Albrey Brown on networking, referrals and preparing for your first dei role.
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Photo of Albrey leaning against a wall, looking away from camera, wearing a denim jacket.
This week, I got the pleasure of chatting with Albrey about his work building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) strategies for Bay Area companies and his new role at Airtable.
It's been a heck of a year. What are you most proud of accomplishing this past year? Building a strong network of diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioners. I made the choice to intentionally reach out and build a community of peers in January. Their wisdom and support challenge my thinking, help me avoid missteps, and better influence my company to do the right thing. I wish I would've done this when I first joined the industry 7 years ago.
What’s exciting you about your work right now? We're re-tooling and rethinking our referral program. Referral programs are a huge part of every recruiting organization. Most People & recruiting teams use them as the barometer for a "healthy" recruitment process (i.e. the more referrals, the better the process). That said, referrals rely on personal networks and can hurt a diversity recruiting strategy. We're thinking critically about referrals by challenging Airtablets to proactively diversify their networks. It's exciting work that (to my knowledge) isn't being done at many companies.
How do you see the role of a DEI director evolving in the years ahead, particularly in tech? In 3-5 years, DE&I will be a strategic imperative that influences all parts of the business. DE&I Directors will run their own departments independent of Human Resources. Director's will report directly to the CEO (or COO). Diversity, equity, and inclusion will be treated as an operations/strategy department that have influence over recruiting and marketing.
In a previous interview on Free Radicals, you mentioned that you don’t have a background in DEI. I feel like over the past year, many people with no previous experience with DEI have been placed into these roles. What advice or notes of consideration do you have to send to them? Great question. I learned the 'trial by fire' route, which I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy. Thankfully, there are veterans in these roles today. The first thing I would do is reach out to 10-15 people at companies that are similar to yours (similar size, industry, etc.). I'd join Diversity Advocates, read Project Include, and follow the Diversify Your Feed twitter list. Lastly, in terms of reading, I'd read up on Psychological Safety (Amy Edmonson), Inclusion (Jennifer Brown), and So You Want To Talk About Race (Ijeoma Oluo).
Do you see your professional career evolving out of DEI in the future? If so, how. Funny you ask this! I am currently transitioning out of DE&I and into Developer Relations. I enjoy my career, and my company, and received an opportunity to take on a new challenge. Engineering was my first love, I'm looking forward to moving back to that space. Although DE&I won't be my full time job, I'll continue to recruit and advocate for underrepresented folks through my work in DevRel.
Albrey has a decade of experience building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) strategies for Bay Area companies. At his core, Albrey is a software engineer, and entrepreneur, currently leading DE&I for cloud collaboration service Airtable.
Prior to joining Airtable, Albrey led inclusion and outreach at DocuSign, where he developed key recruiting initiatives including talent branding, leadership development and employee enablement, engagement, and training.
Albrey is committed to serving others. He finds purpose in facilitating partnerships between underrepresented employees and c-suite leaders that influence systemic company policies that prioritize inclusion and equity. He recently published a Fast Company article on his experience, and conversations with other DE&I leaders.
In his free time, Albrey is a basketball fan, pseudo DJ, and enjoys writing and traveling.