- 2 weeks ago
A conversation about knowing what you bring to the table.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, hello, hello, everyone. I am Caroline Wanga, CEO here at Essence, and couldn't be
00:13more excited to be here with you today to have a conversation with somebody who I've had the
00:17wonderful pleasure of getting to know over the course of my career. And we're going to talk to
00:22you today just about what it means to really empower folks through employment. And so I have
00:28my friend, my sister girl here, Miss Christina Flores, who is here with us today from American
00:34Airlines. And I would do no justice to telling you about who she is. So I'm going to give her a
00:39little bit of an opportunity to tell us who she is so that we can have this wonderful conversation
00:44about how she's navigated her career and the great thing she's doing as a Black woman in
00:49corporate America. Hey, sis, how are you? Hi, how are you? I'm well. I am well. It is good to see you.
00:55Tell us who you are. Yes. Okay. So formal title, Christina Flores, Managing Director of Global
01:02Talent for American Airlines. Really, let's start with I am a proud daughter of two exceptional
01:11individuals, my parents in Los Angeles. Hi, mom and dad. Hey, mom and dad. Right. I am so honored to
01:21have had their example of really being service minded. And that Caroline has just led me through
01:29all the different steps in my career and my journey. I am so passionate about unlocking the
01:36full potential of others and equipping them to do so for others in their communities. And so every step
01:43along my journey has been about how I can have that impact and service to one another. And so I am
01:50engineer by trade. So I got my engineering degree at MIT and then went on to- Oh, okay, engineer. My
01:58daughter's an engineer. I don't understand you people, but yes, I respect it. Yes. Look, we are a unique
02:05bunch. You are. We want to make the world a better place. That's all that you need to know.
02:11And you're necessary in the world. You're necessary. Exactly. Exactly. But look, I have since
02:19getting my engineering degree done a wide variety of roles. So I've looked to then go into operations
02:24and really understand how spreadsheets and analytics and all of that nerdy stuff
02:29aligns with people. And that's really what's at the heart of operations. And then I've also now
02:35most recently spent about five years in HR. So I've really been excited about continuing to grow
02:42and find a way to have that impact, especially in corporate America, where it's so necessary.
02:49So let's stay here because you said something in your opening that I really want you
02:54to pull through. You talked about how service minded, right, was one of the lessons that your
03:00parents taught you. So for those of us that may not clearly understand what you meant when you said
03:06it pulls through the way that you've lived your life since, like when you think about your purpose,
03:12and you think about that basis that your parents taught you, and you think about being this engineer
03:17plus with the people experience and the operational experience, like when this service minded thing has
03:23played out across your career, what does that mean? Give us an example. For those of us that maybe
03:28have parents that gave us lessons that we're trying to figure out how to fit into our career.
03:33Hmm. You know, for me, it's all about how can I contribute to something bigger than self?
03:41Right. And so even when it's been at school, and I've been a part of organizations, how can I make
03:49sure that whatever lessons I'm learning, I'm turning around and sharing that with someone?
03:54Now, what I want you to talk to us a little bit about is you talk about this experience you had in a
03:59fulfillment center, which having grown up in distribution, I know what that looks like. It's
04:03where my leadership grounding came in corporate America. But then you choose to join an organization
04:08called American Airlines. And then this person called the Rona COVID hits society, and you're working
04:17at an airline with people that are both working there to support their families, but also a critical
04:22part of how people live their lives. And now there's this pandemic that severely disrupts the core
04:29business you're operating in. So what do you do then as at in your role at American Airlines as a person
04:35at American Airlines as a person living within the pandemic? Like, how did you navigate all of that?
04:41Well, still navigating, right? Yeah, fair, fair.
04:44But one of the most important things that attracted me to American was our purpose, right? Which really
04:52is to care for people along life's journey. Again,
04:56Say that again slower, so people catch it.
04:58Care for people along life's journey.
05:01Okay.
05:02That really, of course, resonated with me and what I've been looking to do in my career. And at American,
05:08we took that seriously when the pandemic hit. So while there was a huge devastation to our industry,
05:17we also looked for ways that we could still live true to that purpose and that mission.
05:23So take, for example, cargo, that is an important part of our business. And something that was very
05:29necessary, even while passengers weren't traveling, supplies needed to still get all across our globe,
05:35right? So we've been doubled down on our business there in order to ensure that we still could live
05:41out and care for people along their journey. Or for the few people who were traveling, who needed
05:46to travel out of necessity, out of emergency. We wanted to make sure that people knew we were there
05:52to take care of them in this time of need, to take care of them safely, and to make sure that they
05:57were cared for along the way.
05:58So, so good, right? But just like other companies, you guys had to care, I love this idea of this
06:07purpose of caring for people on life's journey, right? Because it allows life's journey to be what
06:12determines what caring needs versus the other way around, right? But you guys have not just the service
06:18you provide to consumers and to businesses, but you also have groups of employees, right? So how did that
06:24purpose translate into what your employees had to do, experience, kind of just become flexible around
06:33as you have, you guys have a business model that has been what it's been for a long time. And this
06:38pandemic hits and you're taking care of others, but you've got this group of employees that you also
06:43have to help make it through this period. What did you guys do?
06:46You know, one of the things we said at the very top of the crisis was that we had to continue to
06:54listen to what our team members needed. Because just like we're caring for our customers along their
06:59journey, we're caring for our team members along their journey as well. And they were severely impacted,
07:04just like our customers were. Childcare disrupted, schools, families broke apart.
07:09I don't like my spouse anymore. My child is different now. I'm sorry. That's the people I
07:16know, not you. Sorry, carry on. We, and so we had to be there to support. And in order to truly support,
07:22you have to listen and listen to hear and be aware of what the needs were of our team members.
07:28You know, 80%, over 80% of our workforce is operational. And so they're on the front line and
07:35they don't get a chance to work remote. Right. So while there is no work from home,
07:39there is no other companies were trying to figure out that complexity, we had to understand how best
07:46we could serve folks while they still had to show up. And so I listen again, how you could serve folks
07:53when they still had to show up. Correct. How you can serve them when they still have to show up day in
08:01and day out. And that is through the small things, through the gratitude, through the acknowledgement
08:08of their situations, through asking questions. And again, coming with a mindset to listen and to serve
08:15in that service mindset. Right. When we did that, we were really able to then understand what our team
08:22members needed and how to care for them really across the globe. Right. Because we have team members
08:28all around the world. Mm hmm. So you are one of those people that I used to sit in conferences
08:38and at workshops and these people that had achieved success in corporate America would come up on the
08:48stage to inspire little unicorns like me. And they would talk about these wonderful career journeys
08:55they've had and all the obstacles they overcame and all this stuff that they did. And I would sit
09:01in the audience and be like, I'm glad they're successful, but I'm a flawed flower. So they're
09:06telling a story about never having failed. And I know, I mean, I did, I failed seven times already today.
09:12So I would remove myself from the equation of my success being as possible as theirs because
09:19they would talk about their journey as if nothing ever went wrong. Right. And so you are a managing
09:27director at a humongous company that is doing global work on helping people along life's journey.
09:37But as a managing director and somebody where little Carolines like me are sitting in the audience,
09:43listening to you talk about your career, what would you say to the means that need to hear
09:50the story of the trials and the triumphs as it relates to navigating to senior leadership in a
09:56corporate setting and what they need to know as a part of being able to advance faster than you did,
10:03faster than I did, faster than others? Hmm. I think it starts with vulnerability
10:10and understanding that our flaws are an important part of who we are just like our successes are
10:17and leaning into that and remaining open to learning from those. I, it took me a long time
10:26to just be vulnerable in sharing. I don't have this. Yeah. I don't know the answer. Yeah. I need help.
10:34And community is such an important part of that. You are not alone at all in these feelings. I am
10:43experiencing imposter syndrome as we speak. Listen, what, what did you say? You go over here like,
10:50I'm going to say something in this video and my boss is going to ask me a question. Not you.
10:54Hypothetically, a friend of mine would say, like, what am I going to say in this video that my boss is
10:58going to ask me questions about? And then you got to manage your face and then you got to manage
11:01everything else. Hypothetically, carry on. Hypothetically, of course. And so letting
11:07the guard down and having a community where you feel safe to do so. You know, one of the things that
11:14I didn't do early on in my career was build up that community. I had my family, I had some friends,
11:21but I wouldn't share what was going on. Yeah. I got it. I'm good. Oh, I'm doing this. I have
11:27aspirations to do this. Here's my five year plan. No, everything's not OK. I'm nervous about this.
11:35I'm anxious about this. And having true sounding boards, which now I call my personal board of
11:41directors. Right. And that's made up of a number of different people. My mom, of course. Listen.
11:47You? Yes. Yes. And then a whole bunch of people who are mentors, sponsors, people who I've connected
11:54with in different parts of my journey to really just, again, remind myself that I'm not alone,
12:02that we all have issues or flaws or insecurities, and that that's part of what's unique to us. And so
12:12I just continue to show up uniquely to me. However that is, I am taking a step forward
12:19that then we leave the door open for someone else to follow as well.
12:23And, you know, we could have this conversation for several days.
12:27Yes. Right. Because we've had this conversation as friends and as colleagues and as peers,
12:33and we could do it forever. Unfortunately, we don't have forever. But I want to extract a couple of things
12:38as we close out that you said that were really critically important. The first of those,
12:42the first thing you talked about when I asked you to talk about yourself with your family and where
12:46you're from, you know what I believe, who you are is who you are. If you cannot be who you are,
12:50where you are, you change where you are, not who you are. So anchor in audience to who you are
12:56and those that brought you here, because the foundation of what the rest of your life looks like is based
13:01there. And then you heard Christina talk about bringing those lessons through her career,
13:05her parents and still being service minded. Most of what you need to know to fulfill your purpose
13:09of the world, you already know. Just don't be afraid to pursue it and look for it and let it guide
13:14you. You also talked about finding an organization that aligns to your values, right? So helping people
13:20through life's journey was aligned to the service minded value you had from your parents. And that's
13:25a perfect example of the who and the where finding the right place. You don't enjoy that if you're not
13:30at an organization that doesn't align to your personal value of service, right? And then I listened to you
13:35talk about services and just about the consumer. It's also about the team. And so I heard you talk
13:39about how do you support people when they still got to show up, right? Because job is a show up,
13:45right? But what you do for them when they get there is what makes the show up good or bad. And so you
13:49talked about that as another lesson to operate within. And then when we talked about you ascending,
13:54right, to the senior levels of a big corporation and what advice you would give, you talked about
13:59vulnerability, you talked about a community of support, you talked about something that's
14:04extremely critical for me, which is often we don't talk about failure, because we've been told
14:12we shouldn't. Instead, create capacity for failure. And you and I've had this conversation,
14:17create capacity for failure, because it's gonna happen. The opposite of perfect isn't imperfect,
14:23it's progress. Right? And if you make capacity for failure in whichever way you need to, then you
14:30exercise becoming best at failure recovery. And if you engage with that with your community of people
14:36that support you and give you advice, and you have the behind the kitchen counter conversations with,
14:41you stay true to your personal purpose as you have sis, you find the organization that allows you to
14:46be that on behalf of others, both that work there and that you serve,
14:50you find yourself in a place of personal peace. So let's let's talk about this word empowerment,
14:56Christina, because I think it is a word that is is supposed to really propel people, but it has a
15:02lot of different subjective meanings. When you think about this idea of being empowered,
15:06as you exist in the world, what does that mean for you both in life and at work?
15:10For me, when I hear empowerment, or at least when I used to hear empowerment,
15:15I had this image of being strong, of having great armor, of nothing to penetrate.
15:20The breastplate of righteousness.
15:22Yes. But empowerment comes through vulnerability. It comes through the acceptance and the authenticity
15:32that I know you speak on constantly. The acceptance and authenticity of who you are,
15:39and knowing yourself, your strengths and your opportunities, and being able to then leverage
15:47that to uniquely affect this world and leave it better than you found it. To me, that's how I define
15:55empowerment these days and not necessarily this, I've got it all together. I am strong. Hear me roar.
16:03Although that is a piece of it from time to time.
16:05But sometimes the roar is like rawr, and then sometimes rawr, like it just, you know,
16:10you might roar a little differently each day.
16:12Yes. Day by day, hour by hour.
16:15Right. But so I'm gonna challenge you a little bit though, sis, because I know there's people out
16:19here listening who are going, okay, Christina, empowerment and vulnerability together, like,
16:25some people either believe or have chosen to believe that those two things are in conflict with
16:30one another, that being vulnerable is counter to being empowered. And so can you just give just
16:39a little bit more context about why you think they actually are connected versus in conflict?
16:45What I think comes from vulnerability is openness. If you were to ask me if I would be in this role
16:5510, 12 years ago, I would have said, Oh, absolutely not.
17:01But by being vulnerable and understanding truly who I am and sharing that with the world,
17:08strengths and weaknesses all together, I left myself open to opportunities more than being closed
17:18off and feeling I had to have a structured path. I had to be empowered because it was defined in this
17:24way. Right. By being vulnerable, it translates into openness, which I think is so critical for everyone
17:32in their career. The more that you stay open to others, the more that you stay open to opportunities,
17:38the more that you stay open to seeing your mindset shift,
17:42the more that you are able to achieve your purpose in your career.
17:48Mm-hmm. I thank you for breaking that down, right? Because I do think that part of what we exist in,
17:54whether you be Black women or Black people or Black adjacent, it doesn't matter. The point is,
17:58a lot of what we exist in is people give us wise advice, right, throughout our careers. And we need to
18:04listen to that, right? Because there's people who came before us that are handing off a baton and there's
18:08people we're going to hand the baton off too. But often we start to own their advice as if something
18:14has happened to us before we actually test it. And what we're asking people to do is to say, you will
18:19have this board of directors to your point that will advise you on how to go about your career journey.
18:24But remember, you are still a different person. So test scenarios to see which of those pieces of
18:29advice actually apply to you. And instead of acting like something has already happened to you before
18:34it does and therefore kind of preempting any sort of positive thing that may come from it, right?
18:39So this idea of being open, listening to what others have to say, getting guidance where it's
18:45helpful is paired with knowing who you are, which we talked about, right? And your purpose and seeing
18:51how it plays out there. And then the last part of it becomes this really important realization that
18:56just because you're going on this journey in an empowered and open way doesn't mean it's not scary.
19:00It doesn't mean it's without fear. It doesn't mean self-preservation gets touched. It doesn't
19:05mean that sometimes you'll be like, this is going to be a career limiting discussion,
19:07but I'm gonna have it anyway, right? What it actually means is that you go anyway,
19:12right? Because what you are being true to is your purpose, to everything that you talked about.
19:16You're being true to what you believe. You're being true to who you are authentically. You're being
19:20true to the impact you want to have on the world. You're being open to advice on how to go after that.
19:24And you're being empowered in pursuing it. And so if in all of those really good things,
19:30you feel scared, it's normal. But the fear is not a reason not to go. And if something negative
19:37happens on the other side of this journey that you've advised us on, then the place you were doing
19:43it wasn't faithful to you. Who you are is who you are, right? Who you are, non-negotiable.
19:51Non-negotiable. Thanks sis. We appreciate you.
20:13You
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