May 8, 2025
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3 minutes read
We’re honored to announce that Holly (Oh) Diamond, our Founder and CEO, has been selected as a winner of the 2025 Queens Tech Innovation Challenge Pitch Competition, hosted by the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC).
Why This Matters
The Queens Tech Innovation Challenge isn’t just a pitch event—it’s a celebration of the grit, creativity, and diversity that makes Queens what it is. Founders from across the borough pitched powerful ideas, and WorkOnward was selected for our inclusive, tech-enabled approach to solving a persistent challenge: how to make local hiring more accessible, efficient, and equitable—especially for immigrant-owned small businesses and underserved hourly workers.
We’re a small team with big goals. At WorkOnward, we’re building a map-based hiring platform that helps local businesses find and hire local workers—faster, more inclusively, and with way less friction. Whether it’s a mom-and-pop restaurant in Flushing or a construction crew in Astoria, we want to make hiring easier for the folks holding up our neighborhoods.
What’s Next
This recognition is a meaningful milestone for our team. Over the past several months, we’ve been diligently preparing—refining our pitch, listening to the voices of over 200 small business owners and hourly job seekers, and strengthening the foundation of our platform.
Winning this competition affirms the importance of what we’re building—and it inspires us to keep going. We’re grateful to QEDC, the judges, and the broader Queens startup community for believing in our mission and recognizing the hard work that got us here.
Huge thank you to the Queens Economic Development Corporation, the judges, and everyone who has supported our journey so far. We’re grateful, humbled, and fired up for what’s ahead.
If you’re building something for the community, we want to hear from you.
To learn more about our work or join us in building a more inclusive future of work, visit
