Sparking curiosity and insight among leaders about the world of work:life and where they’re headed.
Who is Omar?
I spent a long part of my career scaling workplace for some truly incredible companies.
Along that journey, I always followed my curiosity and let it lead me from a mailroom job to being a global head of workplace. I was lucky to work at companies in several industries and develop workplaces globally.
It’s this unique background that led me to believe that while there is a lot we know about the workplace - the world around us is constantly changing, and so too must our workplaces. This has led me to become a workplace researcher and insights leader.
Today, I continue my work to understand what’s next and where the world of work:life is headed.
Where Omar’s Been
Some of the amazing places I’ve crafted workplaces.
Omar’s Journey
A timeline of what lead me here.
1986: Early Days
Born in Michigan, and spent my early years in Chicago. My father a Peruvian immigrant who found his calling in software, and my mother a nurse turned real estate broker.
Childhood
Developed childhood leukemia and went into remission in ‘96. and our family promptly moved back east. Fighting cancer was easier for me because of the strong community support I felt in my life, and that was central to the way I viewed the world going forward.
School Years
Went to school in Pennsylvania and graduated from university not quite knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to do something with developing communities and helping others, and also really enjoyed working with buildings.
2009: Google
That combination led me to my first role as a contractor at Google NY, delivering mail and knocking out tickets. I quickly found my curiosity and moved into space planning and move management.
2012: Netflix
After a move to California I was recruited to be the first Los Angeles office manager for Netflix. Little did I know, Originals was about to kick off and the journey it would take me on. I spent the next few years doing constant construction projects.
2015: Dropbox
Recruited by Dropbox to come to San Francisco and help them scale at lightning speed. At this stage I began studying design thinking and industrial design.
2016: Stripe
Joined Stripe and scaled their workplace to new countries, including a new headquarters in San Francisco.
2017: Atlassian
Joined Atlassian to scale their North American and EMEA workplaces. It was an incredible time to scale with Atlassian and the team there was second to none.
2020: Project Director
Left Atlassian after the passing of my mother to spend more time at home and became a managing director of a Project Firm. LIttle did I know a pandemic was coming and I’d be spending a lot more time at home!
2021: Miro
Became the first head of workplace at Miro. Expanded their workplace in 6 cities and by 8 team members globally.
2021: Affordances
Went independent and took my consultancy Affordances full time. Began facilitating and helping teams work on strategy. Took a turn into helping teams shape products aimed at workplace professionals.
2022: Collective
Co-Founded Collective to help bring better information and resources to workplace professionals. We continue to ship great information weekly.
2023: inspace
Joined inspace as the head of outreach, insights, and engagement while continuing my work as an advisor and fractional workplace consultant. I also began publishing my personal newsletter, Work: Life 2040.
Let’s explore what work:life could be like by the year 2040.
The world is changing rapidly as technology continues to accelerate and society evolves.
How will our lives and work look 20 years from now?
Join me in exploring this question in my biweekly newsletter Work:Life 2040, where we’ll discuss different parts and pieces of the future and what they could take shape.
Let’s talk.
Want to hear more insights or explore the future together?