SAYA Goes to BuzzFeed

On November 18th and 19th, the NYC Buzzfeed Offices hosted SAYA!'s Young Women's Leadership Program for a fun and insightful mentoring panel. Four employees responded to the young women's personal, academic and career-related questions. Three of them were women of color who work in technology and data science at Buzzfeed, and the fourth works in Human Resources. They each shared the unexpected academic and career paths that led them to their current positions. They also gave great advice, such as encouraging the youth to try courses in college that make them feel uncomfortable, because college is the best time to take those risks and see if they may enjoy or be good at something they didn't realize before. For many of these panelists, this courageous risk-taking is exactly what them to where they are today.

The students were also deeply impressed by the unique culture at Buzzfeed: fun, innovative, and incredibly diverse. As a media company that aims to highlight the voices of underrepresented communities (such as women of color, immigrants and queer-identifying people), Buzzfeed's commitment to inclusion comes across clearly when you see the diversity of its employees. Given how male-dominated the technology industry can be, this trip was an eye-opening experience for our young women, many of whom want to study technology. Seeing other women who are succeeding in this field motivated them to reach their potential as well.