Simple X, a networking and community group for Black professionals is gearing up for its second major event of the year. It’s a half-day summit, Navigating the Workplace, that will be the launch of the group’s new job board.
In conjunction with the new job resource, the group is holding a job fair and space is still available for companies looking to connect with the group’s audience.
The Nov. 18 event is free and registration is online. Companies interested in participating in the job fair can contact organizers at contact@simplex.work.
The group started in 2018 as a way to provide space for Black professionals to find community, said founders Yoseph Ukbazghi and Wilson Kubwayo. Both noted that they found themselves, often, in spaces that weren’t designed for Black professionals. The duo started events, which took off, and the organization has grown from there.
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“We started hosting events and (building) the ecosystem made sense to allow us to create different components to serve our audience and give companies opportunities to engage with the community,” said Ukbazghi.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic the group’s events would draw up to 250 people. Since the pandemic they have shifted virtual and held some smaller workshops. For the free half-day summit they expect about 500 people to register and then dip in and out of the two sessions.
The opening session is discussing Black Leadership in the New Economy and the panel consists of Monique Clairborne, CEO of Greater Portland Inc.; K. Wyking Garrett, president and CEO of Seattle’s Africatown Community Land Trust; and Deena Pierott, founder of iUrban Teen.
The second session is Navigating Spaces of Power and features a panel of Mele Miller, chief operating officer of Seattle Credit Union; Ronnie Wright, vice president of Nike Kids; and Chabre Vickers, vice president and community development officer at Wells Fargo.
The event sponsors include AutoDesk, Boly:Welch and Seattle Credit Union.
Simple X has used the last year to research and redesign its model, said Kubwayo. Networking and events are still at the heart but the group has developed a series of online training sessions in areas like salary negotiation and building venture capital. The job board is the newest piece and is meant to be a place where companies can intentionally seek out Black professionals.
They will also partner with companies for longer term engagements and related events to help companies start the outreach that can then lead to the community connections outlined in many equity and inclusion statements.
“(Companies) want to engage but you can’t talk to someone you don’t know,” said Kubwayo.
Kubwayo and Ukbazghi both have day jobs, but eventually would like to work on Simple X full time. The group has also expanded to a team of four now. The work is seeing results, Kubwayo said. Anecdotally they know of attendees who have landed jobs as a result of networking events and of people who have found community after moving to Portland.
Creating community and holding space for Black professionals to learn from each other and support one another is central to Simple X. This has come into sharp focus in the last year as the pandemic hit communities of color hard and then the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
“A lot of people reached out to talk about George Floyd outside of work,” said Ukbazghi, adding that many Black professionals were feeling an unwritten responsibility to educate their co-workers or were being seen as racial justice subject matter experts even if they weren’t.
“It’s tiring,” said Kubwayo. “This space was more, ‘how can I learn,’ ‘what should I do,’ ‘what are others doing,’ ‘how are you going about it,’ ‘how to take care of ourselves,’ and having the conversation and holding the space.”
The duo said these intimate conversations are always part of the events although the format may change depending on the event. Ukbazghi noted that the platform will always shed light on how to navigate places of power and feature leaders sharing their insights so that others may reach leadership positions as well.
