Five9 First-Gen Stories: Higher Education

With contributions by Mia Andrews and Tricia Yankovich 

National First-Generation Day is a U.S holiday meant to celebrate the successes of first-generation college students, students, and graduates whose parents did not complete a four-year college degree. It’s celebrated annually on November 8 “to honor the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965,” which “was intended to help level a playing field that for too long had been weighed against Americans from minority and low-income backgrounds.”¹  

This year, our ERG for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous employees and allies, Blatinx, will be honoring the holiday through a blog series that recognizes First-Gen Five9ers’ stories, and highlights how our team is full of relentless learners. These stories reflect the individual tenacity that is prevalent across the Five9 team. This fortitude and natural inclination towards achievement is shared by individual contributors and leadership alike; our tenacity and belief in relentless learning carries over into our leadership, who are dedicated to enabling their teams to learn and continue learning.  

From Jonathan Rosenberg’s monthly "Tech Talks" to Rowan’s company-wide book clubs, we support passionate learners. This mindset is one of Five9’s core values and continues to contribute to our individual and collective success.  

We welcome you to follow along on our social media channels from October 11-November 10, as we share how each of our Executive leaders supports ongoing learning and professional development within their teams. We will also post weekly blogs from some of our team members who are first-generation college students and have graciously agreed to share their stories on how their mindset, fortitude, and experiences impacted their lives and careers. Contributors to our series include:   

We are excited to kick off this series and we hope you join us on this journey to learn more about Five9, and its employees and feel inspired!  

In addition to our passion for learning and development, we truly believe that the more diverse we are, the stronger we are. We aim to further the diversity of Five9 through our recruiting efforts. Five9’s people development program is built on a foundation of continuous feedback, conversations, and recognition between managers and employees. Our goal is to invest in our employees and drive alignment in company priorities as well as elevate employee engagement and company culture. We hold ourselves accountable to our values and often weave these into coaching conversations with employees as well.  

Not only are these initiatives seen within our hiring process, but we aim to cultivate and consistently improve upon a culture based on diversity and inclusion, and build a sense of community with the help of our employee resource groups: Blatinx, Pride@Five9, Five9Faith, Dialed-in-Crew, and Five9 Women in Tech. Additionally, we know we are our best when we can bring our authentic selves to work. At Five9, we care about the human experience and want employees to be empowered to create communities that are meaningful to them. Our Employee Resource groups foster diversity and inclusion, promote professional development, and support social responsibility. 

Five9 Values:  

  Always do the right thing for the customer.  

 Excellence. Good enough isn’t good enough. 

  We value diversity.  

  We are relentless learners.  

  We bias toward action. 

  We treat it like we own it.  

  A spirit of service guides us. We believe in the servant leader. 

  We act with integrity and humility as a team. 

  We keep it simple. Less is more.   

 For more information on Five9 and our programs, please reach out to mia.andrews@five9.com or hr@five9.com.  

¹ https://firstgen.naspa.org/engagement/first-generation-college-celebration