Aisha Blackwell has been a transformational force, building her organization’s HR function from the ground up and redefining what a thriving nonprofit workplace can look like. Joining at the onset of the pandemic with no existing HR infrastructure, Aisha led with vision and resilience—hiring a full HR team, introducing structured 1:1s, creating recognition and reward systems, launching ERGs, rolling out leadership training, and implementing a full organizational re-structure. Her efforts introduced tools like mental wellness platforms, PTO Exchange, and ADP TotalSource, all while nurturing a culture grounded in emotional intelligence and psychological safety. The result: stronger teams, increased retention, reduced negativity, and a renewed sense of purpose across the organization. Even long-tenured skeptics have started to embrace the shift. Aisha’s leadership has not only elevated internal culture, it has strengthened the organization’s ability to serve its community with clarity, compassion, and cohesion.

Emily is redefining what inclusion looks like in tech by building systems where belonging is embedded, not mandated. Through their innovative “DEIB as a service” model, Emily decentralized equity and inclusion efforts, empowering every team to take ownership of building an inclusive culture. Their work has delivered measurable outcomes: women engineers nearly doubled, women’s pay equity rose by 13 percentage points, and employee NPS jumped from 37 to 52 in just over a year. From revamping parental leave policies to launching transparent compensation audits, Emily's values-driven, systems-focused approach has transformed DEIB from a set of programs into a structural foundation for how Hugging Face operates. In a moment where many companies are scaling back, Emily’s work stands as proof that inclusion, when woven into the fabric of an organization, creates lasting cultural impact.