TheBridge profile: Aerica Banks
Name: Aerica Banks
Current city: Washington, DC
Current job: Founder and Principal, Shiso LLC
Past job: Head of Federal Policy and Founder of DC Office, Pinterest
Aerica recently spoke up against race & gender discrimination at Pinterest, her former employer. We encourage you to learn more about Aerica’s story on Twitter, and sign the pledge to protect Black Women and Girls here.
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. I started my career in environmental justice, and in that field I learned that everything is connected if you search deep enough. Environmental justice is the recognition and reparation of institutional racism and oppression reflected in the stewardship of the natural world. The qualitative and quantitative research required to make these connections real affirmed for me the interconnectedness of society's challenges and solutions. This search for connection has facilitated a career filled with innovation, creativity, and social impact.
Q. Job advice in three words? Tell the truth.
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? My colleague, Bridge Leader Ifeoma Ozoma, and I recently went public after facing race and gender-based discrimination at Pinterest. For months, I had to advocate for the company publicly while privately fighting for my rights within the company. I decided to step away because the divergence became untenable. As soon as I did, and without knowing my experience, several people in the tech and policy fields reached out to work together. So, I dusted off an LLC I had sitting on the back burner and pivoted to become a consultant focused on tech, policy, and business development with a racial justice lens. Right now, I'm working on projects addressing racism at law firms, in the intellectual property system, and in the arts. I'm grateful to be able to merge my public work with my personal values once again.
Q. Why are you part of TheBridge community? Why do you think it's important this community exists for tech, policy and political professionals? Working on tech and policy issues can often feel like working in a vacuum, especially during social distancing and remote working, so having this community of experts and support in the same field is a gift.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? So often policy follows the innovation. But many of the unintended consequences we have seen wreak havoc on companies and society in the last few years could have been avoided if policy had been considered and collaborated on before an innovation went public. The collaborative process of policymaking (and compromise) offers many lessons for the often-siloed method of product development, especially that diverse viewpoints and backgrounds create better-received products.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? The policymaking process can be slow, often stopping and starting, and often based on political winds. The speed by which innovators bring their development to the public is based on an overwhelming sense of urgency that I wish our policymakers would adopt more often.
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting: The Ministry in Washington, DC or Craftsman and Wolves in SF.
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? "What is Owed" by Nikole Hannah-Jones from the New York Times Magazine.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but can you describe a "day in the life" of your job? Morning: Walk my dog, bake something, meditate, read the news, Afternoon: take calls or meetings, work on projects, Evening: work on projects while watching a program, practice guitar, go to bed way too late.
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Integrity.
Q. Favorite app? Instagram.
Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? Berlin.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? You can always take a day.
Q. Startup to watch? Civic Eagle.
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