Kim simply shifted what I look in a company culture. I have worked with Kim for the entire 5 years I worked at Disqus and I can easily say she created the awesome Disqus culture from the ground up and made it sustainable. Here are a few specific ways how she achieved this and helped Disqus leave its mark on me and simply shifted what I look in a company culture: Kim was very proactive, seeking out all the ways in all possible places to improve communications, efficiency and happiness at Disqus Kim was able to distill and tailor all those different ideas and implementations into something specific and applicable to Disqus Kim realized the need to scale herself and the culture very early on and invested into this. She expanded the People Operations team slowly but steadily while also codifying the every day operations she was doing in a way that new hires in the PO department were able to sustain the culture while allowing her to look into the future for more strategic planning. Kim was as transparent as she can with company decisions, status and policies. Our PO department run happiness surveys periodically and she made the raw and interpreted results available as soon as possible, without sugar coating any not-so-great parts. Kim always made sure that action was taken when an issue was raised. I could literally track the progress of certain changes once they were surfaced either in regular pulse surveys or in 1-1 discussions. At the end, she helped and drived such a strong and valid culture at Disqus that when the company had tough times, everyone actually came together instead of going into their own corners in desperation. Even when there was a large number of people going in or out, the core values of the company and the culture maintained itself while also evolving to benefit from the new people's experiences. Now if you work at a large company, you may be saying "duh, this is the way you do things" but mind you the largest Disqus was during those times were 60 people with at most 4 people in the PO department, including Kim. I'd say that's not something everyone can do and I have learned so much from her regarding how to work better and make a company feel connected. I'd always remember those times fondly and would be looking out for any opportunities to work with her again.

Kim has masterfully amplified Oyster's core narratives, meeting our ICP where they are with messages that matter to them. She has helped us achieve our OKR to appear in 7 Tier 1 or tier 2 publications. In the first half of 2023 alone, Kim has had her insights and commentary published in outlets like CNBC, Quartz, Worklife, and Charter. Kim has even landed a regular column opportunity in Quartz due to editorial interest in her perspectives. Kim's voice is authentic, razor-sharp, and resonant. Certainly, her fearless approach to this work has impacted our success metrics — from reach and awareness goals to brand team and company-wide KRs.

In my time at Disqus, if you asked me who the heart and soul of the company were, my first answer would be Kim. Kim defined Disqus' culture, and that culture was one of the best, most enriching and productive experiences I've had in my career. Kim helped build a company whose employees valued each other, valued the hard work they put into the product they were making, and valued their users and the relationship created with those users around the world.

Working collaboratively with Kim Rohrer was an absolute pleasure. Thanks to her unapologetic personality, building out her content strategy and helping her execute her personal brand was a seamless experience. Her identity and authenticity were instrumental in amplifying Oyster's mission and values. Her fearlessness and bold approach helped us inspire and build a network, which in turn generated solid traction for Oyster. P.S. We are her biggest fans!