Nextdoor had a momentous year in 2021. From reaching 600 employees to going public via our SPAC on the NYSE, there has been a lot to celebrate. December is a time for us to reflect on the milestones of the past year and also gear up for our Values Awards ceremony. This quarter’s celebration marks a full year since we started recognizing our employees at our most anticipated company-wide All Hands. Our Values Awards honor the employees who live out our Nextdoor values each day and serve as amazing examples for our employees.
This tradition is one of the most important ones we have here at Nextdoor. As we navigate the intricacies of a hybrid work environment, one of the ways we feel united is celebrating each other’s victories and feeling the energy and spirit from our leadership teams who present the awards to the six individuals. Each ceremony is met with lots of excitement as employees all over the world tune in and celebrate the victories of our colleagues.
Let’s get to know our Q4 2021 Values Award Winners:
Earn Trust Everyday
Winner: Slava Markeyev, Engineering Team
“I nominate Slava for the Earn Trust Everyday value because of the incredible work he does to protect our member privacy and platform security. He’s acted as 5th member of the information security team in addition to his day job. Prior to our first dedicated security hire, Slava would regularly remind staff before all hands to “close and lock” their computer screens. Rest assured that Slava’s vigilance hasn’t abated, as he continues to passionately protect our platform and our neighbors.”
Customer Obsessed
Winner: Joseph Porcelli, Agency Team
“I nominate Joseph Porcelli for the Customer Obsessed value because of the work he has done on crisis management and trying to make sure our neighbors receive life saving information directly from the Public Agencies who are tasked with responding during emergencies (hurricanes, tornados, flooding, etc). A great example of how he demonstrated this value is during Hurricane Nicholas. Joseph quickly realized that many neighbors weren’t getting information on Nextdoor about the crisis. Some areas didn’t have Public Agencies and in other areas the agency was so overwhelmed or had no power, they couldn’t post on Nextdoor. For the few who wanted to post but couldn’t, Joseph posted for them and they were grateful. He encouraged state agencies to post and when a State agency wasn’t on Nextdoor, he experimented with creating a Nextdoor Public Agencies page for that State and posted life saving information to neighbors experiencing tornadoes and floods due to Hurricane Nicholas. There is no doubt in my mind that his efforts helped save neighbors lives and that the neighbors were extremely grateful for the information he posted on behalf of agencies and on the Nextdoor pages. Well done, Joseph.”
Invest in Community
Winner: Nathan Falstreau, Product Team
“I nominate Nathan for the Invest in Community value because he is an exceptional neighbor to both his colleagues at Nextdoor and to his San Francisco community. A great example of how he demonstrated this value is through his work with the Advocate for Neighbors co-op, driving product changes and awareness to create a welcoming platform for neighbors experiencing homelessness. In our collaboration on the co-op I’ve also watched him respectfully push colleagues to think about homelessness from different perspectives so we can collectively affect change.”
Act like an Owner
Winner: Walt Leung, Engineering Team
“Walt deserves ‘Act like an owner’ because he consistently takes responsibility for and executes on projects that are above and beyond his scope. He never says ‘not my job’ and he cheerfully takes on additional tasks. He stepped in to fill a role on the Social Capital team when we didn’t have an engineering manager, and without additional title/compensation, selflessly provided leadership, guidance, and organization for the team. He goes above and beyond his job description and took on a huge amount of responsibility the last two quarters.”
Experiment and Learn Quickly
Winner: Junee Jonard Sibangan, Marketing Team
“I nominate Junee for the Experiment and Learn Quickly value. A great example of how he has demonstrated this value is in our campaign management. We’ve run multiple campaigns where we aim to prove our theory and scale our objectives. Junee, being both a marketer and data expert, has his finger on the pulse and constantly helps us understand what’s working and what’s not which allows him to support quick pivots in both thinking and execution so we can drive our team’s objectives.”
Think Big
Winner: Laurie Duggins, Design Team
“Laurie brings an incredible strategic view to all her work, thinks big about how our product is used in the real world (not just what’s in the product itself) and is always bringing a holistic sense of design, usability, and order to her work. She Thinks Big about what Nextdoor can become over time and brings this big picture thinking into her work every day — from Navigation to Discover. “
As we reflect on the past year, we are so grateful for our wonderful employees who continue to exemplify Nextdoor’s values, especially in such a monumental time in Nextdoor’s history. Cheers to an amazing end to 2021 as we celebrate the victories of our award winner and the wonderful nominees this quarter! We look forward to the future celebrations taking place in 2022!
