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00:00.
00:10Our panel today focuses on finding happiness in the workplace.
00:15And so I'm so excited to speak with these bad sisters at Ford
00:20and find out about their journey.
00:23So I'll start with you, Sandra.
00:25If you could tell us about your professional journey
00:29and how you find joy in the workplace, that would be lovely.
00:34Thank you very much, Andrea.
00:36I will tell you I've been at Ford for 25 years.
00:40I know I don't look that age, but yes, it's been that amount of time.
00:44What I will say to you is finding joy.
00:48I heard the moderator say earlier about being intentional.
00:53It really is being intentional at work as well.
00:57I said yes to things that no one else wanted to take on.
01:02I went two years out of the company.
01:04I was asked to go to Japan.
01:06And I'm like, I'm a little black girl from South Georgia, 5,000 people,
01:13and I'm about to go to an island nation of XX million, right?
01:18But I said yes.
01:20And that created a series of yeses for me that allowed me to work in China for five and a half years on behalf of Ford,
01:29and in Bangkok and Thailand for another two years on behalf of Ford.
01:34And what it did for me is it created an opportunity for me to understand customers, how different they are, and the experiences that they bring that we need to deliver on to be a vehicle of choice for them.
01:49And in every area I actually found joy.
01:54I had a team in China that was made up of Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Americans.
02:01So for those of you who don't know a lot, the Chinese and Indians are always competing.
02:06So first you've got to bring everybody together.
02:10And then we created joy by just having cook-offs.
02:14Whose ethnicity has the best food?
02:17Clearly I always lost because no one wanted the American food.
02:21But in that sense it was, again, creating joy.
02:25We were doing hard work.
02:27We were growing our brand from selling 200,000 units to over a million by the time I left.
02:33But we created joy along the way.
02:36And I would say to anyone, be intentional.
02:39Enjoy your experience along the way, whether it's cook-offs or Halloween parties, sharing your culture,
02:47but also making sure you're delivering at work at the end of the day, right?
02:53And making sure you're able to hit those metrics and targets,
02:57but also bring your team along the journey and enjoy that journey.
03:02Thank you, Sandra.
03:04So Angela, what about you?
03:05How do you find joy in the workplace and how has your journey been?
03:09I'm going to answer the question first about joy because I'm looking into this audience.
03:13And this right here is joy for me because working in a company that's global,
03:17and you don't see this much diversity in a space at once.
03:21So this is joy right here.
03:23This is black joy for me right now.
03:25Similar to Sandra, I've been at Ford for 25 years.
03:28I started, I'm not even going to say when, but I'm also not that old.
03:33But 25 years ago I started at Fort Mortar Company as an engineer.
03:38And I moved into product development shortly after that.
03:41The majority of the latter half of my career has been in procurement.
03:44And I also have traveled the world with Fort Mortar Company, Germany, Mexico, three years in Brazil.
03:50And it has been completely fulfilling.
03:52And so when I think about joy, right, joy is because in all of those places I've been able to connect with people no matter what they look like.
03:59So people bring me joy.
04:01No matter who you are, what area you work in, what you've done or what you haven't done or what you aspire to do, I find joy in people.
04:09So it can be, you know, thirsty Thursdays maybe.
04:13It could be lunch hours.
04:15It could be just one-on-one conversations, coaching and mentoring, advocating for other people.
04:20That brings me joy.
04:22I also had the opportunity just recently, about 18 months ago, to leave procurement and go into DEI.
04:28So I'm the head of racial equity, which is the first role that Ford has ever had.
04:33And I'm not going to say it's been easy, but it's very fulfilling.
04:36So there's joy in that as well.
04:39That is something that I think everybody should think about.
04:42What is something that you actually love to do, right?
04:46What do you love to do?
04:48Think about it.
04:49Know what it is.
04:50Talk about it.
04:51So that when you're looking for opportunities for your career, you can find those moments that actually feed the joy that you're looking for,
04:58which also feeds and fuels your passion, your purpose, and then also your paycheck.
05:04Angela, I know you're moderating, but I just want to add you're absolutely right about finding something that you love to do.
05:11For me, it's helping first-generation college students.
05:15I'm a first-generation.
05:17I did not have a path that was laid out for me.
05:20And because of that, I knew I had to get a scholarship to get into college.
05:25And I did, thankfully.
05:27But what I've done is paid that back through many forms, one of them being our Ford First Gen program.
05:34And I encourage anyone who would love to know more about it to go to the Ford Fund and learn more about it.
05:41But that Ford First Gen program is helping African-American students at HBCUs.
05:47We are mentoring them.
05:49We're giving them experiences that they may not have had access to.
05:53And we are also helping them mentor other first-generation college students.
06:00And we just had our first graduating class at Spelman College last week, two weeks ago.
06:07And it was amazing.
06:09So being able to be at a large company and find those pockets of joy while you're doing work
06:15that may not be so fun all the time is an amazing way to stay motivated within the workplace.
06:22Yeah, thanks for that, Sandra.
06:24We actually did some filming, right, with one of the graduates at Spelman and her Ford mentor.
06:31And it was lovely to see that connection and the support that we're bringing to that program.
06:35We hope to do that with more universities moving forward.
06:38We're working on it.
06:39Yes.
06:40Absolutely.
06:41So let's turn maybe more to what you guys do daily at Ford.
06:46And Sandra, I'll start with you.
06:47You talk about customers, right?
06:49You've had the international experience.
06:51But speaking for the U.S., how important is it that Ford shows up in black communities,
06:57like now with Essence Fest, and how does your career allow to support that initiative?
07:03Well, thank you for that question.
07:06It's absolutely imperative for us to show up for people of color.
07:10For African Americans, for Hispanics, for Asians.
07:13Because guess what?
07:15In another ten years, we're going to be the majority.
07:18That's why there are so many challenges in the world today, because I think certain groups may fear that reality.
07:26But the reality is we will be the majority.
07:29And if we are not speaking to our customers, if we're not delivering for them, if we're not doing what Dr. Francis is doing, which is educating our new African American customers on EVs, which is my passion point as I manage EVs for both our Ford brand as well as for the product and consumer marketing.
07:53If we're not doing that, if we're not bringing our people along, you're just going to go somewhere else, right?
07:59Because I looked at a really terrible statistic.
08:02I was sitting in a recruiting event, and they said the top ten manufacturers for people of color, and we were not in the top ten.
08:14We have to change that.
08:17And the only way we can change it is about being present, about educating our consumers, about making it accessible.
08:24Because, you know, we typically make lower incomes starting out.
08:29And it's a fact that most African American women have to fight for equality of pay.
08:37And so it's very important for us to be able to provide access and opportunity and be able to really deliver for that customer base.
08:48And before, if we don't do it, we're going to lose out.
08:51So it matters to us to have you as part of our growing list of customers.
08:58And I want to be not in the number 12.
09:01I want to be in the top three.
09:03I actually want to be number one.
09:04But we've got to start somewhere, and it's important for us to do that.
09:08Yeah, thank you for mentioning that, Sandra.
09:12It is important that we show it for our customers.
09:14And these audiences, and this is what I work on every day, right, with focus audiences and multicultural.
09:20But that's our future.
09:22And it's not just one piece of the company.
09:25It's critical to the entire success of our enterprise and organization.
09:30So what I want to do now, Angela, is ask you, as the director of racial equity, when it comes to Ford's culture, right,
09:37because we have to start with ourselves as well, and making sure it feels inclusive,
09:42how does your role allow you to guide leaders and other folks in being authentic,
09:48but also aware of the racial inequities and overcoming them?
09:53Authenticity is key because we see through, you know, things that are not real.
09:59We see it.
10:00We see when people are trying too hard or not trying enough.
10:03And so when you have a genuine interest in connecting and gaining cultural competency,
10:09really changing the landscape of the company, improving the culture to be more inclusive.
10:15And inclusion means I'm bringing you into the table.
10:18Equity means I'm giving you what you need, right?
10:20So we used to talk about diversity all the time.
10:22And people used to always say diversity means black and Hispanic and Asian,
10:25and white people are not a part of that equation.
10:27And I would say, ah, ah, ah.
10:29Diversity means all these differences, and you too, white man, you too, white woman, are a part of this equation.
10:35And we cannot go to an inclusive organization without acknowledging each of those things.
10:41How many of you have heard someone say, I don't see color?
10:44Right?
10:45Then you don't see me.
10:46That's what I would say back to them.
10:48If you don't see color, you don't see me, and that is not authentic.
10:53That is not inclusion.
10:54So how can you say you support diversity and inclusion when you say, I don't see you,
10:58I don't recognize color?
10:59Right?
11:00Because if I'm describing you in a room to someone who's not there, and maybe you're going somewhere
11:05where you might be the only black person in the room or the only white person in the room.
11:09What am I going to say?
11:10All these other things.
11:11She might have on some red earrings.
11:12She might have straight hair.
11:14She might be small.
11:15No, you're going to say she's a white woman in a black organization or in a black room.
11:19You're going to say she's a white woman.
11:21She's going to narrow it down.
11:22She has red hair, even more narrow.
11:23She's thin.
11:24She's tall.
11:25She's short.
11:26You're going to give all these descriptors.
11:27You're going to give them a discredit or disclaim my color.
11:30It's okay to say black.
11:31Or if someone prefers to say African American.
11:33You can find that out by then getting a little closer because that's equity.
11:36Everyone might not want to be referred to as black, right?
11:41So my role really is about helping our leaders in the organization understand how to be authentic,
11:46how to see people, how to hear people.
11:50If you are really sitting down, and I'm going to sit down with Sandra as a leader,
11:53and I'm going to say I'm a new leader in this organization or this new company,
11:56and I'm sitting down.
11:57I'm going to get to know my people.
11:58I'm going to say, hi Sandra, tell me a little bit about yourself, right?
12:01Tell me who you are, not just what you do.
12:04I can look on your resume or in your internal profile and see what you do.
12:08I want to know who you are because now I can connect with you.
12:11Now I'm bringing you into the conversation.
12:13That is inclusion.
12:14When we start to look at inclusion that way, we start to look at equity by saying,
12:18I'm going to give each person exactly what they need, Andrea what you need, Sandra what you need,
12:23Angela what you need, right, to be most successful for your career fulfillment.
12:27That is equity.
12:28And so that's what we're focusing on at work.
12:30So I coach and I consult with our talent teams on how they do that in a recruiting space, right?
12:36Widening their network so that they can then find people to bring into the organization that actually
12:41builds on our diversity, leverages that inclusion to actually build a culture that
12:46people feel like they belong in.
12:48And I had a leader ask me recently, it was a new leader to the organization said,
12:53what does belonging really mean?
12:56That's a really good question.
12:59Have you ever in your lifetime been somewhere where no one talked to you?
13:05No one said anything to you?
13:07No one played with you?
13:08Think back to your childhood.
13:09I remember the first time I didn't feel belonging.
13:14It was fourth grade and her name was Toya Pilton.
13:17She was a little bully.
13:18I will never forget it.
13:19But I remembered that feeling when I had to think about what does belonging mean to me?
13:25I went all the way back to what it, if you've never felt like you've belonged somewhere,
13:30that's how you know, right?
13:32If you walk and say put yourself in a place where you've never been, then you'll know what not
13:38belonging feels like.
13:40And that way you will make sure that no one ever feels that feeling again.
13:44And that's what authenticity means.
13:46Right?
13:47So that's the work that I do consulting leaders in the company.
13:50At Ford and, there you go, joy.
13:52Right?
13:53It gives me joy when I see people actually put those things into practice.
13:57Thank you, ladies, for sharing those insights, especially kind of a peak of what we're doing,
14:02not only internally, but how we're looking to show up for our customers moving forward,
14:06especially as we're part of this EV revolution and that education is important.
14:11I think now we can open it up to the audience if anyone has a question.
14:18Come on, y'all.
14:19I'm in DEI office, so I need inclusion.
14:21I like to pick out people.
14:22I say I am inclusion.
14:23So there's a mic in the middle of the aisle.
14:28So this has been wonderful.
14:30My name is Shanda Gore, Dr. Shanda Gore, and I actually run a DEI consulting firm.
14:36And I understand what you're saying.
14:39It's a challenge on so many levels to have these conversations.
14:43So I'm so glad to see this.
14:44This will bring me joy to talk about this.
14:47One of the other pieces I do is I do manage, I'm a PI for the Minority Business Assistance Center in Ohio.
14:53So I'm really close to you.
14:55Yes.
14:56Electric vehicles.
14:57This is a big discussion going on with entrepreneurs in our center where we're having these discussions.
15:03And I'd like to hear from you on how, where do individuals get started if they want to start businesses
15:10so they can get on the front end of product supply?
15:14Instead of being on the back end, an afterthought, but really truly to supply the parts.
15:19Can you provide any insights on how a minority business could get started in that area?
15:24And I can take that back to Ohio.
15:27Yes, now that's a really good question.
15:29It's also part of my journey.
15:31The things, one of the roles that I was privileged to have was as the head of supplier diversity at Ford Motor Company.
15:36And that's where I really found out where passion meets purpose meets paycheck.
15:39And I was dancing around.
15:40I had to call my daughter like, oh, you can have a fun job.
15:42I have one right now.
15:43You know, I was loving it.
15:44And that really kind of catapulted me into making sure that DEI was something I did all the time.
15:49You can start by working with or checking out our www.FordSupplierDiversity.com.
15:55And there you will meet our whole supplier diversity team that can help point you in that direction,
15:59but also work with your local, you know, Great Lakes Women's Business Council
16:02or National Minority Supplier Development Council to start having some of those access to those conferences
16:07where we do come in as an automotive industry and connect with our supply chain.
16:11Perfect. Thank you very much, ladies.
16:15You're welcome. Thank you.
16:16Hi, ladies. This is really great.
16:21Thank you so much for your time.
16:23I just wanted to say that I am a corporate professional for almost 20 years,
16:28and I have found very few women who look like us in the C-suite, in the executive range.
16:36And that is what I aspire to for my career.
16:39As you have made your climbs over these last 10, 20 years,
16:45what helps you to fill or to carve your place out in spaces that were not made for us,
16:53where we often feel we don't belong?
16:57I will say to you that, and I literally just did an article about this last week on LinkedIn,
17:06is that it's so important to have an advocate in your journey.
17:11And that's very different from a mentor.
17:14It is.
17:15An advocate breaks down barriers for you that will inevitably exist in a large corporation.
17:22And for me, most of my journey through corporate America, my advocate has been a white male.
17:30I don't know why, but it has been that way.
17:33But I will tell you, this journey, especially for women of color, especially in the automotive industry,
17:41is not going to be seamless or painless.
17:45It will require advocacy.
17:47It will require you stepping into a space that you would not normally do.
17:52I was not planning to go to Japan.
17:55I sure as hell wasn't planning to go to China.
17:58And I went back a second time to China.
18:01But every time, it was for a promotion and for upward mobility.
18:06And with EVs now, it's an expanded scope that is teaching me a space that I actually didn't have a lot of experience in,
18:15in consumer marketing, because the last time I did consumer marketing was eight years ago.
18:21And the world has changed since then.
18:23Not being afraid to expose yourself to an area where you need to grow.
18:29And also, bringing your authentic self there.
18:33Because you need to allow other African Americans, for me, as personal,
18:38who are going on this journey and who want to achieve that success,
18:42to have permission to be themselves.
18:45You know, I will tell you, when I started 25 years ago, I didn't see braids.
18:49I did not see natural hair in Ford.
18:52And the world has changed now.
18:54For the good.
18:55But you have to, the journey is long.
18:59And again, it's not painless.
19:01But it is achievable.
19:03Do you find it easier?
19:05Well, no, not easier.
19:06But do you find it better to stay within one industry for that climb?
19:11Or is it still the same if you're across industries?
19:15I've got manufacturing, technical, everything in my background.
19:18Yeah.
19:19I would tell you this.
19:20Statistics will tell you, the more you leave a company, your pay will,
19:24the better your pay will be, right?
19:25Right.
19:26You normally are getting a 25 to 30% increase when you go to another company.
19:30So I'm underpaid is the key point, what I'm saying to you.
19:33Exactly.
19:34I stayed for 25 years.
19:35Okay.
19:36But I will tell you this also.
19:38I started in IT.
19:39Okay.
19:40And I recognized that was not my passion.
19:42Okay.
19:43And I changed.
19:44I course corrected within the company.
19:47Okay.
19:48And went to where my passion was.
19:49And so I do encourage everyone to find that passion and course correct.
19:55Don't let just this is what my degree in define where you want to go.
19:59Okay.
20:00As the next person is coming up, I will just add one thing.
20:02I think we have like the one more question behind you.
20:05The last thing that I would add, I think my mic is off.
20:07But the last thing I would add is do a career swap analysis on yourself.
20:11Know what your own strengths are, what your weaknesses are, so that you can go find opportunities that will help you change those weaknesses into strengths.
20:19While you have to build and develop your skill set, you also need to also find some joy by bringing your talent forward as well.
20:26Are we out of time?
20:30Last.
20:31So this is only the last question.
20:32Okay.
20:33This is going to be a quick question.
20:35So my name is Skye.
20:36I'm a graduate from Prairie View A&M University, HBCU in Texas.
20:40And I also go to Morgan State.
20:42I work in public health, and I want to work for a different company that I work for now.
20:49So about your question for interview questions where they're asking you to tell us about yourself.
20:56It's important for me because I'm fresh in the field, so I don't have as much experience.
21:01So that question, to answer that question, it's important to have like the best answer.
21:06So I wanted your advice about the appropriate way or what are appropriate things to present with that answer.
21:15I think it's important when you're asked that question to really reflect on what do you want them to know about you, right?
21:21What are you passionate about?
21:22What are the things that give you motivation, that give you drive, so that you can show up and be your best self for them?
21:28Help them understand the things that matter to you the most and how you can put those things to work at the company that you're trying to go work for, right?
21:36So if you care about diversity, equity, and inclusion and your role is in recruiting, you can say something like, you know, I care about making sure that there is access to these opportunities working in this company for people who look like me.
21:49So anything that I do is going to be rooted in building diversity in that space to build inclusion into this company. How can I do that for you, right?
21:56How can you leverage that skill and that passion that I have to make sure that your products, your services, and your employee workforce is meeting your mission and your vision of your company?
22:06I would just add to Angela's comment, she's absolutely right. Also make sure you go look at their annual report and understand what's important to them and connect the dots between your passion and their passion.
22:21And that's how you show up to create a winning statement to a corporation. Because we can tell them, I realize, you can tell them what you love, but if it's not connecting to their delivery, it's not going to be a perfect match.
22:38Look at that annual report, it'll tell you everything you need to know in terms of where their passion points are.
22:46All right. Well, thank you to Essence for bringing the E-Suite conversation to the festival. Thank you to our panelists today, Sandra Sutton-Fung, Angela Henderson, and thank you for sharing your stories and insights.
23:03Thanks to all of you for listening and asking questions. Make sure you enjoy your time here at the festival. Once again, be sure to check out our booth.
23:12And you can also check us out on social at hashtag Ford Joyride. Thanks, everyone.
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