I Choose the Ladder

In this episode, we explore some of the unique challenges Black women face as they climb the corporate ladder. The themes were gathered from hundreds of Black women leaders who have been interviewed for the I Choose the Ladder Podcast.

Whether you're a Black woman leader, ally, or simply interested in the topic, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice for creating more equitable workplaces. Don't miss out on this important conversation!

In this episode of the I Choose the Ladder Podcast you meet Brenda Battle, a leading voice in healthcare and Senior Vice President of Community Health Transformation and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at UChicago Medicine. With over 30 years of experience, Brenda Battle is a trailblazer in healthcare who has worked tirelessly to improve health equity and access for marginalized communities.

Brenda oversees efforts to design UCM’s community-health management strategy, develop and implement coordinated, innovative healthcare solutions to address healthcare disparities, and foster innovation in UCM’s care delivery system by crafting care models that promote diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Brenda leads efforts to integrate the resources and strategies of the UChicago Medicine with the assets and resources of the community to meet the healthcare needs of populations served by the UCM system. Ms. Battle oversees UChicago Medicine’s Urban Health Initiative (UHI) which facilitates and coordinates efforts to address complex health and social needs of residents on the South Side of Chicago by bringing a collaborative, community-based, and participatory problem- solving approach to the health and social needs of UCM’s patients and the broader community; creating greater access to high-quality and culturally competent information, educational programs, financial and healthcare resources that empower community members to live the healthiest lives possible; generating goodwill in the community and the social capital/relationships needed to create new services and programs that improve population health and reduce gaps in the social determinants of health; serving as the bridge to the community to training and research; and serving as the honest broker providing UCM’s community consciousness, enabling the UHI to listen in to the community and communicate back to UCM leadership what the community needs and wants.

Prior to joining the UCM, Brenda was the director of the inaugural Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO, were she oversaw programs to eliminate health disparities, promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Brenda has over 38 years of health care experience, serving as Executive Vice President, Government and Community Affairs for Medical Transportation Management (MTM), Inc., and leading operations in commercial and Medicaid managed care. Brenda has several publications, and has served as national speaker on reducing health care disparities.

In this episode, you meet Jennifer Montague, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer for NiSource, a natural gas and electric utility company servicing 4 million customers under the NIPSCO and Columbia Gas brands. She is responsible for setting direction and managing a leadership team focused on customer experiences in the areas of Customer Care Centers, Customer Insights and Marketing, Billing & Payments and New Business across six states. She joined the company as the Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at NIPSCO in November 2018.

Prior to joining NIPSCO, Jennifer had nearly three decades of customer operations, branding, communications and marketing experience in several roles with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in Chicago and British Petroleum (BP)/Amoco in London (England) and Warrenville, Illinois.

Jennifer currently serves on the board of directors for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, Edgewater Health, Merit School of Music, and Northwest Indiana United Way.

Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics and feminist studies from Stanford University and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Chicago.

Jennifer is based at the NiSource headquarters facility in Merrillville, Indiana.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Keeping your eyes on your own prize

- How to keep from being bitter at work

- Creating connections with people who have different life experiences

As we step into the new year, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO takes you through 12 questions to ask yourself to help clarify your goals for the year.

We are seeing layoffs happening all over corporate America, and if we are being honest, these are some scary times for employees. In this episode, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO, Watchen Nyanue, helps people managers lead their teams through layoffs. We focus on the ones who stay and the impact of the ones who leave.

It's that time of the year again when we start planning for the new year. Of course, we make ambitious plans, but we may need to look at our plans through the right lens.

In this episode, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO Watchen Nyanue takes you through how she plans for her upcoming year and helps you use the right data to ensure that next year is your best year yet!

In this episode, you meet Rae Livingston. As AbbVie’s Chief Equity Officer, Ms. Livinston leads enterprise efforts to promote a diverse, equitable, bias-conscious, and inclusive culture with internal and external impact. Ms. Livingston serves on the AbbVie Executive Leadership Team.

In her previous role, Ms. Livingston served as Vice President, Business Human Resources, Corporate Functions, and U.S. Employee Relations when she joined AbbVie in 2016. Before AbbVie, Ms. Livingston held multiple vice president roles, primarily in Business Human Resources. In this capacity, her areas of accountability and specialty included: global operations & engineering services, headquarter functions, and mergers & acquisitions, as well as driving a culture of inclusion. Her career journey has included pivotal experiences with SC Johnson and Medtronic domestically, as well as Rockwell Automation and JP Morgan Chase, where she grew her global footprint.

In 2021, Ms. Livingston was recognized by Diversity Woman Media’s Elite 100 list as one of one- hundred extraordinary Black women executives changing the face of corporate America. She was also named to Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Advisory Board (2021-2023) to help guide the HBA’s strategy on diversity dynamics. Ms. Livingston is also a member of The Executive Leadership Council, the Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Executives Council with The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) executive network. Previously, Ms. Livingston served as board chair for the YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin and as a member of the executive committee.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

In this episode, we learn all about The CLIMB Career Summit and what attendees can expect this year.

Enjoy!

In this episode you meet Tara August the Senior Vice President of Talent Relations & Special Projects for Turner Sports and Bleacher Report, where she oversees the division’s marquee roster of on-air announcers across both digital and linear platforms. In this role she is responsible for the management of some of the biggest names in sports including Hall of Famers Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Wayne Gretzky and Pedro Martinez, across Turner’s sports properties which include the NBA, NHL, NCAA and MLB. On a day-to-day basis August facilitates on-air production, sales, marketing and promotional activities, with a special emphasis on serving as the primary liaison to all sport teams, leagues, agents and celebrities to facilitate contract negotiations and special guest bookings. She also contributes to the development of special projects for the TNT, TBS, NBA TV and Bleacher Report family of platforms such as the official NBA Awards show, The Dunk King and the All-Star All-Style Show.

She also currently oversees the organization’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) efforts via the People Advisory Council (PAC), an internal organization which aims to increase diverse hiring and mobility and creating a diversified industry pipeline of professionals.

Previously, Tara served as public relations manager for Turner Sports where she aided in directing the strategic development and implementation of visibility efforts for the organization’s programming, talent and executives.

Prior to joining Turner Sports, August was an account director for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide where she managed extensive sports marketing partnerships designed to promote social marketing causes via sports personalities and organizations. For more than six years she successfully worked across a multitude of sports leagues to develop award-winning public service announcements, special events and programs for the agency’s public and private clientele.

In October 2021 Tara August was named the 2021 DEI Cablefax Champion for her diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; additional recognition includes the Atlanta Business Chronicle 2021 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion “Outstanding Voice” Award and being named to the Cynopsis “2021 Top Woman in Media” and 2020 Cablefax “Most Powerful Women” lists.

Tara August is currently a Southeast Trustee for the Boys & Girls Club of America, as well as the VP of public relations on the Sports Task Force of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and a member of the American Cancer Society’s Sports Council. She’s also a founding member of the San Diego Network of African-American Professionals (SNAAP!).

She earned her master of arts degree in sport management from the University of San Francisco and her bachelor of arts degree in comparative literature, with a minor in communications, from San Diego State University.

In this episode, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO discusses practical ways that you can help your team find success.

Enjoy!