Boryana Dineva Straubel (May 25, 1983 – June 19, 2021) was a Bulgarian businesswoman and philanthropist who emigrated to the United States.[3] She managed a family foundation that focused on environmental sustainability. She founded a jewelry company, Generation Collection, to promote environmental sustainability through the recycling of metals.[3][1][4][5][6] She was a manager in human resources at Tesla, the electric car company.[3] She married Tesla executive J. B. Straubel in 2013.[3] In 2015, she became the vice president of human resources for the Wikimedia Foundation for one year.[3] As she was bicycling in a designated lane in Nevada in June 2021, a car crossed the center line and struck her, killing her instantly.[2][3]
Boryana Straubel | |
|---|---|
 Straubel in 2015 | |
| Born | Boryana Dineva May 25, 1983 Bulgaria |
| Died | June 19, 2021 (aged 38)[1] |
| Education | College of San Mateo[1] University of California, Berkeley[1] |
| Alma mater | Stanford University[1] |
| Spouse | J. B. Straubel[1] |
| Website | straubelfoundation |
Early life and education
editBoryana Dineva was born in Bulgaria. She was raised by a single mother. From a very young age, the value of hard work was instilled in her. She graduated from high school as class valedictorian in 2000.[7]
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, her family migrated to Germany, where they lived in a refugee camp for a few months. Afterwards she lived in Austria and Russia.[3] Straubel was passionate about math. She was shy and preferred surfing the internet than going out with friends.[3] She moved to the United States in 2005.[3]
Straubel studied at the College of San Mateo and graduated in 2008. She studied at the University of California, Berkeley where she got a B.S. in Economics.[3] In 2019 and 2020, she obtained a Management Science & Engineering Master's degree and an MBA at Stanford University.[1]
Career
editStraubel worked as account manager for the software company Brocade.[3] From 2011 to 2015, she worked in Human Resources, Operations and Data Analysis at Tesla. During those four years and a half the employee count went from 600 to 13,000 due to an exponential growth of the company.[citation needed]
Straubel led the Human Resources Analytics, Information Systems, and Operation groups.[8] She was instrumental in building the company's people analytics capacity and developing a data-driven organizational design to support growth. She was instrumental in creating the Tesla culture that she summarised as
1. Competitive to be the best in all we do.
2. No fear of solving hard problems ourselves.
3. Be entrepreneurial, resourceful.
4. Minimize bureaucracy, just get it done.
5. Efficient and sustainable (demonstrate our mission).
6. Work hard, love what we do, have fun!'
— Boryana Straubel[9]
From 2015 to 2016, Straubel was VP of Human Resources for the Wikimedia Foundation. She oversaw the Wikimedia Foundation's talent and culture function, including talent acquisition, organizational training and development, and talent management and people analytics. She reported to Wikimedia Foundation Chief Operating Officer Terence Gilbey.[10]
From March 2016 to July 2017 Straubel was Program Director at Tesla. She left Tesla to study at Stanford University where she got a M.S. in Management Sloan (2019) and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering (2020) by the Stanford's School of Engineering.
Straubel Foundation
edit
The Straubel Foundation's goal is to help accelerate the transition to a more environmentally sustainable future. Since 2015, J. B. Straubel has been the president of the Straubel Foundation. Boryana Straubel was an executive director until her death in 2021. The Straubel Foundation is focused on leadership, impact investments, and education.[11]
Personal life
editOn August 3, 2013, Boryana Dineva Straubel married Jeffrey Brian ("JB") Straubel and lived in Woodside, California.[12] In 2015, she gave birth to twins.[13] When JB Straubel left as CTO at Tesla in July 2019, they moved to Nevada, where Redwood Materials was located.[2]
Death
editStraubel died after being hit by a car which crossed a double yellow line on June 19, 2021, while Straubel was riding her bike.[14][15][16] The driver was unlicensed.[17] Guadelupe Garcia-Davalos, the driver of the car, pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving causing death or substantial bodily harm, a felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.[18]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Elizabeth Paton (April 23, 2021). "Does Recycled Gold Herald a Greener Future for Jewelry? Boryana Straubel, founder of Generation Collection, calls recycled gold a way to clean up electronic waste — and a canny investment". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ a b c Terell Wilkins and Chelcey Adami (June 19, 2021). "UPDATE: Cyclist killed in crash on U.S. 395A ID'd as 38-year-old Washoe Valley resident". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Penelope Green (July 1, 2021). "Boryana Straubel, 38, Dies; Founded a 'Green' Jewelry Company: A former Tesla executive, she ran a family foundation that focuses on environmental sustainability". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Staff writer (March 4, 2021). "Introducing: Generation Collection". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Penelope Green (NY Times) (July 2, 2021). "Boryana Straubel, 38, dies; founded a 'green' jewelry company". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Rachel Cernansky (March 4, 2021). "Jewellery's sustainable future: Recycled gold: A new startup positions recycled gold as an investment strategy as well as a fashion statement, hinting at a possible future for sustainable jewellery". Vogue Business. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ "Why 24k Gold?". Generation Collection. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Boryana Straubel". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Straubel, Boryana (1 April 2019). "Boryana Straubel - The warrior, the crab and the wild card". YouTube. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Maher, Katherine (5 October 2015). "Wikimedia Foundation welcomes Boryana Dineva as Vice President of Human Resources". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Founders". Straubel Foundation. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Crusader Connection Winter 2015". Edgewood High School Magazine. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ Straubel, Boryana. "Human Resource Executive. July/August 2014". Instagram. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ "NHP Identifies Bicyclist Killed in Crash on U.S. 395A Saturday Morning". 2 News. 19 June 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^
Bureau, Nevada Appeal Capitol. "Washoe Valley woman killed in cycling crash". www.nevadaappeal.com.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Wilkins, Terell (19 June 2021). "Cyclist killed in crash on U.S. 395A ID'd as 38-year-old Washoe Valley resident". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Hart, Joe (2021-09-21). "Ask Joe: Why no vehicular manslaughter charge in deadly Washoe Valley crash?". KRNV. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
- ^ Hart, Joe (2022-01-20). "Ask Joe: Guilty plea entered in deadly Washoe Valley crash". KRNV. Retrieved 2023-05-18.