RISING ICON #78: Hayley Brooks
What name do you prefer to be called?
Hayley
What are your pronouns?
she/her
Where did you grow up?
San Diego
What city are you currently based in?
Minneapolis
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
Hi, I’m Hayley! I have a startup called Sunrise that connects job seekers to live video Q&As with recruiters.
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
I grew up without cable and my family was not into sports, so any pop culture references you make from before ~2008, there is a 90% chance that I will not understand.
Who do you help?
Startups! I love everything about building companies and the people who are crazy enough to try.
What are you building now?
I’m currently building Sunrise, which is a platform for job seekers to attend live video Q&As with recruiters. I’m also organizing events for Startup Twin Cities, which connects startups in the Twin Cities metro.
What were you building ten years ago today?
I was working on Whooo’s Reading, a K-8 education technology startup that provided reading comprehension monitoring with open-ended critical thinking questions, automatically assessed to save teachers time. We were doing AI before it was cool (in other words, too early!), but we did grow to being used in 1 in 3 schools in the US and exited to Savvas (Pearson’s K-12 company) in 2023.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
Sunrise has grown to rival LinkedIn as the online place where we all go to make authentic professional connections, and I’m hosting conferences all over the world to bring people together. Alternatively I’m sitting on my couch with my dog and cat, which would also be fulfilling.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
80% of jobs go to candidates who know someone. Getting hired is a networking game, not a numbers game.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
I know so many fantastic software engineers and other professionals who can’t get past the resume review or first round interview. They may not have a referral, or their resume doesn’t exactly match the job description. Learning from recruiters and making authentic connections helps marginalized individuals level up to get better jobs to support themselves and their families.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
My dad is my mentor, in life and in business. He’s been a small business owner my entire life and is the most inventive person I’ve ever met. He has pushed me to be customer-obsessed: figure out exactly what they need and give it to them, and then never forget that they are always right, in every case, even when they’re not!
What piece of content about you or your company are you most proud of?
This Rising ICON piece! Sunrise is so new that we don’t have any content about us yet.
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
TechCrunch would be great.
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
Guy Raz! I love his storytelling in How I Built This. That’s how you know you’ve made it as an entrepreneur; you get interviewed by Guy Raz.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
How to Build An Innovation Ecosystem
What award would mean the most to win?
I’d love for the Twin Cities to rank in the top 10 cities to start a company in.
What makes zero sense to you?
I don’t understand why we start teaching math in elementary school but wait until high school or later to teach statistics. Statistical intuition is fundamental to critical thinking and decision making.
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
“Networking” has such a mixed reputation. I wish people saw it more as connecting with others and forming friendships.
What game are you changing?
I’m hoping to change the hiring game! I still think most jobs will go to candidates with connections, but I want more candidates to have those connections.
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
Other than Sunrise’s launch, I’d love to see anyone interested in startups at our Startup Twin Cities monthly networking event on the first Monday of every month.
Where can we follow you online?
LinkedIn and Instagram
https://www.startuptwincities.org/
https://www.sunrise.rsvp/
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
Humility.
____________
We’re grateful to each Rising ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Hayley, for sharing your story!
LAUREL is a media relations partner for bold leadership. For nearly a decade, we’ve helped leaders build effective strategies for scale and growth specializing in key opinion leadership and go-to-market strategy for emerging brands. To follow along with the RISING ICONS series, nominate a leader or subscribe to our weekly email newsletter. To accelerate your own rise, get our free guide to elevating your leadership profile, FIT(lite). RISING ICONS is made possible by grant funding from Knight Foundation.
“Learning from recruiters and making authentic connections helps marginalized individuals level up to get better jobs to support themselves and their families.”
Notice: It’s important for our readers to understand the origin of the interview content. The featured ICON contributed responses that were not edited from the original submission. All claims are made solely by the contributor and do not reflect the views of LAUREL or its partners. Thank you for supporting innovation leaders. We’re convinced, the future is bold.
