Karen E Rodriguez La Paz Email & Phone Number

Redmond, Wa, Us

Redmond, Washington, Us

Currently overseeing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), community engagement, brand communications, and strategic partnerships, as well as the agency's public affairs & advocacy division in support of Hopelink's vision to create an equitable community free of poverty across North and East King County, WA, and the larger region.

Jersey City, New Jersey , Us

Brooklyn, New York, Us

New York City, Ny, Us

Salt Lake City, Utah, Us

Following a feature on Netflix’s The Kindness Diaries, Founded Code In Color, an organization focused on creating pathways for BIPOC young adults 18-27 to gain access to affordable tech education and jobs.Designed a diverse curriculum covering web development, data science and digital marketing studies and offers candidates an accelerator program designed to link them to a paid internship/fellowship upon completion of Code In Color program. Cultivated relationships with over 30 community partners and organizations including Podium, Domo, Netflix & Utah Multicultural Alliance to help them bridge the gap between finding diverse talent, hiring diverse employees and creating a culture of belonging for candidates to stay onboard.

Salt Lake City, Utah, Us

Leading Marketing and Corporate Relationships for Utah Black Chamber, Black Success Center and the Utah Black Pages Serve as a member of the statewide team of Black staff who conduct C-level and Senior management diversity trainings aimed at educating companies on the latest workplace EDIB policies. Successfully trained over 20 companies including: Zions Bank, Domo, Silicon Slopes, Podium, Chatbooks, Sundance. In partnership with Goldman Sachs, Zions Bank, and Salt Lake City Government developed a Equity and Belonging training playbook and curriculum to help local businesses build successful ERG and D&I departmentsLaunched an entrepreneur leadership curriculum alongside the Small Business Administration to provide vertical networking opportunities for minority entrepreneurs, and assist them in becoming a certified minority-owned business. Recruited, trained, and oversaw a marketing team of 8-10 Organized over 10 large events including: Utah Diversity Career Fair, Juneteenth Celebration, LULAC Conference, Equality Utah Gala, Living Color Gala, Evening in Harlem, Empower Benefit Concert.

Lehi, Utah, Us

Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Purple overseeing all cross-departmental D&I efforts in the business amongst all global locations: Utah, Georgia, Texas, California, Washington, numerous retail locations.

Lehi, Utah, Us

Produced monthly press coverage in print, webinar and digital of 15+ pieces and applications totaling in over 500k reads/views per month; PR coverage across 10 verticals. Maintained relationships with industry experts and reporters to ensure national coverage on three major global product launches, series funding, executive speaking engagements at tech & trade conferences Conducted over 20 award submissions resulting in multiple company awards, including: Fast 50, Inc 100, Forbes’ best companies, multiple Stevie awards and more. Designed and Launched a content syndication and influencer campaign to ensure our team upped our speaking engagements at tradeshows by 40% in less than 6 months. This initiative includes prepping C-level executives and Senior Management for tech conferences and podcasts including: Web Summit, Collision, SXSW, Silicon Slopes, and interviews with major industry publications such as TechCrunch, USAToday, Inc. and more. Formed an intersectional advocacy council and the company’s first Employee Resource Groups: Pride at Podium, POC at Podium, Sustainability, Women in Tech. Lead council of 10 senior staff and 2 executive sponsors to guide them in instituting successful policy change in our HR practices including:Company wide unconscious bias trainingPartnership with Mentorlii to connect minority professionals to wide pool of mentors in tech. Same partnership applies to historically black collegesInstitute an annual analysis report on employee base and audit of hiring & retention practices. Led organizing efforts for events such as LOVELOUD, Encircle Summit, Tech For Change Summit focused on creating a space for representatives of diverse communities to raise awareness of BIPOC and LGTBQ+ issues within Utah’s tech community. These efforts were coupled with unconscious bias trainings targeted at C-Level management.

Taylorsville, Utah, Us

Utahns Against Hunger: Managed statewide outreach program for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment within rural and minority communities with highest poverty rates across the state. Launched a statewide educational social campaign educating constituents about SNAP benefits & Healthcare Reform highlighting stories of those experiencing hunger and extreme poverty across the state to supplement anti-poverty lobbying effortsCoordinated more than 50 corporate trainings across sectors (nonprofit and government agencies) on anti-poverty legislation, anti-hunger policy and healthcare reform’s direct impact on minority communities, as well as the enrollment process for SNAP and other food assistance programs.Fourth Street Clinic:Led company-wide enrollment outreach and in-reach efforts to provide quality health insurance to uninsured populations below the 200% Federal Poverty Level in Salt Lake County. Managed patient claims for company’s qualitative improvement.Key Contributions:• Improved clinic revenue by 20% due to substantial healthcare enrollment efforts such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security enrollment, which increased up to 300%• Created regulatory procedures to keep company up to date with HIPPA standards• Developed and Implemented an enrollment workflow dashboard for Epic systemAwarded Certificate of Excellence for Healthcare Education and Enrollment, and Medicaid Advocacy.

Field Organizer/ Research InternDuties:• Assisted in Data System ( NGP VAN) maintenance• Led team of 7 direct reports, for canvass, data analysis and phone banking structural support• Developed campaign sites & marketing proposals, using VAN data analysis to secure district sponsorship on statewide agendaAccomplishments:• Developed and drafted efficient neighborhood-level field plans and lobbying proposals using STATA, MS Access• Improved voter outcome and congressional lobbying rates by 9% through community outreach initiativesIncreased voter outreach and community involvement in a congressional district focusing on women's rights and immigration reform.

Bachelor’S Degree, Political Science And Government

Diversity And Inclusion Program