The Greenhouse podcast: People-first, featuring Everette Taylor and Elisa Colombani
People-first companies prioritize their people and foster a culture of hiring. They understand that people are their most valuable asset, so they treat all their people practices – especially hiring – as strategic, rather than administrative, functions. On the Greenhouse podcast: People-first, join host Donald Knight, Chief People Officer at Greenhouse, as he sits down with individuals at innovative organizations to discover how these companies prioritize their people.
In this episode, Donald is joined by Everette Taylor, Chief Executive Officer at Kickstarter and Elisa Colombani, Chief People Officer at Artsy to discuss how employers should understand the alignment between a business strategy and its people. Donald, Everette and Elisa also share their thoughts on why transparency matters and why companies should adopt a top-down approach when empowering their teams.
When you're establishing the kind of culture you want to have, see feedback as a gift.”
Everette Taylor
Chief Executive Officer, Kickstarter
We try to be as honest with people as possible about what to expect and what success looks like.”
Elisa Colombani
Chief People Officer, Artsy
Being people-first means doing what's best for the business – and your people.”
Donald Knight
Chief People Officer, Greenhouse
Learn more
Love the People-first podcast? Find out how Greenhouse promotes inclusivity, creates a culture of belonging and embraces diverse perspectives in our product, our culture and our community by visiting us at greenhouse.io/belonging.
Special thanks to our production partner, Wonder Media Network. Our producer is Brittany Martinez, and our supporting producer is Sara Schleede, with additional production assistance from Lila Watts. Our Greenhouse producer is Marnie Williams.
About Everette Taylor
Everette is CEO of Kickstarter, the world’s premiere crowdfunding platform. Everette is a creative entrepreneur who is passionate about art, supporting creatives and entrepreneurs, and helping people bring their dreams to reality.
Before joining Kickstarter, Everette served as the CMO of Artsy, the largest online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. During his time at Artsy, he was recognized by Forbes as one of the World's Most Influential CMOs due to the business seeing all-time record revenue growth and his efforts to democratize the art world.
As an entrepreneur, he’s started several multi-million dollar businesses and as a marketing executive in the tech industry, he has led two different companies to successful exits. Although a college dropout, in 2019, Everette received an honorary doctorate degree from Shaw University upon recognition of his, “meritorious contributions to human society and welfare for humanity.”
About Elisa Colombani
Elisa is Chief People Officer at Artsy, the leading online marketplace for fine art. As leader of the People team, Elisa oversees hiring, developing and supporting Artsy’s global employees. She is responsible for HR, business partnerships, talent acquisition, facilities and employee community.
Prior to joining Artsy in 2016, Elisa led the People team at Good Eggs in New York, a delivery service promoting local farmers and producers. Elisa also served as General Manager at ZeroCater, where she launched and established their New York operations.
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About Donald Knight
Donald is the CPO at Greenhouse Software. He leads with a people-first mentality hoping to unlock the potential of Greenhouse talent globally. With a laser focus on the connection between people and the processes that serve them, Donald and his team create proximity by building bridges focusing on enhanced experiences that nurture culture and develop people. He is responsible for providing global strategy and leadership in developing, overseeing and administering people programs.
Before Greenhouse, Donald served as Senior Vice President of Global Talent for Edelman, where he helped shape the HR brand as a proactive, insightful and collaborative solution provider.