Episode 52: Making Tech Startups More Human-Friendly with Nathalie Molina Niño

Highlights of This Episode:

• How Nathalie’s plan to take a one-year sabbatical from business turned into earning a graduate degree at Columbia University
• How Nathalie ended up co-founding a center for women entrepreneurs at Barnard College
• What factors contributed to Nathalie’s burnout
• Why the 100-year-old corporate model doesn’t work anymore, and why entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to define new cultures
• What drove Nathalie to become an activist
• Why retention is a bigger problem than the “pipeline problem” as a reason for the lack of female engineers and CEOs
• What three things Nathalie would focus on to make organizational cultures more human-friendly
• How Nathalie has used a form of meditation to change the behavior patterns that had led to burnout

“We’ve designed the modern workplace to be inhospitable for 52% of the population.” –Nathalie Molina Niño (Click to share – thanks!)

About Nathalie Molina Niño:

A consummate intra- and entrepreneur, Nathalie launched her first tech startup at the age of 20. She later graduated with a degree in playwriting at Columbia University, driven by the belief in the importance of storytelling in business. In 2012, Molina Niño co-founded Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University, with the mission of leveling the playing field for women entrepreneurs.

In 2014, she was selected by the General Services Administration’s SocialGov community to join a “dream team of public participation” to help in crafting a guide that details the best ways for the government to engage and collaborate with its citizens. In 2015, Molina Niño joined 24 women leaders in walking the Carrie Hammer runway at New York Fashion Week, featuring “role models, not runway models.”

Prior to co-founding Athena, Molina Niño was Senior Director, Global Media & Ads Strategy at Lionbridge. She has advised industry leaders in multinational corporations, early-stage startups, and non-profits. She contributes to and is quoted widely in numerous media outlets, ranging from Bitch magazine to Forbes and CNN Money. Molina Niño is, above all else, passionate about developing and supporting entrepreneurs of color and women-led startups.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Nathalie Molina Niño
• Columbia University School of the Arts – Theatre
• Entrepreneurs@Athena
• Plato quote
• Thursday Bram, Episode 18
• SimpleRev
• Jess Weiner
• Dove Self-Esteem Campaign
• Competing for the Future
• Power to Fly
• Carrie Hammer – Role Models
• Scriptd
• Ken Lerer
• Hearst Ventures
• Crosslink Capital
• Kathryn Menshew – The Muse
• Burning Man

Thanks for Listening!

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