For the last decade, Malika Jacobs, Founder and CEO of Myriad has staked her entrepreneurial career on designing high-performing and happy teams. She’s passionate about solving problems and bringing people together, something that often goes hand-in-hand.
Highly adaptable and naturally curious about designing high-functioning workplaces, Malika is most interested in designing places where people want to work:
“Like most entrepreneurs, it was a meandering and not entirely intentional plan to get here. I studied international relations in college and trotted off to Washington DC afterwards to “save the world” along with my peers. Two things happened there. One, for my day job, I worked for ambitious founders who were able to galvanize a team around their idea but struggled to lead that same team effectively day to day. Two, for my part-time job on the side, I continued to wait tables as I had done since I was 16, and marveled at the effectiveness of that small business pizza shop: everyone loved working there..."
"I went to business school curious about what makes some companies a place people want to work and fell into entrepreneurship as a way to design that type of place.”
Malika began her entrepreneurial journey with Kingmakers, a brick-and-mortar game parlour in 2014. Kingmakers served both the public and corporate clients for six years with two Midwest brick-and-mortar board game parlours. Malika brought on Jessica Strauss and Ash Gerlach (me!) during this time to build out the corporate partnerships.
When the workforce experienced profound changes in 2020, we shifted to focus exclusively on virtual team bonding events addressing engagement challenges in remote work environments. Our team developed a formulaic consultation as a way to streamline our event design. Through over 200 consultative conversations, we observed a critical pattern: the role of HR has unique friction points.
Especially with tech designed from the perspective of people who share the identities and values of those using it on a daily basis.
These often-overlooked business people (mostly women) are behind the scenes keeping the people part of business running, which let's face it, is the core of any business. With immaculate organizational skills, the ability to create processes from scratch, execute teeny details to big-picture initiatives, and understand the emotional component of working with human beings, we wondered how much more they could accomplish with a tool that valued their work.
We've talked to hundreds of more HR leaders, from first HR hires in tech to people who have been leading people departments for decades. Their care and expertise is palpable and they're ready for the first tool built exclusively for them.
