Trinidad Hermida

About Me

Trinidad Hermida (she/her) is the Founder & CEO of The Hermida Company LLC, a consulting firm focused on “Building Equity through Empathy.” She is passionate about expanding technology access to those from traditionally underserved groups. Combining corporate savvy and innovative strategies to impact workplace cultures, Trinidad centers access to generational wealth for underrepresented communities in all industries.

Trinidad believes that “by incorporating everyone’s genius, we can change the game.” Through her empathy practice as a business framework, Trinidad’s work has amplified the voices of historically excluded groups at billion-dollar startups and seasoned corporations. During her tenure as the first Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Niantic, she built the company’s inclusivity strategy, talent diversity programs and aligned a global company under a singular mission: to create systemic change through equitable policy and empathic practice. She launched the Black Developers Initiative at Niantic, which granted black innovators funding and platform access to create industry-changing technology. An advocate for human-to-human connection - be it through coaching, mentoring, or otherwise - she works toward maintaining a cohesive understanding of empowering people with unconventional methods that can work to make the world more inclusive for all. If you would like to learn more about Trinidad. Here is her README.

On any given day you might catch Trinidad traveling the world to visit friends or volunteering her time to educate the next generation through life coaching.

Follow me @thisistrini to hear about everything from Pop Culture to Technology and everything in between (Music, Diversity, Fashion, Mixed Reality, Life, Religion/Spiritually, and Relationships).

Read Me

About Me

Some people say my personality is an acquired taste like coffee or wine. Still, once you start to get past the tannins, there is a bold flavor that becomes part of the team's palette, or that's what they tell me. :)

I am very direct with candor (perhaps too direct.)With that directness comes a passion and respect to a commitment to excellence. I encourage teams to reach the ultimate level of collaboration. My goal is to help you be the best you can be. That is all anyone can ask. When you study great leaders or coaches, that is what they are all about. Phil Jackson, Cheryl Reeve, Reed Hastings all share this one idea: to win; you need the best people to be the best version of themselves.

I think about teams and try to mimic moments like the Chicago Bulls in the 90s, the Lakers in the 00s, and the Warriors for our millennials. Our goal is to WIN the championship, and everyone plays an essential role in winning the game. If someone misses the final basket before the buzzer goes off, it's not that single player's fault. When we review the tape, we can count the number of missed passes, shots, and opportunities to score, leading to the team's loss. That is not a criticism but an objective evaluation of how to become better to prepare for the next challenge.

I think you get the analogy with basketball. I encourage you to be very frank and direct with me when discussing how we can achieve our goals. Let me know what your challenges are and what you need me to do to help enable your success.

My leadership style usually fits the following roles:

Advisor - I will make recommendations for multiple options but encourage a decision on your part of which recommendation to prioritize.
Consultant - I will recommend a single decision based on data or my rationale and encourage this specific recommendation.
Coach - This means I will help you with the problem-solving frameworks but will not develop any recommendation as the growth opportunity is for you to learn and grow.
Mentor - This means I will be in listening mode to help you develop your ideas or desires towards the product or program. I'll guide you as you formulate your opinion and even provide a recommendation from time to time.

Feedback

I leverage a framework that has served me well. Feedback should be Timely, Specific, and Relevant (TSR) for me. Everyone at Niantic gives feedback with positive intent. I encourage 'feedback' for me to include the use of the TSR framework. Make sure it is timely. If something goes wrong, please tell me when you are in a place, and I'm in a position to receive the feedback. Don't wait too long, though. Waiting a month to tell me something that happened is too long. Chances are, I will have forgotten the incident by then. Be specific; if you see something you want to see changed, don't sugar coat it and run the risk of confusing me with mixed signals. Ensure the feedback is relevant to our work - being thoughtful about the input and making sure it has positive intent to improve my Niantic impact.

Workstyle

I'm a work hard, play hard type of leader. I like to set the vision and play in the strategy space and dive into the details when I'm curious about a topic. This curiosity also brings a laundry list of questions. Often you will see me crack jokes or be more light-hearted, especially when a program launches or new D&I initiatives are released. I encourage laughter as it has several mental and physical properties. I love a good joke. Once the pandemic is over, I'm always open to going to a comedy club for social outings.

Personal

I was born on the East Coast but grew up and watched this area (Bay Area) turn into what they call "Silicon Valley." My hobbies include swimming, playing video games, and volunteering. I'm an early morning owl up between 6–7 am and work flex hours. I typically work from 9 am- 5 pm, leave my computer from 5–7 pm for dinner with family, log back on to check for any fires, and go to sleep around 11–12 am. I also tend to be slower to respond to email as I like to write during my magic hours (3 am - 6 am). It's 4 am as I write this memo now.

The Payoff

Yes, I'm a fighter, but I am fighting for you. Imma fight for your vision. Imma fight for a community that has talents the world needs. Through this whole thing, I will be in your corner. Together, we'll innovate. We'll discover more effective and productive paths to success. We'll find solutions to problems you didn't know you had. Your teams will be stronger. Your products and programs will be better. In short: I'll help you win. (And we'll have some fun on the way;)

Well, I hope this memo finds you well and provides you further context around who I am. I look forward to unlocking my genius here at Niantic with you.

For the resume stuff, you can learn more by exploring my LinkedIn.