Pledge 1%'s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Jessica Lindl
VP Social Impact, Unity Technologies
San Francisco, CA, USA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
Empowering employees and creators to foster a more sustainable, inclusive world.
What’s the best part of your job? What do you enjoy the most?
Working with all of the Unity creators and customers in almost every country in the world to solve hard problems so they can change the hearts and minds of their audience. The shared power of creativity transcends cultures, boundaries, and differences.
We’ve all faced personal and professional challenges these past two years - what motivates you to keep going?
The generosity of the human spirit - for example, we had a lean team of Unity employees who worked tirelessly for 7 months to move 3 Afghan refugees out of Afghanistan to the UK to work at Unity.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Assume best intent.
What does generosity mean to you?
Personally, pro-actively sharing our talents, time and tender to leave the world in a better place than we found it - even when it means personal sacrifice.
How do you feel businesses can play a larger role in solving today’s biggest challenges? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
At Unity, our impact strategy is focused on supporting the millions of creators who reach billions to shift their hearts and minds - fostering a more sustainable, inclusive world.
For example, Lual Mayen - For 22 years of his life, Lual Mayen lived in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. His parents fled from South Sudan and its decades-long civil war. His mother saved $300 as the refugee camp seamstress and gave him a laptop, he made a mobile game about peace, and it was his ticket to a new life. He migrated to Washington, D.C., and became a game developer. He started the Lual Mayen Foundation, to empower refugees with technology. With a grant from Unity, Lual Mayen Foundation is working to train displaced young refugees in Uganda and Kenya through a 12-week training program focused on 3D Art and Design, and evaluate the efficacy of the program. Each cohort consists of 125, with the aim of 500 young people.
For digital health and well-being, consider Level Ex - Doctors and other medical professionals need continuous learning and certification, usually happening in large conferences costing billions of dollars and carbon to re-skill and certify. Level Ex certifies at scale in a gamified platform built on Unity - saving $, time, and carbon with a way more engaging experience.
On the civics front, iCivics - Nationalism, fake news, and tribalism is on the rise. But there’s a proven way to fix it: invest in civic education. iCivics is a Unity experience that provides educational online games and free lesson plans to promote civics education and encourage students to become active citizens.
There are many sustainability examples - Zutari is a strong example from Africa, their mission is to co-create innovative engineering solutions that deliver real impact and enable environments, communities, and economies across Africa to thrive. Zutari is now using Unity to change the way large-scale renewable energy sites in South Africa are designed, created, and operated.
Finally, Breonna’s Garden - Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by police officers in 2020. Lady PheOnix, in partnership with Breonna’s sister Ju’Niyah Palmer, wanted to create a safe space for family, friends and a larger community to both mourn and celebrate Breonna’s life. Breonna’s Garden is a sacred space for anyone who wants to share a message of hope for Breonna’s family.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Purpose-driven - I believe in the potential of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle, and most of all when our spirit is aligned with our purpose. I see business the same way, when a company's purpose is deeply intertwined with the business model, it creates unstoppable momentum.
If you could pick a song to guide you through 2022, which song would it be?
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
Visiting grantees in Africa, Europe and Americas - hoping to see their life-changing impact in person, up close. Also, spending time with my family building a school in Senegal with a village through BuildOn.
