The Launch of TransportASIAN

At Convoy, we truly believe a small group of employees working together can build anything or solve any problem, just like Dan, Grant, and our first teammates did at the start of the company. We apply this belief every year during Moonshot Week, our hackathon-style event where employees pursue ideas or projects that have the potential to impact our company, internally or externally. 

During this year’s Moonshot Week in October, I surfaced a project idea to “create an employee resource group for Asians (& friends) at Convoy!”. 

With five days of collaboration and ideation, that idea became TransportASIAN, a fully fledged ERG with a punny name, a mission, executive sponsors, and a leadership team representing teams across Convoy. What’s even more amazing is my fellow leadership team members and I accomplished this without ever meeting in person! 

We’re excited to join Convoy’s growing list of ERGs including LatinX@Convoy, Pride@Convoy, and Black@Convoy with a mutual aim to foster community and belonging for all of our employees. We’re the first ERG for employees who are from Asia, have Asian ancestry, or are interested in Asian culture. Our mission is to promote Asian diversity within Convoy and celebrate Asian cultures. The Asian diaspora is huge, encompassing countries and cultures across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. We are intentional about our approach in highlighting the incredible variety across the diaspora, educating ourselves and our teammates in the process.

A few weeks after Moonshot 2020, we held our internal launch event with over 40 employees. We shared our initial priorities, held brainstorming sessions to hear from our members, and also celebrated Diwali (the annual Festival of Lights celebrated by South Asian cultures). 

What’s exciting about transportASIAN is the community we are building, even while we are all working from home. Daniel Chang, a TransportASIAN co-chair and member of Convoy’s Claims and Insurance team, puts it perfectly:  “We were sent home when I was one week into this job, so I didn’t have the chance to mingle with other employees at company events or around the office. I’m excited to connect with people from all over the company who share a similar background and interest as me. It has served as a means to bond with my coworkers despite being remote for nearly all of my time at Convoy so far.”

Building communities remotely has been challenging for me in my role leading Convoy’s events and engagement, and for our ERGs as well. Within transportASIAN, we’ve been intentional about applying what we’ve learned throughout this year, such as offering both synchronous and asynchronous ways to engage, and building that into our DNA. 

As 2021 approaches, we plan to keep the momentum going by testing more creative formats and ideas. In addition to growing our community, we will celebrate the Lunar New Year in February and spotlight Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May. We are excited about the changes we can influence and the community we hope to foster inside and outside of Convoy.

— Serene Chen