Dec 21, 2018
Ali Greene talks about being a full time digital nomad for the last 2 years while working as a full- time salaried employee in a senior management position as “Director of People Operations” at DuckDuckGo. She explains the concept of “co-living”, discusses the different lifestyle infrastructure choices available for digital nomads, and shares which ones she likes best and why. She explains the importance of having control over your location and mobility, as well as the importance of curating intentional communities of people who inspire and empower you in meaningful ways. Ali then talks about her passion for street art as a transformative expressive medium. She also shares her analysis about how digital nomadism is transforming work, community and society at large, but emphasizes the importance of pro-active relationship building for long term sustainability of the lifestyle. She then moves on to talk about her professional work in People Operations, and explains how she helped her company grow 80% in 2 years through adjustments in their People Ops with a focus on gender diversity. She gives specific tactical advice on hiring practices, managing an internationally distributed team, and performing as a senior manager from different time zones around the world. She talks about what “company culture” really means, the importance of it, and how to build it meaningfully with a fully remote staff. She talks about some of the unique productivity hacks she uses, including “context switching” by physically changing work locations multiple times throughout the day to correspond with different tasks. She also shares why dyes her hair pink and blue and once joined an axe-throwing league!