Business
In this episode, we learn all about Lesley Toche, the CEO and founder of NextPlay Events. NextPlay is dedicated to making professionals of color 20x more likely to get hired in tech. Lesley shares about how the company got started, a bit about his background as a musician, as well as his upbringing in Cameroon to California. Learn more about Lesley by checking him out on IG: @LesleyTocheLearn more about the NextPlay movement here: https://www.nextplayevents.com⚡️Show notes: 00:43 - Who is Lesley Toche01:56 - Why NextPlay03:54 - Growing up in Cameroon and moving to California05:58 - Playing sports and hobbies13:35- Lesley’s favorite performance15:39 - Going from High School to Community College to UC Berkeley17:46 - Becoming a college a tutor19:40 - 3-4 side hustles and a full set of classes 20:00 - Transferring to UC Berkley 22:53 - Studying abroad in Norway was one of the best decisions28:52 - Post-college life and Lesley’s internship30:25 - Going back to US after searching for a job in Norway32:40 - How Lesley got to LinkedIn34:58 - Lesley’s top advice to job hunter36:00 Leverage LinkedIn to land a job. Period.37:36 - Transitioning to Diversity and Inclusion Role 41:55 - Organizing the LinkedIn Open House47:45 - The magnitude of hiring 6 people in one event.51:24 - The creation of the Diversity Open Mic 56:33 - This could solve a lot of Diversity Recruiting Challenges 57:30 - Launching NextPlay1:05:17 - Lesley’s lowest point with NextPlay1:07:58 - The Difference of NextPlay Events and other companies1:13:15 - NextPlay’s Summer Vibes Experience1:16:24 - How Lesley manages his time1:19:01 - How Lesley unplugs from the world1:19:54 - Lesley’s biggest learning from Starting NextPlay1:21:09 - Lesley’s motivation to keep on going1:21:51 - Lesley’s upcoming goals -- plus, a sneak peek at what to look out for from NextPlay ?---Grab the Get Ish Done Book here.Connect with Ish on Twitter here.