Hello everyone thanks for being here today um you know whether you’ve been a longtime supporter of elastic um or just discovering us we are super excited and thrilled to have you on this live stream today and it looks like we’re going to have a super engaging and enlightening
Conversation as we dive into the theme of embracing your identity and taking ownership of career so now uh you know we’re not just here to just share information uh we’re here to connect so let’s start this thing off and everyone go ahead and drop your locations in the chat box uh let’s
See all the diverse parts of the world that we’re all joining from Costa Mesa okay I love them all up there so it looks like California is representing it’s good to know I’m in California as where I’m in La so not too far we’ll wait for a few others if there’s
Any all right well it doesn’t look like there’s much but you know speaking of connections I really like to give a special shout out to our blasti employee Resource Group here at elastic uh this year they’ve alined the Black History Month theme um to that of the world’s largest museum and research uh
Institution which is the Smithsonian and so we’ll be highlighting African-Americans as the art uh and the Arts uh in line with the Smithsonian okay we have some more La Bay Area Kenya all right yeah LA California is in the house Kenya haven’t made it there yet but hopefully we can make that
Happen so uh let’s note this that you know as we delve into today’s topic let’s remember that this is a conversation so your thoughts questions insights um are welcome you know they’re encouraged so let’s make this a great experience together and please ask questions as we
Go so with that being said I’d like to ask the panelists to introduce themselves and to describe uh your career path and we can start with Janita oh boy yeah I was ready for Daryl to take it away so hi everybody my name is Janita OK Conor I am a senior
Corporate Council here for business Integrity coming from New York um my career progression um I am a career compliance and ethics professional this is this is what I love to do my bread and butter my heart pitter patters for this um I focused on this um stemming
From law school um after I graduated I worked in the nonprofit sector for some time before switching over to Tech and um yeah really happy to be here awesome awesome and my name is darl Peak I’m a senior director for us public sector channels so I’m responsible for Partnerships across the federal
Government and also State local uh and education uh really excited to be here today um as far as career Journey I’ve been on elastic for about 11 months now prior to coming to elastic I worked at Google uh for a few years as well as Salesforce um and I also was a federal
Government employee so I worked at the Department of Homeland Security and their Chief technology office in cyber security office and many moons ago I worked at a company called loed Martin where I supported the intelligence community um and just being able to uh support satellites in uh unmanned air
Vehicles so really excited to be here um I’ve always been engaged with uh different types of employee resource groups um and also helping to bring people together so Partnerships is what I do um and I’m really excited to be at elastic uh doing Partnerships that’s great that’s awesome
Thank you guys for those introductions um you know it’s great to hear what other people do um and we’re going to dig into those right all everything that you said were probably come back around full circle um so we appreciate that insight into your Journeys now with
Those same elements in mind can you share with us how the Arts have helped to shape your identity and play a role in your careers today darl you can start this one yeah thank you so much GL and uh really excited about this topic because as we look at creativity and
What that stems from when we talk about Arts that is what it essentially is it’s our ability to bring creativity to the Forefront whether it’s what we say how we dress dress um how we dance what music we listen to so um I’ll say that it has been had an incredible impact on
My career even my style um I like to uh look at different stylists and and see how I can incorporate that many of you notice I wear a flower um but it is uh because it’s my flower power when we talk about identity uh really the flower
Power represents a special thing for me uh and I think about the uh the story and this is old story of Dumbo and how Dumbo had the the feather and with the feather um he believed that he could fly and it was at a point where he lost the
Feather and he thought he couldn’t fly anymore but I utilize that feather as a symbol uh that he could always fly and and that’s one of the things that I try to call my flower I call my flower power and I think it’s part of my identity and
Who I am and it actually came as a result of style but at the same time it means something special to me so um I think that as we talk about identity and career not only am I being present but also being able to bring creativity uh
To everything that I do and also in working with my teams amazing Janita okay sorry me paused for a quick second hi so um for me uh you know so we’re talking about the Arts right we’re talking about how it’s impacted our careers um and for me I guess it’s kind
Of impacted me personally which then has then impacted me professionally um I think about the Arts I think about art literature fashion just cultural expressions um and of course again we’re celebrating black history month so I think about that um as a Caribbean woman a caribbean-american woman um and the
Different ways in which people from African people cariban people black American people have used art to both preserve our history um build senses of community create movements influence culture like kind all those different ways in which it touches our lives and I see myself as both a consumer of Art and
A and a Creator um I’ve used these different uh forms of art to um help share my experiences and to kind of take my message further when I feel like words alone are not going to be able to properly help me convey um really what I
Want to get across um and it’s that creative expression that’s allowed me to um build this career as an ethics and compliance professional um from how I conduct trainings to the analogies I use the ways I try to relate the people from different backgrounds and experiences which is crucial at a global
Organization right um but it’s also just how I translate the law into um ways that people can actually understand how it applies to their work um it’s not enough just to regurgitate you know what the doj just said it’s it’s helping to paint that picture for people and walk
Them through like what does this practically mean for you yes you know that’s so inspiring and it truly speaks to the power of the Arts um I relate to everything that you both said and it it’s a true it’s a true story into how the Arts is like the
Middle ground that can connect us all you talked about policy you talked about public sector right as a kid I moved around 14 15 times before finally um settling in and the Arts was how I made new friends whether that was music something I saw on TV it was it was my
Way to to to to get by in and and to get um friends at these strange lands that I was moving into and you know with in that same breath um I would really like to know that everyone has a testimony and every moment right there there are
Times in our life where we’ve had to persevere through something um so with that being said can you please share a moment in your life where the Arts helped to shape you um and helped you overcome an obstacle that has come full circle in your career
Today yeah I can definitely I can I can start us off um so for me just a vulnerable moment as a as a child I had a speech impediment um uh and it was that was tough to overcome I had I had a really really heavy stutter um you know
That feeling cat got your tongue like that was me I I had so much I wanted to say and to share and I was always like um and so um you know the Arts is what what helped me kind of like pull myself out of that um in high school um I was
In school musicals I um was on an improv comedy team um in undergrad I captained our uh step team and um while I did I did write a lot of poetry starting from middle school um it wasn’t really until I got to law school so like quite some
Time um that I then used that poetry and turned it into and then I started to do performance art um spoken word and each each of those stages of My Life um it kind of helped me find new ways to communicate um and to kind of find my
Confidence and and a lot of that just came from learning to accept the quirks that are me talking with the hands and all of that um and it just helped me to embrace um uncertainty and when there are mistakes and people don’t know that you’re making a mistake and you got to
Just roll with it sometimes um I I mentioned that you know um I’m a Caribbean American woman my parents immigrated from the West Indies and um they both shocking have accents and my dad shared a lot about his experience um as someone coming here and having a
Thick accent and the challenges that he faced as a result and he always reminded me he’s like listen it doesn’t matter how smart you are um if no one knows what what you want to say if you can’t get a message across so he would always
Challenge me to you know watch um watch people on the news watch impactful speeches and kind of learn from those folks and figure out um you know what how am I going to get my message across so um yeah the Arts are like wildly impactful for me which I don’t know that
There’s always that clear distinction you know I’m a lawyer right I don’t know that we always draw the distinction between the Arts and then these more um are not known as creative Fields but um it’s it’s led to this full circle moment today like I sit on this panel I sit on
Other panels I speak publicly and the kid back then with the stutter would have never thought that I would be having conversations like this in front of anybody because didn’t think I could speak you know I think about that as well and when I was younger uh contrary to PO
Belief I was a very shy kid um I I didn’t speak up I really kept to myself I didn’t really say much when I was in crowds and I remember seeing speakers like Martin Luther King I remember hearing um oration by like James Balwin um and uh seeing um you know hearing
Singers and performers like Patty leel and others who would just you know just really command the audience and I I always wanted to do that and it wasn’t until um I was much younger and uh I was actually in a play where I was Martin
Luther King um as a a fourth grader um and really had my first opportunity to speak in front of a large crowd um it was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life but it gave me an opportunity to really break that um desire to to really
Be shy and not really uh communicate my message to being more vocal and communicating my message and I think that has helped me throughout my journey and throughout my career um I I got involved in a lot of nonprofits while in college through the National Society of
Black Engineers as well as through my fraternity cap alide Fraternity Incorporated um and then even going beyond that into my career um I I joined a organization called to Toast Masters uh which helped me with public speaking and being able to speak in front of
Large crowds to the point where um I was responsible for presenting to a 600 person company All Hands uh which was uh definitely a challenge but definitely an opportunity so I would say how you present how you fluctuate your voice how you uh really show up and and
Show out that is the things that I got uh from the Arts uh not only looking at TV looking at movies uh being able to go to presentations um all those things really do uh you know really resonate with me in regards to how I was able to
Overcome but also presence um and being uh aware of your audience and being um observing the room and understanding uh how to really connect and that was I things I think the Arts definitely helps out with because as a performer um you have to be able to connect with your
Audience and make sure that your message is resonating with them and that is something that I think has I benefited from throughout the years definitely you know and your answers are so inspiring in a true testimony to not just the power of the Arts but the power of the mind you spoke
About how Arts have helped you persevere through certain moments in life to become where you are today and these achievements um so that is amazing before we move forward I’d like to just um note to the audience to again feel free to ask any questions they’re in the
Live chat and we are having a Q&A session so the more questions the better um I want to get back to something that uh we touched on and that was um fraternities that was step shows and things like that and with it being black history month I think that is really
Important to um to sit here for a second because it’s something that we actually all have in common um and and I’ll get into a little bit of that because one historically um stepping has African Roots so being black history month I think that is important to highlight
That those rhythmic and like percussive elements of stepping derive directly from African dance and movement right and how many African cultures Incorporated dance as a form of communication um a form of Celebration and just expression on its own like you darl I myself belong to an African-American fraternity Omega Sci-Fi
Fraternity Incorporated and uh stepping became I would say more of a organized and and formalized thing within our fraternities and sororities so our organizations Incorporated these Traditions as a form of unity um a form of discipline and structure and self-expression because we all bring our a little bit of flavor different flavor
To how we do things and as you know it takes hours and hours of precise practice and preparation for step shows right whether that’s a yard show on a college campus or you know you might be performing at a national event and so how we show up today
Professionally goes back to those roots of stepping of how we need to show up um on those stages um also stepping has ties into uh the military right and during the 20th century how African-American soldiers um that they developed these like rhythmic drills um and chants as a way to build
Camaraderie and to boost the morale considering everything that black soldiers were going through during that time so um I think that’s an amazing point and something that we should really highlight as a part of black history mon yeah I learned a lot from from Step I learned um you know I I
Watched uh you know other schools and people that I admired who were you know part the the divine nine and um see the step shows and I really wanted that experience um and where I went to undergrad I went to SI College shout out um great school we didn’t have we uh I
Don’t think that’s changed today but Sienna doesn’t have um Greeks on campus so I wanted to figure out like well how do I how do I cultivate that how do I get that that same community and so you know some folks and I got together and
We started our own step team um and step is so cool because it’s it teaches you I mean I think being on any kind of team right it teaches you you know you’re learning leadership you’re learning compromise and collaboration but step is is is particularly interesting because we have to have one
Sound right like you can’t be like you know one person is killing on on this and then someone on the back is offbeat like you need one sound so it really forces you to pay attention slow down and listen to your teammates and make sure that you know we’re all aligned and
We’re we’re in it together yeah yeah and I I totally agree and I think that it does have a lot to say about teamwork to say about goals and being able to over overcome adversity um when you are stepping um you know you definitely uh hope for that great performance so
Whether it is your step team whether it is a band whether it is uh military drill or even as we many of us watch the Super Bowl right and seeing an organiz organized group um perform and all them try to have the same goal but everyone have a specific Focus too because as
Jita mentioned she’s part of a different team than my team but we all have to work in synchronization in order to achieve an outcome and I think that is what step has taught us is not only the preparations and the patience because if many of us online today uh tried to join
A step team it would take a little while before you learned all the moves right and performed it to Perfection um but at the same time as you continue to go through it and as you work with people who have experience then you can achieve better outcomes and I think that is the
Opportunity uh in this but also Janita you you cover creativity perfectly right you mentioned that there was an absence and in that absence you were able to create in the spa in in open space in void and that is something that I think we can bring to the table when we talk
About creativity is how do we look at void bring our own creative juices to the Forefront and then produce something that is needed that can help fill that void absolutely exactly amazing so let’s move this conversation forward a little a little bit and this is going to be a two-part question um considering
Everything we’ve talked about today how does elastics culture um allow you to show up authentically um and how does showing up authentically even affect the productivity of a company let start with you darl well when I joined elastic U it was mentioned a couple times source code um
When I went to undergrad in my undergrad I started out at morehous but ended up at the University of Pittsburgh um I did Computer Engineering and when we talk about source code it was just really that that Baseline code that you had to use in order to make a website or
Application work so when they kept saying it I’m like well what what what when am I going to start coding again because I haven’t coded in years and uh the way they applied it to uh you know just as far as the way that we work that being part of our Baseline operational
Code or operational Focus um was was very exciting to me and one of the things that um it really focused on and one of the things I get excited about is they talk about being humble but yet being ambitious and that you can actually be both right you don’t have to
Be a shell of yourself in order to achieve outcomes but at the same time as you achieve those outcomes know you’re helping the greater good and also being able to look at the uh idea of as you are and being able to come authentic and
And that’s one of the things I I love about the organization is the diversity that is represent presed in the organization that not only are we of different ethnicities but also of different platitudes and understandings we all come from a different space we all learned in a different environment
Yet we’re bringing all those Collective skills together to achieve a great outcome for our customers and when I think about how it’s a search outcome right how it all starts with search it it makes me think about how we’re all continuously searching for some outcome and that when we get those little pieces
Together in order to achieve that outcome that is what elastic source code actually helps us do is to bring those ideas is to be authentic is to be ambitious but also show up as you are and that is something that I get excited about because I want to represent who I
Am but also contribute to the uh greater Collective definitely and how about yourself Janita so you know like s similar um I focused heavily on the source code when I was um applying to come to join elastic um and it’s a unique document right like I think we’re
So used to looking at um you know there’s like you got the value statements sometimes you’ve got you know there’s like a great tagline you’ve got great campaigns um but the source code was written um it was clearly written with intention um you can see kind of woven throughout the source code
Um first we’ll talk about how it starts by saying um we’re not perfect we’re human that that that sets the stage right then we move into talking about empowering you to think about how do you do your best work how do you need to structure your day um so that you can
Show up as your best taking to everything you’ve got going on in your personal life then we talk about being distributed by Design um which you have to be intentional when you’re distributed by Design you’ve got folks all over the globe you have to really think about um the different people that
Make up the Org the different languages that they speak the cultures they come from the like the viewpoints that they bring how do you bring all those things together um and allow people to truly come as they are but be able to move forward in a unified way um and one of
The things that I loved reading um again back the story about my dad right there was there was a there’s a quote in there that says we all come in different shapes with different interests and skills we all have an accent celebrate it just come as you are um and I I love
That and how that impacts Us in terms of productivity going back to step uh you know as Daryl mentioned earlier um if you tried to come and learn right now it’s G to take you a bit it’s GNA take a bit right you got to first of all like
Dust off the muscles you know like get back into it um and I remember you know the first year the second year like okay how long it takes us to do a routine and I remember bringing in new people and then at a certain point every year there’s
The aha moment where you’ve you’ve you’ve fallen into syn thought about the different ways people learn the way that they receive feedback the way that they can best show up and collaborate with you and then there’s a turning point every year where all of a sudden we can choreograph on the
Fly it becomes like just secondhand to us and I think the similar thing happens at a place like elastic where you got folks all over what we’ve we’re intentional about how we incorporate their perspectives and how we best utilize everyone’s best assets so that we can fly right so um this the source
Code for me is like it was something that I I really um was important to me I focused on it and I listened for it when I spoke to people when I went through the interview process to see if those same tenants made their way off the page and into actual
Practice most definitely and uh I mean you guys hit the nail on the head with that one regarding our source code and culture and and everything of that nature you know so we’ve talked about how the both of you have embraced the art to help establish your identity as a professional
Today um in turn you’ve achieved Career Success so what advice would you give to those who are looking to bridge the gaps between embracing your identity and taking ownership um of their careers considering our topic today um one one area that I think is is really important is as we we think about
You know career it’s a journey and not a race right many of us who’ve gotten to certain positions didn’t get there overnight we didn’t just show one day similar to the step show right and and you’re not coming the first day and and winning the performance um and that’s I
Think one of the other things that that each of us can speak to is that every year not only we tried our best to get better but the competition got better so how are you showing up and improving yourself so that this way the best possible you could be represented every
Day that you show up to the office that you show up to your respective environment so I would say that having that you know just a macro awareness and micro speed and focus on really continuous Improvement um means a lot but also having a great Network one
Thing about step shows is that if you’re around some good steppers or if you have a good step master that definitely does help in you having a phenomenal performance so being able to identify good leadership is also important and I would say the last thing is
To O have an open mind uh when it comes to uh things that may help you advance so therefore we we have certain things that we’ve done um and I could talk about that for days but but always have an open mind because someone may have a
Great idea and no matter where it’s coming from whether they just joined the team whether they’ve been on the team for a long time whether they’re outside of your organization at least be open to evaluate it and see how it can apply my grandfather used to tell me take all
Information and use what you need and that’s what I tend to do amazing how about you Janita I love it um I I think you have to be courageously authentic um and I I use the word courageous because um it’s not easy to do right to suggest that it’s
Easy to do is to disregard the very real experiences of people who are from marginalized communities it is not easy to do so what does where does that leave you right um You got to be courageous you got to be intentional you got to be you got to think critically about your
Values and about your goals and you got to be intentional about aligning yourself with people in places that don’t force you to forsake one over the other um it’s not we’re not going to get perfect right it’s an iterative process but you want to be in places and with
People that want to get it right and are committed to getting it right and committed to hearing you out so that they can get it right um we talked about the source code about I looked at that heavily when I came when I was looking
To come to elastic I do not apply to a place without reading their code of conduct first I want to see what your values are I look to see how are you talking about things like diversity and inclusion um again uh you know I want to see that those things leave those pages
And they actually go into practice you can’t have an ethical culture without diversity and inclusion so um you got to be really intentional about who and what you you align yourself with and again doesn’t have to have it all figured out doesn’t have to be perfect there’s got to be a real
Interest dedication and commitment to to these things and you know if you’re in a place where you feel like it’s not quite aligned is there opportunity to really find allies for to make those changes happen but you got to be intentional it does not happen by accident and certainly not
Overnight definitely you know what we’ve talked about some amazing topics today uh I’m truly going to leave this conversation inspired and informed by the both of you um so now it’s time for our Q&A are there any questions we’ll let the questions roll in don’t be shy any questions we’ve talked we’ve
Covered a lot of topics from the Arts to step shells to our source code here at elastic which is something unique um and sets this company apart so you guys this is making me misstep damn I mean I’m I can’t jump into it now it’ll be it’ll be a little rough on my
Body but right yeah don’t be shy let’s get some questions in there yeah it’s okay if there’s no questions we will uh wrap up and we’ll leave you with this conversation here today um you know we would love for you to learn more about elastic and our
Careers so you can find more information on the next title card of how to reach us thank you thanks everyone have a good one bye
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