The Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF) would like to recognize Jeff Bonforte, Sr. VP of Product and Engineering, who championed a grant of $3,000 for Defy Ventures. The organization is known for “transforming the hustle” of current and formerly incarcerated men and women. It provides entrepreneurship, character development training, job placement, executive mentorship, startup capital and incubation. The YEF grant funding will be used specifically to provide scholarships to incarcerated men for Defy’s correctional education program.
Jeff expressed excitement about the grant saying “Like most of you, what I know about the criminal and correctional process in America is pretty limited to what I see on TV. I remember pretty vividly wondering what I had gotten myself into as I got out of my car early one morning last Fall at the Solano County Men’s Penitentiary. Twelve hours later as I got back in my car, my perspective on the world had fundamentally shifted. Defy Ventures is an amazing organization and the impact they are having on society is clear, measurable and significant. For $500, Defy can put an inmate through an intensive small business entrepreneurial training process, which goes far beyond how to lease office space to address many of the core issues that lead to their crime. Graduates recidivism is reduced by 20x (from 65% to 3%) and unemployment of former inmates by 10x (from 70% to under 10%). And it is unbelievably cost effective to taxpayers. It costs us $50,000 a year to jail someone and for $500, Defy breaks the cycle and reduces sentencing (parole boards have grown very fond of its graduates, due to their success out of jail). For the $3,000 grant, YEF will pay for six inmates to join the program and change their lives, as well as the lives of their friends and families."
To find out more about YEF and the organizations it supports through grants, head here.
Hear from Albert Song, VP of Product Design at Yahoo, as he sheds light on our new design language, our ever-evolving creative culture, and the value we bring to our users.
Always be learning. Your experience and hard skills can get you far, and pairing that with constant curiosity and desire for ongoing career advice can get you even further. To help you achieve your #CareerGoals this year, we’re sharing advice from leaders in different parts of our business.
This month, Usha Parsa, our Senior Director of Product Management for Yahoo Cloud Services, shares her tips for engineers and developers.
Q: Sometimes people get stuck in a rut. It happens. What’s the best way to avoid that, or get out of it?
Usha: Anytime I find myself in a comfort zone, I get restless. I tend to have questions of what else am I not learning, are there any new challenges I should be taking initiative on, where can I help? Also, for some years now I have made it a habit to reach out cross-functionally, especially to architects and technology experts. Taking the time to talk to specialists within and outside Yahoo, and networking with thought leaders in open source communities develops a well-rounded view and a broader operating context. I find having a strategic context can be very motivating from a job impact point of view, which in turn fuels a desire for new learning! Overall, I find that keeping myself challenged keeps my internal pursuit for growth (this is different from career progression). The latter depends on personal ambition and opportunities. That said, challenging oneself and getting out of one’s comfort zone ensures one is prepared when opportunities do arise.
Q: What’s your take on cross-training?
Usha: I’m a big believer in cross-training. Not only does it help with growing domain expertise and exploring opportunities for individuals, but it is a great way for teams to walk a mile in another team’s shoes. Within Yahoo Cloud Services specifically, cross-training helps us execute toward shared goals and priorities. It improves interpersonal relationships, promotes organic conversations and motivates teams. A great example is cross-training and embedding our production engineering teams with development teams in accelerating toward a “DevOps” model within Yahoo Cloud Services.
Q: How can others create and maintain an effective team of engineers?
Usha: Engineers love when they see motivated customers use their products! There is no greater testament to a product’s success and value than to see wide adoption. I believe engineers and product managers should work closely with users, get direct user feedback, and if need be, have breakaway sessions to iterate on product design. Colocating with and/or embedding our users within our development teams can also go a long way in creating a customer-focused engineering org. Happy and highly-engaged product users work wonders for motivating development teams!
Q: Sometimes teams work in silos or have a hard time getting dependencies to come through in time. What’s the best way to avoid that, or get out of it?
Usha: In my personal opinion, program/project management with “over-the-fence” communication across silos is a thing of the past. The best way to break silos is to have stakeholders across silos believe in a common set of goals and priorities. Within Yahoo Cloud Services for example, for complex initiatives, we believe in an agile approach with fungible teams (across different reporting boundaries) that come together for execution toward a common goal. Modular teams share a common goal. Teams have individual daily stand-ups for efficiency, but teams also meet each other in short “Scrum of Scrums” several times during the week to share progress and where they need help from each other. Common goals, fungible teams, co-location, face time, and meeting up frequently for short durations are great ways to break silos while executing at high velocity!
Happy Valentine’s Day from Yahoo! While we celebrate across our offices with flower arranging, chocolates and sweets, there is a more important activity that took place leading up to today’s events: Valentines for Veterans for National Salute Day.
To show our appreciation for our military veterans, Yahoo employees joined the Yahoo Veterans Employee Resource Group to participate in the National Salute with local Veteran Administration health care centers and nonprofits. Part of this effort was to create and distribute Valentine’s Day cards to veterans and their families.
National Salute Day is celebrated annually during the week of February 14, giving us the opportunity to say thank you to the more than 98,000 veterans who are cared for every day by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, outpatient clinics, domiciliaries and nursing homes.
Valentines for our veterans came from far and wide across several of our Yahoo offices. Thank you to all who participated!
Our Yahoo Champaign office knows how to get to work when it comes to serving their community in Illinois. From Habitat for Humanity to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, many hands made light work as the team assembled for various projects throughout 2016.
As a result of their efforts, Yahoo Champaign was nominated and won an Outstanding Philanthropic Organization award as part of the National Philanthropy Day for 2017.
Congratulations to our Champaign office for the hard work and efforts put in by our Yahoo Employee Foundation grant champions and the employees who helped make a difference!
YEF would like to recognize Shira Kate who championed a grant of $3,000 for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. During the Choice Grant cycle in December, this organization received the highest number of votes from YEF donors! For nearly 100 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women’s health and well-being, based on respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex and family planning.
Shira expressed excitement about the grant saying, “I recently attended the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. One of my big concerns is women’s health, especially ensuring that safe and legal contraception, cancer screening and family planning is available to all women. Planned Parenthood provides low or no-cost reproductive health care to men and women, regardless of ability to pay, and since they are in danger of being defunded, they were my first pick for a grant.
When I found out that so many of my fellow Yahoos were also big supporters and that YEF would contribute $3,000, I was beyond thrilled. I immediately spoke to my contact in the New York headquarters to share the news. They asked me to extend a huge thank you to all the Yahoos who stand with Planned Parenthood!”
To find out more about Planned Parenthood Federation of America, visit their website. Thank you Shira for championing this grant!
Tonight, we’re celebrating Lunar New Year alongside our Chinese colleagues. The Yahoo Chinese Employee Resource Group (ERG) puts on this colorful event filled with traditional Chinese food and cultural performances.
While we wrap-up our Lunar New Year celebrations here at Yahoo, we sat down with two members of our Chinese ERG to find out what they love most about the holiday, how they celebrate at home and how they got involved with the ERG!
Chris Du
I volunteered for the Yahoo Lunar New Year celebration three years ago and have been an active committee member of the Chinese ERG since then. I really enjoy being a member of the group because in the ERG, you’re given the chance to join a group of people with similar interests and to contribute to the Yahoo Chinese community. It’s given me the opportunity to meet many new friends and colleagues, broaden my network, and improve my organization and social skills. We regularly host events to enrich members’ lives and promote Chinese culture, and we provide a platform for Yahoo Chinese members to discuss issues, share information and communicate with each other. The Lunar New Year celebration is the biggest event every year for the ERG and involves participation from the ERG’s committee, volunteers, the URLs food department and Corporate Events team.
Qi Liu
I got to know the Chinese ERG when I joined the 2016 Chinese Lunar New Year event planning as a volunteer. When I became the president of the ERG, I started to take more responsibilities. The Chinese ERG is a group of passionate Yahoos who are dedicated to helping and supporting Yahoo employees of Chinese heritage to fully realize their potential at the company. The group holds many events throughout the year, including tonight’s Lunar New Year event, the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration and on-campus speakers including successful entrepreneurs and professionals of Chinese heritage. However, my favorite event of the year is the Lunar New Year event, which usually attracts 2,000 attendees. Yahoo employees and their families and friends attending the event are given the special opportunity to taste traditional Chinese food and watch awesome performances including the Lion Dance, the Kung-Fu show and the magic show. The ERG itself reflects Yahoo’s value of diversity and inclusiveness and has been a rewarding experience to promote Chinese culture and heritage among fellow Yahoos.
Our long-standing intern program is a big part of Yahoo’s culture, providing students a unique opportunity to work on multiple aspects of our brand. We take hundreds of interns year-round from all over the world. Check out what our EMEA interns have been working on and how they’ve made an impact!
By N. Duru Ahanotu, Yahoo Black Network, Director of Data Management
We’re kicking off the beginning of Black History Month, and Yahoo is proud to honor and celebrate our African-American colleagues and users. We’re commemorating this month by embracing the past and engaging the future. As a member of the Yahoo Black Network (YBN) – our African American employee resource group – I’m particularly proud that Yahoo celebrates Black History Month, as this community has enriched our brand, culture and user experience throughout Yahoo’s 22 year history.
In partnership with YBN, we’re rolling out several internal events at our offices across the U.S., including market insights and education, cultural awareness, industry networking events, cultural profiles from Yahoo News anchors, and traditional dance, live music, and authentic food options from across the African diaspora. We’re also launching external activations to inspire our users to join us in honoring the contributions of African technologists and innovators. Our first activation for users is live today! Check out Yahoo Mail (on desktop) where you’ll find Black History Month-inspired stationery to share with your friends and family.
YBN’s mission is to embrace, develop and celebrate African-American talent at Yahoo and in the community. YBN advocates for a workplace that is professionally-challenging, opportunity-rich and fully-inclusive for African Americans. We take this moment to recognize Black History Month, and to encourage our employees, the industry and the community to strive for a stronger future.
Yahoo values the loyalty and contributions of the African-American community and look forward to even deeper engagement with this community in the future.
Have you met Yahoo’s Prom King? Well, now you can with our next ‘22 Questions’ video – this one featuring Mark Sagherian, a member of our CEO Cabinet focusing on Corporate Strategy! Find out why Yahoo was always in his future, how he can brighten anyone’s day, his secret talent and how he’s documented every day he’s worked at Yahoo.
You may be wondering, why 22 questions? Yahoo is turning 22 years old and given how busy and in-demand our leaders are, we knew 73 questions would never get answered in between meetings.
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