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Rebecca Chin
At the intersection of communications and diversity, equity, and inclusion | Ex-Facebook, Jet/Walmart | 2023 ADCOLOR Leader
Rebecca Chin is a communications professional with a strong focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She currently works at Airbnb in Internal Communications for Diversity & Belonging.2 Previously, she worked in internal communications at Figma, which was cited by Forbes as one of the hottest startups.1
Rebecca has a background in communications and community engagement:
- She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in English and communications.1
- She worked at Facebook in Advertiser Communications, Business Integrity before joining Figma.1
- She has been recognized for her contributions to diversity and inclusion initiatives:
- In 2019, she received the Unsung Hero Award from ADCOLOR, an organization that champions diversity and inclusion in creative industries.1
- She serves as a facilitator and juror for various ADCOLOR awards, including the ADCOLOR in Tech Award and the Change Agent Award.2
- She is the founder of Asians for ADCOLOR.2
Rebecca has also been involved in community organizations:
- She kickstarted a ladies' basketball team called the Lady Suns with the Philadelphia Suns, an Asian American, Pacific Islander community organization.1
- She served on the board and as a captain of the Lady Suns from 2002 to 2013.1
- In 2012, she was a Top 8 Finalist for the White House Champion of Change.1
Throughout her career, Rebecca has demonstrated a commitment to fostering inclusive environments and promoting diversity in various industries and communities.
Highlights
Twitter lost their whole company today.
Sure, they laid off half their people but the rest have glimpsed their future reality and are no doubt searching. Layoffs are a natural part of business and I've been part of communicating a few during my career. But how it happens is completely up to its leaders. Which is why the contrast between the internal memo of #TwitterLayoffs and #StripeLayoffs is so startling.
Employee comms folks know how much work can go into these paragraphs. The deliberate choice to review and revise for substance, tone, and what we hope people will feel when done reading. The incredulous thing to me is that Stripe (along with Carta being another excellent example) laid out the script for how to share these types of announcements.
Yet the decision makers at Twitter still decided to go with "Today is your last working day at the company" and sent the mass memo below to the company as its warning the day before. It essentially said:
- If you're impacted, you'll hear it through your personal email because all your access have already been cut off
- If you don't hear from us within 8 hours of the intended time, only then can you email us and then wait more hours until we get back to you to confirm whether your livelihood has been changed
- Go home immediately because we don't trust you
- Here's a passive aggressive reminder that we have the power to sue if you decide to emote publicly about this
- This is a process and there will be no feelings about it
- The company is doing this, not I (said the leader)
Stripe did theirs well because it was thought out, it gave context, it recognized the human impact, it showed care and pain, and it had actions that match their words.
This week reminded me of all the great comms folks and people leaders I've had the honor to learn from and work with through hard things like this. I remember our discussions on how we can deliver something more clearly, humanely, and with support. And sometimes us comms folks were even able to influence the actions to make the change more manageable.
Shoutout to those behind-the-scenes whose compassion and authenticity has impacted more than people will ever know: Shubha Kumble, Dan Toporek, Nathan Allen, Dakota Alston, Jenn Drago Ericksen, Ravi Jariwala, Avani Dudhia, Meredith Klein (she/her), Kristin Reilly, Noah Love, Diane Vavrasek, Caralyn Cooley, Maggie Kruse, Victoria Chen Norland. Elana Widmann, Meghan Orbe, Nissa Anklesaria, Stephanie Martin, Jo McRell, Stacy Koo, and many more unsung heroes.
Two more important thing to call out here: what teams were impacted most (via Steven Wolfe Pereira ⚡️'s post) and how #Tweep culture has been fundamentally changed with the dissolution of the iconic BlackBirds and other BRG groups (via Sioban V. Massiah's post). 💙 🖤
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Stripe CEO's letter: https://lnkd.in/gEKhD67P
Carta CEO's letter: https://lnkd.in/gKtCJBRi
