 Live from Orlando, Florida, it's theCUBE covering Grace Hopper's Celebration of Women in Computing, brought to you by SiliconANGLE Media. Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of the Grace Hopper Conference here in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. I'm joined by Libra Clemens. She is the global head of diversity and inclusion at PayPal. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So this is your first time on theCUBE. First time at Grace Hopper, first month of PayPal, so it's great. Well, we are thrilled to have you. Thank you. And you're actually, frankly, quite new at PayPal. So, you're a month in, but tell us, what does the global head of diversity and inclusion do? I think they do everything because somehow, some way, my calendar is full. It's a combination of things, you know. D&I is so, diversity and inclusion is so important to the CEO and to the company. So, not only am I involved in all kinds of business meetings, but we're a function of human resources. So there's a recruiting piece of it. There's also the talent management, the development of our diverse talent, as well as engagement. So I'm hitting every single part of kind of your HR employee life cycle as well as all of these amazing opportunities like coming to Grace Hopper, partnering with a lot of our smaller organizations and nonprofits who are working on ensuring that there is STEM and tech for young women and girls, as well as looking into different affinity groups in the LGBT, our veterans, just so many opportunities. So I'm constantly like, but it's so fantastic because there's such enthusiasm. Our CEO is really top notch. I mean, Dan Shulman, not only does he talk about diversity, but he really is committed to it. So I'm telling you, I feel like almost a celebrity, I was just like, usually the diversity person, they're like, yeah, here's our diversity person. But then like, I got introduced the first week and my email is blowing up, but just people are just excited about it in a good positive way. So let's back up actually and talk about, you know, one of the things that our keynotes were talking about this morning is what do women look for in an employer? What do they want? What do women want, Libra? What do people want? So when you were looking for your next move in your career, what stood out to you about PayPal and what made you think this is a place? That's such a good question. One thing I did, the first thing I did actually was go to their website and I looked at their board to see who was on their board from a diversity perspective. And I have to tell you PayPal's board of directors, 45% diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity. I don't know of another company or tech company that's achieving that at that point. So that was completely impressive. I also go to the leadership and I look to see how many levels down you have to go to find a woman or a person of color. I didn't have to go that many levels down and it was an abundance of it. So for me, that's critical. And I think a lot of women and even underrepresented minorities, they look for that. If you can't see yourself in the senior ranks, then you just question whether there's like a life for you there and a trajectory for you. So for me, that was important. Also, just a great, cool culture. I get to wear jeans to work, you know. But Leifra, how did you find out about the culture? What kind of homework did you do? You know, that's a good question. I actually knew someone that worked at PayPal, but it's a far cry from my life in New York, which is wonderful. And there are a lot of companies that actually are casual, but beyond just your attire, there is something about it. Every time I met someone at PayPal, I didn't hear this, oh, I work at PayPal. There's enthusiasm, there's authenticity, which is critical. People are who they are, who they are. You know, they don't come to work and they don't shed whatever it is. They can be whoever they want. That to me is so important because I have a personality. I also have an idea. I had no idea, Leifra, you get no personality. But that's so important to me. So there was a place where people can feel like they can bring themselves to work. And I know it's a cliche, but you really can. And I think there's also a piece where people actually care about what other people think. I think there's not a lot of group think that a lot of companies go along to get along. That's not there. So for me, it was so important that I can show up and be myself and in the interviews, I was all Leifra. And if you could take all Leifra, then I'm in there. But I think a lot of women and just people in general want to see themselves at work and feel like they don't have to try to be themselves. And see their aspirational selves, as you said. See their goals, people that look like them, but an opportunity to influence and be creative and be entrepreneurial. And that is what I needed and wanted. I think a lot of people are looking for that these days. So earlier in your career, you worked in Nicaragua with the One Laptop for Child Organization. Tell us a little bit about that and then also connect it to what you're doing today. It's so interesting. It is like, first of all, I left American Express, moved to Nicaragua and ran a laptop program. I had no tech background. I had never been to Nicaragua, but it was such an amazing opportunity. And it was an opportunity for me to not only introduce the concept of using laptops to various schools and teachers, but to also get kids to really understand how to use technology to solve problems. This was in 2009, right? But was also just full circle. And it's funny, because I talked about this in my interview, was living in Nicaragua. I had a cell phone at the time, but I would have to walk blocks and blocks and blocks in heat to the ATM, which may or may not work. To get cash, to go walk a few more blocks to pay for my cell phone to add minutes. And I just thought in my mind, how much easier would it be? Like literally this was so like, how much easier would it be if I didn't have to do that? And so one of the things I learned was understanding how important tech is, introducing it at young ages, ensuring that people understand, not just the children understand the use of technology, but also we were training teachers who didn't understand technology, which is that's a huge gap a lot of people miss. But also the function of how to operate when the infrastructures aren't there. Fast forward to 2017, interviewing at a company like PayPal that actually opens up opportunities for people who wouldn't have that. And here in the US, we can be very Western centric, but to think about how tech as this great equalizer for developing countries, helping making person to person payments easier, more seamless. Financial inclusion, that's what this company is about. So not only did I go to the website to look at who's on the board, who are the leaders, Dan Shulman following him, but also really being behind the vision and the mission of a company. And there's not a person at PayPal that does not agree with what we're doing. And it is so fantastic. And it's everything I thought about during my time at American Express, also at PayPal, I mean, excuse me, at one laptop per child, but it all just a full circle. And it's just everything that I've always wanted. So you feel like you're in the right place, you know? So you're one month in. One month in. I want to know what you want the future to hold for PayPal. So when we're sitting down next year, Libra, at the next Grace Hopper conference, what do you want to look back as the accomplishments of PayPal, both in terms of recruiting more women, retaining more women, and also the programs to keep them happy in their roles? Yeah, I mean, you know what? In one year, I would love to see more people of color here. I mean, I definitely think that even as just looking around the room, I definitely see diversity within Grace Hopper, but I definitely see that there is, like we're missing the black and Latino population. And that part is very, very critical as we look at the numbers and we look at diversity within the women's movement. So that part I would love to be able, and I'd love for PayPal to be able to contribute to that. Like, how do we bring more women of color into these conversations and having a seat at a table? So I would love for that. Grace Hopper, more men. We have many here. Our chief technology officer is here. I mean, we've got two to, we've got probably two to three men that are with us. And I definitely want to bring more. I think the only way to have a conversation is to bring everyone to be part of it. And so I know we can do that next year. And I just have a feeling that the way that global diversity is looking at DNI as it relates to women, can look at women, but we're looking at everyone. And we want to create those opportunities. And there's a lot of focus on recruiting, but for us, I really want to talk about retention and culture. Because we can bring them in the door, we need you to stay, we need you to stay, we need you to build, we need you to be entrepreneurs, and we need you to ascend through the ranks. So anything that our team could do to ensure that, that's kind of where my work, that's where the dirty work is, you know what I mean? This is all fun and exciting, but it's like getting back to PayPal offices, ensuring that not only do we have the women at PayPal, but they see themselves in leadership opportunities and they have those opportunities. So that's exciting for us too. So you talked about the numbers and the numbers are bleak right now. So it's 25%, women represent 25% of workers in the tech industry, 15% of leaders, and the numbers are even more abysmal for black and Latina women. So if you could talk to the young Libra out there, the one who wants to, the person who aspires to have a rewarding and rich career in technology, what would you say to her? I mean, here's what I love though. I have to say this, and this is my first tech job, to be honest. What I'm hearing about are all these organizations, and even Melinda Gates talked about this, right? There are so many organizations that are going into the schools to ensure that a lot of these young women, young girls from all walks of life have access to technology, computer science, to really understand the value of using technology to solve problems, right? So what I would love to do is continue those partnerships, be very, very targeted and specific about it, because there's a lot of that's happening, but we need to pull through all the way. Like do they stop at the fifth grade? What happens in the middle school? What happens in high school? And then what if they go to certain schools? They don't have these programs. So there has to be kind of a pull through effect. I think if you're interested, there are opportunities, but you have to stay involved. And I think that's the hard part, because there's that drop off that I was just talking about. Like I think there's a lot of commitment in the schools, but then you may drop off after that. So what do we do to kind of bridge that gap? So I would love for companies to think more of kind of this middle to high school bridge program where not only do you learn at the young age, but also you're starting to invent and be more thoughtful and be entrepreneurs, because that's what we need more of, you know? And so hopefully we'll be able to tackle that at some point. We'll see, but the sky's the limit I think. Do you have any also advice for, I know that you're an expert in public-private partnerships. Do you have any advice for companies and as well as organizations that want to team up and work on this problem? Yeah, you know what though? I think there's a lot of these organizations as I said earlier, but I think that if companies take one particular school or one particular idea and just go full throttle, I think that helps. And use it as a test case or? Okay. It's a pilot and see what else happens. But I think when there's a more specific and targeted goal with one particular entity, it helps to build a momentum. You're constantly involved and engaged and you don't lose, you know, you don't lose anything as a result of just kind of popping around. So, I mean, public-private partnerships are so hard. You know, there's political, there's a politics behind it, there's people that leave. So you don't get the continuity as much, but you try. So I think that's exciting though, the experiment, you see what works and then you are able to take those best practices and scale them up. Great. Absolutely. Well, Libra Clemens, thanks so much. It's been really fun talking to you. Good luck and thank you. Thanks. Yes. I'm Rebecca Knight. We will have more from the Grace Hopper Conference here in Orlando, Florida, just after this.