Meet The Lemonade Community

Hey Skye! What’s the first thing I should know about you?

I’m a musician. I write songs and words, and I also songwrite for other people. I actually put out my first EP in January called DNA! 

Congrats! How was your experience creating your first EP?

What I enjoyed most was the challenge of songwriting. I would bang my head against a wall for an entire month to figure out a verse of a song. And then I’d figure it out. When I did, it opened up a world of thinking. I love challenging myself in that respect.

What’s your inspiration when you write?

Feelings. I don’t like being heartbroken, but that’s where I get most of my feels. I don’t seek it out, but it happens. Other than that, happiness. I want to spread a message of positivity.

What kind of positive messages?

I typically write about inclusivity. I have a song that I performed at Pride called “Good Time,” and it talks about how everyone wants to get to the same place at the same time, life’s a journey, so you should enjoy it with the people around you. It starts with EDM, and then goes into an R&B breakdown.

That’s great. Is there a particular song of yours you think is inspiring?

Yeah, people come to me about “Dance the Night Away’ a lot. It makes people really happy. It’s about enjoying the moment and dancing. It’s a pretty blanket song. I don’t want to limit my audience – I wanted everyone to dance, because anyone can dance. The song ended up reaching a lot of people!

Do you feel like the song made an impact?

For sure. I recognize that what you put in a song can directly impact people. I had someone reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, this song really got me through a tough time.’ So if I can incorporate positivity and inclusivity into my songs, I can really open my eyes and open theirs.

Now for a scary question: where do you want to be in 10 years?

Actually, I love this question, it makes you think. My goal is to write songs for all of the biggest players in the industry. And if I could perform, that would be great. I feel like when you answer this question, you have to shoot high, so you can work towards it, even if you don’t want it. Because what’s a goal without steps? It’s just a dream. If you’re not like ‘oh, I want to be a performer,’ then you’re never going to try to be a performer.

Totally agree. What advice would you give to someone looking to become a singer or songwriter?

Honestly, being in Austin has really opened my eyes to what sacrifice means. The term ‘starving artist’ is a real thing. That’s actually why I got renters insurance – it’s necessary to protect your stuff as a starving musician. Lemonade was so just easy, and it finally gave me coverage that was actually affordable. That’s the type of thing you sometimes need to think about when you’re in a position like mine. But even though times can get tough, you’ve just gotta keep going. There’s so much other advice I could give.

Like what?

I’ve learned to encourage anybody in this industry just to trust their gut. There’s no one set way to do things. You need to find your voice, and do it your way. If you can be uniquely you, and be good at being you, people will follow and listen. There’s a saying: ‘Good music doesn’t go unheard of for very long.’ So just try to make good music.

Hey Lisa! Tell me what you’re passionate about.

I’d say my biggest passion is food and cooking. I’m actually a personal chef in NYC.

What was your journey into becoming a personal chef?

Well, I originally moved to NYC as an actress. I decided to take a break from show biz while I nannied for 4 years. Part of my responsibilities with the family I was working with was cooking elaborate meals. During the summers at their home in Maine, I learned so much about cooking for families – farmer’s markets full of fresh produce and seafood made everything taste better. During the school year, the kids went to school with the Sara Moulton’s children, who was Julia Child’s apprentice and the executive chef of Gourmet Magazine. Sara and I became friends through playdates and Birthday parties for the kids. She encouraged me to take my midwestern sensibilities and my valuable experience in the kitchen and start cooking for other families. So when I left my nanny job, she helped me put together my personal chef business!

What a great story. Who do you cook for now?

Families. Weekly drop-offs are my sweet spot. Picture this – you and your partner work hard, you come home, and the last thing you want to think about is grocery shopping and cooking. So I’ve done all the menu planning, shopping, preparation, and I’ve dropped it off, so you have magical food in your refrigerator right when you get home.

I want that in my life. What do you love about cooking?

My favorite thing to do is to bring spirituality and mindfulness into the practice of cooking. It’s my goal to help people do that more often.

How?

Think about it this way. Let’s say you do yoga, or you go to temple – whatever your spiritual practice is. Once the class is over, or Sunday’s over, what happens? You move on with your life. I want to take spirituality off of the yoga mat and into the world. I want to help people bring it into their kitchen.

What are some ways you bring mindfulness into the kitchen?

There are a few ways. Let’s say I’m making a carrot orange ginger soup, and I’m peeling the carrots. Every stroke, I count my blessings, think about a loved one, or even just take time to reflect. It’s about dedicating activities, instead of mindlessly having to cut 1,000 carrots.

Something else that I do is think about my travels – so when I make tagine, I think about when I was in Morocco. It’s so transporting. A lot of my family hasn’t had the chance to travel – but if you open up your kitchen, you can open up your global map. Get online, pull up a recipe for tagine, and transport yourself there.

I love that. What advice would you give to someone looking to improve their skills in the kitchen?

If you can read, you can cook. If you don’t know how to do something, look it up. Everything’s available online now. And don’t be afraid to screw up – it’s just food, we’re not curing cancer. It’s not like you have only one opportunity to get it right. You can work on that stew a few different times to figure it out. Also, positive thought and intention are the real deal. Intend for it to be delicious, instead of being like ‘this is going to suck.’ You’ll be halfway there to making it delicious, just in your own thoughts. That’s just one piece of advice – I have many others!

Like what?

You need to take pride in what you’re doing when you preparing food for someone you love, especially yourself. You’re nourishing a human, and be mindful of that. Don’t be like ‘oh this is no big deal, because it’s just for me.’ No! You’re a big deal. My mantra is that everyone is a VIP when it comes to food, and everyone deserves to have access to a good meal. That’s why hunger is an issue very close to my heart.

Do you ever do any work to fight hunger?

I sure do. I actually chose Citymeals on Wheels as my Giveback cause for Lemonade! When I was scrolling through and picking my cause, I was so happy to see you offer one I care about – feeding impoverished New Yorkers. Also, a few times a year, I donate my services to silent auctions at fundraising events. Everything I do goes back to my mantra: no matter who you are, everyone is a VIP when it comes to food.

Hey Cordero! What’s your passion?

Career coaching and recruitment. I love helping people figure out what they want to do with their lives.

Do you do that professionally?

I do! Right now, I’m a technical recruiter at Indeed. It’s the perfect space where I can coach and train people. I get to build products, help people recruit efficiently, and create diversity and inclusion initiatives.

What’s your favorite part about your job?

I get to make the largest impact in the company. Back when I worked at my first tech job at Airbnb, I helped their engineering team go from 100 to about 300 when I left, just within a couple of months. You couldn’t do that without a recruiter.

You must be pretty great at identifying talent.

I sure am! Identifying talent has been a second nature for me since I was really young.

What do you look for in a candidate?

I love when people bring their full selves to the table. As a candidate, I want you to be engaged in what you’re interested in. Even if you have flaws, I want you to be aware of them. Having skills is important, but if you don’t have the personality piece, it’ll be difficult to fit in with the culture of the company you work for. It’s about being an all-around candidate.

You mentioned before that you help build out diversity at Indeed. Can you tell me more about that?

Sure. I love helping people who are from underserved communities. At Indeed, I help diverse people find their true talent, and teach them how to bring their full selves to the table. I do resume coaching, LinkedIn coaching, help people create Indeed profiles, and make sure they know there are resources for them to land a job in less than 6 months if they network and brand themselves intentionally.

Have you had any moments where you really felt like you were making an impact?

Definitely. One day at Indeed, we invited 18 students from a technology high school in an underprivileged area to visit the our offices. We gave them insights about careers in Austin. One of the students ended up with an internship at Indeed the day after he graduated, all because of that workshop. Now, he’s going to college with corporate experience, and exposure to a life he never imagined he could have had. Fighting for diversity in tech has brought me so much humbleness to work in a space where I can help someone else that comes from a similar background as I did.

What's your background?

I’m from a very small town in Mississippi, where there were very few opportunities for young ambitious black men, and no one ever heard of a such thing called ‘tech,’ ever. But that didn’t stop me from getting to Silicon Valley and now Austin to work for some of the most amazing companies.

That’s incredible. What advice would you give to someone looking to get a good job, but was not born to many opportunities?

Get a mentor. Once you find that mentor, hold onto them. Let them know your story. Tell them your problems, both personal and professional sometimes helps. That’s the only way they’re going to be an avid resource for you. You need to have someone vouching for you, pushing you, and sponsoring you.

How do you find a mentor?

First, figure out what you want to do with your career. Even if you don’t fully know, figure out the first step to getting there. Then, find someone on LinkedIn with a path similar to the one you’re envisioning of yourself. Reach out and say ‘hey, I would really love to get into this field someday. This is what I bring to the table now. Can you give me any advice? Any tips to get there? What can you do to help me get to the next level?’

I love to hear that. Is there anything outside of work you’re passionate about?

I really care about world travel and giving back. That’s actually what I loved about Lemonade – not only was it really affordable, but it gave me the chance to give back to the community just because I got insurance. Aside from that, I sponsor a child from the Philippines each month, because I love supporting kids in underdeveloped areas. It’s part of my overall mantra to give back however I can, because I’ve been fortunate with so many opportunities throughout my life.

Hey Chloe! What’s the first thing I should know about you?

I’m an engineer with a super quirky background.

Tell me more about your background!

I grew up in the arts. I went to theater camp, performing arts high school, and I got my Bachelors in performance. After I booked my very first show, I made just $500. I realized I needed to get a day job.

So what’d you do?

I decided to start working in tech! I heard a talk at Google about how Nickelodeon and Disney are getting young women interested in tech by adding female characters to their programming. That way, they can show that females can be engineers, and that these women can be cool, they don’t have to be nerdy. I thought, ‘where was this when I was little? I would have loved exposure to this.’

That’s so cool. So what’d you do from there?

I did a bootcamp, which is a 12-week accelerated coding program that is super intense, but a great way to jumpstart things. I got into an all-female one called Hackbright, and they were all about changing the ratio of women in tech. It was a whirlwind.

Are you happy you went?

For sure! It got me to where I am now – I’m a developer evangelist, which a hybrid marketing/engineering role. I speak at conferences, create content, and interact with the engineering community.

You recently wrote a Medium article about what it’s like to attend tech conferences as a woman. Can you tell me more about that?

Sure! Oftentimes at conferences, people will glaze over me, because they’re there to get job leads. They assume I’m someone’s daughter or someone’s wife. But once people talk to me and understand that I know what I’m talking about, it suddenly becomes a very different conversation. I have so many stories like that.

What's your favorite one to tell?

One time, my boyfriend and I spoke at the same conference once – we were both speakers, and we were standing in an area of the conference where only speakers were allowed. I was wearing a speaker badge and speaker shirt. And one of the other speakers turns to me and says ‘Oh, are you having fun shopping this week?’ He assumes that I was my boyfriend’s spouse. But that happens a lot. I’m kind of conditioned for it.

Do you experience that often?

Yeah – I’ve been to several conferences where I’m the youngest and only female. I have my computer out, and people line up at my table because they think I’m the person checking them in. But I enjoy the shock value of it. I even wore a dress to a conference as a social experiment.

I love that. What advice would you give to someone looking to enter the industry?

First off, I tell a lot of the girls I mentor: “Don’t change who you are. Don’t feel like you have to be nerdy. You can still like fashion, you can still like all of the things you like and be an engineer.” I would also say that imposter syndrome is very real.

What’s imposter syndrome?

It’s something that a lot of people experience not only in tech, but also in life in general. It’s this feeling of: ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, and someone is going to figure out that I don’t know what I’m doing.’ I felt that very strongly during my time at bootcamp, and I still feel like that to this very day. But I’ll also talk to men who have been in the industry for 20 years, and they feel imposter syndrome too.

How do you deal with it?

First off, it’s really important to be mindful of the voices in your head that says, ‘I don’t really know what I’m doing,’ because the truth is nobody really knows what they’re doing. So my biggest advice is to have good mentors you can talk to when you have those moments, who will help you combat imposter syndrome. Also, I suggest taking the time to meditate, or do yoga, or even take a walk. It’s important to really check in with yourself.

That’s such great advice. Do you ever mentor people in the tech community?

For sure. I really care about getting underrepresented communities involved in tech, whether it’s young women or people from diverse backgrounds. That’s a big reason I chose Code to Inspire for my Giveback cause – I was scrolling through the options on the Lemonade app and I saw I could help girls learn to code and I was like, this is perfect. Aside from that, I do a lot of mentorship for women in technology from a lot of nontraditional backgrounds, and also for men!

Hey Andy! Thanks for taking me to your Austin spot.

Of course! I’m here everyday before work, so even if you weren’t here, I would be.

Where do you work?

I work for a tech company called Phobio. I’m a product manager on a small team that’s building a communications tool for retail organizations. It’s called Rodio – think GroupMe and email in the same app, with some additional features for compliance/accountability.

How are you liking it?

It’s great, I love it. But we’re a company of all dudes right now, and I’m hoping to change that as we continue to grow.

Can you tell me more about that?

Absolutely. I’ve done a lot of hiring here in Austin, and we need more women in tech. For an open role at a previous company, we had 300 men apply and just 3 women. That makes it hard.

So the issue is that fewer women are applying?

Yeah, one of them. I’ve thought a lot about this – where does the gender divide start? It’s multifaceted, but a big issue is education. It’s a shame that most early-stage startups don’t have the resources or bandwidth to train junior engineers. But that’s where larger companies come in. They have the resources to focus on initiatives beyond, “get this three-month project done in two weeks,” that’s so typical for early-stage companies.

From your perspective, what are the steps that women - or anyone - can take in order to have more opportunities in tech?

This is multi-faceted as well. There are a lot of moving parts, but strong mentorship goes a long way. It’s important to find an ally. You need someone pointing you in the right direction, introducing you to people and companies, and genuinely being on your side when you hit stumbling blocks.

What’s the best way to find a mentor?

Find people you admire and buy them coffee. It can be awkward to formally ask ‘hey, can you be my mentor?’, but if it’s a good fit, it’ll happen naturally. When you meet with them, it’s all about asking pointed questions and listening. You don’t have to do what they say step-by-step, but take what they have to say into account and then make your moves.

That’s great advice. How are you liking start-up life so far?

Early-stage start-ups can be a great learning environment, but there’s lots of shit going on. You have to look for inspiration at every corner. Actually, when my team started redesigning our onboarding process, Lemonade was an inspiration for me. After I signed up, I ended up taking screenshots of the entire process. Anyway, working at a startup is super energizing for me because I get to wake up every morning thinking, ‘what is the one thing that’s going to ruin the day if I don’t do it?’

What's your take on Austin's startup culture?

It’s great how approachable everyone is, especially in Austin. Choose 5 startups that seem interesting, and I’d bet that 4 out of 5 founders will meet you for a coffee or a beer if you reach out. If you’re looking for a job, meet with people and ask them what their problems are. Then find a way to help.

Hey Jon! Thanks for inviting me to the Stack Overflow HQ.

No problem, I spend a lot of time here so I wanted to show you what it’s like.

Tell me about what you do here!

By day, I’m a developer at Stack Overflow. We have a pretty small engineering team here, so each person gets to make a lot of impact on the coding community at large. It makes me excited to come to work here every day. By night, I’m the founder and sole maintainer of Bento.

What’s Bento?

It’s a website I started to help people become self-taught developers!

Very cool - what inspired you to get that started?

I wanted to take all the knowledge that already exists on the Internet about how to learn to code, curate it into a curriculum that anyone can access, and provide tools to keep people motivated. I don’t want people to fall into the trap of: “I need to fork over a lot of money to learn how to code.” No matter what your background is—your race, your gender, or how much money you make—you should be able to learn how to code affordably if you’re dedicated to doing it.

Wow. What happened when you launched Bento?

A day or two after I put it together, I posted Bento on Hacker News and Reddit, and it hit the front page of both of those sites that day. It got over half a million views on the first day – something I never really expected. After that initial launch, Stack Overflow actually reached out to me, and after interviewing with them, I got an offer to join Stack. For the past four years or so, I’ve been able to work on both Bento and Stack Overflow in parallel.

Does the work you’re doing with Stack and Bento compliment each other?

They share the same overall mission: to make programming knowledge available to everyone. I think coding is one of the most empowering skills in the world right now. Plus, with coding, I think there’s a low barrier to entry relative to the amazing economic and creative opportunity it brings. I want everyone to feel like they can learn to code and change their life because of it. I think the way to make that happen is to make becoming a self-taught developer easier and fun.

Other than going to your website, what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn how to code?

I think if you’re going to start to learn to code, you need to understand that a big part of your job as a developer is actually the skill of learning, and that doesn’t stop once you become a professional developer. You’re probably always going to feel like you don’t know enough. You might have heard of this thing called ‘imposter syndrome,’ and that’s exactly what a lot of developers feel they have. It’s especially hard if you’re a person of color, a woman, or someone who feels like they just don’t belong in tech at first glance.

Do senior developers face these kinds of issues also?

Yes. The only difference between someone senior and someone junior isn’t whether they know the path, because the path changes all the time. It’s just that senior developers are more comfortable going into the maze in the dark, and they recognize the familiar traps people fall into. Even my colleagues Stack Overflow – some of the best developers I know – are using Stack Overflow to help them get through their problems day to day. But they’ve mastered not necessarily the skill of coding in every language under the sun, but the skill of learning to do so if they have to.

That’s amazing. Did your passion for tech have anything to do with your decision to become a Lemonade member?

For sure. I’m always on the lookout for anything that’s taking something ordinary and thinking about it differently. And Lemonade is one of the few players in the space who is doing that really well. And aside from the price, the coverage, and all the technical details, knowing that a product shares my values is enormous to me, and you can’t put a price on that.

Hey Kelsey! Tell me something awesome about you.

I have my own blog – it’s called Blondes and Bagels.

Catchy name! What inspired you to get that started?

I always had a side hustle at my first job because I was so bored. I wasn’t fulfilled by it. I’ve also always liked writing and web design. I was the kid that would spend summers learning HTML and playing with photoshop. So I started my blog one day during my lunch break – it was the culmination of how I could do all the things I wanted to do. The blog is my way to take what I love doing personally and doing that professionally.

Sometimes it’s hard to know how to take what you love personally and do it professionally. How did you realize blogging was the answer?

You start to figure out what you’re good at and what you like, and when those things don’t align, you ask yourself – ‘what am I both good at and like? And what does that mean in terms of where I’m going?’ At my first job, I noticed that I was good at recapping what was happening in the business, but I hated the fact that I had no creative control. And then I thought back to what I missed: writing, photoshop, and graphic design. So then I asked myself, ‘what do those things add up to?’ They add up to a website.

It sounds like your blog is a huge source of fulfillment for you.

Yeah, it was my creative outlet to start. But then at some point, I started to get hundreds of views. So I realized my mom’s not just reading this anymore. Mom can’t click 100 times. So once I started to get feedback and reaction, it started to inspire me more than anything. And then I was like, okay what do people want to know? What do they care about?

Do feel like you’re inspiring others through your blog?

For sure. I did a photoshoot one time where I wore clothes that were too girly for me. I was like, okay this isn’t me. Finally, I wrote a post where I was like f*ck it, I’m going to be me. I’m done pretending to be a girly blonde. I want to be a lifestyle and wellness blogger. I got a lot of responses from that post: People said ‘hey, I don’t want to be girly like that either. Don’t worry, just be you!’

Did that experience influence your blogging style?

It was definitely a changing moment for me. Since then, I’ve started to be myself, and it’s been great. The more I’ve been authentic, the more feedback I’ve gotten, and the more I’ve felt like people have been inspired by that.

That’s super valuable. What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting their own blog?

My advice would be to start now. My biggest regret is not starting earlier. It’s not that I didn’t think about it – I was always like ‘eh, I don’t know.’ A lot of people spend time brewing on the idea. When I finally started the blog, it wasn’t exactly the brand I wanted. But I knew I couldn’t sit on it anymore. You have to just go ahead and start.

What’s some of the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

Be authentically you. When I finally decided to just be me, I got a lot of feedback about how great the content was, and I started to grow. And that’s just made a really big difference. It’s been great advice. It’s something everyone says and no one does, but it should actually be the baseline of how you should blog, and how you should live.

That's great. Aside from blogging, is there anything else you're passionate about?

I care about anything that has to do with medical relief or aid, since my dad’s a doctor. I like charities that are very transparent about where their money is going. That’s a big reason I chose the American Red Cross for my Giveback. With them, you know your money’s going to relief. I also care a lot about animals. We got our cat from SPCA, and that was a life-changing experience.

Hey Justin! What's the first thing I should know about you?

I run a startup called Visionary! It’s designed to help young people identify their passions. This is the first time I’m building something of my own after working for so many years.

What’d you do before you created your startup?

Well, I started my first business when I was 8. You know how most kids want to start a lemonade stand? I didn’t really wanna do that. I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. I learned how to build a website, and I made one for my Kool-Aid business. My friends were like ‘whoa, you can make websites!’ Most of them didn’t know much about tech, so I launched a consulting firm in high school to teach other people tech skills.

Sounds like you have entrepreneurial blood! Tell me more about Visionary.

We’re trying to reformat the way we think about education and technology. It’s very community-focused. Our first product is an online community for artists and creators to learn how to make a living on the internet. So many people want to be the next Snapchat influencer or Instagram celebrity, yet our schools aren’t preparing people for the future. So we’re helping people become content creators or influencers by providing programming and mentorship.

That’s so cool. What inspired you to start it?

I just saw how crappy our education system is. I never understood why kids sit for 8 hours in a classroom and just do grunt work. Kids are not to taught to actually go out and experience. Another problem is consent: no one asks kids what they want to learn. And there’s no support for kids who have an alternative passion.

What do you think should change in our education system?

Young people should have the choice to be creative, do what they want, and discover their passions. Kids should have more of a choice. I want to help people make positive changes in the world, and I want to help them learn by doing. If you implement that into schools, you can make people actively want to solve our world’s problems.

What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way?

There are so many – which one to I choose? When I first moved to San Francisco, I’d say adulting was one of the biggest lessons for me. I came here with $1,500, and nobody really taught me everything I needed to know to survive and be an adult. So I’m just self-taught. But the best way to learn is by doing!

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own company?

I definitely would recommend that they’re super passionate about what they’re doing. You have to have that initial drive. You have to be willing to sacrifice literally everything for what you want to carry out. One of President Roosevelt’s lines was: “believe and you’re halfway there.” It’s really a mindset game.

I love that. What’s some of the best advice you’ve gotten?

I love what Michelle Obama said: “When you walk through the doorway of opportunity, you don’t slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other people the same chances and opportunities that helped you succeed.” That’s one of my mottos – once I make it, I want to help other people make it. And it all goes back to why I’m in education in the first place: I could never work in a position where I wasn’t in the position to help other people.

That’s so great. Are there any other causes you’re passionate about?

I’m really big on human rights and supporting LGBT. That’s why I chose the ACLU as my Giveback cause with Lemonade. Human rights benefit everybody.

Hey Erin! Tell me about what you love.

I’m super passionate about coding, both in my job and in my community.

What got you into coding?

I always knew I was interested, but I didn’t get into it until college. When I worked in marketing at other tech companies, the most interesting things to me were debugging things and seeing how systems worked together. I was like, “this is the most exciting thing to me, why am I doing anything else?” So I just decided to go for it. Life’s too short to be unhappy in your job. I quit my job a year and a half ago, did a bootcamp, and started working at Capital One!

How was the coding bootcamp?

It was probably the most intense experience of my life. It was 17-hour days sometimes. I didn’t see my friends for 3 months. It was 60 people, and 4 girls in my cohort. So it was a very interesting experience. I had a lot of conversations with guys about what they believe about women in engineering, and I hadn’t really seen that kind of perspective before.

What kind of things did they say?

That women aren’t biologically set up to be great technical people – I had one person in my group who believed that to be the case. So we had a long conversation about evolution vs. social norms, and how they shape the way women and men are perceived. He was on the evolution side, and I got him shift his mindset a little, but it was a discussion I didn’t expect to ever have.

That must have been super surreal for you. What advice would you give to a woman looking to go into tech?

As a woman, it’s harder to shut off that voice in your head that you’re not good enough, because people will make assumptions about you. So it’s just a matter of replacing that mantra a little bit. I have to tell myself all the time: “you know this shit, you’re good enough.” 

I love that. Outside of work, what’s another big lesson you’ve learned in your 20s?

I look at my 20s as my time to try everything and take risks. I’m trying to say ‘yes’ as much as I can and do the things that make me uncomfortable. It all goes back to what I’m going to remember in 5 years, what’s going to matter me long term. This is the stuff I want to do in my 20s.

What’s something you've said ‘yes’ to recently?

It’s the smaller stuff. I’ll get a text from a friend who wants to go away for the weekend and I’m like, hm I probably shouldn’t, but then I’m like screw it, I should go. The best times you have are the things you don’t expect to happen. If you don’t put yourself in those situations, you won’t have all of those good experiences. Also, aside from saying ‘yes’ more, I recently decided I want to get more involved in volunteering.

That's great! What inspired you to volunteer more?

I reached a quarter-life crisis recently, where I started thinking: ‘what am I doing with my life? What matters to me?’ So aside from choosing socially impactful charities like Lemonade, I’ve been working with kids – especially girls – in coding. With Capital One Coders, I’ve been teaching 20-30 middle schoolers how to code.

How’s that going so far?

Really well. I think that bringing technology to underprivileged communities is very important, because I hadn’t really been exposed to it in college. So having kids exposed means a lot to me, because I think it would have changed my life if I had known more about coding at a younger age.

Have you seen an impact first-hand?

Yes! In movies, you see coders hunched over with numbers going across their screen, but that’s not really the reality of it. In our program, we’re showing kids what we do all day, and why it’s fun. After the program, some of these kids were like, ‘I never knew that in coding you can change how a website looks, and now I do. Now I think I want to do that!’ Hearing them say that is so cool. And these are the types of jobs that pay really well, so making it more accessible is super impactful.