Most engagement tools collect dust. Safiya Reid built one that actually sticks.

The origin. Before there was Oh Word, there was a girl on a New York City subway, folding the Times on her way to her first internship, trying to crack crossword clues that never quite felt like home. That gap between the game she loved and the culture she lived in stayed with her for nearly two decades, until she finally built the game that bridges both.

The track record. As Associate Vice President of Employee Engagement, Safiya achieved 90% participation and the highest engagement scores across a 45,000+ employee parent company, improving belonging scores, employee NPS, and retention by 37%. As Director of DEI, she increased leadership representation by 54%, launched 7 Employee Resource Groups reaching 62% of the workforce, and designed leadership development workshops grounded in emotional intelligence and cultural change.

The benchmark. The employee engagement and DEI framework Safiya built at PURE Insurance became the benchmark across all of Tokio Marine's subsidiaries. Her programs earned the Private Risk Management Association's DEI Initiative of the Year and the NY Coalition for the Homeless Corporate Partner of the Year, both in 2024. She was also named one of Insurance Business America's Elite Women in 2022. She is a Certified Inclusion Trainer through the NeuroLeadership Institute.

The game. Oh Word is the next evolution of that work: neuroscience-informed design, cultural fluency, and a deep belief that play is the most underestimated tool in a leader's toolkit.