Powering Business Growth Through Education & Thought Leadership
AboveBoard is an executive platform that provides transparent access and opportunities to senior leadership. Natsha Mulla, Chief Marketing Officer, along with Taylor Stewart, Marketing Associate, sat down to discuss their 2023 visions to grow their community through education and insights.
1. What is your vision for AboveBoard as we look towards the future?
Taking it quarter by quarter is key for us as we build out goals and benchmarks. For us, it’s about building a community of business leaders that represent the underrepresented. As a startup, we’re still trying to figure out the best way to share what we have available and get people excited about joining the platform. We slowly but surely want to establish ourselves as thought leaders. When people think, “I want to hire a diverse executive,” we want the first thing on their mind to be AboveBoard.
2. What are some trends you’re keeping top of mind and how are you applying them to your 2023 strategy?
It’s about outreach and education. Whether you’re a company looking to hire or an executive searching for an opportunity, we want to bring people in, but also provide these people with insights. We’re prioritizing marketing in terms of growth, but also marketing through thought leadership. We haven’t done anything in person since the pandemic, so we would love to tap into new in-person opportunities.
3. How has your relationship with the Direct Agents team grown and developed over the partnership?
The Direct Agents team has come to know our community the way we do, so we don’t need to keep educating or explaining. They become familiar with how we’re looking to grow, who these people we’re trying to reach are, and how to best reach them. They’re always thinking of things that are not on our radar, which is extremely valuable. They’ve been so helpful pushing different ideas and strategies that we wouldn’t come up with until much later. We’re able to bounce ideas off of one another and get to a solution quicker and more efficiently.
4. Who is an industry leader or thought leader that you’re inspired by and why?
Mita Mallick who does Brown Table Talk – she’s a South Asian woman who hosts a round table talk podcast and provides great insights and content on what women of color are up against in the workplace. Morgan DeBaun – Not only is she one of few venture-backed black women, but she also created the Afrotech conference and constantly works to advise/inspire the next generation and create opportunities, especially for black people.
5. What is one piece of content or inspirational media that you would recommend sharing with others?
Last year in October, McKinsey came out with a “Women in the Workplace” study. It has insights and facts about how people in the workplace are growing and the headwinds women and specifically women of color face as they progress towards executive roles. Oftentimes, when we’re talking about why it’s important to have representation in these positions, everything feels very anecdotal. This study is not just about feelings, it’s about facts and statistics. It shows readers why we’re working towards these goals through tactical data.
6. What is something you’re working on that you’re excited about?
Season 2 of our podcast is launching soon. We’re moving away from repurposing our events and moving into interviews with thought leaders and executives in the space. The leadership is from other people in the space who have gone through similar experiences. That’s something we’ve found that works really well in terms of offering insights to people in the community either through data and information or through the experiences of other people.
