{"id":527,"date":"2021-10-28T08:57:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/?p=527"},"modified":"2022-09-06T12:29:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T19:29:43","slug":"afrozillians-a-resource-group-for-black-mozillians-and-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/afrozillians-a-resource-group-for-black-mozillians-and-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"Afrozillians, a resource group for Black Mozillians and allies"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s <\/i>our mission<\/i><\/a> at Mozilla to build an internet that includes everyone, regardless of demographics and opportunities, and we\u2019re building our team the same way. We believe our growing list of Mozilla Resource Groups (MRGs)\u2014Afrozillians, Disability@Mozilla, Pridezilla, Latin Pride, Mozilla API, and Women of Mozilla\u2014are critical to our success.<\/i><\/p>\n

We also believe that the best way to understand these groups is through the people in them. Below, Mozilla Channel Marketing Manager Tina Rattliff shares her experience as an Afrozillian\u2014and her hopes for the future of the group.<\/i><\/p>\n

Tell us why you joined Afrozillians. What does being a member mean to you?<\/b><\/p>\n

To me, it\u2019s a safe space for people to gather and celebrate the African diaspora\u2014and to share our experiences honestly and openly. I haven\u2019t participated in groups like this much in my career; either they weren’t available to me, or I didn\u2019t see the benefit. I tend to be a bit of a lone wolf. But I joined the Afrozillians Slack channel when I came to Mozilla, and I thought getting involved with the MRG would be an opportunity to learn.\"Tina\"<\/i><\/p>\n

The group has shown up as a support system for me, too, in ways I didn\u2019t necessarily expect. There were times, especially before the events of 2020, that I would almost forget I\u2019m Afro-anything. But hearing the stories of other members has helped me recognize and process some of my own experiences. I\u2019ve had interactions at other companies that I didn\u2019t feel great about\u2014like someone assuming I was part of the Customer Service team, where many of my fellow employees of color worked, when I actually worked in product marketing and sent email communications. I mostly listen to other Afrozillians, rather than actively bringing up topics myself. But being a part of this group has challenged me to not just carry things on my own or pretend they don\u2019t exist, and to show up more fully as an advocate myself.<\/p>\n

What kinds of activities have you been part of?<\/b><\/p>\n

We have game sessions, which I love. One we played recently was Among Us, which is like an online version of Werewolf or Mafia, and we\u2019ve done things like word association, too. It\u2019s a fun way to build community, especially when everyone\u2019s remote\u2014which half of Mozilla was even before COVID-19.<\/p>\n

We also do monthly Zoom chats, which are very free-form. We\u2019ll go around and introduce ourselves and welcome the new people who have joined\u2014then we talk about whatever we want, whether that\u2019s traveling or kids or sharing stories from past All-Company meetings. We had one recently where we talked about food, and how even dishes with the same name can be so different in Senegal versus Nigeria versus The Gambia. It\u2019s also a good way to learn more about what people on different teams are doing\u2014as well as at the Mozilla Foundation<\/a>, because some of their employees are part of the group.<\/p>\n

For Black History Month, we also had a few special events<\/a> like cooking classes and a panel called \u201cNot Another Black History Month,\u201d plus we curated a Spotify playlist to share with the team.<\/p>\n

Beyond events, the Slack channel keeps us connected. Sometimes we talk about Mozilla specifically\u2014the other day someone posted about how much they appreciated some recent updates to the company harassment and discrimination training. Sometimes it\u2019s just sharing relevant news or podcasts. But it\u2019s not just about D&I; people share wins, announce new additions to their families, post photos from the first day of school. We trade recipes and restaurant recommendations. It\u2019s not very formal, and I think that\u2019s refreshing. It\u2019s important to discuss things like mentorship and growing the pipeline of candidates from diverse backgrounds, too, but those aren\u2019t the only topics on our minds.<\/p>\n

How does the company support diversity and inclusion?<\/b><\/p>\n

A lot of it is just accountability. At every all-company meeting, our leaders share the D&I goals we\u2019ve set and give updates on how we\u2019re doing so far. We\u2019re also supported 100% in terms of the time we need to participate in MRGs, which I really appreciate. I feel like it\u2019s important to prioritize these conversations, rather than just squeezing them in on top of the rest of my workload. It\u2019s easy to be skeptical about initiatives like this\u2014every company talks about D&I, but in some cases it\u2019s just words. I think it\u2019s cool that Mozilla actually takes it seriously and puts resources behind it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Afrozillians? What are you excited about?<\/b><\/p>\n

We have a lot of new people joining, and I\u2019m excited to see the group grow. I\u2019d also love to have a logo and swag like T-shirts or stickers, to raise awareness. And we\u2019ve been talking about getting more involved with hiring\u2014improving our understanding of how the referral process works, for instance, and how we might be able to help make it better.<\/p>\n

For me personally, I\u2019m excited to connect more with college grads and other early-career folks, or even students who are just starting school. I think it\u2019s so important that we\u2019re partnering specifically with HBCUs; I studied computer science in college, and I know what a difference one internship can make for someone from an underrepresented background who might not have connections. It changed the trajectory of my career. I want to make opportunities like that more accessible and easier to navigate for the next generation.<\/p>\n

One of the things I love about working in technology is that it\u2019s limitless by nature, and I want to help make sure the people who work in this industry aren\u2019t limited either\u2014by assumptions about gender or race or anything else. Whatever you personally want to contribute to, whatever lights your fire\u2014that\u2019s what you should do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s our mission at Mozilla to build an internet that includes everyone, regardless of demographics and opportunities, and we\u2019re building our team the same way. We believe our growing list … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451122,318942,30710],"tags":[466911],"coauthors":[306191],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}