{"id":26108,"date":"2017-04-26T22:08:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T02:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=26108"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:26:36","slug":"young-innovators-shaniqua-davis-of-noirefy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/young-innovators-shaniqua-davis-of-noirefy","title":{"rendered":"Young innovators: Shaniqua Davis of Noirefy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When Shaniqua Davis applied for jobs, she got far more responses when she used the name Shawn. A little research showed what she had already figured out: people with male and white-sounding names are much more likely to get called in for an interview. But switching between Shaniqua and Shawn didn\u2019t seem like a sustainable option. \u201cI was legitimately tired of changing my name,\u201d says the 26-year-old entrepreneur. \u201cI realized that I needed to create a platform where people are not overlooked for jobs on the basis of their name.\u201d It would be a place where they could share resources, tips about job openings, and relevant news about the job market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/Shaniqua-Davis-of-Noirefy-2-800x571.jpg\" alt=\"Shaniqua Davis of Noirefy 2\" class=\"wp-image-26112\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I encourage women from all backgrounds to crush stereotypically defined norms. Become the face of whatever you want to accomplish and give it all that you have<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result was Noirefy, a job referral and resource platform geared toward people of color. Launched late last year, the Chicago-based Noirefy has already gotten a lot of positive press. Davis is thrilled with the response from the community, especially since most of the publicity has been word of mouth. \u201cRight now I\u2019m doing all the marketing, operations and coding for the website and the app,\u201d says the member of Chicago&#8217;s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/buildings\/national-building--chicago--IL\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WeWork National Building<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u201cI\u2019m really bootstrapping.\u201d This year will be a big year for Noirefy: expanding the platform, bringing onboard a bigger team, and securing a first round of funding. But it\u2019s all worth it if she can help people get their foot in the door. \u201cReferrals are the number one way people get hired,\u201d Davis says. \u201cWe want to help people take advantage of that fact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Shaniqua Davis applied for jobs, she got far more responses when she used the name Shawn. A little research showed what she had already figured out: people with male and white-sounding names are much more likely to get called in for an interview. But switching between Shaniqua and Shawn didn\u2019t seem like a sustainable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":895,"featured_media":26111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43911],"tags":[39218,39221],"class_list":["post-26108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-member-spotlight","tag-small-businesses","tag-entrepreneurs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Young innovators: Shaniqua Davis of Noirefy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Shaniqua Davis applied for jobs, she got far more responses when she used the name Shawn. 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