Kos Media

Oakland

Total Offices: 2

89 Total Employees

Year Founded: 2002

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The Bigger Picture

Diversity is not a numbers game — just ask Chief of Staff and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dacia Mitchell. “Diversity fails when you rely solely on demographic numbers to measure success,” Mitchell said. “The culture of the company will only flourish when anyone can thrive, especially those who aren’t white, male, cis, straight, non-disabled or college-educated.” Mitchell seeks to elevate the employee experience by broadening the hiring scope, advocating for current employees and using transparent promotion policies. Mitchell’s DEI efforts contribute to the broader scope of Kos’ activism: The company strives to catalyze change by highlighting diverse candidates and organizations on its online political community and news platform.

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At a glance

FUNDING THE FUTURE

Kos covers up to $2,000 of job-related learning and skill development with its professional development stipend.

WELL CONNECTED

With non-profit partners like Prism Reports and Democratizing Philanthropy, Kos takes its activism seriously.

VIRTUAL PERKS

Remote employees enjoy semi-monthly stipends that cover peripheral costs like cell phone, internet usage, office supplies and beyond.

TAKING CARE

Whether for unexpected illness or expectant parents, Kos offers up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave per year, as well as top-notch health benefits.

Featured employees

Engineering for the greater good

Managing Staff Engineer Qiydaar “Q” Pratt is hyped about the performance work his team is doing. “This body of work not only helps user engagement by keeping our apps snappy and responsive, but we also get rid of great amounts of technical debt,” he said. To contribute to the overarching goal of affecting change in tech, Pratt and his team start the day with ticket responses, then move on to team-wide heads-down time and a stand-up sync, followed by more project-based time. Whether “wrangling code” or otherwise, Pratt gets excited for projects that pull his team into company-wide goals.

Qiydaar “Q” Pratt

Managing Staff Engineer

We’re looking to enact change by being thought-leaders in tech, engineering with real metrics in mind and fully qualifying our efforts to assure we’re delivering quality work.

Dismantling bias in the hiring and recruitment process

Dacia Mitchell

Chief of Staff and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Dacia Mitchell’s approach to DEI is shaped by the past — and her hope of a more inclusive future. “My work is informed by social justice and a rigorous understanding of systemic racism — and how the legacy of anti-Blackness, capitalist patriarchy and colonial oppression continues to show up.” Mitchell has helped realize Kos’ vision of more equitable hiring. “The first step is to recognize where bias can thrive in the process,” she said. “What do we really mean when we use ‘right fit’ or ‘polished’ in our feedback? These terms reinforce the status quo we are working to disrupt.”

Diversity is not simply the presence of people from different backgrounds, but the inclusion of their contributions with dignity that matters.

Tackling data puzzles with creative tech

Rachel Sinderbrand, director of research at Civiqs, a division of Kos Media, thinks of client research as a deeply rewarding puzzle. Client goals, timeline and budget all inform the way Sinderbrand’s team crafts an exhaustive plan — one that will impact how they interact with voters, approach issues and strategize for upcoming elections. “On a daily basis, we analyze survey responses that sometimes date back years,” Sinderbrand said. To tackle the immense amount of survey response data, the Civiq’s team utilizes Python, SQL and R to interpret and analyze large datasets of survey data.

Rachel Sinderbrand

Director of Research at Civiqs

Our team has also built survey data trendlines that use Civiqs’ research panel and interviewing software to visualize public opinion trends across years from hundreds of thousands of responses.