SPEAKER_01 0:04

And having friends and mentors and sponsors around you to help remind you of your work.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Because we do forget. Okay, that's a snippet of our podcast today. Let's get started. Hey there, Maureen Cherna here, founder of the Mindsight Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work smarter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and others' emotions, change behaviors, flourish and exceed expectations. Welcome back to another episode of Lead to Excel Podcast. I am so thrilled to be with you today. But before we get started, remember to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to it. Because it will help other people find it and give them the opportunity to understand how they can rewire their own brain to enable them to achieve their goals. So without wasting any more time, grab your cup of coffee or your drink or whatever that might be, put your feet up and listen in. So exciting to be back again this week with a new guest, and her name is Anna Jimenez. Anna, it's so lovely to have you on the podcast today. I, you know, when I met you, I went, oh my gosh, you've got to come on to Lead2XL podcast, definitely. So I'm so excited about our conversation today. So, Anna, I'm just going to introduce you briefly and then I would let you really tell us more about you. So, Anna is a business transformation and quality leader, senior director at Edemia. Anna is an award-winning chain champion who has also worked in technology for over 30 years and has expertise in leadership, technology, and transformation management. Currently, Anna is the Business Transformation and Quality Director, like I said, at Edemia, and she received the Quarterly Manager MVP Award in October 2019 for leading change in the company. We're going to be talking a lot about the awards because she is a multi-award winner for different things. So I'm really looking forward to really having a chat about this, Anna. And finally, I'll say Anna has a huge passion for diversity and inclusion, talent engagement, and community organizations. Anna, it's such a joy to have you on our podcast today. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Thank you, Maureen. It is a pleasure to be here. I'm super excited for our conversation. So thank you. Thank you for this opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So, Anna, just tell us briefly about, you know, I've I've kind of gone through your bio, but if you just give us in a nutshell how you would describe what you do, that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Sure, sure. So first of all, I describe myself as an Afro-Latina, proud to be born in Puerto Rico from Dominican parents, lived in Boston for a very long time, um, and really an advocate for um for women and and and girls and just diversity and inclusion and um and just about creating opportunities and access for all. That's those are really the things that drive me. And so um all of that combined with my 30 plus years of experience in the technology space sort of brings me to be able to um do transformations on engineering teams around quality assurance and how do we uh do how do we deliver projects, you know, efficiently on time and with high quality. Um, and then, you know, of course, focusing now, I'm kind of in a new role, super excited, where I'm actually on the business side doing business transformation. So I take all the experiences that I had on the technology and IT side, and now I'm bringing all of that and the business side to help them uh with process improvements and efficiencies and improving quality overall. So uh it's a little bit about me at a high level.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

That's awesome! That's awesome. Thank you so much, and congratulations again on your new role. That is great. Thank you. So, Anna, I'm gonna go back to let's discover what led you to where you are today. So, if you tell us, you said you're Latina, where were you born and when how long have you lived in the US?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Sure, yeah. So I was born in Puerto Rico. My parents are from the Dominican Republic. Um, I literally came to uh, well, I mean, Puerto Rico is part of the US, but I came to Boston uh when I was very young. Um, and I've honestly lived in Boston my entire youth, you know, uh career. My entire career uh has been in Boston. So I know Boston, Massachusetts very, very well.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Do you still live in Boston?

SPEAKER_01 5:25

I do, I do. You still do?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Okay, that's awesome. So 40 years, I think you said in Boston, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

That is that is dating myself.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

You're getting me to date myself here, but yeah. It's fine, it's fine. So tell us, um, so what did you study at college and you know how did you go from there to what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Sure. So, you know, I went to uh uh Simmons University, which is uh, you know, right here in Boston. Um it's an all-women's school. Uh a funny story because I didn't really know it was an all-women school till I got till I got accepted and came in for like the acceptance day. I was like, oh, there's no men here. And that's when I first knew that it was an all-women school. Um, but you know, I double-majored, I studied computer science and Spanish, and then during my senior year, I did an internship at a software company. Um, and and they, you know, hired me right after I graduated. They hired me full-time. And that really began my career in software quality assurance. Um, from then on, I worked in a number of different organizations. Um, I say for like the first eight, 10 years, I kind of jumped around different companies, large, small, medium, some startups, um, just really gaining experience on what quality assurance is, software development, business analyst, project management, just gaining all of that experience. Um, and then I sort of progressed into what I call the middle part of my career, which is when I really started to uh kind of pivot and realize the importance of what I was doing and that it wasn't just a job, but that I can actually be a career. And um, and that's when sort of that light bulb went off, where I said, oh, this is something that I can really do and take it on my own. And then I started to kind of work towards getting into management. Um, so then I had a number of different roles in the leadership track. Um, and then I think I kind of shifted into where now I am, you know, a sought-after uh executive that people look for to be able to help them transform their teams. So I feel like my career has had several evolutions. Um, and it's really all stemmed in this uh, you know, quality assurance and the importance of quality in everything that we do.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

You know, listening to you, it just seems that you you kind of were, I would say, focused or driven or knowing where you're going. What led to that? You know, for so far from you as a young girl, did you notice it or is it something that you built up over time?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

You know, Maureen, um, from the point that we were young, my parents always instilled in us the fact that we needed to have goals in life. You know, we were always told college is not an option. Uh, growing up, it was like they couldn't go to college. Um, and my mom did a few years in college, but then had to drop out because of, you know, she had to work, right? Um, so her goal was always that all of her children would graduate from college, which all of us did, some have double degrees. Um and so there was this sense of I can I have to keep going forward, right? So you have to set a goal and you kind of just drive to it. And when you reach that goal, you set another goal and then you drive towards that. And that was really the way I sort of moved in my career. At first, it was just like I said, it was just a job, right? Once I realized that I wanted a career, I said, great, let me shoot for being a lead, then let me, you know, go after being a manager. You know, then you say, okay, now I want to be an A VP, and then I want to next be a VP. And as I accomplish each of those, you know, goals, then I move the needle again. I was like, great, I did that one. Now let me set another goal. And then I would work really, really hard towards accomplishing and getting to that next goal. So that whole part of being driven and passionate is something that has been instilled in me from very young. I will share that, you know, my family, my parents were very involved in the Boston Latino community. Um, and so we also saw the side of having to give back. Uh, my man, my mom ran a uh bridal store in the Latino community here in Boston for 33 years. And it was a family business, right? So I had my day job, all the kids, and then we had to go to the family business and work on the family business, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So those work ethics were developed quite early.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Very, very early. It was like, yep, you work, you do that, then we come and we give back and we start and we help the family accomplish the goals that we need to do. So, very from very young, it was like you can't just sit back and just wait for things to happen, but you need to go after and and try to do accomplish your own goals. Look, my biggest role model is my mom. My mom, since she came to Boston, she had this urge, this desire to be an entrepreneur, to have her own business. And and seamstress was the thing that she did. So when she was able to open up or buy an existing bridal store, that she, by the way, had no money and had to borrow money from people to be able to do that. But then to see her work so hard on accomplishing her dreams, to see her smile, yeah, whenever she saw a bride or like super happy, right? You um like that's cemented in my brain, right? It was like she worked so hard. We all would work so many hours overnight to accomplish someone else's, you know, dream day. And that was enough to make my mom just blissfully happy. And so everything that I do, I do it with that same sense of, you know, just oh my God, if I'm gonna be happy because I'm making someone else happy. You know what I mean? So it's that sense of seeing somebody else happy, it's what makes me happy.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Wow. Thanks so much for sharing that. And oh yeah, because honestly, when we are serving, when we serve people, it does make such a difference. You know, it it gives us, and that's the motivation to keep going, just see someone else happy. And I love how you shared about your mom, because you know, I was just so curious about what drives this woman, what makes you keep going. And to hear that it's another strong woman is just so pleasing. So in terms of your career, you know, you you've told us how you were driven, how you, you know, you kept moving the needle. And I think, you know, for our listeners, that is just one point I think I really want you to take down because it's not stopping when you get somewhere, it's then setting another goal and another goal. Each time you meet one, you set another one, and that's the way to grow. Now, what were the you know challenges that you found along the way? Because you're a Latino woman, we know, we know the bias, we know the we know the stereotypical issues. How did you do it?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

It wasn't easy, Maureen. I mean, I don't think anyone would sit here and say it was easy, right? Um, or a walk in the park. Uh look, I came into a technology space when it was, you know, 30 years ago, male-dominated space. Everywhere you looked, it was men, right? And predominantly white men. Um, I had the honor, and and you know, I think, I think I was lucky, one of the few lucky ones that happened to have had a few women managers um early in my career. And that really helped me sort of come into my own, right? Helped me find my goal. Just because they gave me opportunities. Look, my very first manager is someone that still today, 30 years later, was still good friends, you know. Um, and they would just make sure that I got included in meetings, I got included in conversations, they created a pathway for me to uh be able to share my experiences. And because of that, I gained more confidence. At the end of the day, we know that we're all smart, educated women, right? But we lose our confidence when we don't feel like no one is hearing us. And so when I walked into these rooms and these women created a space for me to provide my thoughts about a particular topic or project and make sure that everyone heard me, that boosted my confidence. And so I was able to continue to do that. And then I was doing that for other women. Then I was going into meetings, bringing other women with me, and making sure that they had the space in a meeting, that I pause people and say, no, no, no, hold on, we need to hear her opinion. Or I would call on people because I knew that they had an opinion to share, right? And so those were the things that helped me. And I always say that I'm super blessed to have had those amazing, strong women leaders around me showing me the way. Um look, it it wasn't easy. There were many, there were people that would say to me, Um, you know, you came across very aggressive in that meeting. It's like uh I was just sharing my opinion. How do you respond to that? Yeah, I mean, uh honestly, I still vividly remember the very first time that uh um one of the managers in development called me into a meeting and said to me that he has gotten feedback from others that I am very aggressive. And at that moment, you're like, oh, I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Um, I will try to change. I will, yeah, you know, what do I need to do to be aggressive? Right. So I I I'm telling you, Maureen, that was my response at that very first instance. And then I went home, told my family, told my friends, and they're like, What are you talking about? That's what? Anna, go back and stand up for yourself. And like I said, my mom, you know, strong role model, right? Saying, absolutely not. You're not aggressive. You know, don't let someone make Kate, you know, put you in this bucket, right? And so I came back in the next day. We had another meeting, and you know what I did? I did what I always do. And in that meeting, I looked around to the various men in that room and kind of said, Hey, um, I see all of us are speaking the same way here, you know. So this is my thoughts, this is my opinion. Um, does anyone have any issues with that? And I kind of called it out because again, I got that push from my family to be able to be confident and confront people in the meeting. Um, and and I was nervous, as you can imagine, having that conversation in that meeting. But but they listened to me, um, and we just went on. And that manager never said anything to me again, nor did anybody else. But I didn't change. The net of this is I still didn't change. He caught me off guard in that initial meeting and I apologized, thinking I did something wrong. But then once I thought about it, I was like, I'm not, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not, I know I'm not doing anything wrong. So I just went back and just continued doing what I needed to continue to do. Now, did that stop me? Did that prevent me from promotions and all that kind of stuff? I'm sure it did. You know, I certainly didn't last too long at that organization and I did move on. Um, I can't sit here and say, if I would have stayed, would have gotten promoted, I because I don't know. You don't know what you don't know, right? But I knew that that was the start of me saying, okay, I'm probably not gonna be here very long.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Yeah, yeah. Wow, you dropped a lot there. I like, oh, that is just a great great because you know, the first thing you did was apologize for being yourself, and it's amazing how we become so wired in a way to please, to fit in. And if our first response is that, oh, I'm sorry, you know, I will do what I need to do. But and this is why it becomes so powerful and important to have the right people that we can talk to. And for you, it was family and friends, and you know, even as a woman, it's even important to know who to speak to, because you could have said that to somebody else, and they will go, oh no, you did the right thing. You know, make sure next time you you mind how you speak, you lower your voice, you change your posture. You know, but I love the way you you said it, that you stayed true to yourself. You kept talking the way you do, because I've seen it so many times where people say, Oh, she's aggressive. Oh, she's aggressive, especially with a black woman. You know, that is the first thing that we're told. So, no, well done. Well done, well done, well done. That is just that just gladdens my heart so much.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Maureen, you see that in the most simplest of things. I think about my wardrobe. I remember my wardrobe used to be the blacks, the grays, the blues, the browns, very neutral colors so that you wouldn't stand out, right? And then I was like, what am I doing? Why am I changing who I am? Because evenings and weekends, I'm wearing all my colorful, you know, clothing. Why am I, why am I not bringing my full self? And to be able to go from the the neutral colors to wearing my pink or my fuchsia uh you know suit, let me tell you, I rocked uh uh an awesome fuchsia uh suit jacket, and I would walk the hallways, and you know, because you know you felt the stares from people as you're walking through. And I'm like, Yep, I'm wearing fuchsia and I'm owning it.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Oh, that is so good. You know what? I remember once going to work and I had put on a weave, and it was a spiky red weave. And my I remember my boy said, Are you going to walk like that? I'm going, absolutely, this is me. You know, I love my hair wild. I love it. And like you said, you just don't know what people that's, but that's their problem, not mine. This is me. So no, thank you so much for that. Now, let's talk about, you know, I'm still going digging a bit into um the leadership. And again, I'm gonna touch on the fact that you said you were so lucky to have had someone who really championed you, who helped you, who gave you a seat at the table, basically. And I think that is just so important. We're doing this on you know, March in International Women's Day, and I think it's something to really bring up because just being able to support another woman just makes such a difference. And for you, years later, you're still talking about it. It really set you on that path to where you could go. It gave you the confidence to even keep going. And that is what we do for each other. And well done for paying that forward, for doing the same today, which we're gonna come into in a second. So I just needed to touch on that point because it's so good for us to keep doing this for each other. So, in terms of getting into leadership or management, how did you, you know, how did you find that and what challenges did you have when it comes to getting into the position, but also managing people?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah, I mean, wow, definitely lots of lessons learned there, right? Um, I I made the mistake at the beginning of being my employee's friends, wanting everyone to like me, right? Um, and so there were things that maybe I agree, I disagreed with, but I was like, okay, I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, ruffle any feathers. Okay, fine. I'll go with that, right? And as a manager, you have to be able to make decisions. But when you let your entire team drive you, you're not, no one's making decisions, right? Um, so those were some early lessons learned that that I had, right? What I was like, people were like, what are you doing? You can't be their friend and the manager, right? Um, moving up from being colleagues to then being someone's manager. Absolutely. Um that was hard. That was that was very, very hard. Um, having friends that that um were external friends and on a personal world, right? And then having them also work for you, right? Navigating those relationships because you were trying to keep things separate, but then it was so hard to keep them separate and and hurting each other throughout throughout the way. And those are things that I absolutely regret, right? Because at the end of the day, work is work and and a friend is a friend. Um, and I sort of learned that the hard way and made some mistakes there. And, you know, luckily and and happy that we're still amazing friends today.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So, what will you do differently now in that situation? Because it is a common one where you're managing people that you that you call friends. So, how what will you do differently?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

You know, I mean, I think it's about setting boundaries and being very clear on when we're at work, this is how it's going to be, right? And I think you cannot work with all of your friends, right? So it it now it's about being very selective. Okay, well, maybe this is someone that I know is not going to take something personal, right? So, so sure we can we can work with each other, but um it's setting those boundaries and being very clear. I'm very demanding. If you were to meet any of the people that report to me throughout the years, they're like, oh my God. And as expectations, if if the if the company said it was here, I was like five times above that, right? Five or ten times. So I had huge expectations because I wanted to build the best quality organization that I could. I mean, I wanted to do the best that I could. So because of that, I elevated the team and I I gave it, I gave them so much. I wanted to constantly train them and help them grow. And a lot of them took it in and appreciated and grew. And a lot of them were like, not for me, not interested. And that was okay. I will say, Maureen, it that was hard. Yeah. When I was trying to pour into someone that I thought had potential, that I saw it and they didn't see it and they didn't receive it. Oh, that was tough. That was tough.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

I'm gonna dig into that because that is something. And yeah, let's let's go there. You know, you're trying to really help people, you're trying to point to them. They don't see it, you know what you're trying to do. How do you deal with that? You know, has there been a situation whereby eventually you are able to get them to see what you're doing? And also, yeah, let's let's let's go with that question first.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yeah, no, that I I have. I I have a few success stories where um it it was just they weren't seeing what was on the other side of the wall, right? And so it was constant, you know, a series of reminders and telling them, look what you can accomplish, look where you can go. Here, let me help you teach this. Here, look, if you what about if you think about this differently? And again, our world was software development. So we're testing, we're, you know, working with developers, working with project managers, right? So it was like helping them see how maybe a conversation could have been done differently, such that you would get a different result, right? Um, so yes, it that constant sort of talking with them. And yes, for me, it was just role-playing and the use of storytelling, right? Those are the two things that I think helped me in those situations is helping them visualize what the things could be or what their future could be. Um, getting them to open their minds, showing them different examples, right? So it's bringing them with me to a conference so that they can hear and see. Oh, look what all these folks are accomplishing, and then coming back and talking to them about it, right? Well, what do you think? Well, yeah, that sounds really good. Well, that could be you. And then they're like, that could be me. Yes, that could be you, right? And and then it's like, well, and I'm willing to help you. I want to help you get there. Let me help you, right? And then having them reciprocate and be open to that. Yes, super successful. But I will tell you, Maureen, just as that was successful, it was the other side, which is some someone saying to me, Thank you, Anna, but I'm not interested. Yes, I am perfectly fine where I'm at. And even though I tried having that conversation, I tried doing the storytelling, they didn't see it, and partly they just weren't, they weren't ready. They they and it wasn't the time for them. And that was perfectly fine. The challenge for me was knowing when to stop.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

I was gonna ask you that. When do you know when to stop? Yeah. And and there's no right or wrong answer.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

There really isn't. Um, granted, if you continue doing it when someone's telling you no, no, no, clearly there's gonna be some animosity, there's gonna be some issues at their end to you. So there were definitely times where I didn't read, I didn't see the signs, and then it did get contentious, and then they didn't want to meet with me anymore. Exactly. Um, and so those again, that's how I learned. I'm like, oh, okay, I probably should have stopped earlier, right? Um, and then you just you evolve and you then you pivot and you learn and you don't do do those things again. But but yeah, I feel like I have, you know, sort of hit all the possible, you know, obstacles and challenges as a new manager that you can potentially imagine, right? Um, and we're still learning today. I mean, I've been in management for I don't know, 20 years or so now, right? But still learning. Every day is still a learning opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Gosh, thank you. Thank you so much for that. Because what we've just described is something that is so common. Um, and it's now knowing that, you know, when to stop. But I love how you described it is that constant communication, getting talking to them, getting them to see what is possible. Because what you're doing, in essence, is wiring their brain in a new way, because they've come in wired in a particular way. But what you're doing is now creating something new in their brain for them to see. And it's so true. Some will be open to receiving it, some will be so far away from it that it just wouldn't make sense to them. And that's fine, like you said, but it's just, you know, knowing for knowing for them when to stop and say, okay, I'm just going to accept this person this way and just leave them where they are. But the truth is that sometimes when they then see others growing, they then want to get back up, you know. But again, like you said, there's no right or wrong, it just depends on people. So, oh, thank you. Um, I've got a question here that I wanted to ask you. How did you find your voice to break through glass ceilings to get up to where you are today?

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah, famous glass ceiling that we all have, right? And and and I feel like I have several glass ceilings, right? Um I I have that when I tell someone I'm Latina, they have an expectation of me being loud and me being, you know, I talk with my hands and and you know, being told you shouldn't talk with your hands, right? Um and so that there is there's getting past that, or and and especially as a Latina, right? There is this perception that we are not good enough, right? That we should only have certain types of jobs. Um and so as I'm moving up the ladder and moving into these management roles, and people are looking at me, it's like, what is what is she doing here? Why is she? Why does she get here? You know, um, having to constantly present my resume, having to constantly say, I have years of experience of doing this. I know what I'm talking about, having to constantly prove myself over and over and over again, right? Um, and and certainly that applies to just being Latina, being black, being a woman, right? Um, so those are all the things that we equally, you know, have all been challenged with. It, you know, for me is resilience. Um, I go back to the word we used earlier, being driven, right? Um, I knew where I wanted to go. I knew that. Okay. I knew where I wanted to go. I also knew that I worked my butt off to get to where I was at. I many nights of just late night hours, no eating, no giving up family time, right? To be able to complete a project, meet the department goals. And because of all of that that I had inside of me, I was like, I can be here. I deserve to be here. I've worked hard to be here. And because of that, I didn't allow, I didn't allow all this negative stuff to stop me from moving forward. Now, don't get me wrong, Maureen. Yeah, there are moments, there are days, right? Many days when I would come home crying and be like, maybe they're right. Maybe they're right, maybe I don't belong, right? But then I would say to myself, you know what? I didn't just spend all this money in college, I didn't just spend all this money in training, I didn't just spend all these hours, extra hours to accomplish all this stuff. What do you mean you don't belong? What Anna, what do you mean you don't belong? You belong there more than some of the people that are there because of all the things you've accomplished. So that constant talking to myself, you know, constantly reminding myself of everything that I've done to be here, that's how I've continued to move forward. That's how I've continued to um rise up and move up the ladder, and that's how I've been able to break through the glass ceiling.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Thank you. Wow, I was just nodding so much at that because you know, it's knowing where you're going, keep talking to yourself, the thoughts will keep coming up, those negative, those limited thoughts will come. The subconscious is will keep doing its thing, but you remind your brain, you know what? I truly deserve to be here. And you know, one thing that kept coming to me is this woman knows her worth.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yes, absolutely, and it's so important that is key, and having friends and mentors and sponsors around you to help remind you of your worth because we do forget, we do, you know what I mean? So it's important to surround yourself with groups of people around you, both men and women, because I want to be clear. I I my mentors and leaders have been both men and women. I have had, I think my biggest sponsors were the men in my surroundings, they were my biggest sponsors, right? So we don't want to lose sight of that. We need the men, absolutely. Yeah, I'm a very bubbly person, so I'm gonna talk to everyone no matter what, right? Yeah, but I think that that's part of what women need to be able to do. You need to be able to step outside of yourself. We tend to just stay within a, you know, oh, I work in this team, I'm just gonna know the people in my team. And you don't put your head up and look around and say, but there's an entire company out here. Why should I limit myself from meeting and knowing what everyone else is doing? And because I've been able to do that, kind of cross that threshold, go from the technology space into the business space, into areas that I people would be like, and how are you involved in these things? Exactly. Well, because I met people in the elevator, because I said hello, because I talked to people in the various company meetings, right? And because I built those relationships and I worked hard at building those relationships, then they then then those relationships created an opportunity for me that I could not have foreseen that that's where it was going to end. Now, so you can't, you know, some people have asked me, I know what you calculated in the relationships relationships you built. I said, absolutely not. Yes, I love people. I love people, I love to network. So if there's anything I can do to help someone else, I am 100% going to do it. I never go into a relationship thinking, what can they do for me?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

For me.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Never, nothing. I always go into every relationship, every person that I meet, how can I help you? Let me know how I can help you. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

If I'm gonna link back to what we said at the beginning, where you said that everything you're doing is really to help somebody else. That is where the joy comes from. It's being able to really serve, to give, to make someone else happy. And in a way, we've kind of come full circle back to that. That's the key. It's not focusing on what you're getting, it's focusing on what you can actually do for the person. What of someone, a woman that says that, see, I'm not the kind of person that just picks up a conversation, you know, I'm kind of reserved. How do I do it?

SPEAKER_01 36:53

You know, um, and I've got many friends who are like that. They're like, and uh, you just you walk into a room and people notice you. I'm like, but I'm just walking into the room, right? Um, there's really no easy way around it. You have to be able to speak, you have to be able to, you know, talk to people. And I always say, talk about what you're comfortable about. Just ask this, there's usually a couple of questions that I advise folks to say. Ask them how did they get to the role there today. That in itself will take a good 10, 15 minutes, right? And you can ask them, what do you like about your role? Right. Um, and that again will spark will spark another 10, 15 minutes. Those two questions are enough for you to be able to go into any room, sit in any table, and talk to anybody. Just those two questions. Okay. And that's the start.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

And you go around and you do that to everyone. If you're in a table of 10 people, you go and you ask each of those people those two questions. Okay. By the time you're done, you would have learned so much about everyone that your nerves will be calmed down and you would just be like, okay, I can do this now.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Yeah. No, I love that because you know, and I always say it's being just be curious, be curious about other people. And I love those two examples you gave. I'm going to use those actually, because it's great. They're converse, they're conversation openers. Because then you're showing that you're interested in them. And most a lot of people are so happy to talk about themselves or what they do. So, no, that's absolutely great. So, Anna, in terms of how you're now supporting others, um, I know you do a lot. Can you just talk us through what you do now to support younger people, to support other women, and what you're doing in the Latina community as well?

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Yes, yes, I am doing a ton. So, first of all, I am part of this uh amazing organization called Alpha, which is the Association of Latino Professionals for America. Um, it's an amazing organization. We have over 90,000 members nationwide. Um, and you know, this organization focuses on students in in college. Um, some chapters have um high school uh students as well, and then early career, mid-career, and executive level. And so I used to lead the Boston chapter, um, and now I'm on their national board. And and my whole objective and goal behind this is just really we need to create opportunities. We need to make sure that people early in their career see people who look like them doing all the jobs that are out there, right? And so that's what I try to do. I try to connect with college students, with high schools, with you know, early career professionals who are just saying, well, maybe, maybe I want to do this, maybe I want to do that, but I don't know. I don't, I'm not quite sure whether that's for me. And so what I try to do is connect them um with other senior Latino professionals so that they see themselves reflected, right? So that they see that yes, Latino professionals have been able to accomplish you know many things and that they can be and and you know can do anything. So is it like a mentoring? There's mentoring, so we have a ton of professional development. Um, so there's professional development, there's mentoring, there's um, you know, community servicing. Um so there's a number of different things. We partner with many other organizations, uh, junior achievements, um, big brothers, big sisters. You know, there's there's so many organizations that we partner with to again share and and make sure that there's role models out there, right? Um then I think the other thing that I do is just my speaking engagement. So I, you know, I go into companies and talk about the various opportunities or the or my experience and how companies should think about what their future employee makeup will look like.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

One thing that I that I share now is, you know, by the year 2060, one in every three women will be a Latina woman. That says a lot. One in every three women will be a Latina woman. So as a company, if you're not doing anything to communicate to the to the Latino-Hispanic um you know population, if you're not marketing, branding, if you're not engaging with us, then who are you dealing with? Right? Because we're going to be the majority, right? Um, and and that's just, and there's ways that you have to be able to communicate with us to connect with us, to get our our attention, right? And so I talk about that in all my various um speaking engagements, and then just sort of share the whole, you know, how do you, you know, recruit, but how do you retain? How do you retain the Latino community populations in your companies? Okay, because there's companies that are hiring them, they're bringing them in, but guess what? They're leaving just as quickly as they're coming in.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

So why are they leaving, but also what can companies do? Just give us an example of what they can do to retain them.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

You know, it's really about creating culture that resembles, that embraces uh the Latino population. Um, that's really what it comes down to. Uh recognizing what the Latino population, you know, what our accomplishments are, the things that we've done and you know, throughout history, um, and understanding what we like and don't like, right? Uh there is, as you know, we everybody celebrates Cinco de Mayo, right? And it's connected to Mexico, right? But but there's so much more to the Latino population than Cinco de Mayo, right? Uh we celebrate merengue, we celebrate Sarasa music, you know, we celebrate our various foods. There's just so much more to a one-day thing that's tied to one country. And I think that organizations that go out of their way to embrace every culture and to recognize that the Latino-Hispanic population is diverse and you can't just speak to all of them one way. Yeah. The organizations that recognize that are the organizations that will succeed. How you talk to those in the Caribbean is different than how you talk to those in Central America and Latin America. It's just different. And you have to understand that, right? So those are the things that organizations can do uh to help retain um their Latino employees.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

That is so powerful though. And even just going beyond the Latino community, it's you know, it's how you, yeah, how you know you need to understand the people, you need to understand the black culture, the Caribbean culture, Africa, you need to understand the people. You know, whether it's ability or sexuality, just knowing people makes a difference. What do they like? What makes them tick? What motivates them that makes the difference? I love you sharing that because it's so true. Instead, instead of just describing people as the same, people are not the same. People are different, and that's the whole um perspective. I know you've won quite a lot of at work. Tell us a few, because when you told me this, I was so blown away by what you know all the things you're doing. And then I'm going to come to one special thing you've done because I know you've written a book. So I'm going to get you to talk to us about it. So tell us about the awards, then tell us about your book, please.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Absolutely. So yes, um, I've won a number of awards. I mean, there's the National Society of Black Black Engineers uh last year, gave me their elite award, um, which, you know, I'm very proud to have been uh, you know, named their 2021, uh, yeah, 2021 elite award winner. Um, I think, you know, another one that I'm super proud of is the National Diversity Council um named me one of their um 2019 Latina leaders as well. Um most recently I've been featured by Hispanic Executive Magazine as one of their leading Latinas. And I was in a book along with actress Jessica Alba, you know, actress um Julisa Calero. I mean, these are these are role models. These are people that I like look up to. So for me to have been one of the 2021, you know, leading Latinas in a amongst these amazing, accomplished women, I was like, no way, no way. Um but you know what? It's all about giving back. It's it's all really based on what I've done to be able to give back to my community by helping women and other like you know, black and brown like you know, women um continue to elevate and just the work that I've done for opening doors for them. That's really what it's been about.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

And so coming to the book, and I'm I'm going to just commend you there though, because I think that is just fantastic. And a lot of what you do, you do so much outside your day-to-day job, just supporting people, encouraging, you know, I I must really, really commend you. It's it's so good. And that was why when I met you, I just went, wow, no, you you just you just epitomize what a woman should be doing. And I think that is so good. So well done. Thank you, Maureen.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

And so last year I partnered with uh 12 amazing women, 12 amazing women, and we shared our stories around empowerment, resiliency, inspiration. Um, and we put together this book that we launched uh right before Hispanic Heritage Month, and it's called Extraordinary Latinas. Um, and I'm happy to share the link with you and your audience. Um, and and wow, it's it's a book rich, full of, I mean, some of these stories will make you cry. You're like, oh my gosh, somebody just went through that. Like, oh, I mean, it's it's just so so enriching and so powerful. And so to have had the opportunity for my good friend Eliana Rojas um to be able to put this book together and bring these 12 women together to put, you know, to share our voices with our community. Um, it's it's really just been an honor and a blessing uh to be able to do that. So I'm very, very excited, very, very proud of the book that we have, Extraordinary Latinas. Um it's out on Amazon. Um, and like I said, I'll share with you the link, and and you know, your audience is more than welcome to look at the book.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

I'll definitely put the link in the description. I would definitely say get the book. So thank you so much. It's really been a joy. You've given us so much today. And um, you know, I think you've hopefully you've inspired listeners because you've inspired me, just listening to what you know, what how you've come, your journey, and what you're doing. So I just want us to finish with you giving us one final word of wisdom, advice, whatever it is, nugget that we can take away or take hold on to. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

You know, I I for me it's um lead with lead with passion, um, and just believe in yourself. You know what I mean? Um, you have to be passionate about everything you do. Make sure that you're whatever you get involved in, you got involved in it because you believe in it. Um, I do a ton, like you said, Maureen, but everything I'm part of, I 150% believe in that cause, right? Um, it connects with me at my core. Um, it's all about helping some others. And, you know, Maureen, I I started this entire journey because it was about making sure that my kids had role models. Just like I had role models, you know, I needed to make sure that I leave a legacy so that their kids, you know, my kids and their kids will have future role models. So um be driven, be passionate in every single thing that you do, and always just be yourself.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

I love that. I love that. Be yourself, be passionate about anything you do, lead with passion, believe in yourself. Thank you. Thank you so much. So, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Uh, probably that means you can find me certainly on LinkedIn, right? Anna Himenez. Uh, you can also find me on my website, which is very simple, just www.anahimenez.com. Um, and you'll you'll be able to find information about my book and everything that I've been doing. I have to admit, I don't always update it with the things that I'm going to be doing, but I try to keep up, keep it up updated. But uh, but yes, uh directly on my website, annahimenez.com um or via LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

And Anna, thank you so much for joining us today. It's really been a pleasure having you on, and um, I am so pleased to have met you. Thank you once again. Thank you so much. Thank you, Maureen. Okay, three things before we finish today. Have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you click that subscribe button wherever you listen to this podcast. Because once you subscribe, you will not miss an episode. And as usual, if you have a topic you would love me to speak about or bring a guest on, do let me know by leaving a review. Finally, do have a fantastic week and remember that you are limitless. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.