I did things by myself. And it's hard, it's hard being the only woman at the table. It's hard being the only one in the room and the thought of having someone by your side and saying, hey, you can do this, this is it, you know, let's let's run through technical specs, let's run through whatever is, is really empowering, designing for women by women. Um More and more we're seeing that um the bulk of the bulk of product system services that we all encounter and um use and purchase every single day have not been designed for women.

And we're in the business of changing that the next one is making sure that there's enough resources and, and equal resources and additional opportunities and resources for women to succeed, quite frankly, understand what the gaps are and provide those. And then the last one is let's be really bold and let's be really honest about where we're at. So set track and be transparent about targets and data and hold people accountable to those. So you'll see these things are, are really important and we'll try to call them out. So I wanted to share a little bit about um one of the programs that we're working on specifically here in the United States that is focused on gender equality in tech and we've called this Get Cities. It is this notion that we are going to work in regional areas and cities across the country to create inclusive tech hubs. And the goals of that are to increase broadly the uh number of women and women identifying people in the tech field. The second one is to increase the amount of funding going to um women start up founders. So just simply investing more in, in start ups. And then the last one is creating that pipeline. So making sure that there are more women getting computing degrees.

And we really feel that if we take a city based approach where the tech industry is starting to advance and really thrive, we'll have a much more significant um opportunity to influence that. So here's an example of a quote that um from some of the work that we're doing in Chicago of really saying, how do we, how do we look at these different design principles and learnings and put those into uh programming at the city level? So we are doing this with pivotal ventures as well as through breakthrough tech, which is uh our, our largest partner, but we're also partnered with organizations all across the city and at a national level um to really advance um first in Chicago and now we're in the DC area and this is just, this is, this is this, this is a causal loop systems map, it looks like kind of a spaghetti map.

But the intent of this is for us to understand in a system where there is opportunity to engage and um intervene and really drive these systemic changes. So if you look at this, there are so many ways that um we can engage in doing things differently and more intentionally, whether it's at the very beginning in terms of inclusive hiring practices. When, when women are getting into this into the fields, it's inclusive retention, retention practices.

It's increasing the number of mentoring and networking opportunities. Think back to that, never let a woman walk alone. It is making sure that there's a strong and visible leaders and that there are alternative infrastructure and biases and there's awareness of those. So understanding the systems around it, um understanding how do we design things very differently, how do we send signals? How do we have symbols, how do we also have um allies, et cetera? So this is just an opportunity for us to really understand in a big picture what is really needed to make the tech industry more inclusive. Another program that we're running is um it's called for Climate Tech. And it is a program that we're running out of New York with Nice certa and next core to focus on helping New York meet its climate goals. And this is one that is not specifically foc focused on gender equality, but it is something that we have woven into everything that we're doing with. This program. Um I'm really proud to say that it is run by my almost exclusively um female team and they are engaging with um start ups with, with investors with support organization with national labs, not only in the country but uh but really across the continent to make, to make climate tech real and to make sure that women have a strong seat at the table with this.

So this is one where we are continuing to increase. Um The number of women that are supported in the program itself. A lot of the data um it that exists indicates that if we have at least 30% of women uh uh of the overall representation of any sort of um cohort community workplace, we will start to see more of a tipping point in terms of equity and we absolutely have that for climate tech and this is something that we're really proud about.

We continue to do this, we continue to, to do to do all those things that I mentioned in terms of in terms of our learnings, but a little bit about us, I think this goes back to the whole point of like, let's be, let's be honest about our, our own stats, our own track record.

How are we doing? Um How are we promoting things? We are located in 13 cities um with at least a cluster of employees around the globe and um our employees are 67% female or female identifying and 50% of our leadership team uh is female. And so that's something that we're really very proud about. Each, each year, we look at pay parity and we are on parity and we look to really say how as a company can we also promote this. We think it's really important to walk the talk. And so that is something that we focus on um all the time, over 80%. So I said we've been in business for over a decade and we've gotten our numbers up so that 80% of the, the start ups that we work with. The entrepreneurs we work with are women or underrepresented minorities. And so that may be that there's one founder or maybe, you know, that the entire founder team is women or underrepresented minorities. But this is something that we specifically focus on and many of our programs don't have a specific focus to increase gender equality. But this is where we see that it's an opportunity for us to step up and engage in this way. You can just see some of our team members here. This is on a different program that we had that's focused on um mental health wellness and the role that technology has in advancing that. So this is just a great, a great showing of some of our team members.

I always love to see our team members smiling faces and a couple other things. I think this goes back to just the intentionality, um our imperatives. So we truly as a company look for opportunities to implement principles, imperatives and everything we do. It's something we talk about we start meetings with and we really say, how are we, how are we showing up? Um not only today in our day to day behaviors, but how are we showing up in our programming and in our design? So you can see some of those we partner with over 600 organizations um across seven continents. And um lots of these are very familiar names and ones that uh we're, we're proud to work with and we're proud to work with year over year. And it's, it's something that we're excited about and we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to work with you um specifically on any of our programs or just broadly engaging with you at the community level. Um And with that, I don't know if we have any more time for a question or not. Uh huh OK. I'm back here. This is, this is taking some technical technological savviness. Um Yeah. Fantastic. We, we do a lot in the circular economy. Um Fantastic. My request to all of you is to find our company. I will pick up these things, but please find our company or reach out um directly to me on any social media. I'm on uh I'm on linkedin, I'm on, you know, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Twitter.

Um and so is my team. So please um reach out that way.