Natasha Rivers
I received my MA and PhD in geography with a focus on demography, doing demographic research looking at labor market, marriage market, immigration law, and related topics. Geography provided such an interesting lens on how to understand the world and the people in it - the decisions we make, push and pull factors, life cycles, history of immigration law and who's excluded or included, who has advantages. I learned about people and placemaking, the impact of a place on a person, the impact of the zip code they're born into, and the impact of the phenotypes they're born into. After my PhD, I did two postdocs where I was teaching and continuing research during the 2008-2010 recession when academic jobs were scarce. I then taught for a year before moving to government work as a demographer for Seattle School District for about five and a half years, coordinating with city and county demographers on plans for student population growth and boundary changes. Through the Leadership Tomorrow program, which brings together public sector, government, and nonprofit professionals, I met my previous boss and pivoted to social impact work at BECU. As Director of Sustainability, I use a lot of my PhD work, project management, and mixed methodology skills. I focus on integrating sustainability and social impact into business operations and strategy with measurable outcomes, making these topics digestible and relevant to business growth and showing decision makers how sustainability connects to the bottom line and market differentiation.
• PhD in Geography with focus on Demography
• MA in Geography
• 40 Under 40 for Puget Sound Business Journal
• MVP Equity Award (internal BECU recognition)
• American Association of Geographers (past member)
• Urban League Young Professionals (3 to 4 years)
• Social Venture Partners (finance committee)
• United Nations Federal Credit Union Advisory Committee on Sustainability
• Forteira Culture Board
• Seattle Children's Theater Board
• Open Arms (doula service
• Volunteer and donate)
• Treehouse for Kids (former board member
• Current volunteer and donor)
• Co-founder Environmental Sustainability ERG at BECU (over 300 members)
• Green Equity Grant Program (led program
• Distributed funds to 15-16 organizations)
• Urban League (volunteer and donate)
What do you attribute your success to?
I would definitely say the women in my family shaped me the most. It's kind of a matriarchal leadership model. My great-grandmother lived to about 101 and was born on a slave plantation in Louisiana, but through that she actually owned her own hair salon and was educated. My grandmother was born to my great-grandmother and was an educator in Seattle Public Schools, a very well-known strict teacher who taught me very early how to read around a certain age, and always told me that I'm going to face adversity, but my education will allow me to push through that and essentially be the key to my success. And then also my mom, who passed a couple years ago from cancer, was always a huge supporter. I just think about her legacy and the legacy of the women in my family that really do allow me to find some strength when I feel like nobody wants to hear about me being tired. There's just certain expectations that as working women, you have to be your own support, find your own support circle, but not necessarily that these things are built into jobs or companies or society. You have to fill your reserve, fill yourself up with these positive examples and people, to continue being resilient in the face of conflict or setbacks.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think what's really been good for me is taking time out for me to fill my tank, to keep going. I do think if you're in a degree program, finish it. I think it'll be handy, and you don't really know what doors it will open, but it's a very competitive market. And more and more, they're expecting individuals to do more - they demand more, and it's sort of in partnership with technology. Not that we could keep up with it as a human being, but that you should be able to understand it, manage it, and help and use it to help you further your job or your career. So, I think self-care, stick with it, complete the degree. And then don't be so attached to what your life will look like. You could have a plan at one age, and then by the time you reach another age, you're like, this is not what I expected at all, but it's still beautiful. So you have to be able to appreciate wherever your journey takes you, and not be so tied to maybe those original plans.
Locations
BECU
1314 Whitworth Avenue South, Renton, WA 98055