This is the first of a series of blogs highlighting our great employees and why they enjoy working at Citrine.
Tia Vieira
Hi y’all!
I’m Tia and I’ve been working at Citrine for just over 2.5 years as the Talent and Diversity Program Manager. Back in early 2019 I was hired as the first in-house recruiter — since then I have had the wonderfully fulfilling duty of building out Citrine’s recruiting function in tandem with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program.
I’m originally from Northern California — a proud graduate of UC Santa Cruz, and was a volunteer for Peace Corps Costa Rica and Guatemala for 3 years. Before joining Citrine, I lived in Boston working for a food security non-profit and a micro mobility startup.
What is it like to work at Citrine?
Citrine is quite unique. You get to work with some incredible people who are subject matter experts, and yet everyone is very generous with their time, knowledge and energy. As someone who didn’t have exposure to the materials informatics space before joining Citrine, I’ve been really grateful that people on the team offer their knowledge and help you to be more effective in your role. The whole team benefits from this. It’s also been eye opening to learn just how the materials and chemical industries impact so many everyday items and how Citrine is innovating in that space.
What do you like best about working at Citrine?
Hands down, the best part of my work at Citrine is getting to see someone who I helped bring onto the team shine. Everytime a new hire makes a meaningful contribution it reminds me of why I’ve stuck to recruiting. Turns out building teams that are solving some interesting problems to make the world more sustainable is extremely motivating.
What has been your favorite project during your time at Citrine?
My favorite project has been building out and tracking our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hiring goals. It’s pushed me over the past year to expand my people analytics and data analysis skills, while helping inform other long term plans and initiatives on the recruiting side.
How have you seen Citrine grow/improve since you started working here?
Given that we’re a high growth company, there’s a lot that has changed, so I’ll respond by highlighting a trend I’ve noticed that has helped us improve and grow. I’ve seen the underpinnings of two of our company values when it comes to how the team approaches new problems, which are being data-driven and prototyping solutions and using feedback to iterate on those solutions.
What do you do when you’re not working?
On the weekends I’m usually going on little hikes, swimming or biking with my partner Preet and/or friends. Or just sitting out in the sun reading and working on my 20 books a year goal. I also enjoy keeping up on my Spanish, being a plant person, and building out dream travel itineraries.
What’s your advice for those interested in working for a start-up in the materials informatics industry?
Generally, I would recommend thinking about what type of mission motivates you. When you’re working hard it’s gratifying to know that your efforts are contributing to something that resonates with your values. It’s also important to think about what type of company culture can generally fit your preferred working style. Ultimately, you spend a lot of time at work and with your coworkers, so finding a good match for both sides is important and I always recommend asking a lot of questions while going through the interview process as that’s how you’ll assess the match.
One last thing to consider is that you may not always need to check every single box on a job description or need to be a subject matter expert to be a fit at an organization. For example, at Citrine, not all roles require a scientific background (we hire for many roles that don’t!), but all positions contribute to our overall mission.
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