TheBridge profile: Matthew Soeth
Name: Matthew Soeth
Current city: Bay Area, California
Current job: Trust & Safety at TikTok
Past job: Co-Founder, #ICANHELP
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Sightglass in San Francisco has great coffee and a great vibe. Temple Coffee in Sacramento as well ... anywhere with great coffee
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. Networking is a skill. I'm a connector by nature, I love talking about big problems and solving big problems related to tech and life. It's truly about the relationship and building meaningful connections. It helped me in leading an NGO and helped me in my current role supporting a global trust and safety team.
Q. Job advice in three words? Be Self Confident
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech / innovation and regulation? A big part of my job is outreach. In being able to work with external partners I get to share the great work we are doing in trust and safety. I'm currently working with multiple external partners on media literacy education and research, something I was able to do as an educator for ten years prior to starting in tech. Before joining TikTok, I spent a lot of time working on youth wellbeing. I'm grateful to continue that work in my current role. In addition, I support multiple initiatives as an advisor such as All Tech is Human, The Oasis Project, and Headstream - an incubator working with startups solving complex issues around mental health and wellbeing.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? There's always a balance between risk and innovation. Policymakers can help to see the unintended consequences that happen when we don't think through the full impact of a product or project. It can help bring order, process and flow the chaos.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? A thoughtful and creative approach to a problem is worth the risk involved.
Q. Favorite podcast and long-form read you recommend? I love reading Casey Newton, he has some very thoughtful pieces around some very thorny issues in tech. A few times a year, I come back to Moon Shot Thinking, a speech by Astro Teller on the Tim Ferris podcast. It's really about the need for dreamers and realists in solving complex issues.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but can you describe a "day in the life" of your job? In the time of Covid, I wake up, have a lot of zoom calls, work on some docs, make time for the family (school from home). I make time for exercise (goal is 1 hour per day) and try to get 7 hours of sleep a night. Most days, I'm successful.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? It's okay to be an entrepreneur.
Q. Favorite under the radar company? Spectrum Labs - they have a great company culture and are doing some incredible work in the world of online safety and content moderation.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? Trust yourself, you're smarter than you think.
Q. How do you unwind after work? Exercise, games with the kids. It's all about balance.
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