Shaniqua Davis was tired of not landing jobs she felt qualified for/ So she woke up one day and decided to do something about it. She founded Noirefy, a platform that helps match diverse tech talent with companies interested in finding those resources. The platform is free for job seekers, and revenue for the company comes in the form of finders’ fees. Revenue also comes in the form of coaching and consulting with companies to foster more diverse and inclusive workplaces, so that they become a more attractive workplace to hire and retain that talent.
Shaniqua joins The Savvy Entrepreneur to share the story of how she founded the company, some of the challenges of mostly bootstrapping a startup, and dealing with the sensitive issues surrounding diversity and inclusion. It’s an inspiring story, showing how people like Shaniqua are helping our world change and improve, one step at a time.
What follows is a transcript of the show. Or, if you prefer to listen to Noirefy and Shaniqua’s inspiring story, go here for the podcast version.
Doris Nagel 0:42
Hello, and welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur show! We’re broadcasting here from the Greater Chicago Milwaukee area.
If you’re an entrepreneur, or small business person, or thinking about becoming one, this show is for you.
I’m Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour. I’m a crazy entrepreneur, and I love helping other entrepreneurs. I’ve counseled lots of startups and small businesses over the past 30 years. And I’ve also helped start or started myself at least nine different businesses, candidly with varying degrees of success.
The show has two goals: to share helpful information and resources, and to inspire to make your journey as an entrepreneur faster and easier, maybe just a little bit more fun.
To help with that. I have guests on the show every week who are willing to share their stories and their advice.
This week’s guest is Shaniqua Davis, the founder and CEO of Noirefy, based in Chicago. She launched Noirefy in 2006, which is a digital platform that connects diverse talent to jobs at top startups and other companies. So if you’re interested in working for a startup, listen up!
Noirefy’s goal is to increase diversity at corporations by connecting individuals from underrepresented backgrounds through the power of referrals. Shaniqua’s desire to see entrepreneurs achieve exponential success in their careers and their businesses is the driving force, she says, behind everything she does. She’s a first-class consultant and brings a unique understanding of clients’ strengths and weaknesses.
Prior to founding Noirefy, she held several positions in digital marketing, marketing. She holds a degree from Michigan State University in Media and Information Technology.
She has been featured in several national magazines, including Marie Claire, INC magazine, Refinery 29, the Chicago Tribune, Cranes, and Forbes, just to mention a few, as well as being featured on several radio station shows including WGN. She’s the recipient of more awards than I can possibly go through, including We Work Young Innovators, and 2017, Midwest Women Tech Founders Talent Development Leader in 2017 and a 2018 Chicago Startup to Watch. Wow. There’s a much longer list, trust me.
Shaniqua, welcome to the show. Thanks for being on the savvy entrepreneur this week.
Shaniqua Davis 3:32
Thank you so much for having me. And thank you so much for going through that list. I know it was pretty long, but I appreciate it! I’m excited to be here.
Doris Nagel 3:41
I am excited to have you. Tell us a little bit more about your business. What does Noirefy do?
Shaniqua Davis 3:49
Here at Noirefy, we work as a diversity recruitment partner, to make sure companies are finding great talent. But more importantly, we are making sure that they are setting their employer branding up as a diversity and culture leader.
We think that that is truly important to actively attract talent on an ongoing basis, along with developing an inclusive culture across the board. We’ve been partnering with organizations that are really small — they may be having their first few hires and they want to make sure they’re developing diversity and inclusion from the ground up. But we also have some really big clients, such as like Amazon, Warby Parker tour, Tory Burch, Google, WeWork, and a host of others who may have larger diversity and inclusion needs. What’s important to those companies is making sure that, even if they didn’t start with a strong and solid diversity pipeline, that they now have the resources in place to start developing and bringing in more diverse talent. And we come in as their partner to assist with that.
Doris Nagel 4:57
Why did you create this business? Why you and why this business?
Shaniqua Davis 5:04
I think I’ve always been an entrepreneur, and I guess I didn’t really understand that I was an entrepreneur until I was deep into entrepreneurship — like, whoa, I’m really doing this.
Noirefy came to be started when I moved to Chicago six years ago. I was having a really, really hard time finding the job that I felt was a good fit for me professionally. A lot of the roles or opportunities that I was really excited about, or that I felt that I was really qualified for it. I just wasn’t getting. I wasn’t getting access to those roles, as some of my counterparts, or the other people around me were. I didn’t really understand why that was. I have these internships and I have this experience, and I have these connections, why? Why am I not landing these roles?
And then outside of that, if I did land a job, I found myself consistently working for companies with environments where I did not necessarily feel welcomed. The welcoming phase of joining this company wore off very, very quickly. Once I was inside of the organization, I quickly found that there were not very many people like me inside of the organization. So I didn’t have people that I could connect with, or talk to, or share experiences, or just feel comfortable being myself.
So I started evaluating my networks, and I just started having conversations with people asking them, “Hey, you know, what’s your experience?” “Are you going through this, or have seen this, too?” “Have you find any really good opportunities?”
From those connections and conversations, I found out was that there was a large group of people like myself, who were continuously experiencing these things. And at the time, in 2016, there were not very many resources to help us get over these barriers.
So I decided to create Noirefy. And the next day, I went out and I started telling everybody I was the founder and CEO of this company called Noirefy. I did not know what it did just yet, but here I am today.
Doris Nagel 7:36
Good for you! In my experience, having worked both for both big companies and with small companies, there certainly is a glaring need. You don’t have to look at much data. And I’m not just talking about underrepresented people. I think a lot of companies do a terrible job with engagement in general. You can look at studies of employee engagement, and the numbers are not very good.
As a woman, I suspect that many times opportunities were not given to me, or maybe somehow I was viewed being not as credible, but there’s certainly a need out there. No doubt about it.
Talk a little bit more about the nuts and bolts of what you do. If I’m a woman looking for a job in tech, how does Noirefy help me? And how would I engage with Noirefy?
Shaniqua Davis 8:22
We specifically work with our talent to create overall talent profiles, highlighting who you are, your past, accomplishments, and the type of roles that you’re looking for. You can narrow in specifically on the type of organizations that you would like to work for. That could be a startup, that could be a high growth company, that could be companies who have fully invested into diversity, or they’re figuring that out.
I think the beauty behind our system is that you basically put yourself in the driver’s seat to say “This is specifically the direction that I’m going in,” and companies are then jumping on board onto your train to say, “This is a person that I want to connect with.”
Also, our talent is getting front row visibility from these corporations. Companies now more than ever are recognizing that they cannot sit, be they cannot sit on or not address these diversity needs. They’re really actively trying to find talent. I would say right now talent is a hot commodity, specifically diverse talent. So, the people that do enter into our pipeline are getting prime exposure to these great companies who are actively working on investing in their diversity and inclusion every day.
And we make sure that all of the partners that we work with are vetted. We want to make sure that they’re not just trying to check a box. So, what that looks like is they are actively investing in diversity and inclusion on an ongoing basis. They are not looking to just post a 30 day job posting and get it out there and see who bites the bait. We don’t want that. We want to craft authentic and organic, engaging relationships.
So the talent who enter our pipeline, that’s what you get. You’ll be able to create your profiles, connect with these great companies and, hopefully find a position that will lead to your overall advancement professionally, whatever that is for you.
Doris Nagel 10:19
So if I put on a profile on Noirefy do I pay a fee to do that? Or what’s your revenue and business model?
Shaniqua Davis 10:29
It is free for all candidates and professionals to join our network and database. Again, we work to make sure that the candidates have the best exposure possible. And we don’t think there’s a fee that should come with that.
Now, for employers, it’s a pay to play. I don’t mean to say it like that. But essentially, we want to make sure that you [employers] are putting your investment behind what you all are truly saying is important to your organization. So the companies are investing not only in our talent pipeline, but they’re also investing in our resources that will help their overall employer branding, their diversity and inclusion goals, making sure that they have consistent visit visibility with a diverse pipeline on an ongoing basis. And through that we’re able to reach more candidates, extend our marketing efforts and find new pipelines to make sure that they are consistently connected with the equitable talent that exists in the workplace.
Doris Nagel 11:0824
Is your talent pool local, regional or global? Is it primarily serving the Midwest, or really anywhere?
Shaniqua Davis 11:34
We serve talent anywhere, but primarily, we are national with an ongoing global or international outreach — inbound reach, I should say. We have recently seen a large number of candidates from the Canadian and specifically Toronto market, from the UK, and also some African countries that are interested in joining our talent pipeline. While we are trying to figure out how to integrate the international candidates into our network, our largest network right now is our national candidate database.
Those candidates can be located in the Midwest in New York, DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, California. And then you’ll also find some candidates from those small pockets around the country, and they’re looking to maybe relocate or find a company that will accommodate them as they work from home in their local environment.
Doris Nagel 12:29
You know, it’s interesting, I have had a number of startups from the Midwest on the show. And one comment that they’ve made is that there seems to be a tech talent shortage in the Midwest. Do you think that’s true?
Shaniqua Davis 12:46
I don’t see that. I think that the Midwest actually has a large number of tech talented professionals, just because in this area, there’s such a large number of colleges with like Michigan State, my college; we have the University of Michigan, UIC, U of I, IIT, and you have schools in Milwaukee. There’s a large number of talented professionals.
I think where we are finding the differences is that the talent that does come from the Midwest is often relocating. So it’s not that the talent isn’t being developed here, or that it doesn’t exist, it’s that they’re being pulled to the New Yorks or the coasts, like San Francisco. And those are tech-based cities. So I think that it’s not that we don’t have the talent. I think the Midwest will have to do a better job of developing a reputation of becoming a tech driven city.
Doris Nagel 13:45
Yeah, it’s tough. One of the venture capitalist guests that I had on my show a couple of weeks ago shared some pretty astounding numbers of how little venture capital flows into the Midwest, as compared to, for example, Silicon Valley. and, to a lesser extent, maybe places like Boston or New York. Do you see that changing?
Shaniqua Davis 14:13
I don’t see it happening. From my own personal experience I haven’t had the best of luck connecting with VCs here in the Midwest. I generally think that here they are very… Well, I’ll just say it’s a very different market here when it comes to venture capital. And I think typically a lot of startups do want to go to the coast, because they have a lot more opportunity to raise the capital that for some reason is a lot harder to get access to here. I don’t know, I have mixed feelings about it. Or maybe my thing my feelings are, it’s just that if you know, when I do decide to raise capital, it won’t be here in the Midwest.
Doris Nagel 15:04
Interesting. What about diverse tech talent? Is there a shortage of diverse tech talent
Shaniqua Davis 15:11
In full transparency of being in the space for a few years, I will say that there is a smaller number of tech talent, specifically for diverse talent, compared to the majority. But that is because it’s a niche area. So now, not only are we trying to narrow in on a specific group that’s already underrepresented, we’re now asking to try to find talent within that group that is underrepresented inside of the underrepresented groups. So it gets starts to get extremely complicated.
And I think that what it does present is that the talent that that does exist, it’s really competitive. These professionals are working their butts off, they’re being educated at some of the best schools. So, you know, it’s really a game for the employer. If you want to find this talent, it’s not just going to fall in your lap. You’re going to have to make sure that you are really setting up environments where future employees want to work for you. Why would they want to leave this one company that they found that is meeting their needs? And why should they come work for you?
And that really comes down to the employer branding, internal development piece, because it’s really just a game about who can get the best talent on an ongoing basis. So better matter? I would say it’s a matter of quality over quantity, for sure.
Doris Nagel 16:36
Do you think we do a good job of developing diverse tech talent here in the Midwest? Or the things we could do better at?
Shaniqua Davis 16:45
I think that we could definitely do better. I think that there with the new implementation of diversity programs at organizations, and also with diversity first programs that a lot of the colleges across the Midwest, I do think we are starting to create foundations where diverse tech talent can be successful.
And I think that it’s going to have to start at the high school to early college levels to let people know that these are areas of interest that corporations are highly seeking. I think that some employers that I know of specifically like PwC have done a good job. And I think I recently saw that Google has implemented a program where they are developing internal training programs that provide certifications for future professionals.
I think if more employers want to develop internal pipeline programs, implementing different training programs like that not only allow them to cultivate their own pipeline, but they also are training the pipeline that they eventually want to enter their workforce. So I think that we definitely have a good foundation, but the more we see invested into actually training future talent, I think that we’ll see a larger outcome in the long run.
Doris Nagel 18:00
It’s interesting. My daughter is a senior in statistics at the University of Illinois, and she’s commented more than a few times that she is one of the few women in the department — still today. It just boggles my mind. But you talk to groups like Women in Engineering, for example, which is a big group down at U of I, and they’re very convinced that it does start at a very early age. You have to help young bright students understand that they can do this, they can they be this, they can do the things they dream of and not be discouraged from pursuing those, right?
Shaniqua Davis 18:47
For sure. I also think it’s a matter of shifting the narrative about around what it takes to be an engineer. When we think about the typical engineer, we think of a guy in sweatshirts behind a computer sitting there all day bored and not doing anything. At the same time, young girls are trained from the very beginning to look at things like fashion and beauty and, you know, cheerleading.
If we start implementing ideas that you could like fashion, and you can also develop a website that caters to fashion — that’s technology. It’s just shifting the idea of how we are approaching the idea of what technology is and technology development to actually make it a desirable workforce.
I do agree with your daughter. I had a computer science focus in my Media Information and Technology degree, and they were very, very few women in my classes. And there were also very, very few minorities in that class.
And it wasn’t that they didn’t have the same opportunities as me. We all got the same opportunity to choose our majors. It was just more that the idea of technology had not become desirable until now. And a lot of professionals or professionals are already in their careers.
Doris Nagel 20:10
Absolutely. So, how do you convince tech talent to, to stay home? or convince them to relocate? Do you see more of one than the other?
Shaniqua Davis 20:22
I think that nobody wants to work in a traditional work environment anymore. Post-COVID, surveys consistently show that people do not want to go back to an office, but people do like the option or ability to go into the office, if they choose to. They just don’t want to be forced to. One other important thing is that I’ve had a lot of conversations, and just generally looking at trends, where I’ve heard people say that they will literally quit their jobs if their offices or their employers require them to go into the office.
We’ve moved into an environment, and I’m not shocked at this environment, because at the end of the day, like people like flexibility. And I think that people feel like they have more mobility to develop personally and professionally. And there’s no reason why they can’t contribute towards all of these projects and overall work goals from the comfort of wherever I want to be.
So I think that if companies really want to make sure they’re attracting the best talent, they’re going to have to get on board with being able to accommodate a flexible workforce. Because even some of the larger companies are now implementing policies where they’re not going to force their employers to return to the office. How do you compete against a company who now say, you know what, we don’t need people to come back into the office, that’s actually a policy, we’re getting rid of. And now you’re saying you have to come into this office and sit here and interact with us in this way? I think employers are just gonna have to adjust kind of the expectations to meet that really competitive workforce.
Doris Nagel 22:09
Having worked for several big companies, there were parts that were rewarding, but the corporate office — and I’m not speaking of some of these new startups where every day is something new and it’s just so interactive. You’re lucky if you work for one of those. But in bigger companies, the office has become just this inhuman, almost humiliating, mind-numbing place, where people try to outdo each other putting time in the office and the need to look busy. I think there’s an increasing sense of that as really almost demeaning to the human spirit.
There’s a need for the office to really be reimagined. Now there’s a business opportunity out there, for those of you who are creative — helping create the Office of the Future.
Shaniqua Davis 23:12
I definitely agree with that. I think that whoever can figure that out, they’ll have the next billion-dollar idea. I don’t know what that looks like. But I know people want the flexibility of not being forced to go into an office, but they also want to have the option to go into an office if that exists. I think companies are just gonna have to stay current with the trends of what’s going on for candidates. And I know the candidates that we specifically work with want freedom and flexibility.
Doris Nagel 23:38
You know, you touched on something early on, which is helping candidates make sure they feel like they fit, once they’ve been hired. What do companies need to do a better job with there?
Shaniqua Davis 23:57
I think companies need to make sure that they are doing is having action groups internally, that represent the people that want to have at their organization. That could be mentors. That could be employee resource groups. That could be honoring and recognizing the different cultural holidays or anything that could be beneficial to the people, or that could feel beneficial to the people in your organization.
I think companies need to recognize those differences, as much as they recognize the things that people generally are accepting as a whole as the natural or the normal majority. So, I guess the answer that question is just making sure that they have the right resources in place to support diverse talent on an ongoing basis. And that’s really going to come from interviewing them and making sure they are in tune with how their current employees feel.
Doris Nagel 24:53
In some companies, it’s almost like a chicken and the egg problem. My brother in law is a very senior exec at one of the big healthcare companies. And he’s commented that they just don’t seem to be able to attract diverse talent. He says the problem that the talent they try to hire says, “There’s nobody here who looks like or sounds like me, or thinks like I do.”
So, where do you start? If there’s nobody who looks like you, you don’t want to go be the one who sticks out like a sore thumb. But it has to start somewhere, so how do you overcome that?
Shaniqua Davis 25:32
I think it starts with planting seeds in different communities. I do think it’s important to have people there that look like you because it’s just really uncomfortable for you to be the only person that looks like your identity. Because you then become the face of that entire identity, you also take on the burden of having to be responsible for making sure everybody else in the organization understands that, you know, that identity.
And that that is a lot. I don’t think a lot of people consider that sometimes diverse professionals are entering these organizations, and because they are the only person that kind of represents this different identity, they then take on two roles — two different job responsibilities, where they instantly become the leader or manager of diversity, but they also still have their full time job. And it’s a lot to deal with.
I think the way that companies can get around kind of just that singular focus on how do we start to shift the dynamic. And the way is starting to plant seeds in different communities where they want to grow. That could be making sure they are on the list for virtual diverse career fairs, that could be attending virtual conferences.
I wish life was normal, so we could all network and mingle and be connected to each other that way. But it’s really about making sure they have someone available to consistently tap into these different communities. Because what happens specifically in the black community, what I’ve noticed is that, when we hear about a company that does a really, really good job of investing into diversity, everybody all of a sudden wants to work for that diversity company.
So it’s all about positioning and making sure that you are doing everything you can to be found by these diverse professionals. Because once they start talking about you and spreading all this good news about you, and they say, “I heard this company was doing this, and I heard this company was doing that,” everybody wants to work for you.
And then that trajectory shifts from, “Oh, you know, nobody wants to work for us,” to “Everybody wants to work for us, we have a solid pipeline and diverse talent, we now have diversity metrics in place to support this talent that’s coming into our network, we have recruiters in place that are helping us eliminate bias, because they come from different backgrounds, and we have a solid interview process in place to make sure that people feel supported in the interview process. I know, that was a lot. But I think that’s important.
Doris Nagel 28:02
I absolutely agree with you. And I think if done right, a more diverse workplace is a lot more fun place to work. I say that because I spent a lot of years working in the global business units of big companies. And I liked it, because every day was just so much fun — hearing people from all over the world telling about what was important in their neighborhood and their community and, and what they cared about. And the get togethers were just the most fun, most engaging liveliest kind of conversations you can imagine. I know diversity means different things to different people, obviously. But for me, that layer of diversity was just was so stimulating. And so much fun. I would wish that on everybody.
Shaniqua Davis 29:09
Absolutely. And I think that another way to approach how fun diversity and inclusion can be is to think about traveling. Think about when you experience different countries. You’re basically diving right into different cultures and experiences. And it doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything different than being yourself. But what it allows you to do is to really fully understand people’s backgrounds, the different things that consume them and make them happy or contribute to their overall success. That’s what you do when you visit different countries on a consistent basis.
I think we can find a way to replicate that experience in the office by accepting and diving into different cultures that way in the office space, whether that be virtually or in person. I think that’s a great way to look at diversity.
Doris Nagel 30:00
I totally agree. So we’ve been talking a lot about what Noirefy does and how you find diverse tech talent and help them find places that are good fits for them as well as helping companies change to be better fits for diverse tech talent.
I want to go back to your business itself, though. How did you how did you find funding? You said you woke up one day and started telling all your friends that you have a startup company. How did you take the next steps?
Shaniqua Davis 30:59
Honestly, my journey has been bootstrapped 90% of the way. I’ve been running Noirefy for the last four years. We were able to raise capital — just a small amount of capital — in 2018. And we have not raised since.
All of our funding has been run off of internal investments. So that was probably me picking up side jobs, telling people, “Hey, I’m trying to fund my business,” or finding a way to make resources. So, instead of hiring a developer for this, I’m going to build it myself. Or instead of hiring a marketing team, because I don’t have the budget for that, let me see if I can craft a message myself initially, just get the name out there, see the product response rate and customer interest. I did all of that on my own.
Then when I was able to raise capital in 2018, I used that to invest in bringing on a team to help support me. So today, I have about four employees who assist in different areas, from account management, to sales and marketing, to financing. All of those people have contributed to the growth of the company in some way. And, honestly, what keeps the company afloat is the revenue that we bring in from our customers.
We are finding different ways to meet our customers’ needs and transforming our services based on the resources that we have available to us, so we’ve been able to grow that way. It’s really just product development, bootstrapping, blood, sweat, and tears, and just really having faith in you know, this product.
Doris Nagel 32:40
So how did you find your first clients?
Shaniqua Davis 32:44
Oh, they found me! It was very, very weird. Today, 98% of our business comes from inbound leads. We don’t do any outbound leads. We’ve always had a pretty solid pipeline of interest from companies wanting to work with us, which is obviously a good thing. And it is also, I would say, without a doubt one of the biggest factors of why I’ve continued to run the business for so long.
Because the diversity and inclusion space is such a hard space to work in, you know. It’s ever-changing. There’s so many different obstacles or angles that you need to take to accommodate the space. So when you’re working in a that market, six months from now, people may completely think about diversity and inclusion differently than they thought about it six months ago. So, when you go through all those changes and you still consistently have a solid number of people who are interested in your services and your story, that is motivation to keep going.
Doris Nagel 33:54
That’s a wonderful luxury to have. I don’t think many businesses — certainly not startups — can say that. Are there clients that have approached you where you just say, “You’re just not a good match for us and our candidates?”
Shaniqua Davis 34:12
Oh, yes, absolutely. It’s not that we want to say anything bad about the organization, it’s just more so that there are very specific ways to identify companies who just want to check a box off — who don’t actually care about overall goals or outcomes of diversity and inclusion. And those aren’t the companies we want to work with. Because the candidates are interacting with them and they do get excited about these companies. And if they come to our platform, and they have the same experience that they have on Indeed or LinkedIn, and they’re not getting responses, or they’re not getting interviewed, or not getting hired, then there’s no benefit of working with these companies.
We want to connect them with companies that are valuing their time, their resources, their expertise. So, we like to have thorough conversations with our companies about what their long term goals are. And if they tell us that this is something they want to continue to work on an ongoing basis, whether it be with us or just in general from an internal standpoint, those are the companies that we want to work with.
Doris Nagel 35:20
I’m intrigued. I’m just trying to envision one of these conversations. And this might be helpful for people listening who are interviewing for jobs with companies, whether or not they use your services. What are some of the telltale signs that a company isn’t really serious about hiring diverse or promoting diverse talent?
Shaniqua Davis 35:43
I think in the screening process that it just comes down to a few questions that we can ask very directly, like, “Hey, tell us about your diversity inclusion goals?” And if they respond, “Oh, we don’t have any. We just want to post this job.”
“Oh, really? So you just want to post a job? Well, is there a reason why you want to post this job here?” And they might respond, “Oh, because we just want to give it a shot and see what happens.” And we’ll push back: “Okay. Do you have any other diversity and inclusion goals that you think would be beneficial that help change your outcome from this platform versus another platform?” And we get responses like, “Oh, we’re just looking up stuff right now, “ or “We don’t really have a plan.”
You know, you don’t have to have it all figured out. But you should at least come to the table with an idea of the type of approach you want to have to recruiting, if you want to use our platform. Yeah, it’s very,
Doris Nagel 36:43
I’m astounded. I guess I’m used to more traditional corporate America. I’m amazed there are companies that would not even give it the “college try” to come up with something that passes the smile test. In big corporate America, I think things are a lot less transparent. They’ll say all the right things, but what they do is totally different.
Shaniqua Davis 37:18
Yeah, without a doubt, and we get that as well. That was just more in the initial screening phase. But you can see very clearly companies who have good intentions, versus companies who are just throwing stuff at the wall. They say things like, “Oh, we heard diversity and inclusion was a “thing,” we’re gonna throw this at the wall to see if it’s really important.” Just no. Don’t waste our time. No, thank you, we’re not gonna move forward.
But then you also get the companies who maybe they had an idea about diversity and inclusion. And they do actually want — or they say they want — to invest in an on a long term basis. But then they start seeing candidates, and they turn down candidates because maybe they didn’t meet 98% of the things on the job description. Or they say they want somebody with eight years of experience in this in a role that has only been trending in the market for five years. [You see them come up with] different ways to screen people out of the process without actually interviewing these candidates and giving them the opportunity to see if they could potentially be a good fit for you.
Because what we do know in this market is that a lot of people traditionally that don’t come from diverse backgrounds only need to meet maybe 65 to 70% of the qualification to get an interview. But with non traditional candidates, the bar is often higher and they don’t get those same opportunities. So they’re being screened out of the hiring process a lot sooner.
Doris Nagel 38:51
Do you track statistics in terms of retention and promotion and things like that for some of your clients?
Shaniqua Davis 39:00
No, we don’t track. We don’t check retention or promotion, primarily because we are not a full service talent acquisition firm. In fact, I’ve tried to move away from the talent acquisition space, just because there are so many different things that play into these verticals.
I want to be on the side of the diversity and inclusion spectrum where I can tell the future candidates that I am working with that we’re finding ways to hold companies accountable by being able to measure their diversity efforts. That doesn’t necessarily come down to maybe measuring retention, but more how they are presenting themselves from a diversity and inclusion standpoint. What does their overall employer branding look like? How are they developing themselves internally and culturally. How can we share that information with you as candidates so you feel like you have all the information necessary to hire on with this company in this role, should you decide to move forward with them.
Doris Nagel 39:53
You’ve talked about how you found clients. What about candidates? How do they find you?
Shaniqua Davis 40:01
So this is an interesting space generally. In the past, we found a lot of our candidates from creating different events that we would host around the country. So we would host recruitment events with companies that we partner with in local cities. We would have them come into their offices and do tours. And we would get really personal with introductions and finding ways to make sure this talent is consistently exposed to these networks.
Beyond the in-person events, we also were really big on social media. I’ve been fortunate enough to get a lot of brand exposure in different media features. And generally, those branding and media features drive a lot of traffic and interest to our candidate pool. So we would see a lot of interest from candidates organically entering our market that way.
Now with COVID, we’ve obviously had to adjust a bit. Because the physical events being a big driver for us, we could definitely switch over to virtual events. But let’s be honest, people are virtually fatigued. That’s why even on my zoom invites, I ask people, “Do you want to connect with the camera on? Or do you want to connect with the camera off?” Just because I understand that no one wants to be digitally available available all the time, especially if you’ve been working all day. You may have been excited at the beginning of COVID about a virtual happy hour. But now, if you’ve been working all day, you kind of want to get off the computer, right?
So we’re finding different ways to engage with talent. And right now that’s really driven through our marketing efforts. So we’re using social media as a driver and making sure that we are consistently available in the places where our talent finds the most interesting right now.
Doris Nagel 41:53
What’s been the hardest thing, do you think, about starting your own business?
Shaniqua Davis 41:59
Well, there’s a few things. I think the hardest thing has been trying to develop such a complex business as a first-time entrepreneur. This is my first startup, this is my first business. I jumped straight out of corporate into this diversity and inclusion space that changes on an ongoing and consistent basis.
And being able to meet the demands of the changing market without raising capital is also extremely hard. I have to consistently be agile in how I stay competitive in this space. And, I want to make sure that we are offering great services to our clients. And that we’re also continuing to be a resource to candidates.
I think the way that we found a way to get around that is through team development. So I’m prioritizing that I’m hiring the right people to accommodate the company where we are now. As I always say, it’s very, very interesting that I’m always looking for the best talent for other companies. I need to make sure that I’m also internally applying those same principles to us as we’re developing, because we’re still a startup, we’re growing as well. So just having finding the right team to build out, and having capital to support our ongoing growth, and what else is complicated? Those are the biggest things, those are the biggest thing,
Doris Nagel 43:28
What’s been the best things about running your own business?
Shaniqua Davis 43:32
The best thing is the mission and why I’m doing it for. Like I mentioned earlier, being in a business where the desire and interest for your services never die. It’s kind of like I can’t stop doing this, because this is bigger than me and bigger than anything else that I’m working on.
People consistently need this on both sides of the market, whether it be companies who are trying to figure it out, or whether it be candidates who are trying to find great companies. The messaging that I get from companies that I work with, the support that I receive from candidates who truly value the service — you know, it’s really inspiring me to make sure that I’m just trying my hardest and doing the best that I can to accommodate and try to be a resource in the space.
I think another thing that’s exciting about it is — I will say the most exciting thing about it before COVID — was the flexibility of being able to work on my own terms to figure out the business. But I think a lot more companies are offering that flexibility for companies. I think a lot of people wanted to leave corporate America before COVID, because they didn’t like the responsibility of being tied down to an offices. But now because people can work from home, and they have a little more flexibility on how they navigate the workspace, I think people are basically essentially operating as entrepreneurs in their professional lives. So that same freedom and excitement that people got from that I get joy from being able to figure out what works for my schedule, and how I can accommodate that into my professional and corporate growth.
Doris Nagel 45:08
That’s an interesting segue to my next question: having been an employee and now starting and running your own business, what are the biggest differences? What were you well prepared for, and what were the things that you just were not prepared for, having been an employee before?
Shaniqua Davis 45:27
I think the biggest thing is not having structure and having to develop your own structure. You know, being an employee, you are essentially working at the whim of someone else’s time and someone else’s beliefs or business practices. You have to essentially find out how you can bring your expertise and your skills into this organization to benefit it, even though that may not necessarily benefit yourself as a whole. You’re contributing your skills to this company. And that is essentially it for that time being. And you can either stay there, or you can go to the next company, where you will kind of repeat that cycle.
I think when you separate yourself from becoming an employee, and become an entrepreneur, everything that you’re working on benefits yourself, it benefits your company. All those things are directly contributing towards your overall growth professionally, and also to the business that you are running.
And I do think you can definitely experience some benefits as an employee, but it’s nothing like closing an Amazon deal for X amount of money for your own company, as opposed to closing an Amazon contract for a company that you work for.
You eat what you kill. So on a consistent basis you’re trying to make sure that you are staying competitive, and that you’re benefiting yourself.
Doris Nagel 46:53
What kind of resources have you turned to and have you found useful in your journey so far as an entrepreneur?
Shaniqua Davis 47:03
I think the one of the biggest resources that I found, is speaking up and asking for people what I want. Telling people what I need, and telling people what is not working. That may not be a tangible resource, but it’s a very, very beneficial resource. Because from the very beginning, when that day I decided I was going to start Noirefy, I went out the next day and started telling people that I had started this company Noirefy. And I would say within two weeks of coming up with the idea, I already had interest from both candidates and from companies. And I had not even figured out what the company was, but I was just telling everybody, “Oh, this is what I do. And I have this company, and this is our goal and XYZ, and I need help with this –do you know anybody? Can you assist with this?”
The reason that I think communication is such a huge resource is because it led me to other things that were really beneficial to my growth. I participated in accelerators. I’ve been a part of business mentorship ship groups, where I had the opportunity to shadow other entrepreneurs or shadow professionals who were willing to give me their time and their resources and to exchange ideas. And I was also willing to share my experience with them.
Another thing that was really good for me and my growth — before COVID — was consistently staying on top of trends and attending as many events and being as visible as possible. One thing as an entrepreneur, I would say, is that if you want to stay on top of your game or be noticed in the market, make sure that people can see you and that they know what you’re doing. That they know what you’re working on.
And if you have the ability to develop media connections and have someone tell your story — like participating in great podcasts like this — I think that it’s a great opportunity to just share your message with people and get people familiar with who you are and what you’re trying to do. And I think that naturally the more people that really feel like they can connect with you in an authentic way, you’ll attract more of those connections.
Doris Nagel 49:12
What do you do when you hit rough patches? Where do you find inspiration?
Shaniqua Davis 49:18
I find inspiration by taking a break. I am a strong believer in work life balance. And if I need if I find myself overwhelmed, I will, you know, do what I need to do to say, you know what, right now I just need to timeout I need to reset. And I need to, I’ll come back to this. So I do a very, very good job with that. And then also, in those moments, when I’m resting, I like to brainstorm on what needs to be done to advance and move forward. So I think that works really, really well for me, and also some of the people that I work with as well.
Doris Nagel 49:55
What will Noirefy look like in, say, three years?
Shaniqua Davis 50:00
In three years, I’m hoping that we will be the go-to resource for all things related to diversity and inclusion at organizations. I want to make sure that we have a consistent pipeline of companies who are really investing in diversity and showcasing culture. I want it to become a space where companies who are looking for best advice on what companies are doing really well, and that they can use our platform to see how other companies are performing, how they’re attracting talent, how they’re bringing these professionals into their network as they continue to switch and change their narratives and be invested more into their diversity and inclusion branding.
I think we’ll see a more consistent pipeline of candidates naturally entering these organizations, which will directly shift the landscape of how diversity and inclusion looks like at work in the workplace. And I think with that, I also want to change the narrative that diversity doesn’t just have to involve technology. Because I think that over the last few years, a lot of people only focus on diversity and tech diversity and diversity in tech.
And while diversity in tech is a huge, huge area that needs to be focused on, there are so many other professional areas where we need to increase diversity. I want everybody to feel comfortable, regardless of what role or industry that they are interested in going in, that they’ll be able to find a company that they can work with and get insights on through more fun.
Doris Nagel 51:29
Ambitious but, but meaningful stuff you’re talking about.
Looking back over the past four years, what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who are just starting out?
Shaniqua Davis 51:43
I would say, to make sure that you find a company that you actually, truly love, or a mission that you actually, truly love and that you care about. Because when things get hard, and things get difficult, you’re going to have to have things to lean in on and it’s going to have to be bigger than you and how you’re feeling at that moment.
I think if you can find something that is an innovative idea, and it is extremely meaningful to yourself, or you know, something greater in this world, I think that you’ll be pretty set up for success either way, because you’re going to learn from it, you’re going to grow, and you’ll have the tools in place to make your company take off the way it needs to.
Doris Nagel 52:28
Well, there’s no question that doing something that you’re passionate about helps a lot in terms of just knowing that your days and your time and efforts have meaning. That matters a lot to a lot of us.
Before I let you go, how should people reach you or connect with Noirefy, if they’re interested in using your services, either as a client or a candidate?
Shaniqua Davis 53:01
We can be found at noirefy.com. There’s a built-in contact form. If you’re a candidate, you can sign up — it’s free, so get your profile posted on there, start connecting with great companies. And then for companies, just fill out our employer inquiry form, and we’ll set up a call to connect and learn about each other. And then we go from there. You can also find us on social media, we’re Noirefy across every platform. So I look forward to potentially connecting with some of the listeners and continuing this journey.
Doris Nagel 53:37
Thank you so much for your time today. It was really a delight having a nice having you on the show.
Shaniqua Davis 53:44
Thank you so much for having me.
Doris Nagel 53:47
Thanks to all my listeners. And again, a special thanks to Shaniqua Davis, the founder and CEO of Noirefy, who joined me this week to talk about her entrepreneurial journey.
You can find more helpful information and resources on my website globalocityservices.com. There’s a library of blogs, tools, podcasts and other free resources. And because this show is for you, my listeners, my door is always open. I would love to hear from you with comments, questions or suggestions, or just to shoot the breeze. You can email me at dnagel@lakesradio.org. I promised you’ll hear from me.
Be sure to join me again next Saturday 11am Central/noon Eastern.
But until then, I’m Doris Nagel, wishing you happy entrepreneuring!
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