Dear Reader,
Everyone seeks a sense of purpose in their work. It is not that all work needs to be meaningful. In fact, most work is not, but I do think that even the most junior of data analysts wants to know that what they do matters. They want to know that the company they contribute towards is a good company and that they can feel good about supporting the company’s mission.
The generation before us had jobs that they often held for life. We became the "job changing" generation shifting employers every couple years, yet we still tolerated bad bosses and supported ethically dubious companies. During the Pandemic, people started to look inward and evaluate their personal fulfillment. Millions of people left their jobs seeking a workplace that was more in line with their needs and values. As a result of the Great Resignation, #MeToo, #BLM, and the Pandemic, workforce dynamics have now fundamentally changed.
I am seeing this play out in the gig economy too, and we are not far off from a world where communities assert exactly what they want from their platforms. When I started Odetta, I looked at our competition and saw companies that treated workers like units both in their communications and the websites they built. I saw that communities were not allowed to unite, except within side chat platforms that they built themselves. Odetta is one of the early freelancer platforms where we actively bring together our community and view our role to bring forth the needs from the depths of our collective. As a CEO, I know that delivering on the (often competing) interests of a company’s many stakeholders is not easy, especially when you are strapped for capital for mere survival. It requires trust and intentionality.
I believe it is more important than ever to create an environment where employees and freelancers feel a sense of belonging, where they are not asked to blindly follow corporate rules because "we said they should." I recently rewatched the film, "Won't You Be My Neighbor" (a film about Fred Rogers and his Mister Rogers television series), and I was inspired by how authentic his mission was to help kids connect with themselves and feel loved exactly for who they are. TV, for Fred Rogers, was a portal that was more productive than ministry. Similar to Mister Rogers, we want Odetta to be a portal where Odettians can devote themselves authentically to their dreams and collective transformation.
Much love,
Katharine
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Founder Lesson Learned: The Gift of Trust
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Sometimes people only learn that they are good when someone gives them trust. My first real job was as a cashier at a gourmet supermarket, and I remember being surprised with how much authority they gave me over decisions for discounts. I have also had jobs where there is little to no trust, with micromanaging bosses who never let me grow. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy as I often reverted in those roles to someone very different than my true self. So my lesson was when you create something like a company, or a role within that company, it’s important not to watch its progress with anxiety, but give it to the world and let it grow.
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Maliha shares what she finds unique about the Odetta workspace:
- I feel safe in being me. Odetta allows me to bring the human element of being me to the workplace. I am not forced to fake perfectionism.
- I get paid for my hard work. I have been in jobs where people underpaid me and they knew that but did nothing to change their ways. Odetta allows me to earn and support my family.
- I get to learn new things every day and make new friends. The learning process never stops at Odetta and I love that.
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“When we hold space for one another, hearts become more open, truth is ready to be revealed, and old tension comes to the surface so that it can be seen and held, not just by the speaker, but also the listener. this collective honoring of each other’s truth can be incredibly healing."
—Yung Pueblo, Meditator, Writer, and Speaker
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