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Laarni Rosca Dacanay [she/her/babae]
DEI, Programs & Outreach, ABC’s “The Bachelor” Franchise 🌹| Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Advocate | Comms Pro | Connector
Professional Background
Laarni Rosca Dacanay is a celebrated communications manager with a remarkable 20-year trajectory in the media and entertainment sectors. Her extensive experience has been underscored by a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). As an award-winning internal communications manager, Laarni has earned a reputation as a trusted strategic partner to senior leadership within organizations, offering her invaluable insights on how DEI can powerfully drive both cultural change and meet business imperatives. She expertly advises on best practices in employee experience, guiding the establishment of employee and business resource groups (ERG/BRG), enhancing employee engagement, and fostering positive community relations.
Laarni holds a noteworthy position as the Manager of DEI, Programs & Outreach for ABC's beloved "The Bachelor" franchise, operating under NZK Productions and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. In her current role, she leads DEI initiatives internally across production and connects with industry organizations to broaden hiring outreach and leverage internal talent. Her role is critical in shaping a more inclusive environment that recognizes the value of diverse voices in shaping the storytelling process.
Prior to her role with ABC, Laarni served as a senior communications consultant for both Comcast NBCUniversal and TIME Magazine, where she honed her skills in employee communications and engagement strategies while advising senior executives on DEI and ERG/BRGs. Her foundational career moments began at NBC, where she paved the way as the network's first publicist for its Talent Diversity Initiative, a program that has evolved into NBCU LAUNCH, a significant initiative designed to enhance diverse talent representation in the industry.
Education and Achievements
Laarni's educational background is equally impressive. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from California State University, Fullerton, where she was honored to be the Keynote Speaker at the 10th Pilipino American Graduation ceremony. Furthering her skills in the entertainment industry, she pursued professional certification in Entertainment Publicity at UCLA, solidifying her expertise in strategic communications within the realm of media and television.
In her continuous pursuit of leadership development, Laarni has also studied "Leadership Essentials," a program coordinated by NBCUniversal Global Learning which focuses on the cultivation of essential leadership skills, and "Foundations of Leadership" at GE Crotonville, the corporate business school renowned for its leadership training.
Laarni is driven by her passion for representation in the media landscape, her contributions reflect a commitment to ensuring that diverse perspectives are visible at all levels— from entry-level interns to executive leadership. Her influence extends beyond her workplace as she actively participates in various boards and advisory committees, making significant strides towards a more inclusive media representation.
Community Leadership and Advocacy
Laarni is recognized as a community leader and advocate for DEI efforts. Her dedication is evident through her role as the Chair of the PBS SoCal Community Advisory Board, where she champions the inclusion of diverse voices in public broadcasting. She also serves on the Advisory Board of FilAm ARTS and the Advocacy Committee of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Los Angeles Chapter, both of which focus on promoting representation and diversity in the arts and journalism.
Additionally, she plays an integral role on the National DEI Committee of the Public Relations Society of America, working towards the enhancement of equitable practices within the PR sector. Laarni has even co-produced events for the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience at prestigious film festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and Toronto, providing platforms for filmmakers from diverse backgrounds.
Laarni's contributions to the industry have been recognized multiple times, which is why she is a proud recipient of several PRSA awards, reflecting her excellence in public relations and community advocacy. She has held various significant positions in the entertainment sector and has been a strong voice for Asian Pacific Americans throughout her career. As a founding member of NBCUniversal's Asian Pacific American ERG, Laarni has directly influenced the development of more inclusive workplace environments, demonstrating her passion for representation within the corporate structure.
A Career Rooted in Diversity and Inclusion
With a career spanning reputable organizations such as FOX Sports/TVG, New Line Cinema, and NBCUniversal, Laarni brings a wealth of experience to any role she undertakes. She has held pivotal positions throughout her career, including serving as a Senior Communications Consultant focusing on People & Culture at TIME, External Communications Manager at Comcast, and Publicity Coordinator at Focus Features. In these roles, she has consistently demonstrated her ability to effectively communicate key messages and engage diverse audiences while addressing systemic inequalities within the industry.
Laarni has never shied away from leadership roles; her active involvement with the Television Academy and the Public Relations Society of America underscores her commitment to supporting the future of media and communication. Over the years, she has served as a judge for the Internship/College TV Awards and acted as the co-chair of the diversity committee at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, showcasing her dedication to guiding and promoting emerging talents and advocating for diversity in the media landscape.
Conclusion
Born and raised in Ohio, Laarni now resides in Southern California, where her efforts contribute significantly to the media ecosystem, particularly in representation through storytelling and communications. With her vast experience, dedication, and exemplary leadership, Laarni Rosca Dacanay continuously shapes the narrative of diversity and inclusion in the media, making her an asset to both the organizations she serves and the community as a whole. As she continues to advance in her career, one can only expect to see her pioneering work contribute to a brighter future for representation in entertainment and an industry that embodies equity and diversity across its many facets.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.