8 Great Years at Bloomberg: A Reflection

May 2, 2019 marked my eighth anniversary of walking into 731 Lexington Avenue in New York, receiving my orange badge, and joining our Bloomberg family.

The day was a whirlwind that started at 7:20. I remember learning how to use a terminal, a history of the firm, an overview of new programs, the great <B>Green program, the Best of Bloomberg philanthropy program, the critical support for our working families, and other typical orientation activities.

Before lunch, we were able to take a tour of the building. I felt like I just landed at Star Fleet command. From the futuristic terminals, the studios, interactive artwork, beautiful fish tanks and the collaboration space. One thing still sticks out and that was the guide pointing out the faces in the artwork in the link were blank so we could imagine ourselves in those faces.

In all of the orientation and training we did, something else stood out: the people. Literally every person you met had a smile on their face, a sense of urgent action, and a genuine sense that they were happy to know you. At 6PM sitting on a NJ Transit train to Skillman, I should have been tired, and it is still hard to put into words the emotions that I felt on that day, but “excitement” and “possibility” are probably the closest.

Every year around this time, I like to think the things that make me most proud of Bloomberg, LP in the past year. One for each year I have been with the firm. So without further ado, below is my 2019 list of eight things that make me proud of Bloomberg, LP.

1) Everybody Wins! DC: A bit self-promotional, but this year I was as the Minnon Friedman Mentor of the Year Award. Everybody Wins! DC is an amazing non-profit partner that helps children to read. Working professionals go into the public schools and read an hour a week with a student. My volunteering with this program started just three months after arriving at Bloomberg, It’s been a true joy to volunteer with this program and so grateful for the support we are given to volunteer with them. (If you're still reading this go check them out https://everybodywinsdc.org/

2) The Opportunity Project: This past summer my colleague Vicki reached out to me with an opportunity to partner with the United States Census Bureau and the Forest Service’s STEWMAP project. This was a great chance to learn a new dataset, work with GIS information, and partner with non-profit partners. At the end, I was honored to present what we did at the Census Bureau’s headquarters out in Suitland. The project was written up here: https://strategy.data.gov/proof-points/2019/04/26/helping-baltimore-volunteers-find-where-to-help/

3)  Bloomberg Equality Summit:  Growing up my parents instilled in my siblings and I that all people are created equal and deserve dignity and respect. Sadly, we know that in our world that ideal falls short. This past March Bloomberg Live hosted a summit on equality. It was streamed via the Terminal on LIVE<GO> and the discourse was inspiring. Speakers included Stacey Abrams, Jon Winkelried, Spencer West, Jake Schwartz, the ever amazing Jackie Simmons, our own Christopher Michel who is a tremendous thought leader in this area, Shane Ortega, Candis Cayne, and Fatima Graves among others. Each gave a message of hope and inspiration. Knowing that all of these people were convened and sharing information because of the work of Bloomberg is doing on this issue makes me incredibly proud.

4) Parental Leave: This past year Bloomberg, LP was recognized by Columbia Journalism Review for its outstanding parental leave program of 18 weeks (See https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/family-medical-leave-act-childcare.php) . Being of an age now where more and more of my friends are having children, I have become acutely aware of the stress and anxiety caused by substandard parental leave. Knowing that Bloomberg, LP offers parental leave for newly born or adopted children that does not discriminate on gender makes me proud. These eighteen weeks really helps working parents to care for their new child and come back to work refreshed, energized and ready to make a difference. (As a note: After I drafted this, Mike expanded parental leave to 26 weeks!)

5) Content Analysis Project: As part of my doctoral program I did training on quantitative content analysis. I have done a bit here and there, but have largely put those skills aside. However, this year was exciting as I was able to brush off those toolsets to work on a fascinating project. The results were intriguing and the process to get there was fun.  

6) Farm Bill: This past year Congress passed a Farm Bill! I was lucky enough to be covering the markup of this bill on the House and the Senate side. It was exciting to see the legislative process and bring amendments and activities to our Bloomberg readers.

7) Bike Building with Citi Global Community Day: Annually, Citi hosts a community day of service. I was lucky enough to join them again this past year to help build bike in New York City. I met several new colleagues from our New York City Offices, as well as saw some old friends. Engineers that can code a terminal, can build a bicycle just as quickly and as well.  

8) Gender Equality Index: The business literature continues to show how a diverse workplace is critical to corporate success. Yet, it is difficult to measure diversity. Thankfully, Bloomberg stepped in with the Gender-Equality Index. I am so proud of the amazing work that came together to produce this product and makes diversity transparent. You should check out what the firm did here: https://www.bloomberg.com/gei. While I did not have a chance to work on this project, knowing that Bloomberg has put this together makes me proud of the work we are doing overall.

In closing, I think back to my feelings on that NJ Transit train. Eight years later that passion and excitement for what we do at Bloomberg still energizes me. Every day we are bringing transparency to markets, covering the world of politics worldwide, and fueling positive change in the world through Bloomberg Philanthropies. The last line of Bloomberg by Bloomberg ends with: “I still believe that tomorrow will be the best day I’ve ever had.” I think that as awesome as the past 8 years have been, next year will be even better!