*By Madison Alworth*
Cloud messaging platform Twilio has an ambitious five-year plan.
By 2023, the company wants 50 percent of its workforce to be female and 30 percent to either be black or Latino, identify as two or more races, be Pacific Islander or Native American, LGBTQ, or any combination thereof.
LaFawn Davis, Twilio's head of culture and inclusion, knows achieving those goals is a tall order ー the company is currently 31 percent women, 3 percent Latino, and 1 percent black.
"We wanted to set 2023 goals that were aspirational. And the purpose is to mirror the communities that we serve," Davis said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar.
But Davis said it's about more than just meeting quotas and percentages.
"We also want to make sure we have 100 percent on our 'Belonging and Diversity' index. Every single employee no matter who they are, where they come from, what their background is, should feel like they belong."
Davis has been at Twilio for a little under two years. Her chief goal is to increase diversity, but she considers herself accountable to not just to the company, but to the entire "industry, to the public," she said.
She said implementing the changes will be very much worth the work ー and the wait.
"There's going to be some things that work, there are going to be some things that we try and fail. And we are going to talk about those things as we go towards those goals."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/twilio-aiming-for-50-female-workforce-by-2023).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
