Each quarter at Nextdoor we honor six individuals who exemplify our values. This bi-quarterly tradition is one of the most anticipated events at the company. Our six values serve as our North Star as our employees work to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighbor they can rely on. It started back in Q4 of 2020 and the legacy of celebrating our employees’ commitment and dedication to Nextdoor’s exponential growth
Employees are nominated for Values Awards by their colleagues and then shared at our company-wide All-Hands meeting where employees dress to the nines and celebrate the accomplishments of our teammates. It’s a special time for each of our executive leaders to share praise for each winner and recognize their accomplishments.
Each Values Award ceremony is an inspiring reminder of the incredible work our employees do in an effort to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on. We’re also incredibly proud to share that we reached a new record of employee nominations with more than 350 overall. We’re looking forward to continuing this momentum for Values Awards celebrations moving forward.
Let’s get to know our Q2 2022 Values Award Winners:
Earn Trust Every Day
Winner: Gordon Strause – Product Operations Manager
“Gordon epitomizes the Earn Trust Every Day because of how he shows up every day for our neighbors and the integrity of our product. Whether we’re tackling appeals, product interventions, or even when we’re working on less neighbor-facing projects. He uses his years of experience at Nextdoor and depth of knowledge of how our neighbors interact on the platform to consider all the implications of our work. He also debates the pros and cons of different approaches and holds us accountable by pulling in neighbor experiences, user research, his observations from other platforms, and his excellent intuition.”
Invest in Community
Winner: Alice Skeats – Public Agency Partnerships Manager
“I nominate Alice for the Invest in Community Value Award because she does a wonderful job leading the WIN ERG [Nextdoor’s Employee Resource Group for women and gender minorities]. Alice has always been an absolute delight to work with. She is positive, respectful, and always willing to help. It has been so wonderful watching her blossom at Nextdoor and take on this leadership role with WIN. Her personal vulnerability makes others feel comfortable opening up and sharing their truths. She makes people feel safe and heard, and is simply a lovely person inside and out. I’m so proud of her!”
Customer Obsessed
Winner: Annie Barco – Product Marketing Manager
“Annie is a true advocate for small businesses. She provides a sound perspective to amplify their wants and needs for us to build products to help them thrive. Folks go directly to Annie when they have a question on small businesses. Small businesses are lucky to have Annie as a champion.”
Think Big
Winner: Alex Howard – Lead, Software Engineering
“I nominate Alex for the Think Big value because he is constantly thinking about improving the features we build and how they can be flexible and more powerful. Alex has encouraged us all to build a powerful foundation for a more generic maps platform that will allow us to unlock new features and flexibility for other maps surfaces in the future. He has a knack for thinking outside the box, learning from past code decisions, and looking ahead to imagine all of the possible benefits or pitfalls of technical decisions.”
Experiment and Learn Quickly
Winner: Ketan Vala – Lead, Software Engineering
“Our Hire a Pro solution is in the development stage and my manager Ketan makes sure we Experiment and Quickly Learn to iterate and build. He has worked hard to incorporate every possible layout for new product features to encourage more members to join Nextdoor. A couple of examples for that are improving projects like the Neighbor Booking flow based on dogfooding patterns and feedback. He also spearheaded Hire a Pro Onboarding iterations by incorporating every possible layout to allow for more Pros joining the Hire a Pro product.”
Act Like An Owner
Winner: Charissa Rentier – Analytics Engineer
“Every time Charissa joins a meeting, I instantly feel relieved because if there’s an issue, she will find it and fix it, no matter how complicated the issue or how long it takes.Charissa’s attitude during these high-pressure situations is exceptional. She is proactive, positive, and humorous in a way that makes it fun to work together despite how stressful these situations can be. Thank you Charissa for Acting Like An Owner and striving for excellence.”
