Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
How to Effectively Engage HBCU's and HSI's w/ Tiffany Williams
41 Plays3 years ago
This week, for episode 14 of “The 3D Podcast” Cedric Chambers sits down with an awesome diversity leader, Tiffany Williams. During this interview, Tiffany shared her thoughts about How Organization should Effectively Engage HBCU's and HSI's. This is a great episode packed with a ton of gems, so get your notepads ready as we dive deep and “Discuss the Dimensions of Diversity”.
Feel free to subscribe, comment and like.👍
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cedricempowers
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/cedricempowers
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the 3D Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey, I'm Cedric Chambers, and I would like to welcome you to another episode of the 3D Podcast, a masterclass where we share with you everything you need to know about how to transform diversity and inclusion in your organization as well as in your community. We are on a mission to amplify the voices of leaders that are making an impact in the world today so that we can have a better tomorrow.
00:00:25
Speaker
Our goal every episode is to keep it simple, honest, and transparent with you by uncovering the truths in diversity and inclusion with the hope of creating behavioral change all while presenting it from a unique perspective. So look, if you're ready, get your notepad out, pour you a drink, and let's dive deep as we discuss the dimensions of diversity.
Meet Tiffany Williams: Verizon's D&I Leader
00:00:49
Speaker
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the 3D Podcast, where we speak to real practitioners who are making real change in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. And my guess for today, let's just say you're in for a treat. On today's show, I'm speaking to Tiffany Williams, the diversity, equity, and economic inclusion leader for Verizon. Tiffany is a lifelong learner, DNI enthusiast, and loves people. She's a proud HBCU grad of North Carolina A&T, as well as a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
00:01:19
Speaker
So look, get your notepads ready, give a shout out to your favorite HBCU, shout out to Savannah State Represent, because we are about to dive deep as we discuss the dimensions of diversity.
Tiffany's Journey into D&I
00:01:31
Speaker
Hey, Tiffany, how you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, look, I'm excited to dive into our topic today. But first, to kind of get things kicked off, I know the audience wants to know a little bit more about you. So can we dive deep just into your background to really get an understanding of your career journey, your path, you know, how you got into the D and I space, and then we can kind of go from there.
00:01:53
Speaker
Absolutely. So well, thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here to talk about my journey, talk about my story and kind of share some of the information that I have. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and your listeners. So a little bit about me. I tell people all the time that I started like my DNI journey.
00:02:12
Speaker
probably a little bit over, about a little bit over 10 years ago at this point, I call myself BE&I adjacent. I started my career working at Accenture and I was working as a small business liaison officer. And basically what that means is I went out and I did a lot of networking, a lot of socializing and
00:02:30
Speaker
just meeting different types of diverse business owners to assess their skills and capabilities to see if they would be a good fit for partnership with Verizon or at the time Accenture. And so that opportunity, you know, that work, I met a lot of DNI professionals.
00:02:47
Speaker
did
Impact at Verizon's D&I Team
00:02:48
Speaker
a lot of work, went to a lot of conferences, and it kind of led me into this D&I phase. So while still while at Accenture, I transitioned to like doing some supply diversity work, which is very similar to the small business space, but it's on the commercial side, which put me smack dab in front of the chief
00:03:07
Speaker
Accenture's Chief Diversity Officer many times I settled several meetings work with routine because basically what we were asked to do was many of our clients was pulled the DNI thread all the way through so many of our clients important clients they want to know what we were doing around DNI with our workforce.
00:03:24
Speaker
They want to know what we're doing around DNI to support our customers. They want to know what we were doing around DNI with our suppliers. And so I would always get pulled in. And then I was looking at all these, you know, these different aspects of DNI that I was pretty new to. And I was like, wow, this is some really cool stuff. And so I just continue to like grow my knowledge.
00:03:43
Speaker
get more training, attend different events, shadow people, get new mentors. And then five years ago, yeah, about five years going on six, I found myself at Verizon on Verizon's diversity, equity and inclusion team. And then that's when things really started to take off for me. Nice, nice, nice.
Career Lessons and Building a Brand
00:04:03
Speaker
Let me ask you this. So as you were kind of going through your career, what were like two or three lessons that were like critical to your success that you learned along the way?
00:04:11
Speaker
So I'll tell you the biggest thing, the way that I even fell into this small business world is that there was this amazing woman that was there. And she was at the time the small business liaison officer. And I just thought what she was doing was fantastic. And I had not heard of it before prior to joining Accenture. And one day I just, she didn't have any help. She was like a one woman show. And I asked, I said, you know, would you mind if I shadow you and maybe support you and just kind of, you know, learn,
00:04:38
Speaker
from some of the things that you're doing. And she said, absolutely. And by my doing that, I learned everything. She took me under her wing and I just.
00:04:47
Speaker
it was like the rest is history and eventually she moved on to bigger and better things and I was promoted into her position and that and that was like the official kickoff to how I even got my foot wet you know my feet wet and started in this space so I would say not specifically DNI or you know just with any role be flexible raise your hand
00:05:08
Speaker
I can tell you one thing, if you're on a team and you kind of know, that was one of the things I did, I knew how to do everybody's job. If you know a little bit, you don't have to be like, you know how they say, Jack of all trades, master of none. If you know like a little bit of somebody's job and you can back them up, it will carry you very, very, very far. And that was a huge win for me.
00:05:33
Speaker
Nice, nice, nice. I like that. Look, she said, come on, look, everybody loves free help. Yeah, you can shout at me, come do some work, you can go. What you want to do? I was like, I want to say yes, too. Yeah. It helped me, because I'll tell you, the supply diversity space,
00:05:52
Speaker
It's high touch with very high and senior level people within the organization oftentimes. And so not only, you know, it allowed me to build my brand too. So I got like to learn this new skill, impress my boss. My boss was like, oh wow, look at her. She's like a go-getter. And then I got to meet all of like the senior executives within Accenture.
00:06:12
Speaker
It was, I mean, even the current CEO, I had like the eccentric current CEO. I know we, we spent some time together because of, you know, my raising my hand and saying, Hey, look at me. Look what I can do. I want to do it. Yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
No, awesome, awesome, awesome.
Choosing an HBCU: Tiffany's Story
00:06:28
Speaker
Well, look, today we're talking about how do we effectively engage HBCUs, HSIs, AKA minority serving institutions. And so I want to start this conversation as we dive into this by understanding a little bit more about kind of your experience as it relates to an HBCU, right? I know that you went to the second best HBCU in the land.
00:06:53
Speaker
Shouts out to the first Savannah State University. We're going to throw that out there. Look, college is about to see. And so, you know, when it comes to, when it comes to, you know, your choice, your selection one, why did you choose to go to HBCU versus other universities? And then to kind of just talk us through kind of what was your experience like when you went there?
00:07:14
Speaker
All right, so this is your show, so I'm not going to bust you down, but we do know, we all know, all the listeners, the viewers, however people are receiving this information, they know that North Carolina A&T Technical State University is the number one HBCU in the land. Largest. Make a note. Make a note. Make a note. Sound guy. Cut that out.
00:07:40
Speaker
I'll just play it with you. You know what I mean? I got my special awards, support by colleges, agencies. I'm for all the HBCUs, all the minority service serving institutions, all of those institutions that give marginalized groups or people a second chance or just people just like the support that they need to make a name and just create space in this world for them. I'm for it, but it doesn't matter.
00:08:09
Speaker
ANT is the best. I don't know if we've been following like the track and field, but we're just like telling it and just everything else that we do. But you know, I don't want to go too far. This is not the ANT show. I hear that. I understand it's a great academic college that great young professionals go to in order to learn, grow and be great business leaders. I just want to put that out there. So it's not all about sports.
00:08:28
Speaker
No, it's not all about sports. Why is it all about our amazing homecoming? Because I'm sorry. You're right. We...Auntie, amazing academic institution. So are all the HBCUs. It is. That's how old it is now. But Auntie also has the best homecoming. But anyway, let me tell you why I'm with Auntie.
00:08:43
Speaker
I'm hashtag G-ho, hashtag Aggie Pride. But anyway, I'll tell you why I went there. Growing up,
HBCU Experience vs. Predominantly White Institutions
00:08:50
Speaker
all the schools that I went to, they were predominantly white schools. My schools were pretty diverse. I will say that. I won't say that I was the only one, because I wasn't. But all of the schools that I went to prior to A&T, they were predominantly white. My teachers were white. My experience, it was very different.
00:09:09
Speaker
And so it was what it was. I enjoyed it. I didn't really know much. I didn't know anything different than what I was experiencing. So what I had from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade, what I saw is what I saw. When I got into high school, my aunt, she went to North Carolina ANC. So when I was a little younger than that, because I think she, I forget what year she went in there, but it was like probably around the middle school time.
00:09:38
Speaker
I started having opportunities to go to A&T and like just be on the campus and see some of the things that was going on and have some of that exposure. I didn't live too far from Howard. I was familiar with Morgan, but I did want to go away. So those schools were never, any school in Maryland and DC were never on my radar, but just going to having that exposure to A&T, meeting some other people that had attended this university,
00:10:03
Speaker
I wasn't 100% sold on A&T at the time, but I was 100% sold on the HBCU, getting that Black experience and being in that space. And so I applied to several schools. I initially was really stuck on going to Hampton, but at the last minute I was like, I don't know if this school is the best school for me. And so I did end up going to North Carolina A&T.
00:10:31
Speaker
It was a, it was just rich in culture. It was amazing seeing, like I said, I've been around, you know, predominantly white, I've been in predominantly white schools. My exposure is, you know, for the most part, lots of white people who are professionals that serve in professional roles, like lawyers, doctors, engineers, like you name it, they were pretty much white.
00:10:52
Speaker
When I got there, I was like, oh, wait a minute. There are a lot of different types of people, different types of black people. So it wasn't like we're like a monolithic. It was so many, it was just so rich in culture, so rich in diversity.
00:11:14
Speaker
um even among Black people and like their own lived experiences and then like you know I always talk I was like I know two Black rocket scientists and like that is just that just tickles me you know I'm so proud by that so and and then also in addition to like the rich culture and just what I knew I would gain from it it did I had a lot of strong family encouragement like I said we somebody my aunt had already went some cousins some other
00:11:44
Speaker
relatives and like very close friends of the family that was like really encouraging and pushing this school. And so I'm thankful for all of the people who said go to A&T, make sure you go to an HBCU because it did change my life. Yeah.
00:11:59
Speaker
I think that, you know, I always hit a lot just around people when they decide to go to an HBCU or HSI, it's because of like someone close to them went as well, right? And so like you always see that connection just in the history and kind of what all, it's almost like a legacy, you know, type of situation, even for me, right? With Savannah State, my grandma graduated in 51 from Savannah State.
00:12:22
Speaker
And so that was a situation to where, you know, what was excited to go back to that university right in and go in and experience it. And even a little bit different from you because, you know, understanding kind of how you grew up, I was the complete opposite, right? If it wasn't a teacher, I would say I didn't see a white person until I went to my career at Ohio.
00:12:41
Speaker
It was like 99, 94% black, high school, middle school, you know, college, right? And so, and 99% FYI, so don't be literal people.
00:12:57
Speaker
Yeah, but that's great. And so let me ask you this question, and can you touch on a little bit, but I want to make sure we expound on this. In what ways do minority serving institutions prepare their students that might be different than if they had gone to like a PWI? And then how does that preparation help students as they enter into the job market? Because I know that is different. I know my experience is different. I've been to both, but I want to know kind of from your point of view, like how do they prepare their students?
00:13:23
Speaker
So again, all I have is the HBCU experience. Well, I have, I have PWI experience before grad school, but it's, it's, you know, I didn't, I didn't lean on them as much as I did. I didn't need them as much, I guess, the support, but I was 18. I went away to college. I was about five hours away from my house before my home. I'm my mom. My mom is a single parent and I was her first kid to go away to college.
00:13:49
Speaker
So it was a huge transition. I get like teary-eyed just thinking about it. It was a huge transition for both my mother and myself. And so much so that she kind of didn't even want me to go. Like when it was time to go, I was like, hey, come on, lady, let's get out of here. And she's just like, taking her time, couple of days pass. I'm like, no, I don't miss the orientation. What's happening. She's just like, I'm not ready for you to go.
00:14:13
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, I get that, but it's time to go. And so she let me go. And when I got there.
00:14:21
Speaker
like all of the like the worries all many of the worries and many other things like the things that gave her pause the fear like they went away because when she dropped me off at A&T like she didn't just leave me to like fend for myself like I already had a built-in network when I moved when I first went to A&T I met two girls and I actually just hung out with them this past weekend because I'm still friends with them
00:14:48
Speaker
and they're from this area. I immediately had a network and it was, we called the Metro Aggies at the time. A week later, I met my husband, he's like my current and my only husband, so it ain't like I had all these husbands.
00:15:01
Speaker
Hi, husband. We just had such a strong bond that the people that I surrounded myself with. And so the student body, the kids that were there, we came together. We spent a lot of time. We looked out for each other and made sure that everybody was OK. People needed to ride home. We just helped out. People was homesick. We needed to go get something else, restaurant, something. We stuck together and people supported us.
00:15:28
Speaker
then you take it a step further, the next level, the faculty. Oh my goodness, the faculty, like I don't have that other, that experience. I've never had that experience anywhere else. The faculty were kind of like, you know, you're kind of like your mom, your dad, like everybody, you know, you
00:15:50
Speaker
Some people see like, if you needed a little money, you needed something to eat, you needed something. They were there. They held you down and held you accountable. And I know a lot of that, or I believe in my heart that a lot of that comes from the fact that, you know, as black people, we are taught that we have to work twice as hard to be considered, you know, half as good. And I feel like those, like the black teachers and professors and the staff, like they,
00:16:17
Speaker
they've worked in the you know they come from industry like they come from education they come from corporate so like they've experienced some of these things and they're like listen we're preparing you like this is corporate the corporate world or the real world boot camp so we're gonna love on you we're gonna but we're going to prepare you we're gonna make sure that you are prepared when you get out of here but we're gonna do it with like we're gonna do it with love and i'll just i'll say this one of the things one of
00:16:43
Speaker
I knew my mother was totally in love with A&T. When I was a sophomore, my best friend, one of my best friends, she was here in DC. She went to Howard. She committed suicide. So imagine me being 19, away from home.
00:16:59
Speaker
And I get a phone call the night before that my best friend has committed suicide friend I had been friends with since I was about nine or 10 years old. And my mom's like, what do I do? Like, how do I like, do like, how do I do this?
00:17:15
Speaker
And so I don't know how, who she called or what she did, but next thing I know, I had, one of my professors was like calling me, the counselor was calling me, everybody, like they came to get me because they was like, you're my fault. And she's trying to figure out what in the world is going on with you. She want to make sure that you're doing okay while you're here. And my teachers, they, like, they gave me the time and the space that I needed in order to get through that. Like it's, I don't know. The experience is just, it is beyond words.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's different. It's different. And I think that it's like when you go, I don't know if you have a choice, but to feel like you're at home, right? So it's not even like you're away from home to a certain extent. It's like, you know, this is where I should be, right? And I think that even when you brought up the faculty, so many professors ran through my head. I'm just like, you got the Joe Clark's, you got the people that's going to pick you up once they get you down. It was so much.
00:18:15
Speaker
I had a teacher one time, a professor one time, I fell in her class with a 69 and she said, she looked at me and she said, you didn't try. And I said, you gonna give me a 69? She said, nope, you earned it.
Corporate Challenges in Hiring Black Talent
00:18:30
Speaker
And so she's like, I see you next semester. And she would also be like, hey, may she bring me some of that cute chicken on Friday.
00:18:44
Speaker
No, but, but it, but it, but it also taught you one, nothing, nothing's going to be given to you at the end of the day. And to like, you know, very similar went to grad school at PWI. And I'm just going to be honest, as it relates to the work and the structure, one, it wasn't as close, definitely wasn't as close with faculty and that piece of it. But then also.
00:19:01
Speaker
When it comes down to, I would say that regardless of whatever accolades you want to call it, it doesn't matter. But professors, to me, prepared you better than HBCUs. They were a lot tougher, right? But it was tougher with the intent that we've been where you're going. We're trying to help you get to that place and go beyond where we went. And so that piece was huge, right?
00:19:26
Speaker
So when you think about this experience, you have so much that's happening in corporate. You have this common phrase that happens to where, hey, I can't find black talent. And the pipeline is so small. And so I want to ask you first, so I go to the next question. When you hear that, what comes to mind? What's happening when you hear a company say, well, the pipeline isn't there or we're struggling, we can't find black talent?
00:19:56
Speaker
Listen, I'm immediately triggered by that.
00:20:04
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I'm immediately triggered. I saw a meme. I mean, I saw a meme like, I don't know. I forget what CEO it was, but it was one of the CEOs of like one of those large banks, like JP Morgan, one of those city. I don't know. I don't want to just like single them out, but it was one of them. Remember that CEO was like, they can't find no black talent. And of course he had to come back and he had to walk it back.
00:20:28
Speaker
But, and like shortly after there was like this meme that was like circulating the internet, which I just summed it up for me. Beyonce can't find a whole girl like band, like they play old, like her whole band. Beyonce, all black, all female band that's at the top of the game. Like these ain't no slouch, you know, musicians.
00:20:48
Speaker
Like, it's a ton of them. But y'all can't find no black talent with all these black people, all of these people of color who have the greens. And they're like super educated. You can't find them nowhere. So I'm like, well, I guess that's why Beyonce is the queen, I guess. Because maybe she's just smarter than all of y'all. Like, when she get a black cymbals player and a triangle player and everybody else. Wakanda.
00:21:15
Speaker
He's like, right, exactly. No, it's always interesting to just hear it and you just like, and I always say to myself and I say, look, it's interesting that you can't find Black talent to come work in your organization, right? But there's no problem when it's finding Black talent to sell your products to them.
00:21:37
Speaker
When it comes to black marketing and getting out there, you know how to find who you need to find to get the product out there. It's just always interesting listening to companies say that. My next segue and question here is, as you think about organizations again, why is it that many companies still have yet to tap into minority-serving institutions? What's that waiting on? What's going on?
00:22:04
Speaker
But let me just say this, I'm going to back up just a second. So, cause I know I'm going to be, I'm going to be serious with this, this talent thing, because this is, this is like a serious issue. You know, when I, I truly believe in, I mean, I don't have any, I'm not quoting data. This is just Tiffany's personal opinion. I truly believe that a lot, that when these CEOs or heads of companies or just, you know, whoever has the hiring power or tasked with
00:22:27
Speaker
being questioned about why they don't have a diverse workforce. I truly believe that they can't find them. They can't find them because they're looking at like Harvard and Stanford and all of these predominantly white schools. These are the schools that they know. These are the schools that we've all been socialized to believe that they are, if you get them from there, they're
00:22:49
Speaker
Like they're amazing. Like they're that nothing but talent comes out of these schools. And it's not that many black people or people of color or well, I would say black people, it's not that many black people who go there. And I put even venture to say it's not that many black people who want to go there because they don't feel safe. And like some black people don't feel safe in those spaces. I have a ton of friends, a ton of friends who got scholarships, accepted to Ivy league schools and they went to HBCU.
00:23:20
Speaker
They wasn't forced to go. This wasn't one that they get in a second chance. They chose to go because it's the same thing with hiring Black talent or other people of color. You can find them, really. You can. You can get them, but can you keep them?
Building Authentic Corporate-HBCU Relationships
00:23:36
Speaker
You don't have the systems in place. Many of these organizations don't have the systems in place to support Black talent. So they don't come. They don't want to come. I know I've turned down some jobs or walked away from some potential opportunities or conversations because I'm like,
00:23:40
Speaker
instead. Like they didn't
00:23:50
Speaker
I know what your organization is like. I'm not going there because I'm not going to be supported. So I truly believe like they've been socialized. We've all been socialized. Like this is a standard. Like that's what I mean. That's kind of the deal with the dominant culture. They are. They have decided.
00:24:08
Speaker
that they are the standard and anything that is different from that you know that's where like their triggers go off it's like the amygdala the amygdala to hijack you know fight flight or flee and they're just like instead of like is different not good not bad just different you're like this is good this is bad.
00:24:23
Speaker
And so they wouldn't find a whole lot of Black people or Latinx or anybody else at these institutions because they're not there. But if you expand your view, you might see somebody else. And then you can, you know, if you expand your view and your perception and your ideas and your thought process, then maybe, like if you didn't think that HBCUs were subpar and the education was subpar,
00:24:53
Speaker
then you will be able to find diverse talent. Which is not. I also have a little issue with, I think that these corporations, they should work with HBCUs, just like they work with all the rest of these institutions, these colleges and universities. It should just be a part of the process.
00:25:16
Speaker
But if you notice, I don't know if you noticed, but I certainly noticed it's kind of like where they start, like start and stop. Like we're going to go to the HBCUs. We're going to get, we're going to get this certain amount of entry level positions, these lower level positions. And then that's kind of where it ends. I'm like, what's your, what is your strategy for hiring and bringing in mid-level talent, executive level talent? Like, like, what do you do? Like, where are you, like, what are you doing? How, how are you addressing that? So, so it's kind of, I have like a love, love, hate relationship with the way that corporations utilize.
00:25:46
Speaker
and or leverage HBCUs or other minority-serving institutions. Yeah, I got an idea for you, corporate. If y'all want to hire mid-level to executives, all you got to do is show up to an HBCU homecoming.
00:25:57
Speaker
Let me tell you something. I know I was going to say, I was going to say this for later. It's not even like, that's perfect. You would be straight. You would definitely straight. But what they need to do is they need to partner, not only, you know, they do need to partner with the various organizations. I mean, with the various HBCUs, like in the young people and create that pipeline.
00:26:18
Speaker
have a presence on their campus, do the fairs, do some other activations within these universities. Don't just show up, but really create a dynamic, innovative, value-add relationship, very strategic,
00:26:35
Speaker
have a relationship, I know Verizon, we do a couple of things. But the second half of that, when you're talking about the alumni, what do we all have? We all have alumni associations. I don't know about everybody else's school, but my alumni association, it's very large, it's very vast, and it's filled with committed executive level, I'm sure, more seasoned folks in those organizations. And they've partnered very strongly with our chancellor, with our organization.
00:27:05
Speaker
So just like you would build a program with for HBCU students, you could also build a program and put some resources and some efforts around connecting the HBCU alumni associations and you can do that at the school. So it's like you got the chancellor or whatever organization and it's just a two tier and you can build out a two tier program. It's not like an additional, you know, effort where you got to kind of go out and find the alumni associations for
00:27:32
Speaker
you know, A&T got a hundred chapters, you know, they got them all over. You don't have to go to like the Charlotte one, Atlanta one, this one. You can go to, we centralized. We got a central group and you can start building a programming that way. Same with some of those other black professional organizations, like, you know, the sororities and the fraternities, the graduate chapters there, the links. Like it's several black,
00:28:00
Speaker
serving organizations, mocha moms that have senior-level, career-level folks, where we're talking beyond entry-level. So you have to, like, one, you have to care. One, you have to listen to people that don't look like you. You have to believe that there's value in even doing this work. Jack and Gio, so much I'm out there.
00:28:23
Speaker
And so let me ask you this, kind of tagging onto that, but going on the little step before. So, you know, we talked about why organizations like don't engage, but then you hit on this a little bit, but for those companies that do engage, why aren't they successful? Like the approach, like what's happening right now today where companies are engaging with, you know, HBCUs or minority serving institutions and then coming back with empty hands in their pockets, looking like, you know, we didn't get anything. Well, one,
Valuing Diverse Educational Backgrounds
00:28:54
Speaker
Again, my opinion, my opinion. I believe that the relationships that they try to build are not authentic. And I can tell you, I don't know about the HBCUs and their leaderships. I can only assume, I'm going to make the assumption
00:29:09
Speaker
If any company comes to HBCU, I'm talking ANSI just because that's where I go. ANSI is the top producer of black engineers in the country, not just of HBCUs. Out of all the schools in the country, ANSI produces the highest amount of black engineers. Their business department has amazing accreditations. The technology, their agricultural, the school is not subpar.
00:29:38
Speaker
like just because you don't know about it and it's different from what your what your lived experiences are doesn't make it you know a bad situation so when you so when you are a corporation and you're coming to diversify your talent pipeline or you're building your talent pipeline
00:29:57
Speaker
Understand you're not coming necessarily like doing us a favor. Like this should be more, you should be seen as more of a collaborative effort because we know that lots of these corporations, they're doing some of these things. Some of these leaders, they truly believe in it. They understand we have the summer of reckoning. People are like, oh my goodness, what have we been doing? We've been sleeping at the wilderness all the time. Some companies are like, listen.
00:30:18
Speaker
We need the bottom line here. And even the companies that do like really care about this and they're doing it, it does also, a lot of it still circles around the business case for like diversity equity inclusion. People, companies want to, they want to attract the best. Like they want to be an employer of choice. They want to be the, they want the consumers to want them.
00:30:42
Speaker
to come and patronize them, buy their products and services. The world, the younger people are like, listen, we expect our companies to be socially responsible. We expect them to do the right thing. So that is a very strong business case for these companies too.
00:31:01
Speaker
like participate and do some of these, do many of these DNI initiatives and change their culture. So I think part of the problem is, you know, they don't always come to the HBCUs with like the understanding that this is collaborative, like you need us, we need you, this is a part, we have something of value to us. This is not a handout. You're not, like we're giving you, like what you're getting from us is something that you're not able to get anywhere else. You're not able to get in many places
00:31:31
Speaker
extraordinary black talent that you need in order to support the needs of your business, your business case, that you need to make sure that your, that your products, your services are continued to be innovative, that, you know, that you are able to leverage these different skills and experiences of people that look different from you and the current people that are within your organization.
00:31:53
Speaker
Like you're getting something from us, something tangible, something that's going to turn into real profit and money. And so I think a lot of these corporations, they come and they think of it as like, you know, it's charity. Like we're doing you guys a favor to be here. And they don't fully respect the talent that's there. And they don't listen to exactly what the needs of the universities are sometimes. At least again, all my opinion that they don't, they don't listen to the needs they
00:32:21
Speaker
they put forth what they think the organization needs. And that always, you know, they're not humble in their inquiry. They're not like, tell me more, tell me more, let me understand. Let's make this a value after us both. And that's, I think is one of like the biggest barriers where companies, they kind of go and they don't do their research. Most companies go to the same HBCUs over and over and over and over again.
00:32:49
Speaker
They don't diversify. They don't know what's out there. It's over 110. It was 111, but it's over 100 HBCUs out there. Many of them specialize in very, very niche types of services. And I'm like, it's so much out there. Go find them.
00:33:13
Speaker
You gotta care. When you think about just, and I saw the stats where it was like 80% of black judges come from HBCUs and 50% of lawyers and doctors. And it's like, when we talk about, it's one aspect of, there is another aspect of, you just not trying. And that's the question, I guess let me ask you this question, and I'm kind of veering here. It's almost like it would appear
00:33:41
Speaker
because HBCUs aren't a secret. They've been here, right? And we're loud. In some cases though, you would think that, would you make an assumption or would you say that just some organizations just don't wanna do it? Yeah, I would say that they don't believe it. But again, you're about to make me go into like all my little D and I.
00:34:10
Speaker
We've all been socializing this like systemic racist system. It takes a significant cultural shift.
00:34:23
Speaker
mindset shifts for people to understand like there is actual value or what you have always known to be true is not true. What I mean by that, just because the school is white, it does not mean that it is better than black schools. It is different. It is a different experience.
00:34:45
Speaker
And I just think, I think that people are unaware because one thing about the dominant culture, I will say this, one thing about the dominant culture, they have absolutely no obligation, no need. And in many cases, I believe no desire to learn about things that do not fit into their, into the culture. They set the standard for all of us. So black people, Latinx people, you know, all the marginalized groups, we spent every waking moment studying
00:35:12
Speaker
the dominant culture and because we so that we want it we we need to make sure that you know they feel safe that they you know we're they're not triggered because we stand to lose so much our lives our livelihoods like it's just it's so much that could potentially impact us if we do not understand their systems their ways and they do not do that in return so lots of them i i would venture to believe like they don't know that these
00:35:37
Speaker
Black colleges out here they probably some and those that do may not know that there's colleges that you know have our Hispanic serving institutions or other minorities are like they don't know that this stuff exists. They don't know that it's you know that this town like they don't know these things.
00:35:52
Speaker
And then some people don't care, but ones that do know, they haven't quite come to the realization that like, okay, they do have these HBCUs, they are strong, like, you know, academic institutes, like maybe one person came out of it and they was like smart or whatever, or they thought, you know, perceived as smart, so you are credit to your race.
00:36:13
Speaker
I just think that they don't know. This is one of my biggest gripes. What I'm love seeing now is a lot of high profile and celebrities or people with influence and a voice and a platform sending their kids to HBCUs. I wish that more people did that because my sarah of the current vice president.
00:36:37
Speaker
Like, she did, for me, legitimize HBCUs because a lot of people are like, you know, what is her name? Keisha over there. She in Atlanta and, yeah, and Stacey Abrams and like, you know, it's a couple of men, like, people were like, oh, wait a minute, they want the HBCUs?
00:36:57
Speaker
Because at first, we want to go to HBCUs, but basically, you won't get all that stuff we talked about in the beginning. You won't get the love and the black experience, but it's not the real world and they don't prepare you properly. And here we are, we have a HBCU grad that's sitting in the White House. So he did legitimize that for me. I mean, also, you know, she's my sorrow and everything. It was the HBCU.
00:37:25
Speaker
It was the HBCU for me. So I think you got a combination of both. Some people don't care, some people don't know, and some people don't believe. I think you brought up a good point where it's like, not research. And that's the part to where
00:37:37
Speaker
unless you really, you gotta understand what's happening. It looks different. It feels different because it's not where you typically go in your journey, right? Whether that's a Penn State or whether that's a whoever, right? It's not where you typically go, right? Like understanding, even this, we've hinted at it, right? Without even specifically saying it, but even thinking about the Greek letter organizations, right? And what that provides from a growth and development
00:38:07
Speaker
at an HBCU for individuals. It's huge, right? Like, I don't know, very rarely, rarely do I see leaders prominent in organizations, women, men, that aren't part of
Role of Greek Organizations in Leadership Development
00:38:22
Speaker
D9.
00:38:22
Speaker
Very rare, I'm just gonna be honest, very rare. And that just teaches you, that's a leadership aspect. That's not a happenstance. It is ingrained and instilled through the process. Like all of that is a formula. And that's the part too, where if you don't understand that, you will look at the resume and see,
00:38:42
Speaker
AKA or CO, megaside five, whatever, you're not gonna really get the value of what that means when they say they were the president, the bosses, when they said they did, you know, keep up with finance or events, like we, you know, and that includes community service, as well as everything else, like it's not, it's not just that simple, right? And that's the part to where if you don't do the research, then you don't know the impact and the leadership and what comes out of just having that on the resume.
00:39:05
Speaker
I would let me say something I do put that on my resume and I put, I put on my resume that I am a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated, and that I, and that I am the committee chair for the HBCU initiatives. And so what that means is, you know, we have a target HBCU for life. It's our target target one. And.
00:39:25
Speaker
The whole target is designed and dedicated so chapters across the world are charged with bringing exposure to HBCUs. I host
00:39:38
Speaker
virtual HBCU fairs. I actually have a panel coming up towards the end of the year. I've been calling it the ABCs of HBCUs where I'll be highlighting activists, business owners, and C-suite members that all graduated from HBCUs. I got my community together last week and I was like, I had a ton of people on the list because of the work that I do.
00:40:03
Speaker
And I asked my committee, I was like, hey, tell me, this is what we want to do. Who do you have any suggestions? And I'm not going to say who they said, but I'll let you know when you can send it to your audience when it's about to happen.
00:40:19
Speaker
Like, these people are like, significant people. I'll tell you one, I will say one person that I was like, well, I would love for her to sit on my panel. She is a HBCU grad. She's a she's an Aggie. Her name is Janice. Her name is Janice Howroy, or Janice Bryant Howroy. And, you know, she is a black, black, black, black, black business owner. She owns a billion dollar company, like,
00:40:44
Speaker
You graduated from North Carolina A&T, got her education there, got everything that she needs. Every time you see her, she shouts out Aggie Pry, and she talks about North Carolina, her family, her upbringing, and the support that she got from HBCU.
00:41:00
Speaker
which led her to who she is today. The woman is Googler. She got her own wiki. She is a force to be reckoned with, and there's so many people out here that are like that. I know we veered off a little bit, but back to you. They do prepare you. In our programming, we do leadership training.
00:41:23
Speaker
that you can use in a leadership role within the organization or beyond. So we do all of these things. We are preparing and we take it back to the schools, to the young people and people that are coming behind us. Our organizations, as you know, our organizations are about service and their membership is for life. Not every other...
00:41:45
Speaker
Organizations outside of the D9 are not like that. They don't have lifelong membership where once you're in, there's an opportunity for you to serve forever. And that's what we do. We serve the young people, we serve the community, and we build leaders.
00:42:07
Speaker
That's it for life. That's a huge difference. I mean, my first corporate role was from Omega. It's like, it was like, it's an automatic, we got you. We got you. And for the ABCs of HBCU, is that a public event?
00:42:23
Speaker
It will be. It'll be public. OK, got it. We'll add it to the bio with the link when you have it. So we make sure everybody can can see. Cool, cool, cool. So let me ask you this. So, you know, as we as we're getting towards kind of the end of discussion, right, you know, we've talked about a lot of things in this conversation. And so what I want to do is I want to make sure that we're leaving, you know, practitioners, listeners, the audience with things that they can take away from this conversation, that when they stop listening, they can start to get their brains going and start right now.
00:42:53
Speaker
you know, what are we going to do to really go out and accomplish these specific actions? And so what can organizations do or what can practitioners do after listening to this episode to really go out and take action and start to build, you know, deeper relationships with HBCUs and HSIs? Yeah, so, you know, I've been thinking, I gave one of my little tips earlier today and I'll bring it on back. It's the
00:43:21
Speaker
I think you, first of all, you just
Strategic Partnerships with HBCUs
00:43:24
Speaker
have to do it. You have to get the right types of people. I would say one of the good things that Verizon does is they do leverage the, they leverage HBCU grads very strong and they also, and you know, it's not exclusive to HBCU grads. If you just are a lover of HBCUs, maybe you have kids at HBCUs or something like that and you just, you know, you love the interacting with them and you love the work.
00:43:47
Speaker
They leverage people who have those interests. So for me, I am, I currently serve as a North Carolina A&T ambassador, HBCU ambassador. And so what that means is, you know, and it's a group of us that we're all a part of this ambassador. And we've identified, we've identified a certain, some HBCUs, quite a few HBCUs that we are committed to building very strategic and long lasting relationships.
00:44:14
Speaker
and they're not surface relationships. And so we have our ambassador program for the various HBCUs and other minority serving institutions that we plan to partner with.
00:44:26
Speaker
And we have these groups of people and we work together in a collaborative way to design programming and activities and interventions or what have you with these particular organizations. One of the things that we do a lot is we focus on getting them higher, getting them in like getting a, what is it, internships and apprenticeships and all of those types of things. And I'll be happy to say at one of my little Aggies, Miss A&T,
00:44:56
Speaker
She started her internship with Verizon last week, so very proud of her. We have a whole bunch of very dedicated people who do this work and engage. We work with the university, work with the chancellor, work with the powers that be to make sure that we are actually giving
00:45:18
Speaker
you know giving the programming that they need giving this resources what it is that they that is going to be a value to them um and also a value to horizon because this is a collaborative effort so i would say leverage the people there are tons of people within your organization just like me who you know love hbcu love her hbcu and everybody else's
00:45:39
Speaker
and are connected to these HBCUs. We still know the professors, we still know the people on the yard who can help you bridge those relationships so that they are authentic. They begin authentic and real so that you can start having the right conversations with the right people and building the right strategy that works for both your organizations. I would definitely say leverage. While you're building these strategies and leveraging the young people and building that,
00:46:08
Speaker
you know, early career pipeline, I would also say, work with the organization, the high levels of the organization and engage the alumni association. Use the alumni association for talent pipeline at the highest, you know, for your more senior roles. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a, that is a definite. Well, look, you know, I think that, you know,
00:46:35
Speaker
everything we talked about, look, I thank you so, so much, right, for just sharing and being candid, you know, just throughout the conversation. And so, you know, I really want to just cap off the discussion with, like, I know you're an avid learner. And so what are a few gems
00:46:50
Speaker
that have been helpful for you that you can share with the audience to help them grow their knowledge in this space, whether it's HBCUs or just DNI in general, whether it be like books, podcasts, videos, movies. What are some of those things that you can share so that people can start to just go deeper into learning more and what they can do?
Personal Growth in D&I Initiatives
00:47:10
Speaker
I will say this. One of the things that I really like, Georgetown has a program. It's a DNI program.
00:47:19
Speaker
I kind of think that whether you're dealing with HBCUs or whatever type of DNI journey you're on,
00:47:25
Speaker
that you have to kind of be grounded in some of the, you know, the DNI basics. And Georgetown has a diversity, equity and inclusion or diversity and inclusion executive certificate program. It's a six month program. I took the program and I've really, really, really, really enjoyed it. I'd already been working in, you know, DNI before that doing some strategies, some ERG work and, you know, just adjacent, DNI adjacent to a lot of different areas
00:47:53
Speaker
that other members of my team was working in. I felt pretty grounded, but that program, the one thing that it did teach me in addition to just the things you need to know about DNI,
00:48:10
Speaker
was it talked a lot about use of self and self as a tool. And it focused a whole lot on one, becoming self-aware, becoming aware of your own biases, becoming aware of who you are, how you think, building your own cultural competencies, looking at your unique, my professor, his name is Enrique, this is his term, unique cultural lens to kind of see who you are, what you believe, why do you decide, why do you make the decisions that you do,
00:48:39
Speaker
you know, what lived experiences that you have that causes you to show up a certain way. And once you do that work, and it's constant work, it's not, you know, you don't do it for like a month and you're done, but it's constant work, then you can be very, very effective at DNI. You can be very effective because what it is is you're, when you think about who you are and why you do the things that you do and make the choices that you can then
00:49:08
Speaker
kind of identify some of those things that maybe you shouldn't have been doing. Maybe you shouldn't say, um, it helps you to build your, your, your skill around empathy. Um, and it gives you a much deeper appreciation for the differences that other people have difference in identities. Um, and it just gives you, it's like the people aspect of it because when I know like a lot of corporations, they focus
00:49:31
Speaker
they focus on the business case and there's nothing wrong with that but this type of work is very human centered and you have to like get you know there's like the business case and then there is like you know this is the right thing to do and like you're dealing with like the lives of people like this stuff impacts them people spend a lot of time at their jobs
00:49:49
Speaker
And they shouldn't be unhappy there or, you know, riddled with microaggressions and things of that nature. So I would say do the self-work. Look into the Georgetown program. There's a lot of books out there, podcasts. I know, I mean, there's tons of them. You can just kind of Google your favorite.
00:50:06
Speaker
Um, it's just that Georgetown, that Georgetown course was laid the groundwork for me, not necessarily in my DNI space, but myself work. Like who is Tiffany? What does she believe? And how was.
00:50:21
Speaker
her biases showing up because I'll leave you with this. The one thing that it did teach me is that while I am marginalized, due to many of my identities being Black woman, there are some privileges that I do hold. And I needed to know, it was very helpful for me to understand the privileges that I hold and how
00:50:46
Speaker
you know, that privilege shows up and impacts the lives of other people. So the self-work is very, very important, and it made me see things through a much different lens. And once I realize or recognize the privileges that I hold,
00:51:01
Speaker
It gave me a deeper understanding, a curiosity of maybe people on the other side of the fence that I don't agree with, like why they act the way that they do, and how can I make a connection with them in order to maybe shift some things. So the self-work is very important. And that was great. That was great. I'm just going to put a comment in there and just say, Georgetown needs a cash app, Tiffany, because she just gave me a full promo.
00:51:34
Speaker
Shout out to Sakari, the executive director of that program. She is phenomenal. And all of the professors are, I mean, I could list them, but they're pretty amazing. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, look, look, this has been an amazing conversation. Before we go, do you have any parting words, anything, any shout outs? Where could people find you if they want to dig into your brain a little bit more and really get to know, you know, what does Tiffany think about this?
00:51:58
Speaker
Sure. I just want to say thank you. This first time I did something like this and I was very nervous because I was very careful. You didn't see that. I know, but I really did enjoy this. I like this format. I'm just happy that we were able to connect and that you just wanted to hear what I had to say and pick my brain.
00:52:24
Speaker
I'm one LinkedIn, so Tiffany Williams, and you can find me, I'm Verizon, you know, Tiffany Williams, Verizon, you can find me there. And, you know, I'm out there. I'm out there. Well, look, that does it for us. Look, I'm excited for, you know, you and your future and everything that comes with it, right? And I would say, just say, keep doing what you're doing and don't lose just that exuberance that you bring to the table. So it's always great.
00:52:54
Speaker
No, it's no problem. No problem. Well, look, thanks everybody for joining us for another episode of three podcast. This has been Cedric and you've been listening to Tiffany Williams, diversity, economic and inclusion leader of Arisa.