What Rules!?: A career podcast for women of color

It’s Black History Month and Meredith Harper is on a mission—to empower women and people of color to embark upon careers in tech. Black, Latina and Native American women make up only 4% of tech roles in the U.S.

Meredith is the Chief Information Security Officer at Synchrony, a Fortune 500 company that is one of the largest issuers of store credit cards in the U.S. She shares how she has often been the only woman of color throughout her 30-year career in tech and how other strong women partnered with her to get ahead.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation with Meredith on how to challenge authority at work so that it benefits you and your company. “It's about being bold and it’s about being noisy,” she says.

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• What your LinkedIn banner says about you
• Chase after experiences, not roles
• It’s ok to be different 
• Challenging authority at work
• Pushing back benefits everyone
• Be bold and noisy to create change
• Resources to grow your career in tech and other industries
• Work integration with your personal life
• Infuse levity into whatever you’re doing

Mentioned in this Episode:

Empowering Black, Latina, and Native American Women in Tech by McKinsey & Company, 8/29/23

ISACA, a global association for professionals in information security, governance, assurance, risk, and privacy and quality. 

ISC2, the world’s leading member association for cybersecurity professionals

SANS, an institute that offers cybersecurity training, certifications and research

Meredith’s Bio: 

Meredith Harper is a strategic leader with 30 years of experience, who is passionate about her greatest assets—her team members. Her success has been attributed to her ability to manage large-scale complex programs that cross functional areas while advancing the skill sets and careers of her team members.

Meredith is passionate about empowering women and people of color to embark upon careers in technology, especially in information security, where those populations are underrepresented. She’s committed to transforming the industry by driving engaging and provocative discussions around diversity, equity, inclusion and empowerment and the value it brings. It is her hope that the industry transforms at a more rapid pace so that women and people of color are normalized in tech and security spaces. 

Meredith is a proud alumna of the University of Detroit Mercy and the Loyola Chicago School of Law where she received a Master’s in Health Services Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, and Master's of Jurisprudence in Compliance, respectively.

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Let’s advance together in 2024! Today, we chat about lifting others to get ahead collectively with Cindy Tran, Managing Director at Slalom, a global business and technology consulting company.

As an Asian American, Cindy talks about how she was raised to be empathetic with everyone and how it’s helped her advance in her career. 

“That general commitment to adding value and helping others succeed,” says Cindy. “It makes other people want to help you.”

Tune in for how empathy can take you (and others!) far in the workplace. “It’s much more powerful to have others lift you up than for you to get there by yourself,” says Cindy.

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• Cindy’s TEDx Talk
• Breaking through cultural barriers at work
• Learning from white male mentors
• Recognizing ego vs humbleness
• Lifting others to get ahead together
• How empathy impacts companies
• Lack of empathy between women
• Finding people who support you
• Having a multicultural woman as a leader
• Resonating with others while on your journey
• Helping others makes people want to help you

Cindy’s Bio: 

Cindy Tran is a Managing Director at Slalom, a purpose-led, global business and technology consulting company. She has over 20 years of experience in professional services, currently focused on Slalom go-to-market expansion into Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. 

Cindy has a strong commitment to serving customers and enabling teams to achieve strategic outcomes. Cindy is passionate about mentoring early career young professionals and community give-back opportunities.  

Together, Cindy and her husband are raising two young boys and are small business owners.

Mentioned in this episode:

Cindy Tran’s TEDx Talk: Untold Complexities Between 1st and 2nd Generation Immigrants

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Are you thinking about leaving corporate America? You’re not alone. 1 in 3 women of color currently in the workplace plan to leave their jobs over the next year. 

We’re here to tell you why multicultural women are needed in corporate America and what it means if more of us decide to leave.

Before you choose the path of entrepreneurship or the corporate world, check out our convo!

Episode Highlights:

• Women of color are leaving corporate America
• Why it’s important for multicultural women to stay in corporate America
• Wanting something different 
• Opting out of your power
• Choosing your own path
• Needing both entrepreneurs and corporate women
• Fitting into corporate culture if there were more women of color
• Taking care of yourself 
• Outsmarting the game  

Research Mentioned:

2/15/23: The Harris Poll: America This Week Wave 155

March 2021: More Women of Color are Ready to Leave the Workforce by Fairygodboss and nFormation

May 2020: Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters by McKinsey & Company

6/24/20: Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter (Quick Take) by Catalyst

2022 Women in the Workplace by McKinsey & Company

Check out these additional episodes:

Ep 64: The 4 L’s to Advance Your Career featuring Tanika Cabral

Ep 71: Transform Your Limiting Beliefs to Get Ahead featuring Thear Suzuki

Ep 73: 3 Moves to Improve Your Next Meeting featuring Monique Lanaux

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Are you looking for a mentor? We’ve got a surefire way to get as many mentors as you want, thanks to Shellye Archambeau, a Fortune 500 board director and one of the first Black female CEOs in the tech industry.

Shellye learned early in her career that you should have multiple mentors and she figured out how to do that—without asking! And it’s easier than you think!

Suffering from impostor syndrome? Don’t worry, Shellye points out it affects all of us, including herself, and she offers ways to beat it when it sneaks up on you. 

Striving to land a paid seat on a corporate board? Shellye shares how she did it and how you can, too! 

Want people to remember you? Introduce yourself using Shellye’s technique and you’ll be on people’s minds long after you meet them.

With over 30 years of corporate experience, Shellye, author of Unapologetically Ambitious, shares some golden nuggets you won’t want to miss! 

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• Mixing business and pleasure
• Achieving work-life integration
• How to get a mentor without asking
• Get paid to serve on a board
• How to set goals and stay on track
• How to beat impostor syndrome
• 3 ways leaders can advance multicultural women in the workplace
• Introduce yourself so people remember you

Mentioned in this Episode:

Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms by Shellye Archambeau

LinkedIn Learning Course: Unapologetically Ambitious by Shellye Archambeau

2023 Gender Diversity Index Report by 50/50 Women on Boards

Shellye’s Bio: 

Shellye Archambeau is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a track record of accomplishments building brands, high performance teams, and organizations. Currently, Shellye serves on the boards of Verizon, Roper Technologies, and Okta. She is also a CEO mentor with the EXCO Group and serves on the board of two national nonprofits, Catalyst and Braven. 

Shellye has over 30 years of experience in technology. She is the former CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based, governance, risk, and compliance software company. During her tenure MetricStream grew from a fledgling startup into a global market leader. 

Shellye is the author of Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms. A book that will inspire you and provide the tools to enable you to fight the battles, make the tradeoffs and create the life you want. 

Shellye enjoys the performing arts, traveling and cooking.

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We chat with Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, Chief Legal Officer of Digital & Technology for Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company.

Brianna was doing just fine as a senior patent attorney at Microsoft before Yum! Brands came calling (during the pandemic!) with an opportunity to switch to the restaurant industry, a new field for her. 

“Here I was looking to do something completely different, in an industry that I knew nothing about,” says Brianna. “I have four to five people that I really respect their input and they all gave me great advice.”

Brianna shares how she decided to accept the new challenge and who she turns to for career advice.

Is it time for you to take on a new challenge? We discuss the signs it’s likely time to change course, who you should talk to about it, and some revealing questions to ask yourself when making big decisions.

We also cover how to decide if the timing is right to take on a new challenge and working in your zone of excellence vs zone of genius.

Theme: Change Course Without Hesitation

Episode Highlights:

• Changing course with your career
• Being curious
• Having a growth mindset
• Are you doing your job with your eyes closed?
• Questions to ask yourself when considering a big career move
• Working in your zone of excellence vs zone of genius
• Is it the right time for a new challenge?
• Who to talk to when making big decisions
• Saying no to an opportunity when the timing isn’t right
• How leaders can advance multicultural talent and build diverse teams

Mentioned in this episode:

The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks

Brianna’s Bio:

Briana Hinojosa-Smith joined Yum! Brands in August of 2020 and currently serves as their Chief Legal Officer, Digital & Technology. In her role at Yum!, Brianna oversees a broad range of commercial and technology-related legal matters, including commercial contracts and licenses, data rights and intellectual property protection, as well as funding strategies to commercialize data and technology.

Additionally, Brianna manages Yum!’s global patent portfolio, including coordinating the evaluation and filing of patents across the four brands (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Habit Burger Grill) and Yum!.

Prior to joining Yum!, Brianna was a Senior Patent Attorney at Microsoft where she supported the Devices business (including Xbox/Gaming and Surface) in the areas of patent prosecution, conflict matters and licensing, as well as general legal support for the Devices client.

In her 20-plus years as a patent attorney, Brianna’s experience includes patent prosecution, acquisition due diligence, patent licensing and litigation, patent monetization, validity and infringement analysis, and trademark and copyright protection. 

Prior to joining Yum!, Brianna worked in both the private and public sector including Gardere & Wynne, BlackBerry, Nortel and Uniden.

Brianna earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Trinity University in San Antonio, a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. When Brianna is not working, she enjoys serving her community as an elected official, spending time with her family, running and writing.

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Where there’s a will, there’s a way. That's the motto that's taken Wendy Wu far—from Microsoft to Google, and now to software developer SailPoint, where she is the Chief Marketing Officer.

Wendy believes that “you have to be the owner of your own career,” and that means defining what you want outside of your current role. She tells us about the time she did just that at Microsoft when her position was eliminated and she had to create a new position for herself.

“Oftentimes a job description just tells you the status quo for today,” says Wendy, who grew up in China. “It doesn’t tell you what’s going to be next for you, so always extend yourself into other areas that may set you up for longer-term success.” 

We chat about three keys to defining your career and Wendy encourages us to seek help along the way!

Theme: Know What You Want

Episode Highlights:

• Work life blend vs work life balance
• Always give your best effort at work and life
• Go beyond the job description
• Create your own opportunities
• Talk to others about their jobs
• Try out a role and pivoting as necessary
• Be aware of how you feel 
• Volunteer to develop new skills
• Ask for help along the way

Wendy's Bio:

Wendy Wu brings over 20 years of experience in B2B enterprise marketing to her role at SailPoint as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. At SailPoint, she’s focused on accelerating the company’s growth through modern, digital marketing, elevating SailPoint’s brand recognition, driving product adoption, and helping to deliver against the company’s business goals worldwide.

Prior to joining SailPoint, Wendy was Vice President of Marketing at Box, where she led the global demand generation team to fuel the growth of the business as a leading content cloud platform. 

Before Box, Wendy spent eight years at Google Cloud. While there, she built the demand generation team for the Google Cloud Platform, eventually scaling the global marketing programs to support a multi-billion-dollar business. 

Before Google, Wendy held various product marketing and marketing leadership roles at Microsoft and other global companies.

Wendy received her bachelor’s degree in English from Fudan University and her master’s degrees in Public Policy and Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

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Welcome to the Own Your Power Series! In three short episodes, we’ll help you advance your career as a woman of color. AND we provide leaders with surefire ways to advance the multicultural women at their organizations.

In this episode, we show you the first step to owning your power: how to own your identity. Why is this important? “Your identity shapes how you experience and see the world,” says co-host Dr. Merary Simeon in Part 1 of our series.

We provide you with tools, such as the Identity Circle, to think about all the factors that make up your identity. And we share how owning your identity can open doors for yourself and others.

“Ultimately, understanding and embracing your identity will put you in control of how you respond to opportunities and challenges that you face as a multicultural woman,” says Dr. Merary.

Theme: Own Your Power

Episode Highlights:

• Why owning your identity is important
• What makes up your identity 
• Consequences of covering parts of your identity
• Building a support system
• The Identity Circle, a tool to own your identity
• Opening doors for yourself and others
• How leaders can advance multicultural women

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Ep 9: Thelma Haylock, Change Leader on Embracing Her Story

Identity Circle

More episodes about owning your identity:

Ep 80: Creating Your Own Career Path

Ep 78: Leading with Vulnerability

Ep 71: Transform Your Limiting Beliefs to Get Ahead

Ep 68: How to Be Strategic with Your Next Career Move

Ep 64: Dr. Carey Yazeed: Truth Teller, Fire Starter

Ep 60: How Understanding Your Identity Opens the Doors to Success

Ep 58: Focused on Her Faith

Ep 47: When In Doubt, Figure It Out

Ep 46: Learning to Win as an Outsider

Ep 43: Turning Your Insecurities into Your Superpowers

Ep 19:

In Part 2 of our Own Your Power Series, we share how you can leverage your strengths to get ahead in your career. 

Discovering and growing your strengths is worth it. Research says people who have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs.

We offer tools that will help you identify your strengths and build on them. “We all have areas that we consistently stand out in,” says co-host Dr. Merary Simeon. “Once we understand what they are, those are our strength zones.”

Theme: Own Your Power

Episode Highlights:

• Focusing on your strengths instead of your weaknesses
• Building your strengths over time
• Tools to identify your strengths—CliftonStrengths Assessment, HIGH5 Strengths Test
• How managers can build on the talent of multicultural women
• How others perceive your strengths
• Getting help to grow your strengths

Mentioned in this Episode: 

CliftonStrengths Assessment

HIGH5 Strengths Test

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Gallup

Strengths Based Leadership by Gallup

More episodes about using your strengths:

Ep 70: Making Big Bold Moves Even When You’re Fearful

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The #1 question we get from women of color is, how do I find a mentor and sponsor? 

In Part 3 of our Own Your Power Series, we reveal why you need both. “If you’re not sure what you want to do, go to a mentor,” says co-host Alisa Manjarrez. “As soon as you know, go to a sponsor.” 

We tell you how to find a mentor who you can trust and is a good fit for you. 

We also fill you in on how a sponsor can help you get ahead and the best way to approach a possible candidate. 

Theme: Own Your Power

Episode Highlights:

• What is a mentor 
• How to find the right mentor for you
• How to approach a possible mentor
• How many mentors you should have
• What is a sponsor
• How a sponsor can help you advance in your career
• How to find the right sponsor for you
• How to approach a possible sponsor

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Expect to Win by Carla Harris

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Shiseido exec Agnes Landau has an accent and speaks with her hands—two things she tried to tone down at the start of her career. Not anymore! 

Today, Agnes is the Chief Marketing Officer at Shiseido U.S. and she credits her differences for standing out and getting ahead in the workplace. “Because I have an accent, people listen more closely,” says Agnes, who’s Puerto Rican. 

We chat about being open to new opportunities, like the five years Agnes worked in France without knowing French! Being able to “figure it out along the way,” she says, is key.  

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• The power of mentors and sponsors

• Creating your own opportunities

• Working internationally

• Embracing your differences

• Standing out to advance your career

• Focusing on your strengths

Register Now!

The What Rules!? Leadership Conference is on 10/25/23. Learn more and register at Eventbrite.

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