At PatientPop, we strive to be a diverse and inclusive community that fosters the most valuable asset to our company – our People.
To better facilitate gender parity at PatientPop, we created the Women’s Resource Group (WRG). The group consists of 100+ women (and men) who want to promote more cross-functional collaboration, create a fantastic work environment for women, and positively impact our tech community.
When establishing WRG, the committee sought to keep one thing especially clear: this resource group would foster learning and mentorship that would carry us beyond our time at PatientPop. So how exactly do we manage to tackle this mission in addition to our daily jobs? We made sure that the group was more than just a collection of meetings and action items, but instead a community that supports us in both our work and personal life.
How it started.
The WRG began with a simple vision that consists of three facets; 1) Foster cross-functional relationships, 2) Create mentorship and professional development opportunities and 3) Be a support system for women in the LA tech community. We knew that the WRG had the power to positively impact our experience at the company, our personal development, and our fellow neighbors in tech.
1) Foster cross-functional relationships
Through our networking events, such as panels and happy hours, women at PatientPop are making connections to others across the org. The WRG provides a forum in our office(s) for women to build relationships with coworkers that they normally wouldn’t interact with. Building these strong cross-functional relationships is not only healthy for our personal lives, but improves our work lives as well. Gone are the days of walking into a meeting and not knowing some of the other women in the room, simply because you didn’t interact with them for work. Now, women across all departments have connected through WRG and have more productive work lives because of this.
2) Create mentorship and professional development opportunities
Like many others, I have naturally been drawn to the successes of my female mentors and desire to follow in their footsteps. We often look to the power-women in society and think, “she’s a badass!” and “how can I get there?” But it’s hard to connect the dots between where you are and where you’d like to be, without the guidance of a mentor who’s done it before you. The WRG provides an opportunity to provide or receive mentorship from the very women that we look up to. It gives us the opportunity to have those important career conversations that might not otherwise happen.
3) Be a support system for women in the LA tech community
The first step to creating change is laying the foundation at PatientPop. Our mission as a group, however, is to take that one step further and make change in our community. We are fortunate to have a voice, and want to make waves for other women in tech. Members of WRG are highly involved in other programs and networking events in the LA tech community that support our mission. By sharing what we do at PatientPop with other companies, our hope is that they establish resource groups of their own!
Our Women’s Resource Group has a mighty mission, no doubt. Even in it’s short existence (less than a year!) we’ve made leaps and bounds here at PatientPop and for our members. We are extremely excited to see what lies ahead and the impact we can have in our community.
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