A balance between one’s interests and professional career is key to bridging the difference between getting by and succeeding, according to one Boston-based startup entrepreneur.
For Melissa James, a former Google employee and the current CEO of professional development platform The Tech Connection, balance has been a guiding force throughout her career.
James was recently nominated as a finalist for BostInno’s 2016 “50 on Fire,” an annual awards ceremony that recognizes “inventors, disruptors, luminaries, and newsmakers” in Boston, according to BostInno’s website. The final awards will be announced on Dec. 7.
The Tech Connection and Black Tech Boston Meetup, another platform James founded in 2015, were recognized for professional service to the community, according to the finalist page. Other candidates for the position include law firms and real estate agencies with services that are “essential to building the local businesses around Boston,” according to the page.
“Boston is a great place for you to build relationships,” James said. “If you know the right people, they’ll be willing to open the door for you.”
James, a self-proclaimed addict of professional development books, said she reads stories about successful people in her free time to find the unique, specific steps they took in life that set them apart.
“Everyone wants to be successful,” she said, “but no one knows how to get there.”
James argues that it’s important to follow one’s curiosities and opportunities outside of a typical day job — and that it’s equally important for employers to facilitate curiosity and open expression at their companies.
“We’re moving from a place where employers are asked to just be quiet all the time to where they don’t want them to be quiet,” James said. “Any time I see my team members being quiet, I get nervous. I always want to hear their suggestions and talk through it because we all think differently.”
In her case, James was interested in human resources and learning more about learning, development and talent acquisition in business.
To explore these interests, she hosted leadership development workshops with the Young Black Women’s Society.
Pursuing interests outside of her regular job became a touchstone when she interviewed to work at Google. As she became more concerned with diversity problems in technology and business, she followed her instinct and left Google to form The Tech Connection.
The recruitment platform focuses on connecting businesses with “untapped technical talent,” according to its website.
“Diversity was always an issue I was concerned about, because I’m first in my family to go to college, first in my family to ever work at a Fortune 500 company and I just remember my parents working two jobs,” James said. “What I had to learn as I got older is that job opportunities affect your lifestyle.”
She observed her parents and extended family develop informal professional networks — friends of friends who knew jobs and knew places where new immigrants could stay — to help one another get a leg up and begin their lives in the United States.
“I always wanted to be the person who knew [about] a job,” James said. “That’s why I formed The Tech Connection. I was really thinking about my family and the sacrifices that they made.”
James began the Black Tech Boston meetup to find other people in the community who were interested in technology and business, but that she felt were underrepresented. The first meeting was held in May 2015, at Google’s Cambridge offices.
“I was part of the 1 percent working at Google,” James said. “I was very curious to see if there are other people who are interested in tech but I just don’t see every day that look like me.”
Today, Black Tech Boston holds meetups with different businesses around the Boston area. Black Tech Boston’s support system is open to people of all ages.
“I remember seeing an 8-year-old boy [at the first meeting], and he was walking around with his mom going on a tour of Google and he said ‘I want to work here when I grow up!’” James said. “That’s exactly the kind of impact we want to have.”
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