How Navan Women Come Together Globally to Connect & Collaborate
Samantha Shankman
•18 Mar 2022•
With more than 2,200 employees across 64 offices at Navan, it can be tough for new hires to meet all of their colleagues, but personal connections are precisely what drives new team members to join the company.
Diversity, equality, and inclusion permeate every part of the mission at Navan, and the workplace is built to be a foundation for personal and professional growth—regardless of an employee’s gender, nationality, or background.
To help bring Navan employees together around shared values and interests, Navan introduced Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)—voluntary, employee-led groups that support and unite diverse communities to cultivate a greater sense of awareness and belonging throughout the company.
In honor of National Women’s History Month, we’re profiling two of our ERGs: Women in Sales and CS and WhoRunTheWorld, a group that aims to support and encourage women at Navan.
As WhoRunTheWorld ERG co-lead and Navan People Success Generalist Selin Toprak explains it, “WhoRunTheWorld ERG is a community of women and allies that have a goal to build an inclusive community that encourages and empowers women through connections at Navan and beyond. ERGs foster an inclusive environment for all employees at Navan and also help drive change in our organization.”
Every ERG has two global co-leads who help facilitate the group; they’re also part of the Belong: DEI Council, which helps further the company’s DEI strategy, fosters collaboration, and supports company-wide efforts to build awareness and increase visibility.
WhoRunTheWorld global co-leads Selin and Jess Arn help organize the group’s activities and outings, as well as share articles and ideas. The ERG has hosted a career negotiation panel, organized women to volunteer at a local high school, and shared mentorship opportunities.
“WhoRunTheWorld has had such a positive impact on my experience at Navan,” says Selin. “I've enjoyed connecting with other women and allies, and have had so much fun planning and attending events.”
But if you really want to hear about the impact of WhoRunTheWorld, it’s best to listen to employees themselves:
Jess Arn, Travel Experience Operations Manager
“It’s so important for women to have a safe space to discuss, collaborate, and support one another, because the business world as a whole tends to be ‘hush hush’ on things like salary ranges of same-level peers. The environment can be one of ‘take what you get and be happy with it’ when we should want better and more. The WhoRunTheWorld ERG gives the women in the group a safe space to talk about experiences and use peers as a sounding board.”
Jejelle Edmundson, Paralegal, Employment & Compliance
“Fostering a collaborative environment and a safe place for people to share and discuss their personal experiences in the world is key to forging trust with fellow colleagues as human beings; it also bonds us together in many of our shared experiences. In a ‘man’s world,’ in which most of us have come to expect little support—even from our own gender!—encouraging women to support each other makes for healthier work culture and general environment.”
Chevawn Blum, Senior Product Marketing Manager, EMEA
“It’s been comforting and reassuring to know that there is a group that I can always turn to and chat with. It’s important that women have a safe space to discuss, collaborate, and support one another to know they are not alone. There’s nothing quite like having a moment where someone raises a topic or calls something out—an action, a behavior, an experience—and it resonates. You have that ‘ah-ha’ moment where you realize that you’re not the only one who feels a certain way or has to deal with something.”
Learn more about diversity, equality, and inclusion at Navan.