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Continuing our 23andMe Speaker Series, we got to hear from Dr. Emily Conley, CEO of Federation Bio and Dr. Michael Fischbach, co-founder of Federation Bio. They discussed how important the microbiome (bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microbes that live in and on our bodies) is to our health and how Federation Bio is leveraging the microbiome to help make therapeutics.
It seems like just yesterday. We started our company with the goal of helping people access, understand and benefit from the human genome and today we are celebrating the 15-year anniversary of doing just that. When we began, our team was smaller and there were only a limited group of early adopters interested in what we were offering. Now our team has grown to 500+ with 11M+ genotyped customers using our services to get genetic insights into their health and ancestry. To commemorate the moment, we've created a mosaic of employee photos and fun moments from the past 15 years that will be displayed in our HQ in Sunnyvale for everyone to enjoy when we are back in the office.
As the Sr Program Manager of our Science Communication program, Jey McCreight, PhD works as a “scientific translator” internally between scientists and non-scientists, and externally with the public. They write and review blog posts, presentations, publications, and social media material about our research and general genetics literacy. They also manage our Education program, which involves curriculum development and outreach to get students excited about genetics. Jey also plays a central role in 23andMe’s DEI efforts. As a leader of our LGBTQ+ employee resource group, Jey has led activities like internal Pride celebrations and is helping make our product experience more inclusive to transgender and non-binary customers. About their personal DEI journey, Jey said, “I’ve been outspoken my whole life, but it was only when I was working at 23andMe and surrounded by such supportive coworkers that I was able to come out as transgender. I can’t express how meaningful it is to be able to finally show up to work as my true, non-binary, queer self and still be respected for my expertise."
This week we hosted a panel where some of our AAPI employees discussed how they and their families have been impacted by the increased rate of hate crimes and how important allyship, speaking up, and even small acts of kindness are. Thank you to Chi Paler, Kristina Pabayo, Naomi Iwata, Savita Pillai and Vinh Tran for sharing your personal experiences and thank you to Sarah Woods-Killam for moderating the panel.
Jacquie Cooke Haggarty, VP, Deputy General Counsel & Privacy Officer at 23andMe discusses the importance of customers being in control of their DNA data.
We recently launched 23andMe+, our annual membership that includes ongoing access to exclusive reports and features. Read more about our two most recent releases, Cat Allergy and Dog Allergy Wellness reports, on our blog.
In honor of Autism Acceptance Month, we hosted a Speaker Series with Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, advocate, author, researcher and educator. During their talk, Morénike highlighted some of the unique ways that gender, race and other marginalizations impact individuals with disabilities and discussed opportunities to build meaningful connections with neurodiverse individuals. “It’s about giving people what they need and respecting and meeting them where they are,” she said.
Continuing with 23andMe's Speaker Series, today employees heard from Emily Coven, founder of Recyclist. With Earth Day coming up, she discussed the hard truths about recycling and what we can all do to make a difference such as sorting waste appropriately and thinking through the steps of refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle.
Eric's team builds the user-facing ancestry and relative-finding features for 23andMe's web and mobile applications. As an Engineering Manager, he helps his team efficiently deliver features that people love, maintain high-quality, privacy-first-minded code, develop their careers and have fun along the way. Eric is also committed to diversity and inclusion within 23andMe engineering. He managed an intern last summer through 23andMe’s collaboration with Code2040, an organization that helps people from underrepresented minority groups attain equitable representation in tech. “The summer intern we hired was bright, excited about the product and eager to learn, which made mentoring her all the more rewarding,” Eric said. “Over the past 5 years, I’ve been able to work in a field that fascinates me, learn from whip-smart mentors and colleagues, grow my career, and am now helping others to do the same. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to do these things at a job that I love, as I know very few people in the world are afforded such opportunities. ” - Eric Hall
In honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, we hosted an event where transgender 23andMe employees discussed their experiences and answered questions about what visibility means to them and and how everyone can be better allies to one another. Thank you to Maya Lowe, Jey McCreight, and Tex Texeira for sharing your personal stories.
