Rising ICON #24: Pooja Shailendra
What name do you prefer to be called?
Pooja
What are your pronouns?
She/her
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Walnut Creek, CA – in the East Bay
What city are you currently based in?
lol… Walnut Creek, CA 😊
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
Hi, I’m Pooja, nice to meet you! And smile of course
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
That I am really friendly and fun, sometimes I have been told I come off as intimidating but I don’t mean to be.
Who do you help?
Currently I help people fill jobs, and people find jobs. I am passionate about helping minorities and women find jobs they may not have a chance to interview for on their own.
What are you building now?
I am building our relatively new Creative staffing and services agency, The Cake. We are a minority and women owned agency that is small but mighty.
What were you building ten years ago today?
Hmm, I was building a career as a Marketing Program Manager at our primary utility company Pacific Gas & Electric Company. That might have been around the time I was pivoting to learning and development/HR but I cant exactly remember.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
I hope that I am growing out The Cake into multiple verticals 10 years from now. We started out in the construction, facilities management, landscaping, and janitorial space and saw a real area of improvement for both clients and candidates alike in that space. I would like to get back to being able to help make that hiring process easier and beneficial for both parties.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
According to the American Staffing Association women represent 66% of internal staff however, only represent half of executive positions and 33% of board seats. Also, that diversity, equity, and inclusion rank low in concers and priorities on study data from this year. I think, and hope, knowing this would hopefully encourage people to be more selective with which firms they use.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
I believe it matters because it truly helps both our clients and our candidates. We make the hiring process as easy as possible for our clients at a fair price. We also are able to present candidates to clients that they would never have seen on their own. On the candidate side it is an unreal experience to be able to help someone get a job. Their knowing we believe in them and are there to support them through the process is a large part of what we do on the recruiting side and nothing beats a call to a candidate letting them know they’ve gotten a new job 😊
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
One of my mentors is my brother, this is going to sound so cliché but I think the best advice he ever gave me was just do it. Whatever business ideas I come up with or product ideas I come up with he has always encouraged me to just try. Creating The Cake was terrifying, it went against all goals of stability I had set for myself over the previous 15 years. I trusted him though and his faith in me that I could achieve things if I just set my mind to them.
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
Honestly I don’t even know where to begin with publications, I only know major ones and I guess Entrepreneur because that would be unreal and mean we are doing incredibly well 😉
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
Haha probably the My First Million Podcast with Shaan Puri would love to get to tell our story once we have achieved some of our goals. It would be great to hopefullyisnpire other minorities and women to really advocate for themselves and achieve the great things they are capable of on their own.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
Embracing a culture of life-work balance
What award would mean the most to win?
For The Cake – probably a clearly rated best of staffing award. For me personally would be the LPGA Player of the Year award, but probably not making that dream come true anytime soon 😊
What makes zero sense to you?
Healthcare open enrollment can be in the middle of the year so that is when your plan is reinstated or you are signing up, however, your deductible time period still goes by the calendar year.
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
The healthcare industry
What game are you changing?
The ‘but we’ve always done it this way’ game.
Where can we follow you online?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pshailendra/
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
Being true to yourself and authentic
To learn more about Pooja’s work, you can visit www.thecake.com
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We’re grateful to each Rising ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Pooja, for sharing your story!
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“I am passionate about helping minorities and women find jobs they may not have a chance to interview for on their own. ”
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