July 15, 2024 • 44 mins
Ready to uncover the secrets to empowering minority and women-owned businesses? Join us as we welcome Taylor Overton, the inspiring Director of Small Business Development and Entrepreneurship for the Kansas Department of Commerce. Taylor's journey from Kansas to a high-profile tech role in San Francisco, and ultimately back to her roots, offers a treasure trove of insights on simplifying certifications and leveraging state and federal programs like the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Her heartwarming commitment to her community and family values shines through as she discusses making entrepreneurship more accessible and less risky for future generations.
Taylor’s return to Kansas after an impactful career at Tesla and the Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council (WRMSDC) is a story of passion and purpose. She shares the importance of nurturing the next generation of business leaders and the economic potential of minority businesses in Kansas. From networking and mentorship to succession planning, Taylor provides practical advice and personal anecdotes that underline the magic of calling Kansas home.
Listen as Taylor reflects on her transition back to Kansas, balancing professional work with personal entrepreneurship, and the significance of family legacy in her career choices. With insights from experiences with companies like YouCo and DiverseLink, Taylor highlights the intersection of family values and business impact. Her recommendations, such as "Hacking Supplier Diversity" by Scott Vowles and "The House of Responsible Sourcing" by Rod Robinson, offer valuable resources for anyone interested in supplier diversity. This episode is a testament to collaboration, mentorship, and making meaningful connections for broader societal benefits.
Disclaimer:
The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed on Career Cheat Code are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the host, affiliated organizations & employers. This podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes, highlighting the guests and their unique career journeys. We hope these stories inspire you to chase your purpose, define success on your own terms & take the next step in your career.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of my favorite things to say at work is I'm
Kansas born and raised.
Kansas made me, built me Okay,cynthia Eubanks made me.
Thank you, mom.
But Kansas is a huge piece ofwho I am, and growing up I
thought that success was leavingKansas.
So I left.
(00:20):
I got a job at a large techcompany with a very flashy title
.
I thought that you know, and mymom's sitting around a Bible
study that's what she wants toshare is hey, look how awesome
Taylor's doing she lives in SanFrancisco.
But that wasn't success for me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to Career Cheat Code.
In this podcast, you'll hearhow everyday people impact the
world through their careers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
All right, taylor.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Of course, let's do this again.
You know, we tried it once andthe microphones on my end were
not working, but we're here tore-record and make it work, so
thanks for being flexible.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Always, always, we have to.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah.
So let's dive right in.
Let's tell the world what it isyou do for a living.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
My name is Taylor Overton and I focus on
supporting businesses smallbusinesses, minority businesses
with finding pathways togenerational wealth, whether
that be in the space ofprocurement, in the space of
go-to-market strategies,whatever it is connecting those
businesses with the resourcesthat they need to then scale and
leave the world better thanthey found it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
That's beautiful.
Where do you do that?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, so I work for the Kansas Department of
Commerce, actually in a brandnew role.
I started with the KansasDepartment of Commerce in
February and I was theirMinority and Women Business
Development Director.
Right after I took that role, anew role was announced to
create an Office of SmallBusiness Development and
Entrepreneurship.
(01:58):
The state has never had thisoffice, so I stepped into a new
role within gosh a month ofbeing there.
Now I am the director of smallbusiness development and
entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Wow.
So it's like you basically gota promotion within, like your
first like 60 days in office.
I love that for you.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I did.
I was in a meeting with acouple of my leaders the other
day.
They said we like you so muchwe hired you twice in one
quarter.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
And I was like, yay, that's awesome, taylor, is this
what you always wanted to do fora living?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
No, no, entrepreneurship is such a risky
space and I think that as weare raising you know, I won't
even say black and brownchildren as I was being raised,
I was raised not to take risks,and this is the biggest one.
It's kind of interesting becauseboth my parents are
entrepreneurs.
They had really stable andsteady businesses, so watching
(02:51):
the things that they wentthrough their payment terms
being extended After HurricaneKatrina, my dad actually moved
to New Orleans for a long time,so I saw that work separate our
family and I didn't want theproblems of entrepreneurship
around myself as I grew.
So I always said that someonewould be signing my check.
I was going to work in humanresources and never have to
(03:15):
worry if I was going to makeends meet for my children and
myself.
I was going to stay very faraway from that world.
Now here I am, an entrepreneurmyself and taking it a step
further, advocating to make surethat no other black and brown
children any children for thatmatter have to view
entrepreneurship as a risk.
I want them to view it more soas a human right.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I love that.
It is, and it's very much anopportunity right, especially in
this country, right, likethat's part of the American
dream and the promise is comehere here and you know you can
build it here and we willsupport you and all the things,
so like you're helping peopleachieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So that's remarkable, exactly exactly, and there's so
many resources that exist.
How do you navigate thislandscape?
How do you find capital?
It's way too complicated.
There is a simple solution.
If we have Facebook, we canhave a simple solution for
creating spaces forentrepreneurs to thrive.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So what happens when you walk in on Monday?
What's your day look like?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Within this new role.
We are creating it from theground up and we're creating the
Office of Small Business andEntrepreneurship as well, but
the Office of Minority and WomenBusiness Development still
lives within my team, so I'mstill responsible for that space
.
We provide certificationsupport, but a huge question
that I receive is what happensafter you get certified.
(04:31):
It takes a long time to get anMBE or WBE certification, not to
mention if you're looking atfederal certifications, that's
even longer.
So what are the benefits oftaking time away from your
business to invest incertification?
So we build programs and webuild cohorts, if you will,
(04:52):
around those certifiedbusinesses and connecting them
with other certifying boardsthat might not be state or
federal.
We had a phone call last weekwith an NMSDC affiliate and once
a business goes through ourcertification in Kansas, we also
want them to be eligible forcertification with one of the
councils through NMSDC.
So what does that reciprocalcertification look like?
(05:14):
We do a lot of thosepartnerships.
Just to make things easier.
Those certifications can takeup to 60 days to complete and
six months to process.
Let's make it worth theentrepreneur's time.
So that's a big piece of my day.
I also deal in SSBCI.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
What are these acronyms you're saying?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
All the entrepreneur acronyms are so great.
We have the State SmallBusiness Credit Initiative and
that's through the Department ofTreasury.
Kansas was granted an amount offunds through SSBCI and we're
getting those out toentrepreneurs.
Kansas is very lucky to have anorganization called Network
Kansas and they deploy thosefunds.
(05:56):
They support entrepreneursthrough that growth.
But what happens whenentrepreneurs aren't ready to
take out a loan and they aren'tready for that gap financing?
So there's some really cooltechnical assistance programs
coming out very soon to be ableto build that bankability, if
you will.
So that's a huge part of myrole as well is looking at those
equity gaps and realizing, hey,maybe everything we have is
(06:20):
helpful, but maybe it's notaccessible.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
What's your favorite part of your role?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
My favorite part of my role would be looking at the
data and the impact that we'rehaving, meeting the businesses
that are behind that data.
It's not just one business,that is one mother, that is one
family, that's an income andjust meeting the faces behind
the data and then coming back tothat data and being able to say
, hey, we're driving economicequality in the state of Kansas.
(06:48):
We're making an impact.
Kansas is a powerhouse when itcomes to our economic footprint
and the way that we areinnovating and changing what
people think Kansas is.
It's not just some dirt roads.
We have some really awesomeinitiatives.
Last week, love Kansas.
It's a campaign for individualslike me who have left the state
(07:08):
of Kansas but decided they wantto make their way home and want
to reintroduce themselves toKansas as a professional, so
bringing that talent back andcircling it back.
It's called a boomerang.
I'm a boomerang, so that's myfavorite part really meeting the
people behind the data andsharing all that Kansas has to
(07:29):
offer that I love so much.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
That's great.
Do you have a specific mostchallenging part of your role so
far?
I know it hasn't been that longsince you're in it.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, no, yeah, that's a great one.
I would say I don't have a hugechallenge right now and watch
me walk into work on Monday andfind that challenge.
My biggest concern issuccession planning.
I think that within supplierdiversity, within the space of
just all things minoritybusiness we don't have a really
(07:59):
good plan for when thesepowerhouse leaders leave.
There's not a lot of people myage I just hit 30 in the
supplier diversity field, sothat's something that we really
are staying focused on, and Istay focused on constantly.
I love meeting younger folksthat are interested in how do we
drive the needle, how do wefind more businesses, support
(08:19):
more businesses, grow morebusinesses?
And once this currentgeneration leaves us, do we have
enough knowledge to approachtheir problems that they solved
proactively and then look at ourproblems with that historical
and that institutional knowledge, if you will?
It doesn't have to be brand new.
(08:40):
We can take what they have leftus and innovate it for our
current challenges, and I thinkthat's my biggest concern that
keeps me up at night justgetting more people into the
space of advocating for minoritywomen, lgbtq, disabled business
owners.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
You seem very passionate about Kansas.
Let's backtrack.
Let's talk about where we wereborn, where we're raised, all
the good things.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
One of my favorite things to say at work is I'm
Kansas born and raised.
Kansas made me, built me.
Okay, cynthia Eubanks made me.
Thank you, mom.
But Kansas is a huge piece ofwho I am, and growing up I
thought that success was leavingKansas.
So I left.
(09:27):
I got a job at a large techcompany with a very flashy title
.
I thought that when my mom'ssitting around a Bible study,
that's what she wants to shareis hey look how awesome Taylor's
doing she lives in SanFrancisco.
But that wasn't success for me.
So then most of my professionalcareer has been on the West
Coast, whether it's San Diego,san Francisco, it that wasn't
success for me.
So then most of my professionalcareer has been on the West
Coast, whether it's San Diego,san Francisco.
(09:48):
It's been out West, and justhearing people say I'm Bay Area
born and raised it would hit mysoul a little different.
I wanted to invest in the spaceand the people that invested so
much in me.
So when we decided my husbandand I decided to move back to
Kansas to raise our family itwas very intentional, and being
(10:11):
able to say Kansas born andraised everywhere I go has a
feeling that I cannot explain toanyone.
It's pure magic, it really is.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Let's talk about that part.
So when you were in high school, you were in high school in
Kansas.
What did you think you weregoing to do at that point in
life?
Was it like already humanresources and what actually
happened after, like graduation,like what did you end up doing?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So that's a good one.
So I did not want to go intohuman resources.
When I was in high school Iwould tell people I wanted to be
a housewife because Iassociated financial stability
with safety, with security, andthat seemed like the easiest
route.
So you know how?
How was I making it to saidhousewifeness?
(10:59):
No clue.
But you know, I knew I had togo to college.
That was something that was notafforded to my ancestors, even
my grandparents, so I knew thatthat is something I wanted to
accomplish.
I come from a tennis family.
All of us play tenniscompetitively.
I actually still playcompetitively, and so I got a
scholarship to play tennis and Iactually ended up at Morgan
(11:22):
State University.
Coming from Kansas to MorganState, I wasn't quite ready for
the culture shift.
I don't think my parents wereready for the amount of danger
that their little 18, 17,18-year-old Taylor was going to
face.
So I ended up back at a smallschool in Ottawa, kansas, ottawa
(11:42):
University, where I finished myundergrad and did my master's
there as well In my master'sprogram.
That is where I identifiedhuman resources and recruiting,
because I found a space where Icould explain to individuals and
I could share access todifferent careers.
I could help diversifybusinesses through unique
(12:03):
recruitment channels and thingslike of that nature.
So that is where I where Istayed for a long time until I
found supplier diversity ashuman resources.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Wow.
Ok.
So you go to school inBaltimore.
You at some point midwaythrough that say you know what,
let me go back home.
You make it back home and youenroll in a program that also
then becomes presumably this isone of those like you finish
undergrad and then you workdirectly towards your grad
degree right away and throughthat you develop this desire to
(12:33):
go into human resources.
Did you see yourself as like arecruiter or like a head of
human resources?
Like were you already meetingother professionals in the field
that you felt like you knowwhat their job seems pretty cool
, or like how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
No, so actually I did have a little bit of gap in
there.
So once I graduated undergrad,I started working full time.
My parents and my family neededsome help, so I went to work
full time, make some money, helpmy mom and dad.
I ended up working for anonprofit out of Coke Industries
(13:07):
here in Kansas.
I was the development officer,so I was doing a lot of
recruitment of donors and thingsof that nature.
Still wasn't quite sure what Iwanted to do, though, so I got a
call from one of the coaches,actually at Ottawa university.
She coached me in high schoolin cheerleading, and then once
(13:27):
the cheerleading coach at Ottawa.
I wasn't ever good atcheerleading, it was just
something that was mine.
None of my siblings did it andI loved it, so I was always
around the team.
I was always helping when theyhad recruits, and she called me
one day and said hey, I need anassistant coach and I want you
to come back and coach with me.
And I was like I can't even doa toe touch.
You know, you know what?
(13:48):
What good would I be to you?
And she said you recruit likeno one else and you're a
fantastic recruiter.
I want you helping our program.
I want you to build our program.
So the year I came back Irecruited over 20 people to the
team.
The largest class they had hadbefore that it wasn't even 11, I
want to say so doubled what wewere looking at historically and
(14:14):
was really able to positivelyimpact the diversity of campus
from my recruitment efforts andI thought that was cool.
With this coaching position Iwas also introduced to the
master's program.
I was able to do my master'sfor free.
Human resources was one of theareas in which I could focus in
my MBA.
So that's sort of how I wasrouted.
(14:36):
That way was just someonerecognizing hey, taylor's a
recruiter.
She might not be a cheerleader,but she can recruit
cheerleaders.
She's passionate about theschool.
So it was her actually tellingme that I was good at something
and that's how I ended up.
There was that realization.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
That's great.
So tennis and cheerleading, andthen the universe kind of
circling back and bringingpeople back into your life that
recognize something in you andrecognize you were good at
something maybe not specificallyin that field yet, but you were
good at the thing.
So as long as we can get you inthe field, we can figure the
rest out.
I love that and I alsoappreciate you sharing, you know
(15:12):
, going to school and getting amaster's right, like that's what
I did, which is the only waythat I would have gotten an
afforded a master's.
So you know, I think that's oneof the biggest career cheat
codes I've seen, which is gowork at a university and get a
master's program out of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yes, I still have dreams that I am working at the
university and interfacing withstudents and keeping up with the
lingo.
I think that that is a huge legup is to have that experience
working with so many generationsin one space, because we have
more generations in theworkforce right now than ever
before.
(15:47):
It's hard.
I have a little brother that isin college and talking with him
, I'm on Google.
You know what mid is, what youknow checking, what do these
words mean?
So the time I spent in theuniversity really helped me
identify the power withingenerational diversity, and I
(16:08):
think that's why I am so focusedon succession planning within
supplier diversity.
I know what's coming and weneed to have more professionals
prepared to take on.
That's great.
Take on that work.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Okay, so tell me what happens after graduation from
your master's program.
So you finish your MBA withyour concentration in HR.
You're, at that time, stillworking at the university.
What happens?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So after I leave the university, I was offered a role
at a construction company and Iwas working as a corporate
recruiter um, actually, on theWest coast, everything wanted me
to be West coast but I wasrecruiting oh gosh engineers,
safety professionals, thingsthat you would recruit in the
construction industry for ageneral contractor or a sub
(16:50):
contractor, and I did that for awhile.
But I really was strugglingwith my mental health and my
fiance at the time, who's now myhusband, said you know what?
Drop everything, come out toSan Diego where he was working,
and find peace, find yourhappiness what is that?
What are the things you love todo?
And just hit reset.
(17:11):
So that's what I did and endedup walking people's dogs for a
while and tripped and ended upat Tesla, recruiting at Tesla
for engineers as well.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
What does that mean?
How do you trip and fall intoTesla?
That's like a huge organization.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You know it was.
It was awesome.
An individual that I actuallywas in eighth grade choir with
was living in LA and he workedfor Tesla, and so one day I just
reached out and was like hey,do you like working there?
And it turned out they wereactually hiring like 30
recruiters.
I interviewed on Monday and Istarted on Wednesday, so it was
(17:50):
the fastest interview processI've ever experienced and just
so timely.
But I really didn't know what Iwas getting myself into in the
Tesla world when I accepted thatrole.
It really changed my life.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Wow, tell me about your role there.
What did you end up doing?
What kind of roles were yourecruiting for?
How was that entire experiencethere?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
When I first started I was on the energy team and my
husband is a battery storageengineer, so it was perfect.
Any words, I didn't know jargon.
I was turning around and askinghim but I was looking for like
journeyman electricians andindividuals for the supercharger
team and stuff that I didn'tknow much about solar installers
(18:31):
.
But I learned really quicklyand we had a lot of high volume
roles.
I had not done high volumerecruiting before, so finding
quality candidates when I'mlooking at a requisition of 600
candidates was was eyeopening,really eyeopening.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
What year is this?
So we have a sense, becauseTesla has been continuously
growing right Over the last fewyears.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So this was gosh 2019 , 2020.
So, right as we're going in,the pandemic is gosh 2019, 2020.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So, right, as we're going in the pandemic, Got it
Okay.
So you're, you stick aroundthere.
Um, you do that for about twoyears, you stick at Tesla, right
, and then you made a move thatultimately brought us together.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I did Where'd you end up going after that.
And why did you?
Why would you ever leave Tesla?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Why do people leave Tesla, Not people?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
but why did you feel like it was the right time to do
that?
To this day, I still getLinkedIn messages saying like,
hey, how do I work at Tesla?
How do I get in there?
I found a mentor within Tesla.
Her name was Ebony and she wasphenomenal and she was working
on the DEI team with supplierdiversity.
My parents were diversesuppliers, my parents, you know.
(19:49):
I knew all of this languagefrom the supplier side, but I
hadn't practiced supplierdiversity in what we know it to
be today.
Ebony was going out on a leaveand I was asked to step in and
submit some hub reportshistorically underutilized
business reports for the stateof Texas, for Austin.
(20:11):
So I stepped in and reallyimmersed myself in all things
supplier diversity.
I was introduced to theNational Minority Supplier
Development Council and all ofthese other huge, huge players
within the industry and it wasphenomenal.
I loved everything I was doing.
I was introduced to awoman-owned, minority-owned
(20:32):
business out of Californiacalled Charger Help that was
just doing phenomenal work.
But ultimately, tesla did awaywith supplier diversity efforts.
There wasn't a need anymore.
And Tesla did away withsupplier diversity efforts.
(20:59):
There wasn't a need anymore.
So anyone that was working inthat space, we were all let go,
all done.
So I had another role I wasable to go back to within
recruitment, but it His name isCecil Plummer and he said hey, I
need a director of minority andcorporate business development.
Can you come work at thisnonprofit?
And I was like you know, I havea little nonprofit experience,
but sure, let's do it.
So that is where where Iultimately met you.
So it was through theconnections that I made that was
(21:22):
able to pull me out of Teslaand keep me in the supplier
diversity space and keep mechallenged.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You know for sure, shout out to Cecil.
Cecil is an amazing human.
You know.
He and I had some goodconversations while he was
leading the WRMSDC, which is aregional affiliate, I guess, of
the MSDC.
I'm like there's so manyacronyms.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You have all the acronyms.
I'm telling you we need a book.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, no, I love it.
So you know that's really whenour paths crossed.
Right In my time here atRockefeller, at the Rockefeller
Foundation, we partnered and didsome work and are still ongoing
with some work there for someminority and woman-owned
businesses in the Bay Area right, just making sure that they
have some opportunities forcontracting and some other work.
(22:11):
So really proud of the workthat we're doing there in
partnership.
So you know that role reallybrought us together, so I also
appreciate it for that.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, I think that that role I made connections
that I'd never made, thatcaliber of connection before and
I think in a text message toyou a couple of weeks ago I was
like, hey, I'm not going tobother you on this anymore.
And you said this isn'tbothering, this is networking.
And I really sat back andthought about that comment.
And so often we don't ask thepeople that we meet hey, what do
(22:42):
you think about this, or whatare your thoughts on this work?
I know we've done this worktogether in the past, but can I
get your feedback?
And so that statement alonethat you made to me this isn't a
bother, this is networking.
It's so true, and that's aculture shift that we need to
make.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I appreciate that we often forget how powerful our
networks are and we definitelydon't leverage them enough.
And part of that, you know, mayvery well be the I don't want to
bother folks.
I don't want to, like you know,be in people's business or like
let people know my business orwhatever, but, like, the whole
point of having a powerfulnetwork is to leverage it.
Otherwise you're misusing thenetwork.
(23:20):
And, um, you know, know, Iappreciate when you reach out
and ask for questions orthoughts or feedback, because I
will absolutely do the samething and you know we will
sharpen each other and we'llmake it work and ultimately it's
for the work that we're doing.
Right?
So, if you're dedicated to thepeople of Kansas and to
entrepreneurs in Kansas, it isabsolutely your duty to use
(23:43):
every lever at your disposal totry to benefit entrepreneurs in
Kansas.
I love it and, you know, I justencourage others to make sure
that they leverage theirnetworks as much as possible,
because otherwise you're like,what's the point?
Right, just to say you knowpeople and they know you.
Like, how is it?
How is it benefiting society?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So true, so true.
It's not just a LinkedInconnection.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Exactly, exactly.
So tell me what happened.
So you stick around there forat WRMSDC.
Which means what again?
Remind us what, what, all theseactivities.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Western Regional Minority Supplier Development
Council.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, so you stick around there.
Yeah, I know Right.
So you stick around there for alittle bit and tell me what
were some of the things that youwere working on specifically
while you were there and whatended up being the moment that
brought you back home.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So what I always say was my baby was something called
the Corporate Ready Program,crp.
Corporate Ready was runningwhen I got to WRMSDC and I saw
several spaces for opportunityfor growth and the leaders
within WRMSDC were open to myfeedback and I was like this is
(24:56):
awesome.
So we were able to implementchanges that were actionable not
only actionable.
Implement changes that wereactionable not only actionable,
but supported the business'sdaily operation.
They could actually see okay,when I implement this ESG policy
, I'm going to be asked for iton an RFP or when you know
things that were necessary.
(25:17):
But as business owners, we don'tthink, hey, I'm going to sit
down and write an ESG policytoday just because I've got time
.
No one has time for that.
So, teaching these businesseshow to be competitive in the
marketplace and how to stand outyour certification does not get
you there.
It is having the policies inplace, having the know-how and
having the business acumen tointerface with these corporate
(25:41):
supply chain leaders and buyersand be memorable.
We called it polite persistence.
So that was really.
My baby was updating andinnovating that program.
That's something that stillruns today within the council.
I go to the website prettyoften just to look at the
graduates and see who has gonethrough it.
If I know any of them, I'llsend them a quick LinkedIn
(26:03):
message and congratulate them.
But there's so much power inworking on something tirelessly
and then seeing it still runwhen you're not there.
It's super cool.
It's a really cool feeling.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Absolutely.
I was in Chicago a few weeksago with a former colleague of
mine at Columbia University.
I was in Chicago a few weeksago with a former colleague of
mine at Columbia University andit was really her brainchild.
But I was there from thebeginning and supported it and
helped run this program.
It was a supply diversityprogram and this was maybe 2014.
And we just started catching upand I was like, hey, how's the
(26:37):
program going?
Because I know it's stillrunning.
And she's like, oh, you knowwhat, since we started that
program, it's now provided over$125 million to entrepreneurs.
I'm like what just happened andthis is work that literally
would not have happened if thatgroup of people were not there
at that moment and thencontinued and then passed the
baton to other folks that cancontinue to like you said right,
(26:58):
come in, iterate it, grow it.
Like one of the things they'redoing now is like growing it so
that more entrepreneurs getopportunities, and like that's
what it's all about you create athing and let people come in
and support it and grow it andscale it from there.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I think that that's a challenge that we all face.
We see the entrepreneurs thatare visible in our urban
communities, right, but whatabout the rural spaces in
between?
What about those smallgrassroots businesses that are
just trying to make it day today?
So when we scale and we growthese programs, we're able to
(27:34):
include those rural communitiesand those growing communities
and I yeah, I think it's justbeautiful the way, the way these
programs grow.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Let's talk about the transition back home.
What was the moment like?
What brought you to say youknow what the Bay Area is great,
I'm having a good time, butlet's go back home and do some
good work.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I, like I mentioned earlier, I'm a mom.
I have a two-year-old littleboy and when talking to my
husband about his upbringing,what are the things that are
important to us about hisupbringing?
What are the things that areimportant to us?
What are the things we want toinstill in him?
So many of those things wereback here.
My family is here and my momhas been pretty ill.
She's not doing well so wemoved back to support and to
help family and my son actuallyis enrolled in the same
(28:17):
Montessori school that I went toGrowing up.
I was in a lot of I don't knowif you call we called them
special education classes backthen.
I was not good at reading, notgood at math, and they thought
that I had issues understandingand comprehending the content
that was being taught.
So I was often in differentclasses than my peers and the
(28:41):
Montessori school system reallyelevated that.
It taught me a lot of empathy.
It taught me how to work withthose that might not be on the
same level playing field with meacademically or intellectually,
whatever it might be, and Ireally wanted my son to go to
that school.
It's called Raintree MontessoriSchool.
We tried to find a Montessorithat matched the things that I
(29:01):
experienced in the space and wejust couldn't.
We wanted to find a Montessorithat matched the things that I
experienced in the space and wejust couldn't.
We wanted to come back home.
So he'll be in that school.
He's two, he'll be there untilhe's in eighth grade and we just
think it's really impactful.
And then to have his Mimi andhis grandpa pick him up from
school, and those are values andthings that we can't replace
and time that we can't replace.
(29:25):
I also saw the landscape ofminority business in the state
and the individual that had myrole prior to me.
Her name's Rhonda Harris.
She had been in this role, inthe minority and women role, for
over 30 years.
She took the role in 1994, theyear I was born.
I met her when I was eightyears old and she changed the
landscape for minoritybusinesses drastically during
(29:45):
that time, including both myparents' companies.
So, looking at the impact shewas able to have and then
stepping into this role afterher retirement, I'm ready to
make an impact and I'm ready tosee programs that are in New
York, in the Bay Area, righthere in Kansas.
In those in-betweens and Idon't want to be thought of as
(30:05):
an in-between?
Our Super Bowl championships?
Don't think of us as anin-between.
Why should our economic impactso really just bringing that
energy to our businesses?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
In this type of career right, it's very
impactful and I am very clear onfolks don't have to sacrifice
doing well for doing good.
Can you tell folks generallyhow much money people can make
in this type of field?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, so in my role can make about, and in Kansas
cost of living is way less.
About $85,000 to $95,000 a yearis about where you would be for
director level and that's astate job.
States historically pay alittle bit less, but that's
(30:51):
about what you would see.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Got it Great.
So, aside from your choirtennis cheerleading, let's talk
about your entrepreneurship,right?
So, like, what else do you dooutside of your nine-to-five
role, that kind of, and being amom, right, like they kind of
fill the the spectrum of all thelayers of of taylor I always
(31:14):
say that I've seen every singlephase of entrepreneurship, to
like startup, scale, growth andeven closing a business.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I've seen all of those spaces.
But I am a contractor.
We have a family contractingbusiness.
Ever since my family could, onmy father's side, work for
ourselves.
We did as carpenters orcontractors.
I actually found a picture.
My dad is in his seventies Gosh, he's 74 this year.
I found a picture of him ateight years old in front of my
(31:47):
great grandpa's Eubanks and Sonstrucks which, thinking back to
when that was like gosh in inthe 50s a Black man having a
construction company and avehicle to go along with that
construction company.
It was super cool to see.
So my maiden name is Eubanks,so I framed that little picture
(32:09):
of my dad and that familybusiness goes on.
While that's not my primaryfocus, I want my children to
have the opportunity to chooseif they want to continue the
family business, if they want tocontinue growing what is now
called YouCo.
It used to be YouBanks and Sons, but my dad had daughters.
So what do you do?
(32:30):
So, yeah, that is one of thethings that we do.
I also have a business calledDiverseLink.
I don't use it anymore.
I don't do much in the businessanymore, but I helped
businesses navigatecertification.
It is so confusing, so whatcertifications are beneficial
for you and the differentindustries that businesses are
(32:50):
in?
When I left WRMSDC, I reallymissed interfacing with
businesses and supportingcertification, so I started that
up to kind of continue todabble in the space and support
business owners.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Yeah, okay, that's great.
Are there any forms of mediathat have helped you personally
or professionally?
This can be books, podcasts,anything that you would want to
share with folks.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
So the first one I always tell everybody interested
in the supplier diversity spaceor even just helping
disadvantaged businesses I callit the fab five but minorities,
women, veterans, lgbtq orpersons with disabilities I
always say you should start byreading Hacking Supplier
Diversity by Scott Vowles.
(33:36):
Start by reading HackingSupplier Diversity by Scott
Vowles.
I had the opportunity to meetScott when I was working at
WRMSDC and not only is he aphenomenal human, he used to
play tennis and just had a tonof insight.
And all of that information isin that book of how you build a
business case for supplierdiversity in your company.
What does that business casethen do?
(33:56):
How do we activate it?
How do we mobilize it?
So that's a great startingplace is hacking supplier
diversity.
Another one that I really likeis just a very short read by Rod
Robinson, whom I have never met, but I will one day.
It's called the House ofResponsible Sourcing House of
Responsible Sourcing, and itjust talks through where does
(34:17):
DEI, supplier diversity, tiertwo, tier one, all of these
programs that live withinprocurement and responsible
sourcing how do they worktogether and how do we build
that space to have a solidfoundation and be able to
continue forward?
(34:37):
So those are the two thingsthat I tell any person
interested in supplier diversityto read.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I have like two more questions for you.
One, you know, I think part ofit is it's easy to look at you
and say you know you're 30 yearsold, where you're so
accomplished.
You have your own businesses.
You have worked atorganizations that are, like,
internationally known.
You continue to do great workon behalf of the state.
Were there any points, eitherpersonally or professionally,
(35:05):
that you've had to overcome?
Something that would just kindof overthrow that notion that
you know life has always beengreat and PG and you've always
had it all figured out.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, back when I was early.
I'm still early in my career,but earlier in my career I had a
really bad habit of tying myproductivity with my worth.
So I would directly correlatehow productive I was for the day
with how I saw my self-worth,and even in making a mistake
(35:38):
with how I saw my self-worth andeven in making a mistake, a
simple mistake at work.
That would plummet my view ofmyself and my mental health to
the point where I was in areally unhealthy space trying to
please managers, leaders andshow my value.
I wasn't focused on a mission.
I wasn't doing anything exceptfor the transactional tasks that
(35:59):
were required of me.
I wasn't looking at how toinnovate process.
I wasn't.
Whatever I thought I was doing,I wasn't doing it well.
So I always challenge peopleearly in their career and later
in their career not to tie thosetwo things together.
Your productivity has nothingto do with your worth.
(36:20):
When I stopped working for thatshort time and moved to San
Diego, I was walking people'sdogs.
I think I made like $4,000 onemonth just walking people's dogs
.
You know that's more than somepeople make.
You know, in a quarter my gosh.
But understanding that, mymental health when that was
(36:41):
stable, when my mental healthwas stable, when I felt good,
when I felt confident, my workreflected that feeling.
My work and you know, thosearound me could feel my impact,
they could feel my positivity.
So just focusing on my mentalhealth is really where I
grounded myself and that'sreally when the jets kicked in.
(37:03):
That's really when thingsstarted aligning for me and just
finding good mentors that willtell you the honest truth.
Those are the two things thathave propelled me into the space
that I'm in so early.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
How does one find good mentors?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
propelled me into the space that I'm in so early.
How does one find good mentors?
What a loaded question.
Another thing I struggled withI really gravitated towards
Black women in professionalsettings and it's really hard to
find a mentor that looks likeyou as a young Black woman.
Some might say that there's amindset of you know there can
(37:37):
only be one, or you know I don'twant to hook on to the other
Black person because there'sonly two of us here, but what I
have done is ask questions thatI am ready to receive the answer
from.
So when I first met Cecil, therewere some questions that I
(37:58):
asked him.
I was not ready for the answer.
How do I grow in the space ofsupplier diversity?
You've got to see some reallytough stuff.
You have to see some businessesyou really believed in close to
feel this invested in theindustry.
You have to see the rollback ofpolicies and businesses.
Large corporations that havebeen so invested in supplier
(38:21):
diversity pull the plug becausethey didn't feel like it anymore
, and a lot of those questions Iwasn't ready to receive.
So I wasn't a good mentee.
So when I started askingquestions like, hey, is there a
toolkit for somebody who'sstarting out in supplier
diversity that wants to do goodwork can leverage and go to.
And he said you know, let'smake one.
(38:43):
And that is when I started todevelop the mentor-mentee
relationship with Cecil was whenI started asking questions.
I was ready to receive and thenturn around and put action
behind those, those answers.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
That's great and you know, I think it's important to
latch on to people like thatright, like I've had supervisors
that have definitely becomelifelong mentors and friends
well beyond right, and part ofit is them being invested more
in me and my career than me inmy role at that time and how I
can serve them in thatorganization.
(39:19):
So once I saw people pouringinto me in that way, they just
kind of elevated therelationship right From a
supervisor's worker relationshipto like oh no, I would actually
talk to you once I leave here,right, and like I've had like
supervisors that have workedwith me through my job search
but I'm like you know what I?
(39:40):
I need to figure out my nextmove.
This is like great, but I needto go do something else.
And they're like great, what doyou want to do?
Let's introduce you to somepeople in that space, right, and
like it just kind of elevatesthe relationship and it shows it
showed me at least that thesefolks were really invested in me
well beyond my time in thatorganization, which has paid off
(40:00):
.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Exactly, and I think that, for a young person looking
for a mentor, reach out, reachout to somebody that you admire,
send a LinkedIn message.
Will they respond?
Maybe, maybe not, but one thingI can guarantee you is, if you
ever see them in person, you say, hey, I sent you a LinkedIn
(40:21):
message once.
I really love your article, rod.
I'd love to connect sometimeand discuss how you came to that
understanding of the House ofResponsible Sourcing and hey,
that was written in 2018.
Can we talk about what thatwould look like post COVID?
That's an impactful statement,not, gosh?
I really wanted to message youone day, but I didn't.
(40:41):
So, leading with that, theymight not respond to you, but
I'm going to remember you if yousaid that to me, and so I think
just leading with thatintention and that willingness
to receive it's really powerful.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, definitely, and you know I think.
One more thing on mentorship ismentors play different roles in
my life, right, so there aresome mentors in my life that I
call when I'm debating the nextcareer move.
There are some that I literallyjust needed you to exist in my
life so I can see something thatI could strive for.
And you may never help me get ajob or help me think through a
(41:18):
job, right, but like purelyexisting and having access to
you is important to me and ithelps me work on the stuff that
I need to work on going forward.
Right, so you know, justunderstanding that you may have
this like group of mentors orboard of directors that you work
with, either because youmessaged them blindly on
LinkedIn or because you workedfor them at some point or worked
somewhere in the space of thembefore and just connected with
(41:42):
them.
Like everyone doesn't have toplay the same role.
You don't have to be the sameactive, needing guidance, every
single relationship, right, likethey're just different
iterations.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Exactly, and I think that I always say representation
matters.
There are women in the supplierdiversity industry.
Right now that I have I have ona list.
I want to meet them beforethey're out, before they are
retired, and I we don't haveaccess to that knowledge and so
just just charting that out, whoare people that have done work
(42:13):
that you want to follow inbehind, charting that out for
yourself, I think is verypowerful and then if I see them
at a conference, you, I've gotmy questions ready, I've got,
I've got my my elevator pitchready, as an entrepreneur would,
because those are people thatthe representation has mattered
so much for me in the space, andtaking whatever time I'm able
(42:35):
to in that introduction, in thatsegment with them and
leveraging that to elevate,that's exactly what I'm going to
do.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Is there anything else we haven't discussed today
that the world should know aboutTaylor?
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Gosh, I always lead first with my identities when
I'm going into spaces,especially now as a mom.
I didn't realize how importantthat was for me.
Growing up, I thought, you know, I'm Black, I can only be Black
, I'm a Black woman.
We know what that life is goingto be.
(43:09):
I didn't think about theintersectionality of the spaces
that I occupy.
So I invite people to just leanin to those things that are
true to you.
I'm a black, neurodivergentmother, working mother.
Make that list long and findthose people that are also
(43:30):
identifying the way that you doand occupy those spaces.
One of my mentors a long timeago told me no challenge you
face is going to be unique toyou.
So identify the people thathave gone through those same
challenges and ask them how theynavigated.
Are you going to navigate itthe same?
Probably not, but it's helpfulto have that knowledge so you're
(43:54):
not going in blind.
So I, just I encourage people.
You might feel like you're intoo many spaces or you're not
going in blind, so I, just Iencourage people.
You might feel like you'reyou're in too many spaces or
you're too many things, but as amother, I'm.
I'm a working mom, but you'regoing to get 150% of this
working mom.
Anytime I'm there, I'm justowning that.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
I love that Great Thank you.
Thanks for joining us today forthe second time, even though
the folks would only hear onceyou are appreciated.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
No, thank you so much for having me.
Thank you for the work that youdo connecting professionals and
helping us elevate.
It's really powerful.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Appreciate it.
That's the goal.
We're building our ownX-Men-like secret society, right
?
Stay tuned, people.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
And we'll get it done .
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
I Stay tuned, people, and we'll get it done.
Love it, thank you.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you did, and believe on themission we're on, please like,
rate and subscribe to thispodcast on whatever platform
you're using, and share thispodcast with your friends and
your networks.
Make sure you follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn at Career
Cheat Code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes.
Peace.
One of my favorite things to say at work is I'm
Kansas born and raised.
Kansas made me, built me Okay,cynthia Eubanks made me.
Thank you, mom.
But Kansas is a huge piece ofwho I am, and growing up I
thought that success was leavingKansas.
So I left.
(00:20):
I got a job at a large techcompany with a very flashy title
.
I thought that you know, and mymom's sitting around a Bible
study that's what she wants toshare is hey, look how awesome
Taylor's doing she lives in SanFrancisco.
But that wasn't success for me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to Career Cheat Code.
In this podcast, you'll hearhow everyday people impact the
world through their careers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
All right, taylor.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Of course, let's do this again.
You know, we tried it once andthe microphones on my end were
not working, but we're here tore-record and make it work, so
thanks for being flexible.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Always, always, we have to.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah.
So let's dive right in.
Let's tell the world what it isyou do for a living.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
My name is Taylor Overton and I focus on
supporting businesses smallbusinesses, minority businesses
with finding pathways togenerational wealth, whether
that be in the space ofprocurement, in the space of
go-to-market strategies,whatever it is connecting those
businesses with the resourcesthat they need to then scale and
leave the world better thanthey found it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
That's beautiful.
Where do you do that?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, so I work for the Kansas Department of
Commerce, actually in a brandnew role.
I started with the KansasDepartment of Commerce in
February and I was theirMinority and Women Business
Development Director.
Right after I took that role, anew role was announced to
create an Office of SmallBusiness Development and
Entrepreneurship.
(01:58):
The state has never had thisoffice, so I stepped into a new
role within gosh a month ofbeing there.
Now I am the director of smallbusiness development and
entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Wow.
So it's like you basically gota promotion within, like your
first like 60 days in office.
I love that for you.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I did.
I was in a meeting with acouple of my leaders the other
day.
They said we like you so muchwe hired you twice in one
quarter.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
And I was like, yay, that's awesome, taylor, is this
what you always wanted to do fora living?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
No, no, entrepreneurship is such a risky
space and I think that as weare raising you know, I won't
even say black and brownchildren as I was being raised,
I was raised not to take risks,and this is the biggest one.
It's kind of interesting becauseboth my parents are
entrepreneurs.
They had really stable andsteady businesses, so watching
(02:51):
the things that they wentthrough their payment terms
being extended After HurricaneKatrina, my dad actually moved
to New Orleans for a long time,so I saw that work separate our
family and I didn't want theproblems of entrepreneurship
around myself as I grew.
So I always said that someonewould be signing my check.
I was going to work in humanresources and never have to
(03:15):
worry if I was going to makeends meet for my children and
myself.
I was going to stay very faraway from that world.
Now here I am, an entrepreneurmyself and taking it a step
further, advocating to make surethat no other black and brown
children any children for thatmatter have to view
entrepreneurship as a risk.
I want them to view it more soas a human right.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I love that.
It is, and it's very much anopportunity right, especially in
this country, right, likethat's part of the American
dream and the promise is comehere here and you know you can
build it here and we willsupport you and all the things,
so like you're helping peopleachieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So that's remarkable, exactly exactly, and there's so
many resources that exist.
How do you navigate thislandscape?
How do you find capital?
It's way too complicated.
There is a simple solution.
If we have Facebook, we canhave a simple solution for
creating spaces forentrepreneurs to thrive.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So what happens when you walk in on Monday?
What's your day look like?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Within this new role.
We are creating it from theground up and we're creating the
Office of Small Business andEntrepreneurship as well, but
the Office of Minority and WomenBusiness Development still
lives within my team, so I'mstill responsible for that space
.
We provide certificationsupport, but a huge question
that I receive is what happensafter you get certified.
(04:31):
It takes a long time to get anMBE or WBE certification, not to
mention if you're looking atfederal certifications, that's
even longer.
So what are the benefits oftaking time away from your
business to invest incertification?
So we build programs and webuild cohorts, if you will,
(04:52):
around those certifiedbusinesses and connecting them
with other certifying boardsthat might not be state or
federal.
We had a phone call last weekwith an NMSDC affiliate and once
a business goes through ourcertification in Kansas, we also
want them to be eligible forcertification with one of the
councils through NMSDC.
So what does that reciprocalcertification look like?
(05:14):
We do a lot of thosepartnerships.
Just to make things easier.
Those certifications can takeup to 60 days to complete and
six months to process.
Let's make it worth theentrepreneur's time.
So that's a big piece of my day.
I also deal in SSBCI.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
What are these acronyms you're saying?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
All the entrepreneur acronyms are so great.
We have the State SmallBusiness Credit Initiative and
that's through the Department ofTreasury.
Kansas was granted an amount offunds through SSBCI and we're
getting those out toentrepreneurs.
Kansas is very lucky to have anorganization called Network
Kansas and they deploy thosefunds.
(05:56):
They support entrepreneursthrough that growth.
But what happens whenentrepreneurs aren't ready to
take out a loan and they aren'tready for that gap financing?
So there's some really cooltechnical assistance programs
coming out very soon to be ableto build that bankability, if
you will.
So that's a huge part of myrole as well is looking at those
equity gaps and realizing, hey,maybe everything we have is
(06:20):
helpful, but maybe it's notaccessible.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
What's your favorite part of your role?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
My favorite part of my role would be looking at the
data and the impact that we'rehaving, meeting the businesses
that are behind that data.
It's not just one business,that is one mother, that is one
family, that's an income andjust meeting the faces behind
the data and then coming back tothat data and being able to say
, hey, we're driving economicequality in the state of Kansas.
(06:48):
We're making an impact.
Kansas is a powerhouse when itcomes to our economic footprint
and the way that we areinnovating and changing what
people think Kansas is.
It's not just some dirt roads.
We have some really awesomeinitiatives.
Last week, love Kansas.
It's a campaign for individualslike me who have left the state
(07:08):
of Kansas but decided they wantto make their way home and want
to reintroduce themselves toKansas as a professional, so
bringing that talent back andcircling it back.
It's called a boomerang.
I'm a boomerang, so that's myfavorite part really meeting the
people behind the data andsharing all that Kansas has to
(07:29):
offer that I love so much.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
That's great.
Do you have a specific mostchallenging part of your role so
far?
I know it hasn't been that longsince you're in it.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, no, yeah, that's a great one.
I would say I don't have a hugechallenge right now and watch
me walk into work on Monday andfind that challenge.
My biggest concern issuccession planning.
I think that within supplierdiversity, within the space of
just all things minoritybusiness we don't have a really
(07:59):
good plan for when thesepowerhouse leaders leave.
There's not a lot of people myage I just hit 30 in the
supplier diversity field, sothat's something that we really
are staying focused on, and Istay focused on constantly.
I love meeting younger folksthat are interested in how do we
drive the needle, how do wefind more businesses, support
(08:19):
more businesses, grow morebusinesses?
And once this currentgeneration leaves us, do we have
enough knowledge to approachtheir problems that they solved
proactively and then look at ourproblems with that historical
and that institutional knowledge, if you will?
It doesn't have to be brand new.
(08:40):
We can take what they have leftus and innovate it for our
current challenges, and I thinkthat's my biggest concern that
keeps me up at night justgetting more people into the
space of advocating for minoritywomen, lgbtq, disabled business
owners.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
You seem very passionate about Kansas.
Let's backtrack.
Let's talk about where we wereborn, where we're raised, all
the good things.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
One of my favorite things to say at work is I'm
Kansas born and raised.
Kansas made me, built me.
Okay, cynthia Eubanks made me.
Thank you, mom.
But Kansas is a huge piece ofwho I am, and growing up I
thought that success was leavingKansas.
So I left.
(09:27):
I got a job at a large techcompany with a very flashy title
.
I thought that when my mom'ssitting around a Bible study,
that's what she wants to shareis hey look how awesome Taylor's
doing she lives in SanFrancisco.
But that wasn't success for me.
So then most of my professionalcareer has been on the West
Coast, whether it's San Diego,san Francisco, it that wasn't
success for me.
So then most of my professionalcareer has been on the West
Coast, whether it's San Diego,san Francisco.
(09:48):
It's been out West, and justhearing people say I'm Bay Area
born and raised it would hit mysoul a little different.
I wanted to invest in the spaceand the people that invested so
much in me.
So when we decided my husbandand I decided to move back to
Kansas to raise our family itwas very intentional, and being
(10:11):
able to say Kansas born andraised everywhere I go has a
feeling that I cannot explain toanyone.
It's pure magic, it really is.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Let's talk about that part.
So when you were in high school, you were in high school in
Kansas.
What did you think you weregoing to do at that point in
life?
Was it like already humanresources and what actually
happened after, like graduation,like what did you end up doing?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So that's a good one.
So I did not want to go intohuman resources.
When I was in high school Iwould tell people I wanted to be
a housewife because Iassociated financial stability
with safety, with security, andthat seemed like the easiest
route.
So you know how?
How was I making it to saidhousewifeness?
(10:59):
No clue.
But you know, I knew I had togo to college.
That was something that was notafforded to my ancestors, even
my grandparents, so I knew thatthat is something I wanted to
accomplish.
I come from a tennis family.
All of us play tenniscompetitively.
I actually still playcompetitively, and so I got a
scholarship to play tennis and Iactually ended up at Morgan
(11:22):
State University.
Coming from Kansas to MorganState, I wasn't quite ready for
the culture shift.
I don't think my parents wereready for the amount of danger
that their little 18, 17,18-year-old Taylor was going to
face.
So I ended up back at a smallschool in Ottawa, kansas, ottawa
(11:42):
University, where I finished myundergrad and did my master's
there as well In my master'sprogram.
That is where I identifiedhuman resources and recruiting,
because I found a space where Icould explain to individuals and
I could share access todifferent careers.
I could help diversifybusinesses through unique
(12:03):
recruitment channels and thingslike of that nature.
So that is where I where Istayed for a long time until I
found supplier diversity ashuman resources.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Wow.
Ok.
So you go to school inBaltimore.
You at some point midwaythrough that say you know what,
let me go back home.
You make it back home and youenroll in a program that also
then becomes presumably this isone of those like you finish
undergrad and then you workdirectly towards your grad
degree right away and throughthat you develop this desire to
(12:33):
go into human resources.
Did you see yourself as like arecruiter or like a head of
human resources?
Like were you already meetingother professionals in the field
that you felt like you knowwhat their job seems pretty cool
, or like how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
No, so actually I did have a little bit of gap in
there.
So once I graduated undergrad,I started working full time.
My parents and my family neededsome help, so I went to work
full time, make some money, helpmy mom and dad.
I ended up working for anonprofit out of Coke Industries
(13:07):
here in Kansas.
I was the development officer,so I was doing a lot of
recruitment of donors and thingsof that nature.
Still wasn't quite sure what Iwanted to do, though, so I got a
call from one of the coaches,actually at Ottawa university.
She coached me in high schoolin cheerleading, and then once
(13:27):
the cheerleading coach at Ottawa.
I wasn't ever good atcheerleading, it was just
something that was mine.
None of my siblings did it andI loved it, so I was always
around the team.
I was always helping when theyhad recruits, and she called me
one day and said hey, I need anassistant coach and I want you
to come back and coach with me.
And I was like I can't even doa toe touch.
You know, you know what?
(13:48):
What good would I be to you?
And she said you recruit likeno one else and you're a
fantastic recruiter.
I want you helping our program.
I want you to build our program.
So the year I came back Irecruited over 20 people to the
team.
The largest class they had hadbefore that it wasn't even 11, I
want to say so doubled what wewere looking at historically and
(14:14):
was really able to positivelyimpact the diversity of campus
from my recruitment efforts andI thought that was cool.
With this coaching position Iwas also introduced to the
master's program.
I was able to do my master'sfor free.
Human resources was one of theareas in which I could focus in
my MBA.
So that's sort of how I wasrouted.
(14:36):
That way was just someonerecognizing hey, taylor's a
recruiter.
She might not be a cheerleader,but she can recruit
cheerleaders.
She's passionate about theschool.
So it was her actually tellingme that I was good at something
and that's how I ended up.
There was that realization.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
That's great.
So tennis and cheerleading, andthen the universe kind of
circling back and bringingpeople back into your life that
recognize something in you andrecognize you were good at
something maybe not specificallyin that field yet, but you were
good at the thing.
So as long as we can get you inthe field, we can figure the
rest out.
I love that and I alsoappreciate you sharing, you know
(15:12):
, going to school and getting amaster's right, like that's what
I did, which is the only waythat I would have gotten an
afforded a master's.
So you know, I think that's oneof the biggest career cheat
codes I've seen, which is gowork at a university and get a
master's program out of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yes, I still have dreams that I am working at the
university and interfacing withstudents and keeping up with the
lingo.
I think that that is a huge legup is to have that experience
working with so many generationsin one space, because we have
more generations in theworkforce right now than ever
before.
(15:47):
It's hard.
I have a little brother that isin college and talking with him
, I'm on Google.
You know what mid is, what youknow checking, what do these
words mean?
So the time I spent in theuniversity really helped me
identify the power withingenerational diversity, and I
(16:08):
think that's why I am so focusedon succession planning within
supplier diversity.
I know what's coming and weneed to have more professionals
prepared to take on.
That's great.
Take on that work.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Okay, so tell me what happens after graduation from
your master's program.
So you finish your MBA withyour concentration in HR.
You're, at that time, stillworking at the university.
What happens?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So after I leave the university, I was offered a role
at a construction company and Iwas working as a corporate
recruiter um, actually, on theWest coast, everything wanted me
to be West coast but I wasrecruiting oh gosh engineers,
safety professionals, thingsthat you would recruit in the
construction industry for ageneral contractor or a sub
(16:50):
contractor, and I did that for awhile.
But I really was strugglingwith my mental health and my
fiance at the time, who's now myhusband, said you know what?
Drop everything, come out toSan Diego where he was working,
and find peace, find yourhappiness what is that?
What are the things you love todo?
And just hit reset.
(17:11):
So that's what I did and endedup walking people's dogs for a
while and tripped and ended upat Tesla, recruiting at Tesla
for engineers as well.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
What does that mean?
How do you trip and fall intoTesla?
That's like a huge organization.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You know it was.
It was awesome.
An individual that I actuallywas in eighth grade choir with
was living in LA and he workedfor Tesla, and so one day I just
reached out and was like hey,do you like working there?
And it turned out they wereactually hiring like 30
recruiters.
I interviewed on Monday and Istarted on Wednesday, so it was
(17:50):
the fastest interview processI've ever experienced and just
so timely.
But I really didn't know what Iwas getting myself into in the
Tesla world when I accepted thatrole.
It really changed my life.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Wow, tell me about your role there.
What did you end up doing?
What kind of roles were yourecruiting for?
How was that entire experiencethere?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
When I first started I was on the energy team and my
husband is a battery storageengineer, so it was perfect.
Any words, I didn't know jargon.
I was turning around and askinghim but I was looking for like
journeyman electricians andindividuals for the supercharger
team and stuff that I didn'tknow much about solar installers
(18:31):
.
But I learned really quicklyand we had a lot of high volume
roles.
I had not done high volumerecruiting before, so finding
quality candidates when I'mlooking at a requisition of 600
candidates was was eyeopening,really eyeopening.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
What year is this?
So we have a sense, becauseTesla has been continuously
growing right Over the last fewyears.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So this was gosh 2019 , 2020.
So, right as we're going in,the pandemic is gosh 2019, 2020.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So, right, as we're going in the pandemic, Got it
Okay.
So you're, you stick aroundthere.
Um, you do that for about twoyears, you stick at Tesla, right
, and then you made a move thatultimately brought us together.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I did Where'd you end up going after that.
And why did you?
Why would you ever leave Tesla?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Why do people leave Tesla, Not people?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
but why did you feel like it was the right time to do
that?
To this day, I still getLinkedIn messages saying like,
hey, how do I work at Tesla?
How do I get in there?
I found a mentor within Tesla.
Her name was Ebony and she wasphenomenal and she was working
on the DEI team with supplierdiversity.
My parents were diversesuppliers, my parents, you know.
(19:49):
I knew all of this languagefrom the supplier side, but I
hadn't practiced supplierdiversity in what we know it to
be today.
Ebony was going out on a leaveand I was asked to step in and
submit some hub reportshistorically underutilized
business reports for the stateof Texas, for Austin.
(20:11):
So I stepped in and reallyimmersed myself in all things
supplier diversity.
I was introduced to theNational Minority Supplier
Development Council and all ofthese other huge, huge players
within the industry and it wasphenomenal.
I loved everything I was doing.
I was introduced to awoman-owned, minority-owned
(20:32):
business out of Californiacalled Charger Help that was
just doing phenomenal work.
But ultimately, tesla did awaywith supplier diversity efforts.
There wasn't a need anymore.
And Tesla did away withsupplier diversity efforts.
(20:59):
There wasn't a need anymore.
So anyone that was working inthat space, we were all let go,
all done.
So I had another role I wasable to go back to within
recruitment, but it His name isCecil Plummer and he said hey, I
need a director of minority andcorporate business development.
Can you come work at thisnonprofit?
And I was like you know, I havea little nonprofit experience,
but sure, let's do it.
So that is where where Iultimately met you.
So it was through theconnections that I made that was
(21:22):
able to pull me out of Teslaand keep me in the supplier
diversity space and keep mechallenged.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You know for sure, shout out to Cecil.
Cecil is an amazing human.
You know.
He and I had some goodconversations while he was
leading the WRMSDC, which is aregional affiliate, I guess, of
the MSDC.
I'm like there's so manyacronyms.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You have all the acronyms.
I'm telling you we need a book.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, no, I love it.
So you know that's really whenour paths crossed.
Right In my time here atRockefeller, at the Rockefeller
Foundation, we partnered and didsome work and are still ongoing
with some work there for someminority and woman-owned
businesses in the Bay Area right, just making sure that they
have some opportunities forcontracting and some other work.
(22:11):
So really proud of the workthat we're doing there in
partnership.
So you know that role reallybrought us together, so I also
appreciate it for that.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, I think that that role I made connections
that I'd never made, thatcaliber of connection before and
I think in a text message toyou a couple of weeks ago I was
like, hey, I'm not going tobother you on this anymore.
And you said this isn'tbothering, this is networking.
And I really sat back andthought about that comment.
And so often we don't ask thepeople that we meet hey, what do
(22:42):
you think about this, or whatare your thoughts on this work?
I know we've done this worktogether in the past, but can I
get your feedback?
And so that statement alonethat you made to me this isn't a
bother, this is networking.
It's so true, and that's aculture shift that we need to
make.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I appreciate that we often forget how powerful our
networks are and we definitelydon't leverage them enough.
And part of that, you know, mayvery well be the I don't want to
bother folks.
I don't want to, like you know,be in people's business or like
let people know my business orwhatever, but, like, the whole
point of having a powerfulnetwork is to leverage it.
Otherwise you're misusing thenetwork.
(23:20):
And, um, you know, know, Iappreciate when you reach out
and ask for questions orthoughts or feedback, because I
will absolutely do the samething and you know we will
sharpen each other and we'llmake it work and ultimately it's
for the work that we're doing.
Right?
So, if you're dedicated to thepeople of Kansas and to
entrepreneurs in Kansas, it isabsolutely your duty to use
(23:43):
every lever at your disposal totry to benefit entrepreneurs in
Kansas.
I love it and, you know, I justencourage others to make sure
that they leverage theirnetworks as much as possible,
because otherwise you're like,what's the point?
Right, just to say you knowpeople and they know you.
Like, how is it?
How is it benefiting society?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So true, so true.
It's not just a LinkedInconnection.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Exactly, exactly.
So tell me what happened.
So you stick around there forat WRMSDC.
Which means what again?
Remind us what, what, all theseactivities.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Western Regional Minority Supplier Development
Council.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, so you stick around there.
Yeah, I know Right.
So you stick around there for alittle bit and tell me what
were some of the things that youwere working on specifically
while you were there and whatended up being the moment that
brought you back home.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So what I always say was my baby was something called
the Corporate Ready Program,crp.
Corporate Ready was runningwhen I got to WRMSDC and I saw
several spaces for opportunityfor growth and the leaders
within WRMSDC were open to myfeedback and I was like this is
(24:56):
awesome.
So we were able to implementchanges that were actionable not
only actionable.
Implement changes that wereactionable not only actionable,
but supported the business'sdaily operation.
They could actually see okay,when I implement this ESG policy
, I'm going to be asked for iton an RFP or when you know
things that were necessary.
(25:17):
But as business owners, we don'tthink, hey, I'm going to sit
down and write an ESG policytoday just because I've got time
.
No one has time for that.
So, teaching these businesseshow to be competitive in the
marketplace and how to stand outyour certification does not get
you there.
It is having the policies inplace, having the know-how and
having the business acumen tointerface with these corporate
(25:41):
supply chain leaders and buyersand be memorable.
We called it polite persistence.
So that was really.
My baby was updating andinnovating that program.
That's something that stillruns today within the council.
I go to the website prettyoften just to look at the
graduates and see who has gonethrough it.
If I know any of them, I'llsend them a quick LinkedIn
(26:03):
message and congratulate them.
But there's so much power inworking on something tirelessly
and then seeing it still runwhen you're not there.
It's super cool.
It's a really cool feeling.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Absolutely.
I was in Chicago a few weeksago with a former colleague of
mine at Columbia University.
I was in Chicago a few weeksago with a former colleague of
mine at Columbia University andit was really her brainchild.
But I was there from thebeginning and supported it and
helped run this program.
It was a supply diversityprogram and this was maybe 2014.
And we just started catching upand I was like, hey, how's the
(26:37):
program going?
Because I know it's stillrunning.
And she's like, oh, you knowwhat, since we started that
program, it's now provided over$125 million to entrepreneurs.
I'm like what just happened andthis is work that literally
would not have happened if thatgroup of people were not there
at that moment and thencontinued and then passed the
baton to other folks that cancontinue to like you said right,
(26:58):
come in, iterate it, grow it.
Like one of the things they'redoing now is like growing it so
that more entrepreneurs getopportunities, and like that's
what it's all about you create athing and let people come in
and support it and grow it andscale it from there.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I think that that's a challenge that we all face.
We see the entrepreneurs thatare visible in our urban
communities, right, but whatabout the rural spaces in
between?
What about those smallgrassroots businesses that are
just trying to make it day today?
So when we scale and we growthese programs, we're able to
(27:34):
include those rural communitiesand those growing communities
and I yeah, I think it's justbeautiful the way, the way these
programs grow.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Let's talk about the transition back home.
What was the moment like?
What brought you to say youknow what the Bay Area is great,
I'm having a good time, butlet's go back home and do some
good work.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I, like I mentioned earlier, I'm a mom.
I have a two-year-old littleboy and when talking to my
husband about his upbringing,what are the things that are
important to us about hisupbringing?
What are the things that areimportant to us?
What are the things we want toinstill in him?
So many of those things wereback here.
My family is here and my momhas been pretty ill.
She's not doing well so wemoved back to support and to
help family and my son actuallyis enrolled in the same
(28:17):
Montessori school that I went toGrowing up.
I was in a lot of I don't knowif you call we called them
special education classes backthen.
I was not good at reading, notgood at math, and they thought
that I had issues understandingand comprehending the content
that was being taught.
So I was often in differentclasses than my peers and the
(28:41):
Montessori school system reallyelevated that.
It taught me a lot of empathy.
It taught me how to work withthose that might not be on the
same level playing field with meacademically or intellectually,
whatever it might be, and Ireally wanted my son to go to
that school.
It's called Raintree MontessoriSchool.
We tried to find a Montessorithat matched the things that I
(29:01):
experienced in the space and wejust couldn't.
We wanted to find a Montessorithat matched the things that I
experienced in the space and wejust couldn't.
We wanted to come back home.
So he'll be in that school.
He's two, he'll be there untilhe's in eighth grade and we just
think it's really impactful.
And then to have his Mimi andhis grandpa pick him up from
school, and those are values andthings that we can't replace
and time that we can't replace.
(29:25):
I also saw the landscape ofminority business in the state
and the individual that had myrole prior to me.
Her name's Rhonda Harris.
She had been in this role, inthe minority and women role, for
over 30 years.
She took the role in 1994, theyear I was born.
I met her when I was eightyears old and she changed the
landscape for minoritybusinesses drastically during
(29:45):
that time, including both myparents' companies.
So, looking at the impact shewas able to have and then
stepping into this role afterher retirement, I'm ready to
make an impact and I'm ready tosee programs that are in New
York, in the Bay Area, righthere in Kansas.
In those in-betweens and Idon't want to be thought of as
(30:05):
an in-between?
Our Super Bowl championships?
Don't think of us as anin-between.
Why should our economic impactso really just bringing that
energy to our businesses?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
In this type of career right, it's very
impactful and I am very clear onfolks don't have to sacrifice
doing well for doing good.
Can you tell folks generallyhow much money people can make
in this type of field?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, so in my role can make about, and in Kansas
cost of living is way less.
About $85,000 to $95,000 a yearis about where you would be for
director level and that's astate job.
States historically pay alittle bit less, but that's
(30:51):
about what you would see.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Got it Great.
So, aside from your choirtennis cheerleading, let's talk
about your entrepreneurship,right?
So, like, what else do you dooutside of your nine-to-five
role, that kind of, and being amom, right, like they kind of
fill the the spectrum of all thelayers of of taylor I always
(31:14):
say that I've seen every singlephase of entrepreneurship, to
like startup, scale, growth andeven closing a business.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I've seen all of those spaces.
But I am a contractor.
We have a family contractingbusiness.
Ever since my family could, onmy father's side, work for
ourselves.
We did as carpenters orcontractors.
I actually found a picture.
My dad is in his seventies Gosh, he's 74 this year.
I found a picture of him ateight years old in front of my
(31:47):
great grandpa's Eubanks and Sonstrucks which, thinking back to
when that was like gosh in inthe 50s a Black man having a
construction company and avehicle to go along with that
construction company.
It was super cool to see.
So my maiden name is Eubanks,so I framed that little picture
(32:09):
of my dad and that familybusiness goes on.
While that's not my primaryfocus, I want my children to
have the opportunity to chooseif they want to continue the
family business, if they want tocontinue growing what is now
called YouCo.
It used to be YouBanks and Sons, but my dad had daughters.
So what do you do?
(32:30):
So, yeah, that is one of thethings that we do.
I also have a business calledDiverseLink.
I don't use it anymore.
I don't do much in the businessanymore, but I helped
businesses navigatecertification.
It is so confusing, so whatcertifications are beneficial
for you and the differentindustries that businesses are
(32:50):
in?
When I left WRMSDC, I reallymissed interfacing with
businesses and supportingcertification, so I started that
up to kind of continue todabble in the space and support
business owners.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Yeah, okay, that's great.
Are there any forms of mediathat have helped you personally
or professionally?
This can be books, podcasts,anything that you would want to
share with folks.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
So the first one I always tell everybody interested
in the supplier diversity spaceor even just helping
disadvantaged businesses I callit the fab five but minorities,
women, veterans, lgbtq orpersons with disabilities I
always say you should start byreading Hacking Supplier
Diversity by Scott Vowles.
(33:36):
Start by reading HackingSupplier Diversity by Scott
Vowles.
I had the opportunity to meetScott when I was working at
WRMSDC and not only is he aphenomenal human, he used to
play tennis and just had a tonof insight.
And all of that information isin that book of how you build a
business case for supplierdiversity in your company.
What does that business casethen do?
(33:56):
How do we activate it?
How do we mobilize it?
So that's a great startingplace is hacking supplier
diversity.
Another one that I really likeis just a very short read by Rod
Robinson, whom I have never met, but I will one day.
It's called the House ofResponsible Sourcing House of
Responsible Sourcing, and itjust talks through where does
(34:17):
DEI, supplier diversity, tiertwo, tier one, all of these
programs that live withinprocurement and responsible
sourcing how do they worktogether and how do we build
that space to have a solidfoundation and be able to
continue forward?
(34:37):
So those are the two thingsthat I tell any person
interested in supplier diversityto read.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I have like two more questions for you.
One, you know, I think part ofit is it's easy to look at you
and say you know you're 30 yearsold, where you're so
accomplished.
You have your own businesses.
You have worked atorganizations that are, like,
internationally known.
You continue to do great workon behalf of the state.
Were there any points, eitherpersonally or professionally,
(35:05):
that you've had to overcome?
Something that would just kindof overthrow that notion that
you know life has always beengreat and PG and you've always
had it all figured out.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, back when I was early.
I'm still early in my career,but earlier in my career I had a
really bad habit of tying myproductivity with my worth.
So I would directly correlatehow productive I was for the day
with how I saw my self-worth,and even in making a mistake
(35:38):
with how I saw my self-worth andeven in making a mistake, a
simple mistake at work.
That would plummet my view ofmyself and my mental health to
the point where I was in areally unhealthy space trying to
please managers, leaders andshow my value.
I wasn't focused on a mission.
I wasn't doing anything exceptfor the transactional tasks that
(35:59):
were required of me.
I wasn't looking at how toinnovate process.
I wasn't.
Whatever I thought I was doing,I wasn't doing it well.
So I always challenge peopleearly in their career and later
in their career not to tie thosetwo things together.
Your productivity has nothingto do with your worth.
(36:20):
When I stopped working for thatshort time and moved to San
Diego, I was walking people'sdogs.
I think I made like $4,000 onemonth just walking people's dogs
.
You know that's more than somepeople make.
You know, in a quarter my gosh.
But understanding that, mymental health when that was
(36:41):
stable, when my mental healthwas stable, when I felt good,
when I felt confident, my workreflected that feeling.
My work and you know, thosearound me could feel my impact,
they could feel my positivity.
So just focusing on my mentalhealth is really where I
grounded myself and that'sreally when the jets kicked in.
(37:03):
That's really when thingsstarted aligning for me and just
finding good mentors that willtell you the honest truth.
Those are the two things thathave propelled me into the space
that I'm in so early.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
How does one find good mentors?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
propelled me into the space that I'm in so early.
How does one find good mentors?
What a loaded question.
Another thing I struggled withI really gravitated towards
Black women in professionalsettings and it's really hard to
find a mentor that looks likeyou as a young Black woman.
Some might say that there's amindset of you know there can
(37:37):
only be one, or you know I don'twant to hook on to the other
Black person because there'sonly two of us here, but what I
have done is ask questions thatI am ready to receive the answer
from.
So when I first met Cecil, therewere some questions that I
(37:58):
asked him.
I was not ready for the answer.
How do I grow in the space ofsupplier diversity?
You've got to see some reallytough stuff.
You have to see some businessesyou really believed in close to
feel this invested in theindustry.
You have to see the rollback ofpolicies and businesses.
Large corporations that havebeen so invested in supplier
(38:21):
diversity pull the plug becausethey didn't feel like it anymore
, and a lot of those questions Iwasn't ready to receive.
So I wasn't a good mentee.
So when I started askingquestions like, hey, is there a
toolkit for somebody who'sstarting out in supplier
diversity that wants to do goodwork can leverage and go to.
And he said you know, let'smake one.
(38:43):
And that is when I started todevelop the mentor-mentee
relationship with Cecil was whenI started asking questions.
I was ready to receive and thenturn around and put action
behind those, those answers.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
That's great and you know, I think it's important to
latch on to people like thatright, like I've had supervisors
that have definitely becomelifelong mentors and friends
well beyond right, and part ofit is them being invested more
in me and my career than me inmy role at that time and how I
can serve them in thatorganization.
(39:19):
So once I saw people pouringinto me in that way, they just
kind of elevated therelationship right From a
supervisor's worker relationshipto like oh no, I would actually
talk to you once I leave here,right, and like I've had like
supervisors that have workedwith me through my job search
but I'm like you know what I?
(39:40):
I need to figure out my nextmove.
This is like great, but I needto go do something else.
And they're like great, what doyou want to do?
Let's introduce you to somepeople in that space, right, and
like it just kind of elevatesthe relationship and it shows it
showed me at least that thesefolks were really invested in me
well beyond my time in thatorganization, which has paid off
(40:00):
.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Exactly, and I think that, for a young person looking
for a mentor, reach out, reachout to somebody that you admire,
send a LinkedIn message.
Will they respond?
Maybe, maybe not, but one thingI can guarantee you is, if you
ever see them in person, you say, hey, I sent you a LinkedIn
(40:21):
message once.
I really love your article, rod.
I'd love to connect sometimeand discuss how you came to that
understanding of the House ofResponsible Sourcing and hey,
that was written in 2018.
Can we talk about what thatwould look like post COVID?
That's an impactful statement,not, gosh?
I really wanted to message youone day, but I didn't.
(40:41):
So, leading with that, theymight not respond to you, but
I'm going to remember you if yousaid that to me, and so I think
just leading with thatintention and that willingness
to receive it's really powerful.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, definitely, and you know I think.
One more thing on mentorship ismentors play different roles in
my life, right, so there aresome mentors in my life that I
call when I'm debating the nextcareer move.
There are some that I literallyjust needed you to exist in my
life so I can see something thatI could strive for.
And you may never help me get ajob or help me think through a
(41:18):
job, right, but like purelyexisting and having access to
you is important to me and ithelps me work on the stuff that
I need to work on going forward.
Right, so you know, justunderstanding that you may have
this like group of mentors orboard of directors that you work
with, either because youmessaged them blindly on
LinkedIn or because you workedfor them at some point or worked
somewhere in the space of thembefore and just connected with
(41:42):
them.
Like everyone doesn't have toplay the same role.
You don't have to be the sameactive, needing guidance, every
single relationship, right, likethey're just different
iterations.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Exactly, and I think that I always say representation
matters.
There are women in the supplierdiversity industry.
Right now that I have I have ona list.
I want to meet them beforethey're out, before they are
retired, and I we don't haveaccess to that knowledge and so
just just charting that out, whoare people that have done work
(42:13):
that you want to follow inbehind, charting that out for
yourself, I think is verypowerful and then if I see them
at a conference, you, I've gotmy questions ready, I've got,
I've got my my elevator pitchready, as an entrepreneur would,
because those are people thatthe representation has mattered
so much for me in the space, andtaking whatever time I'm able
(42:35):
to in that introduction, in thatsegment with them and
leveraging that to elevate,that's exactly what I'm going to
do.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Is there anything else we haven't discussed today
that the world should know aboutTaylor?
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Gosh, I always lead first with my identities when
I'm going into spaces,especially now as a mom.
I didn't realize how importantthat was for me.
Growing up, I thought, you know, I'm Black, I can only be Black
, I'm a Black woman.
We know what that life is goingto be.
(43:09):
I didn't think about theintersectionality of the spaces
that I occupy.
So I invite people to just leanin to those things that are
true to you.
I'm a black, neurodivergentmother, working mother.
Make that list long and findthose people that are also
(43:30):
identifying the way that you doand occupy those spaces.
One of my mentors a long timeago told me no challenge you
face is going to be unique toyou.
So identify the people thathave gone through those same
challenges and ask them how theynavigated.
Are you going to navigate itthe same?
Probably not, but it's helpfulto have that knowledge so you're
(43:54):
not going in blind.
So I, just I encourage people.
You might feel like you're intoo many spaces or you're not
going in blind, so I, just Iencourage people.
You might feel like you'reyou're in too many spaces or
you're too many things, but as amother, I'm.
I'm a working mom, but you'regoing to get 150% of this
working mom.
Anytime I'm there, I'm justowning that.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
I love that Great Thank you.
Thanks for joining us today forthe second time, even though
the folks would only hear onceyou are appreciated.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
No, thank you so much for having me.
Thank you for the work that youdo connecting professionals and
helping us elevate.
It's really powerful.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Appreciate it.
That's the goal.
We're building our ownX-Men-like secret society, right
?
Stay tuned, people.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
And we'll get it done .
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
I Stay tuned, people, and we'll get it done.
Love it, thank you.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you did, and believe on themission we're on, please like,
rate and subscribe to thispodcast on whatever platform
you're using, and share thispodcast with your friends and
your networks.
Make sure you follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn at Career
Cheat Code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes.
Peace.
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