Day In The Life: Meet B Lab Standards Analyst Claudia Ivana Díaz

Claudia Ivana Díaz
Standards Analyst, B Lab
Berwyn, PA
Twitter: @BCorporation

6:30am: After hitting my alarm’s snooze button once or twice (OK, five times…), I say a quick prayer for the day and roll out of bed. I turn on Radio Ambulante, a fantastic Spanish-language NPR podcast, and listen as I put on the jeans and blouse I laid out last night.

7:00am: Time for breakfast – oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter, some raisins, and a dash of cinnamon. When I’m done eating, I grab my lunch bag (filled with leftovers from my dinner last night) and head out the door en route to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. I’m energized thinking about getting to B Lab, a nonprofit that certifies sustainable companies that use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

7:20am: Though I live in Philadelphia, B Lab’s office is actually in Berwyn, a suburb of Philly. I use my hour-long train ride to read A Prayer for the City by Buzz Bissinger, which I took out from the library (I’m obsessed with the Free Library of Philadelphia and often take out piles of books at a time). I’m from Iowa, and I didn’t know much about Philly before moving here for B Lab’s two-year post grad fellowship program. Companies that meet B Lab’s standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency are classified as B Corps. But first, they have to go through an extensive review process, and that’s where I come in as a standards analyst, helping companies navigate the path to certification. I have my work email on my phone, but I don’t turn on my notifications. On occasion, I do check my email on the train, but today, I keep my commute free from work worries or tasks. Instead, I lose myself in the story of Philadelphia’s mayor Ed Rendell during his time in office from 1992-1995 and only emerge when I arrive at my stop.

8:30am: I head into B Lab and make my way to my desk, walking through our open office space and saying hello to a few coworkers congregating in the lounge. A bunch of my teammates work at standing desks from their laptops, but I’m all about the big monitors at my desk. I make some coffee and start going through my to-do list and my inbox. I like keeping a handwritten to-do list for each day in order to track my progress and stay focused.

9:30am: Time for my first call of the day. I spend a lot of my time on the phone with companies applying to become B Corps, and from the looks of my Google Calendar, today is no exception. I speak with a company in Latin America, the region I work with the majority of my time. We review their B Impact Assessment, a free online impact measurement tool they completed earlier, and kick off the 1-3 month process of verifying their company. I walk through the details of the certification process. I’m always sure to emphasize the legal requirement: to gain and maintain B Corp Certification, companies have to amend the legal language in their operating agreement (if an LLC), or become a Benefit Corporation, in states where it exists. This legal change requires companies to consider all stakeholders when making big decisions, not just shareholders, and includes a commitment to making a material positive impact on society and the environment. There are currently more than 2300 Certified B Corps from 50 countries and over 60 industries working together towards the common goal of redefining success in business. I love working with companies who are committed to making a positive impact on their communities.

11:00am: I answer emails and prepare for calls with other companies by reviewing their assessments and writing down questions to address. I bounce a few ideas off of my coworkers to make sure I’m applying questions in the assessment uniformly across the many types of companies we work with.

12:30pm: Lunch time! I step away from my desk and heat up my leftovers in the lounge. Then I head outside to enjoy the sunny day with a few coworkers. As we eat, we chat about the latest season of Stranger Things and our upcoming team outing to Longwood Gardens. I love my teammates and always enjoy catching up with them.

1:00pm: I have another review call with a small company. I introduce them to the verification process and we go over their assessment together. We discuss some documents they still need to collect – they’ll need a summary of benefits to verify their healthcare plan and a procurement policy to verify how they choose suppliers. This company is doing some exciting work, hiring and training formerly incarcerated individuals and donating a portion of revenues to charity every year. I make sure the online assessment captures this information appropriately and that it’s reflected in their total score. After the call, I send their team a quick follow-up email, reminding them to collect the additional documents we discussed and encouraging them to reach out if any questions arise.

2:30pm: I sit down with my supervisor, Kali, for our weekly meeting. She answers my questions about incorporating a specific company’s tricky business model into our assessment. Together, we run through the progress I’m making with my pipeline of companies and also chat about my professional development.

3:00pm: I knock out some prep for upcoming calls, review documents, and keep crossing items off my to-do list. I love the varied nature of B Lab’s work. Not only do the general industries and markets I work with differ, but every individual company has its own business practices I can learn from. This is one of my favorite parts of my job — the constant learning.

5:11pm: I catch the train back to Philly. My ride home is similar to my morning commute, except that I also call my mom to check in with her. I get to downtown Philadelphia with some time to kill before volunteering at my church, so I sit in a café in Rittenhouse Square and catch up on personal emails.

7:00pm: I walk through the doors of my church and say hello to my students in tonight’s English as a Second Language class. We eat together, and, since the class is focused on conversational English, we spend the next few hours chatting. Over time, these students have become my close friends. After we finish eating dinner, I sit down with a Mexican couple in their 70s who I’ve been working with for the past six months. We review a children’s grammar workbook to cover some key concepts. During the last 45 minutes of class, we all read aloud from the Bible, which has plenty of new vocabulary for the students.

10:00pm: Back at home, I relax and unwind for a half hour until my alarm goes off again. This time, it’s reminding me to go to bed. Once I lay down, I fall asleep immediately and deeply.

B Lab is a Jopwell partner company.