For three Seattle-based companies, “mission-oriented,” “inclusive” and “passionate” are more than just words — they’re a sense of culture.
At digital media company Getty Images, Director of Development Technology Kiran Kumar said that being mission-oriented means creating a seamless platform for users to find the type of media they’re looking for quickly and intuitively.
At insurance technology company MediaAlpha, Technical Program Manager Lori Dunagan describes the culture as inclusive. “Even on my first day working at MediaAlpha, I was involved, included and empowered to be heard and to contribute in just about every aspect of the company,” Dunagan said.
And at e-commerce company Barn2Door, the culture can best be described as passionate. Sales Manager Zoe Pappas said that across each department at Barn2Door, each employee strives to care for farmers’ long-term successes and growth by providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to run a successful business.
If you’re looking to work for a company that strongly emphasizes a sense of culture, look no further. Built In Seattle caught up with Kumar, Dunagun and Pappas to learn more about their respective company’s culture, growth opportunities and interesting projects they’ve worked on recently.
What they do: Visual content company Getty Images is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for businesses and consumers.
Getty Images’ culture in one word: “Mission-oriented,” Director of Application Development Technology Kiran Kumar said. “As a company, we like to say that we move the world — with imagery, videography, intention and purpose. We understand that the visuals we see around us have the ability to impact not only how we perceive ourselves, but how we perceive the world around us, near and far. This is why we collectively do our best to ensure we’re capturing the present, documenting the past and also looking forward.”
As a company, we like to say that we move the world — with imagery, videography, intention and purpose.”
An interesting project Kumar has worked on recently: “Optimizing our search functionality is an ongoing initiative with a mission to surface content that customers want to license as quickly and intuitively as possible,” Kumar said. “Our goal in search tech is to reduce the time to market by cross-functionally experimenting with new search innovations, driving speed through algorithms testing and achieving scale.
“We created a search idea dashboard four months ago with plans to achieve idea meritocracy and have created a process of collecting and nurturing ideas, generating 155 ideas. Then one Friday a month, we hold a hack event to create space to collaboratively work on proof of concepts. Twelve ideas have already made it to production, and now we are scaling experimentation.”
What they do: Insurance technology company MediaAlpha uses a programmatic technology platform built for vertical search and metasearch media.
MediaAlpha’s culture in one word: “Inclusive,” Technical Program Manager Lori Dunagan said. “Even on my first day working at MediaAlpha, I was involved, included and empowered to be heard and to contribute in just about every aspect of the company — from technical solutions to business positioning and everything in between.
“There are many ways MediaAlpha fosters team bounding and inclusion with book clubs, Fitbit tracker challenges and more. Although, I saw them take inclusion to another level when every person in the company was included and encouraged to brainstorm on picking the company’s ticker symbol. Whether you worked at the company from inception or were just hired, your voice and opinion was heard.”
The inclusive attitude of MediaAlpha and being able to dig deep into the technology and the business has been a lot of fun.”
Dunagan’s growth at MediaAlpha: “I’ve been with MediaAlpha for almost five months,” Dunagan said. “I have been given the direction and the space to build on my technical skills and create supporting infrastructures as I learned the company needs for tasks that I own. There is a good balance of learning what’s specific to the company's growth and what is beneficial for my career and personal growth.
“The inclusive attitude of MediaAlpha and being able to dig deep into the technology and the business has been a lot of fun and is definitely a benefit for my professional goals and growth.”
What they do: Barn2Door is a food e-commerce company that provides solutions to help sustainable farmers sell their products online direct-to-market.
Barn2Door’s culture in one word: “Passionate,” Sales Manager Zoe Pappas said. “You will not find a harder working, more driven group of individuals with a common goal anywhere else! We wake every day with a passion for sustainability and a steadfast mission to change how consumers access local food.
“Across each department, we strive to care for our farmers’ long-term successes and growth by providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to have a successful business for years to come.”
You will not find a harder working, more driven group of individuals with a common goal anywhere else!”
How Pappas has grown at Barn2Door: “I have been at Barn2Door for one year,” Pappas said. “Connecting with Barn2Door’s mission has motivated me to see drastic growth in my own career. I have been empowered to take on new responsibilities, including helping grow our team, collaborating with other departments and becoming a leader at Barn2Door.”
