Episode Transcript
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Rocki Howard (00:15):
Welcome to the
Voices of Diversity podcast. I'm
your host Rocki. Howard, Iidentify as she/her/black/C
ristian/GenX/wife/mom. Thesattributes are dimensions of m
diversity of who I am. Theyare part of my unique value prop
(00:38):
sition and how I add value to te world. And I believe it is t
me for the world to hear thetories of people like me, thos
who are underrepresented in crporate America. The miss
on of this podcast is to humaize diversity, one story, one
onversation at a time to sharthe impact on those who iden
(01:01):
ify as being underepresented as they go thro
gh life in corporate Amerca. I hope you will listen to t
is episode with open hearts andpen minds as today's guests tell
their story. They are a voicof diversity. Stacey Rome
(01:25):
o is Lead Accessibility Manaer for one of America's prem
er communications compnies. She worked her way up from
call center trainer to her currnt role with heart resi
iency and tenacity, all withut a college degree. Stacey acco
plished this while being a singe mom of three girls. Her pass
(01:47):
on for advocating for the underepresented is clear thro
gh her career choice and herolunteer efforts, one of whic
is a seat on the advisory boarfor jobs for humanity. Jobs
for Humanity is a global moveent of job creation, a volu
teer led organization that matces passionate advocates, espe
(02:08):
ially employers with a numbr of growing causes to crea
e jobs for underserved commnities. Stacy Romero's story of
uccess and loyalty demnstrates the positive impact of
iversity. And her voice truy represents the voice of the
single mom.
(02:35):
Hello, everybody, and welcome tothe voices of diversity podcast.
And I am so excited today tohave my jobs for a cause
colleague Stacy joined the calltoday. It's going to be a great
30 minutes in Stacy's story isjust incredible in what she has
to share and what she'saccomplished. I'm certainly you
(02:55):
guys are gonna want to hear. SoStacy, welcome to the voices of
diversity podcast. Why don't youdo me a favor and go ahead and
introduce yourself to ouraudience.
Stacey Romero (03:05):
Thanks, Rocky and
excited to be here. So I'm
Stacey and I identify as a whitefemale and I am a single mom.
I'm a single mom of what wasoriginally two daughters. Those
daughters are grown now, ages 21and 22. Along the way, I
(03:28):
inherited a third daughter. Sheis a friend of my 22 year old
and she came to live with usabout three years ago, she was
staying at a relative's house onthe couch. And we I decided as
my youngest one was going off tocollege that we had room in our
homes and our hearts for onemore person and she needed a
place and she's moved from onestate to another with us and as
(03:54):
part of our family now too. Sosingle mom of three girls,
Rocki Howard (03:57):
I love that I will
tell you that Howard family
believes in the power of lovechildren, I have a lot of love
children. And I think my life isforever enriched by their
presence. So I appreciate thefact that you have a love child
too. Right. So Stacey, do me afavor. Tell us a little bit
about your career. What do youdo for a living? And maybe as
(04:19):
you're telling us what you dofor a living, you can kind of
walk us on a journey. What doyou do now and tell us a little
bit about how you got there?
Sure.
Stacey Romero (04:27):
So I've worked
for the same company for 15
years now i was i guess 15 and ahalf almost. I work I lead the
accessibility learning functionfor a telecommunications
company. And it's kind of amouthful, right? But for those
who may not be familiar withwhat accessibility is, it's all
about making sure that yourproducts, your services, your
(04:52):
websites and mobileapplications, work and are
accessible to people withdisabilities. And so my specific
role within the company ismaking sure that all of our
employees are equipped tosupport both customers and
employees with disabilities, byteaching them about the
accessibility features of ourproducts and services, and
(05:14):
making sure that they'reequipped with the knowledge and
skills, including things likedisability etiquette and
inclusion, and making sure thatthey know how to make things
accessible. Sokind of a big role. Really
exciting. But I've, you know,I've been in this role for about
two years, I've kind of migratedthrough the company in different
(05:35):
roles, but always in a learningfunction. So I've led call
center training, technicaltraining, leadership development
training, and landed here acouple years ago, after I
realized when I met some of thefolks on this team that were
blind that, you know, thematerials that my team was using
to deliver training moreinaccessible, and these folks
were being excluded fromtraining, and it didn't feel
(05:58):
great. And so I went on thisjourney of trying to learn how
to make materials accessible, sothat I wouldn't be excluding
anyone. And it actually led themto say, you know, hey, do you
want to join our team and helpus put together this learning
function, and I relocated? Andhere I am Two years later,
Rocki Howard (06:14):
well, the world
needs people like you. And I,
you know, when I first heardabout the work you were doing,
as we were working together, andwe continue to work together
with jobs for humanity, I was soimpressed by the level of work
you do, because it's importantwork. We don't want to exclude.
(06:35):
And I think so many times, we asindividuals just don't know how
to support different groups. Andthe fact that you saw an issue
with people being excluded, andmade a deliberate decision to
pivot your career to supportthat group of people is super
impressive. So you talked aboutbeing an lm D, do you want to
(06:57):
tell us a little bit about yourjourney from how you kind of
started your career to how yougot into l&d?
Stacey Romero (07:05):
Yeah, you know,
it's funny, I had, you know, I'm
in this role. candidly, I don'teven have a college degree. So
my daughters are
Rocki Howard (07:16):
well educated
right there. Yeah. And I had to
learn Yes, because in fulltransparency, I don't have a
four year degree, but I considermyself to be exceptionally well
educated. So there is adifference in having a
traditional education, whichusually equates to having a
degree and right making thedecision to be well educated as
(07:40):
you go along. Right?
Stacey Romero (07:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's what's kept me withthis company for 15 years is
I've always been able to learnand grow because learning is
super important to me. And yeah,I didn't have like I, you know,
I went to, like a four yearcollege right out of high
school, and, you know, got closeenough to finishing that I was
actually able to walk throughgraduation, wow. And then
(08:03):
stopped, I, you know, I didn'tgo back, I ended up getting a
job in a call center. And, youknow, worked my way up in that
company, because I worked hard,and I did well, and I enjoyed,
you know, some privilege that wecan probably talk about later,
right? Yeah, in thisconversation. But I ended up
becoming a call center Trainerwith that company. And I stayed
(08:28):
with that organization for nineyears. I got married during that
time, I had two daughters. Youknow, my daughter's are 13
months apart in age. And rightat the time that I ended up
getting divorced, I left thatcompany and started working for
the organization I work for now.
Wow. And so, you know, I startedwith them, like my career that
(08:51):
15 and a half years is the sameamount of time that I've been a
single mom, right is the sameamount of time that I've worked
for this company. So it youknow, the timing aligns, you
know, almost to the dot. But,you know, I can measure it in
that that amount of time. It wasright when my daughters were in
first and second grade. But Iyou know, I started with this
(09:12):
organization, I was a callcenter trainer, again, I became,
eventually got promoted to atraining manager. So, you know,
I was always curious, I madesome non traditional moves in my
career, you know, I made lateralmoves, when they were the right
moves for me. You know, at timesthrough reorganizations, I was
(09:33):
told this is what you're goingto do. So I ended up in
technical training, not becauseI, you know, was particularly
skilled in that area, butbecause through a reorg,
somebody decided, Okay, we'regonna put her in charge of
technical training, and I knewnothing about it. And here I end
up in a field that's super maledominated, and I'm a single mom
and you know, my boss is maleand all of my peers were male,
(09:54):
and all of my employees weremale, and most of my clients
were male, and here I am, youknow, A female in this role that
I don't even really have a lotof expertise in that area. I
remember sitting in my officeand crying for 10 minutes
knowing like, now I'm being toldthis is what I'm going to have
to do and realizing it'shappening, whether I like it or
(10:15):
not. So how am I going to makeit work? Because I'm a single
mom, I don't really have achoice, right?
Rocki Howard (10:20):
There's a lot of
pressure there, right? You don't
have a choice. You don't havethe privilege of saying, Yeah, I
don't want this job. Because I,I have responsibilities. I want
to stay with that thought for aminute, because now you're into
this point, this role that is,is male dominated. As a single
mom, were there times when youfelt like you've been excluded
(10:42):
at work? And if so, can youshare example with us about what
that situation was and how itmade you feel? Yeah, I
Stacey Romero (10:50):
have to say,
like, I ended up in that role.
Like, I stayed in that role forsix years. And over time, my
responsibilities likequadrupled. They went from, you
know, giving me the area that Isupported, ended up quadrupling
over time. And eventually, Iended up I was, you know, living
in Southern California. So Iended up you know, having like,
(11:10):
all the entire southernCalifornia area, but I think the
example that probably stands outthe most for me. At one point,
you know, my boss was based inTexas, and, you know, my peers
were like, all over the country.
And so I remember one timevividly where, you know, we had
a face to face meeting, we'dhave those a couple times a
(11:32):
year. And so I'm traveling andyou know, have all male co
workers, I'm the only one whohas to worry when we're getting
together about what am I doingwith my kids, and by now they
were in high school, right? Sothey would stay alone when I
traveled and my neighbors were,you know, kind enough to keep an
eye on them for me, and youknow, one of my neighbors like,
Sure, I'll drop you know, thegirls off at school for you.
(11:53):
And, you know, I remembervividly this one day that he
forgot, and so the girls arecalling me and you know, in
California is two hours earlierthan in Texas. So I'm already in
the middle of a meeting. And allof a sudden, my phone is just
blowing up because the girls arelike, you know, Russell forgot
to take us to school, what arewe supposed to do? How are we
(12:14):
going to get to school and I'm,like panicking, and I can't get
hold of anybody and find anyonewho can take them to school. So
I end up telling my highschoolers, you guys are gonna
have to pay the, you know, fivebucks apiece, and like, just get
on the middle school bus and getto school late, and I'm calling
the school to try to like reportthat they're going to be late.
And they're like, mortified,because they're like, we're
(12:36):
gonna have to be on the middleschool bus. Like there's nothing
worse when you're a highschooler than writing. Right?
Unknown (12:45):
Going through Mom, this
is horrible,
Stacey Romero (12:47):
right? And I'm
dealing with all of this. And I
can just see through the glasswindows in the conference room
door, I can see eyes rolling atme because nobody is empathizing
with the fact that, you know,they're all men. Right? And none
of them like if this hadhappened, their wives would have
handled it. Like I'm the singlemom, there's nobody to handle
(13:07):
this. Right. Like, you know, Ididn't have like my, you know,
my ex husband was living in adifferent state. You know, it
was a unique situation, he livedon a commune, eventually, he
actually moved out of thecountry. So when we split up, so
it's not like he was involved,or I had him to, like, fall back
(13:30):
on and share parenting, like, atany regular cadence. You know,
it was I was doing it all on myown. So yeah, there were those
times where I felt excluded. Youknow, at one point, they
actually moved my role. And Iwas commuting 95 miles each way
every day. Because I didn't wantto move. Even though they
(13:53):
offered me relocation orseverance. I was like, I can't
afford to take the severance andhope I find another job. I can't
afford to relocate and not haveneighbors to rely on when I
travel. So I really don't haveany choice other than commuting.
So I traded in my for runner,you know, that was getting 15
(14:13):
miles a gallon and bought aPrius and drove 95 miles away
each day, because that'ssometimes the things you have to
do as a single mom to make itwork. Right. Wow.
Rocki Howard (14:25):
I really
appreciate it and my heart is
full because I think you saidsomething in there. That was
key, she shared your story andshared your struggle. And I'm
sure across the 15 and a halfyears, you've been a single mom,
you could tell us 101 of thosetypes of stories. But I think
you said something that was keyis that there was no one around
(14:46):
that had enough empathy tounderstand what you're going
through. And I think empathy isone of the things that are the
importance of empathy is one ofthe things we're trying to get
across to our audience, is thatwhen you're in Interacting with
someone who is different thanyou and may not be part of the
majority. Empathy is certainlyrequired. You know, I want to
(15:09):
pick back up on you talkingabout your role, because your
role that you're doing right nowis, is really pretty phenomenal.
And when I think about yourability to be able to impact
accessibility, for others, it'san important role. And so I'm
wondering if you could qualifyor quantify what you think your
(15:33):
contribution has been to thecompany, especially in that
role? Like, how many people doyou think have been impacted by
the work that you're doing? Oh,
Stacey Romero (15:43):
gosh, you know,
it's hard to say like, the
immediate team I work on is ateam of about 18 people, about
half of the team, right, peoplewith disabilities primarily, you
know, either blind or lowvision. Right. And so, you know,
obviously, there's an immediateimpact there. But the broader
(16:06):
impact, you know, again, it's,it's really varied thinking
about making sure that, youknow, I'm picking up and
touching on customers withdisabilities. So a lot of that
work is can show that ourcustomer facing employees are
aware, when we launch a newproduct, or, you know, like, do
they have the information theyneed so that when a customer
calls in and asks about, like,how do I get the services that I
(16:28):
need that they have at the touchof their fingers, that they're
providing a good experience,that they're explaining things
and not talking to a customer interms of Oh, click here, when a
customer who is who's blindcan't click? Because they can't
use the mouse? Because, youknow, they're they typically the
assistive technology they use iskeyboard only, and you know,
(16:49):
that maybe half the listenersout there don't, that might not
make sense, right? Because ifyou're not familiar with that,
you don't know that, but again,helping make that easier to
understand so that it's a betterexperience for customers. You
know, I don't know how toquantify that. Um,
Rocki Howard (17:05):
but it's certainly
larger than that. I've helped
it. Yeah, I
Stacey Romero (17:09):
hope so. Like, if
it's one person I've impacted,
then it's worth it. Right?
Absolutely. If it's a betterexperience for one person, and I
think about this one customerwho's like I, you know, when the
pandemic first started, I wasworking from home one day, and I
like, called her back, I waslike, I'll call this customer
myself, to give her an answer.
And, you know, I called her formy cell phone, and she has my
(17:31):
cell phone number. And, youknow, months later, she still
calls me sometimes, and, youknow, I honestly don't mind it.
She's like, the sweet, sweetlady who's like, told me her
story. And you know, we'veconnected she's this woman in
her 70s, who lives inMassachusetts, and it's been fun
to just really connect with herand, and hear her story and her
journey, and that she ended uphaving a good experience with
(17:52):
our company. But employees aswell, right, like, I mean, the
goal is to impact both customersand employees in a positive way.
Rocki Howard (18:01):
I absolutely love
that. You know, you talked a
little bit about the challengethat you had balancing, you
know, being a single mom, withyour significant
responsibilities at work, whatand and you also mentioned
earlier that you recognize thatyou were able to make a
(18:22):
trajectory due to someprivilege. Can we unpack that
just a little bit? Can you sharesome of the challenges that that
you think you had in growingyour career? And those
challenges as related to youbeing a single mom? And then
certainly, any way you want tointerject your feelings about
(18:42):
the privilege that you've beenafforded? Certainly, you can do
that as well.
Stacey Romero (18:45):
Yeah. So I mean,
here's the thing, like I, you
know, I was adopted, you know, Iwas adopted as an infant, my
birth mom was 15 years old, whenI was born. And I think the, you
know, she was certainly smartenough to know that she was not
equipped to raise me, and I'mgrateful for that. You know,
(19:10):
it's funny, I found paperwork Afew years ago, before, you know,
my mom who raised me passedaway. It'll be two years coming
up in a few weeks, but I foundsome paperwork in my parents
safe. And it showed that, youknow, they paid $480 to adopt
me. So, think about the Timeshave changed, right? Yeah. Um,
(19:32):
you know, but like, they gave mejust this huge opportunity,
right, like, it's so So whatthey did is, you know, they they
gave me like this access, youknow, conversations around the
dinner table growing up, right.
And, you know, they expose me tothings, they encouraged me, you
know, in high school, they gaveme the opportunity to be an
exchange student to a foreigncountry. And, you know, as a
(19:52):
result of that, I learned thatyou know, another language and
you know, that Post me to allkinds of different things so
that in spite of the fact of notcompleting college, which by the
way, when my daughters werefinally grown and old enough to,
like my youngest started collegeon our own shortly after that,
like I took advantage of mycompany's tuition reimbursement,
(20:13):
I had the leader I was reportingto at the time, it was a
phenomenal person encouraged meto do that. And I'm, I'll be
finishing my bachelor's degreein business in a few months, I'm
planning to go. Green. So, youknow, I'm happy to round that
Unknown (20:32):
out. Thank you.
Stacey Romero (20:35):
Yeah, really
happy to have that, right. Um,
you know, I've always like,because I love learning, I just
couldn't balance that with, youknow, working full time and
trying to grow my career. Andbeing a single mom, you know,
there was only so many hours inthe day and living in Southern
California on a single incomeand trying to keep a roof over
(20:56):
our heads. I was like, I can'tpay for school. Because any
money I have is gonna gotowards, you know, I earn too
much to qualify for any support.
So I'm paying for college on myown to write for the girls.
Rocki Howard (21:06):
But I'm lucky my
employer is paying for my school
so that I can continue to try topay for theirs. It's important.
So I want to call out toemployers out there that tuition
reimbursement is an example ofdiversity done, right. It's a
benefit that can really supportyour underrepresented
colleagues. Right?
Stacey Romero (21:25):
Absolutely. Like
it's made such a difference for
me, like, I'm so appreciative.
And I will tell you, the leaderthat I had is like a fantastic
human being. And she herselflike, has been great. When she
encouraged me to go back toschool and complete my degree, I
ended up leaving her team andthe what one of the things that
she said to me when I acceptedthis other, you know, she
supported me, as I said, I thinkI want to do this thing. And she
(21:47):
said, I'm going to be sorry tosee you go. But she said Promise
me you won't give up on school.
And then I found out afterwardsthat she contacted like, as she
had the transition conversationwith my new leader about like,
what was my start date going tobe? She said, I need you to
promise me that you're not goingto let Stacy give up on school.
Right?
Rocki Howard (22:08):
I love that. I
love that. And you know what,
that's a perfect lead into thequestion I was gonna ask you
Next, which is, do you have? Ordo you want to call out an ally
or a mentor that has reallysupported you and and made a
difference in your career? Wouldit be that person? Or would it
be?
Stacey Romero (22:26):
It would be
harder, she's a fantastic and
she's actually, like, talk abouta fantastic black leader. She is
the female black leader strong.
I mean, just a huge support. Youknow, and it's funny, because at
the like, those little thingsthe day that my youngest
daughter started college, youknow, I relocated for that role
with the company. I moved fromSan Diego to Charlotte, North
(22:47):
Carolina.
Rocki Howard (22:51):
Oh, wow. It's a
huge move.
Stacey Romero (22:53):
Yeah, that was a
huge move. And so the day my
daughter started college, shestarted back in San Diego. And
so as I was getting ready tomove in the dorms leader texted
me because she was my boss atthe time, right? She texted me
that day, and the text wasactually from my daughter, who
she'd never met in person, butshe just said, you know, hey,
Alexa, your mom is super proudof you. She's probably gonna cry
(23:14):
today. You know, this is justlike such an important moment in
your life. You know, I want youto know this. Enjoy this moment.
You know, I just sent the mostmeaningful text to my daughter.
And as a little thing, it didn'tcost her anything. But it was
such a big thing. Three, thatwas three years ago, three and a
half years ago now. And Iremember it, even though I don't
report to her anymore. I stillstay connected with her. So I
(23:35):
texted her last May, and said,Hey, Alexa, graduated. And she
graduated, my daughter graduatedin three years Magna laude from
San Diego State.
Rocki Howard (23:47):
Congratulations.
Unknown (23:49):
Right.
Stacey Romero (23:51):
So she finished
and then you know, like, at that
point special wasn't my bossanymore, but she still took the
time to text my phone again andsaid, Hey, Alexa, this is Basha.
You know, I just want you toknow how amazing it was for you
to graduate in three years. Anddo that, well, in school in the
middle of a pandemic. I knowthat like things are uncertain,
(24:14):
you know, my poor kid like her,the job she lined up had fallen
through ended up falling throughbecause of the pandemic. You
know, I've since relocatedColorado, so she's here in
Colorado in a place she's neverlived before. She doesn't have
friends here. doesn't reallyknow what she's doing.
Rocki Howard (24:29):
Yeah, and it's a
tough transition. I think what
you've given us is a powerfulexample for leaders who want to
be inclusive. It's never the bigthings. It's the small things of
intentional recognition for thecircumstances that someone is
in. That means the most so solet me ask and that's exactly
Stacey Romero (24:51):
it. Actually,
Rocky, like, my boss knew that
the thing that mattered the mostto me as a single mom was my
family. And in that moment thatmattered. When I was saying
goodbye, putting my daughterlike getting herself in that
dorm and getting ready to saygoodbye, that moment that she
took just to say I'm recognizingthis important moment, like that
(25:12):
meant loyalty to me, like thatwas everything. And even though
I ended up leaving that role,because I found this really
purposeful work andaccessibility, the fact that
we've stayed connected, and shecontinues to support that, like,
she's remained a mentor for meand an anchor, and somebody that
I still like, will connect withfor, like, I support, you know,
(25:34):
I appreciate her guidance andher advice, as I still continue
to look at that careertrajectory for myself.
Rocki Howard (25:42):
I love that. So
let me ask you this. And let's
take that in a differentdirection. So what
responsibilities Do you feel tosupport other single moms in the
workplace?
Stacey Romero (25:56):
I, you know, I
just want to see other people
grow and thrive. Because I knowit's not as easy today. I know,
it's not as easy like, you know,it, like it hurts my heart
sometimes, because I feel likefor my own kids, I know that
it's like, the path isn't aseasy as it was, you know, for me
when I was their age, and juststarting out, right, like,
that's why I've pushed so hardfor them to get, like, get the
(26:17):
education that I didn't have.
Because I know it's not as easyas it was, then. I also know I
have privilege that likesomebody who didn't have those
same privileges would not haveprobably had as an easy of a
time making it to where I'vemade it. If, you know, based on
some of the privilege that I'vehad, I know, I'm really
passionate, like I lead mycompanies, I'm one of the leads
(26:39):
for my company's disabilityinclusion, Business Resource
Group. And so I'm reallypassionate about trying to
connect our hourly employeesspecifically, and give them
opportunities for development. Iknow sometimes it's easy when we
have like these volunteeremployees for you know, we
(27:00):
recently had one to try to getsomeone to help us with some of
the budget and administrativestuff. And it's so easy to like
and tempting to want to tap thepeople who are already in
salaried roles, because theyhave a little more flexibility
and schedules to attend thingsand jump in and help with
things. But I'm always like,that I always want to try to
(27:22):
advocate for let's try to helpsomebody who's in an hourly
role. And give them thoseopportunities, because those are
the things that they can put ontheir resume to try to help to
move up, right, whether it's asingle mom, you know, like, one
of the people who'd applied itwas, you know, an employee an
hourly role. And he was, it wasa, he was a black male with an
(27:43):
MBA. And I was like, you know,and he was somebody who said,
the reason why I'm volunteeringfor this, I'm really passionate,
because I have epilepsy. And Iwas like, Okay, this is somebody
with a disability, as a blackmale, with an advanced degree
like, this is the person like,let's try to give him involved
and give him that opportunity totake on a stretch assignment
(28:03):
that he can add to his resume.
Because he's passionate aboutthe work and in an hourly role,
let's give him that opportunityto get more engaged and
involved, right.
Rocki Howard (28:16):
I love that. And
there's so many things to unpack
there, right. But it really isabout, you know, giving people
who most need the help theopportunity to shine, you're not
giving them something, you'regiving them an opportunity. And
so with that, I guess I I'd liketo ask you, what advice would
(28:39):
you give, you know, inclusiveleaders, employers who are
committed to diversity, aboutworking with a diverse group of
people, or working with singlemoms? What advice do you have?
Unknown (28:53):
Gosh,
Stacey Romero (28:56):
you know, I, I
think it's be curious, be open
benchmark with other companies.
You know, my company, I werereally fortunate. I don't know
if you're familiar with Gartner.
Rocki Howard (29:09):
Yes, I am. Okay.
Stacey Romero (29:11):
Yeah. We have a
partnership with Gartner. And so
we're able to get access to likebenchmarking studies and
research. But, you know, if youdon't have access to that, like
I know, for myself, when I likecame to this accessibility role,
like I didn't know a ton, butwhat I started doing on my own
is, you know, building out mynetwork on LinkedIn and looking
(29:32):
at like, Where are there otherpeople? And I didn't know of
anybody else, like, certainly Iwas, you know, in a
accessibility learning role. SoI started just looking at who
else is doing accessibilitylearning work, right, or
accessibility training, andstarted just trying to like
search for people on LinkedIn.
And you know, there's not a lotof people that specifically have
like an accessibility learningmanager title. But Microsoft had
(29:53):
somebody and Microsoft is acompany that is doing fan
fantastic work in thisparticular space, right? And so
I cannot
Rocki Howard (30:04):
believe them, Bill
and Melinda, we appreciate you.
Stacey Romero (30:08):
And Jenny lay
Fleury is their chief
accessibility officer. And Imean, phenomenal, right? Like
they're so far ahead of thegame, they have like an autism
hiring program. That is topnotch. So they're doing some
great things there. So for me,like it was about going out
looking and seeing who is doinggood work in the space, and then
(30:30):
reaching out and connecting andjust like asking them, are you
open to having a conversationwith me, so that I can learn
from you about what you'redoing? Right. And like their
accessibility learning team andtheir accessibility and
evangelists were open to meetingwith me and sharing best
practices. And you'd besurprised when you reach out to
people and say, I'm not tryingto sell you anything, as so many
(30:53):
people seem to be these days andsay, I'm just want to learn from
you. How many people are willingto share their best practices
with you? You know, I've hadsome phenomenal conversations,
I'm able to learn in this space,specifically that way. So I
think as companies are lookingfor that it's looking at who's
(31:13):
doing good work in that space,and ask for ideas and sharing
best practices. The other thingis really looking at, like,
measure and figure out what isit that you're trying to measure
in that DNI space? What ismeaningful to measure and then
(31:35):
start from somewhere and measureit because you're not going to
make progress if you don'tmeasure, like, start to measure
but figure out what you'remeasuring for and what's going
to be impactful?
Rocki Howard (31:45):
Yeah, but I want I
want to make sure it's called
out that you said not onlymeasure, but figure out what's
meaningful before you startmeasuring. Stacey, this has been
a great time together, I can'tbelieve we've already been
talking 30 minutes. I knowthinking it's insane. So tell me
this, let's wrap up. But I wantto wrap up with this. As you
know, our platform is all aboutgiving a voice to those who are
(32:09):
underrepresented. And certainlysingle moms are underrepresented
in the workforce, and especiallyin leadership roles. So I want
to give you I want to give aplatform and a stage to your
voice as a single mom. Whatwould you like to say as we wrap
up as what about what it feelslike to walk through the
(32:31):
corporate world as an underrepresented person?
Stacey Romero (32:35):
I think the
biggest thing is, you know,
don't be afraid, go out therefocus on learning, focus on
growing, don't be focused ontitle, just look for those
opportunities, where you canlearn and grow even if sometimes
it means moving laterally tocontinue to grow yourself.
Rocki Howard (32:54):
Be out there,
there
Stacey Romero (32:55):
are people who
will be willing to give you a
chance.
Rocki Howard (32:57):
That's great. And
maybe from the other side of it,
because that's great advice. Ifyou're a person who's under
represented, if you're a personwho's leading and as someone
who's under represented, what doyou want them to hear?
Stacey Romero (33:10):
You know, I think
that single moms have so much to
offer in the workplace. We arepeople who are committed, who
will work hard, who will stay ifwe feel like, you know, if you
think about my story, I waswilling to find a way to get
things done. I was willing, Ilike I stayed with my company
for so long. Because, you know,I wanted to make things work
(33:33):
because my driving force is myfamily and providing for my
family, right. And my job is ameans to do so. And being there
and being loyal and committed isthe way that I'm going to be
able to do that. You are goingto have loyal people, and loyal,
committed employees who will addvalue, because they're going to
work hard. So don't overlookthis population.
Rocki Howard (33:56):
I love it. Stacy,
thank you so much for being a
voice for diversity. And thankyou so much for your time today.
Stacey Romero (34:04):
Thank you for
having me. Rocki.
Rocki Howard (34:08):
Thank you for
listening to today's episode.
The mission of this podcast isto give a voice to diversity. I
believe that the interactionsbetween all voices, minority and
majority can change thenarrative of how the world
communicates. And by changingthat narrative, we can change
(34:30):
the world. Join our mission tohumanize diversity, one story,
one conversation at a time bysharing our episodes, especially
with those who are privilegedand in positions of power. Help
the voices of diversity podcast,be a catalyst for courageous
(34:50):
conversations, and mostimportantly, for change. I'm
your host Rocki Howard