When Alexsis Bass first joined One Drop in the spring of 2021, she was excited by the possibility to join a team of ambitious people with a common goal: to make healthcare more accessible to folks who need it most. Not only was she joining a team that shared her passions, but as a recruiting coordinator, she was also in a position to help bring aboard even more talented believers with the same vision. Between coordinating interviews and liaising with candidates and recruiters, Bass maintained a keen focus on helping the People Ops team attract people from diverse and underrepresented communities—a passion that ultimately catalyzed her transition from recruiting coordinator to core operations and impact manager.

Eyes On the Prize

“My initial manager and our SVP of People Ops and Talent, Miraque Hicks, knew that I had goals outside of recruiting coordination from day one,” shares Bass. As someone who’d previously worked in job environments that didn’t embrace diversity, Bass says it was important to her to help cultivate a more inclusive environment at One Drop—not just for herself and her co-workers, but also for the people One Drop serves. After all, research shows that, compared to their white counterparts, people of color experience disproportionately higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

“It was my responsibility to branch out and learn how my skills and ideas would contribute to the One Drop mission: to transform health, change lives, and create new opportunities for everyone,” says Bass.

While her first few months as a recruiting coordinator mainly involved honing her operational skills as she progressed job candidates through the application process, Bass also spent that time talking to several different departments at One Drop, from people in clinical operations to the engineering department. “Pretty soon, it was clear that every single department felt there was room to grow as it relates to equity and inclusion and had specific ideas as to how they’d like to see that play out,” she explains.

One of those conversations was with One Drop’s SVP of Product and Brand Strategy, Rachel Sánchez-Madhur. “We discussed some ideas I had about marrying my knack for operations and systems management with my passion for community-building and advocacy,” shares Bass.

By summer, Bass successfully made her transition from recruiting coordinator to core operations and impact manager. Now, whether she’s researching and implementing best practices for goal-setting at One Drop or brainstorming new ways to position the company as a leader in healthtech, all of her work has a “core theme of equity,” she says.

“That’s what’s most important to me,” she continues. “In order to build the most effective anything, a team of diverse identities and lived experiences can be your greatest asset. One Drop understands that, in order to provide the best tools, we need to hire, retain, and work alongside people with the insight, intellect, and empathy to support our most overlooked and underserved communities.”

Finding What You Want In the Workplace

Even though Bass knew what her true passions were from day one, the transition from recruiting coordinator to core operations and impact manager “wasn’t easy,” she admits.

“Working from home, it was challenging to find my groove with a brand new team after finally fitting in with the people operations department earlier this year,” she explains. “There were many times I felt lost and frustrated. I was anxious and impatient to feel productive right away. It was very challenging to see the ambiguity of it all as an opportunity to build something that I’m now very excited about and proud of.”

Along the way, though, Bass set her sights on achieving her goals in whatever way she could. For instance, she took the initiative to lead One Drop’s Here and Queer employee resource group (ERG), a space for the company’s LGBTQIA+ community to come together, share experiences, and brainstorm ways for the company to raise awareness about queer lifestyles.

Today, Bass still leads the Here and Queer ERG and its monthly meetings. And, as core operations and impact manager, she maintains relationships with mission-aligned organizations that, like One Drop, are working to advance healthtech equity, particularly for folks that identify as people of color or non-binary, as well as people with disabilities (especially non-visible disabilities), veterans, and other historically excluded communities.

While she might not be a recruiting coordinator anymore, Bass says the analytical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills she learned in her initial role are now helping her thrive in her new position. “Because I’ve learned to collaborate with so many different people, all with varied goals and timelines to achieve them, I’m always ready to pivot and get creative,” she says. “Building those relationships is everything!”

By persevering and carving out a career path she’s truly passionate about, Bass embodies what the One Drop experience is all about: taking action, realizing your full potential, and empowering others to do the same.