Ep 123 – Building A More Equitable Workforce
Ep 123 - Building A More Equitable Workforce
Yulkendy Valdez is a tech entrepreneur, social justice advocate, and public speaker but in this episode, we’re asking who she was before. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Forefront, Yulkendy helps employers, schools and youth non-for-profits prepare for the next generation of workforce but it was what she witnessed as a child in the Dominican Republic that pushed her to break the box society confined her in. In today’s episode, Yulkendy discusses her experience with cultural identity as a child, how to find your brand and how Forefront is challenging cultural bias in the workforce.
Yulkendy Valdez
Yulkendy Valdez was raised by her grandparents in the Dominican Republic. Love and familiarity kept Yulkendy safe but even as a child, there was pain – pain for all the life her grandparents were denied because of their age.
This stark sense of ‘otherness’ was only magnified when at age eleven, Yulkendy moved to Missouri and suddenly the pain she felt for another’s exclusion was directed at herself because of the colour of her skin.
Yulkendy began to wonder: how can we build a more equitable, accessible community for all? The answer proved to be her own company: Forefront, an on-demand career support and chatbot company equipping workforce talent with the skills, relationships, and coaching they need to thrive.
In today’s episode, Yulkendy discusses her experience with cultural identity as a child, how to find your brand and how Forefront is challenging bias in the workforce.
Street Cred:
Yulkendy Valdez is a tech entrepreneur, social justice advocate, and public speaker. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Forefront, she helps employers, schools, and youth nonprofits prepare the next generation of the workforce through their modern technology. A graduate of Babson College, she was recently named as a Forbes 30 Under 30 listee and is one of the Latino 30 Under 30 honorees by El Mundo Boston.
