Community Highlights: Meet Keiyana Arnold of Werk the Room

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keiyana Arnold.

Hi Keiyana, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve spent more than a decade in recruiting in big tech, and one thing has always been clear to me: talent is everywhere, but access isn’t.

There are so many talented people doing everything they were told to do—getting the degree, applying to hundreds of jobs, updating their resumes, working hard—and STILL feeling stuck in their careers. Sometimes the missing piece isn’t another application or updating your resume.. again. It’s access to information, intentional strategy, relationships, visibility, and rooms they haven’t been invited into yet. That’s a big part of why I built Werk the Room.

What started as networking mixers has evolved into a community at the intersection of careers, community, personal brand, tech, and women’s sports. We create experiences that help people practice telling their story better, build relationships that last long after the event, and to help get people closer to opportunities they may not have known how to access.

Most recently, we partnered with the Golden State Valkyries WNBA community team to support nearly 60 professionals building and pivoting careers in sports. Now we’re taking that same energy beyond the Bay Area with The Elevator, our virtual networking experience launching this October.

Sometimes you don’t need to “work harder.” You need access to the rooms, the communities, and the opportunities.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? Absolutely not. 😂 In 2024, I quit my job at Meta with no immediate plan to return to corporate. The people closest to me thought I was brave…and also understood that there was a little bit of crazy involved.

I spent the next year and a half building the foundation for Werk the Room, earning my executive coaching certification from UC Berkeley, learning how to use AI, and honestly—resting. I needed time to return to myself. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with basketball again, got clearer about the life I actually wanted, and surprisingly, started missing tech.

I also missed recruiting. Every day I was watching talented people online struggle to find work, and I missed being part of the solution. So I decided to become my own case study. I used the same strategies I teach through Werk the Room: getting clear about what I wanted, telling my story better, leveraging my network, building visibility, and being intentional instead of applying to everything.

By December 2025, I was in six interview processes and ultimately received two offers from major tech companies. I chose the opportunity that felt most aligned with where I wanted my career to go. That experience changed my relationship with work. My career doesn’t have to be my entire life. Neither does my business. I can love what I do and still have a life that belongs to me.

I genuinely believe we were not put on this earth just to suffer our way through work. And when something no longer fits, we have more agency than we realize. But exercising that agency requires knowledge, access, strategy and, quite frankly, a little bit of cojones. That level of freedom is really what Werk the Room is about!

We’ve been impressed with Werk the Room , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Werk the Room is a career and community platform built around a simple belief: access can change the trajectory of someone’s life.

We create experiences at the intersection of careers, community, tech, personal brand and women’s sports, but networking for us has never been about collecting business cards and going home. We want the impact to last beyond the event.

Community service is one of the ways we practice that. For MLK Day, our community came together with Community Kitchens in Oakland to make 300+ sandwiches for our neighbors. Through our partnership with Alameda County Community Food Bank, we’ve also volunteered alongside a larger effort that moved 38,000+ pounds of food—the equivalent of 32,000+ meals.

And the impact isn’t only measured in numbers. We’ve watched introductions made in our rooms turn into friendships, mentorship, career opportunities and even scholarships. That’s the stuff that matters to me.

I don’t want Werk the Room to create events where people show up, take a cute picture, exchange LinkedIns and never speak again. We’re building for sustainability and longevity. The goal is to create relationships, skills and access that people can carry with them long after they leave the room.

This October 15th, we’re taking that philosophy beyond the Bay Area with The Elevator, our virtual networking experience designed to help women practice telling their story, expand their circles and build genuine relationships from wherever they are.

The event is the introduction. What happens after the room is the impact.

How do you think about luck?
I believe in luck, but I also believe we can position ourselves for it.

One of my favorite examples happened last summer during WNBA All-Star Weekend. I booked a last-minute flight to Chicago, traveled solo, didn’t have a ticket to the game, and went with one intention: meet more women who cared about their careers AND women’s basketball as much as I did.

I knew why I was there, so in every room I entered, I used some version of the same introduction:

“Hi! I flew in from the Bay Area because I work in tech, I love the WNBA, and I wanted to meet other ambitious women who care deeply about both their careers and women’s sports.”

That’s it. 😂 Nothing overly polished or impressive. I knew my story, understood my audience, read the room, and adjusted when needed. That one sentence created a domino effect. One conversation led to another, which led to introductions, new friendships and unexpected opportunities.

Somehow, by the end of the weekend, the woman who flew to Chicago without a game ticket was sitting THIRD ROW at the WNBA All-Star Game. Was that luck? Absolutely. I couldn’t have planned that outcome, however I did position myself with intention. That experience reminded me that an elevator pitch isn’t really about selling yourself. It’s about knowing who you are, what you do, and why you’re in the room well enough that the right people can recognize themselves in your story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://werktheroom.lovable.app/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/werktheroom_hq/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keiyana-arnold/