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Speaker 1: So I spent a couple of Saturdays ago with my

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Speaker 1: Black Effect podcast network family, including Charlemagne, the God, angele Ye,

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Speaker 1: my Guy Destroying with Shot from E y L, and

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Speaker 1: Tim Ben from We Talk Bad Podcasts in Nashville, Tennessee

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Speaker 1: for these signs the Thrill of Possibility Summit, which featured

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Speaker 1: fifty BCU students studying STEM. During that Twoday event, we

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Speaker 1: recorded the live podcast what You're About to Hear. It

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Speaker 1: features Shantra Vassar, vice President in chief, the EI officer

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Speaker 1: of Nissan America's and her job is to drive the

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Speaker 1: e I and develop plans and partnerships to share the

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Speaker 1: company's the EI commitment with employees, customers, and the community.

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Speaker 1: It was a dope conversation. I hope you get something

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Speaker 1: from its it. How y'all doing. I've been enjoying today.

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Speaker 1: Give yourselves a round of applause for going to this man.

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Speaker 1: It's great to have you. So I'm super excited to

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Speaker 1: have this conversation today because so often we hear about

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Speaker 1: the pipeline. There's companies that say they can't find black talent,

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Speaker 1: you know, and we obviously know that that's not true

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Speaker 1: because it's fittive y'all here today who are doing the

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Speaker 1: work to make sure that your future is a lot

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Speaker 1: brighter and that our collective future is a lot brighter

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Speaker 1: by bringing your perspectives and your disciplines to work for

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Speaker 1: So give yourself another round of applause. UM. So with that,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm excited because there are companies that

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Speaker 1: are putting their money where their mouth is. And today

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Speaker 1: we're having a conversation with Sean Travesser, who is the

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Speaker 1: Chief d I officer at Nissan America's Welcome Sean, thank you,

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Speaker 1: give it up for, give it up for And so

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Speaker 1: I want to first I asked you a little bit

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Speaker 1: about your background. You've been on Nissans tense oh four

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Speaker 1: and you continue to get more and more responsibility. So

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Speaker 1: tell us your Nissan story. So my Niecean story. I

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Speaker 1: started out at Nissan eighteen years ago. My again, as

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Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, my background was finance accounting. Uh so

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Speaker 1: I started out as a senior financial analyst UM supporting

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Speaker 1: our manufacturing operations located in Smartin Tennessee, which is in

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Speaker 1: the suburbs of Nashville. UM. And so I always felt

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Speaker 1: like I needed to make sure that I was very

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Speaker 1: vocal about what I wanted out of my career UH,

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Speaker 1: so I took every opportunity to raise my hand for

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Speaker 1: new opportunities. UM. I continued to rise through the corporate ranks,

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Speaker 1: moving from analysts to manager to senior manager. Then I

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Speaker 1: was promoted to director, which is our first level executive

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Speaker 1: UH and was actually the first African American female appointed

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Speaker 1: to an executive position at Nissan and HBCU alone. Remember

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Speaker 1: so UM With that promotion, I moved into our purchasing

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Speaker 1: part of the business and had this huge scope responsible

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Speaker 1: for UH buying a lot of the services that we

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Speaker 1: use as a company. So you know an event, this

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Speaker 1: the buying that goes into this event was within my scope.

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Speaker 1: So anything that was marketing and sales, labor in our

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Speaker 1: manufacturing facilities, or any non production things parts UH supplies

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Speaker 1: that we not parts but supplies that we needed in

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Speaker 1: the manufacturing process, UM I, T h R, you name it.

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Speaker 1: But I also had responsibility for supplier diversity, so that

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Speaker 1: was one of the forays that I had into the

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Speaker 1: diversity space. Then after that, I moved back into finance

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Speaker 1: as a director and was the controller for our UM

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Speaker 1: purchasing organization. Then I was the controller for our our

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Speaker 1: finance company, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation. Then I became the

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Speaker 1: controller for our US marketing and sales, which includes after

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Speaker 1: sales um cost of quality, all of the cars that

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Speaker 1: we sell in in the US market, our sales audit process,

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Speaker 1: and then from there I was tapped on the shoulder

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Speaker 1: for this opportunity um to move into our first ever

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Speaker 1: newly created vice president in chief. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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Speaker 1: offers a role and so I would say that getting

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Speaker 1: there was again what I said at the very beginning.

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Speaker 1: I was always vocal about where I wanted my career

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Speaker 1: to go and how I wanted it to grow. I

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Speaker 1: was always very thoughtful in setting goals and adjusting and

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Speaker 1: changing as I saw fit. I was also very clear

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Speaker 1: and understood that you don't get everything you want right.

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Speaker 1: Your career, especially in a major corporation, is going to

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Speaker 1: be a combination of what you want out of it,

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Speaker 1: but also what the company needs, so it has to

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Speaker 1: be mutual. So there were oft times that I took

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Speaker 1: on opportunities that weren't necessarily the ones that I wanted,

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Speaker 1: But I would say that when I took those opportunities,

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Speaker 1: I learned, I developed networks, I received mentors and sponsors,

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Speaker 1: and it was those opportunities, in addition to the ones

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Speaker 1: that I wanted, that got me to where I am today. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So when I when we started to prepare for this conference,

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Speaker 1: I was thinking about, I'm really interested in what the

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Speaker 1: core mission of a company is. And when I looked

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Speaker 1: at the mission in the d n A of Nissan,

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Speaker 1: it was do what others don't dare to do? And

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Speaker 1: so what does that mean in practice? When you're talking

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Speaker 1: about the people of Nissan do what others don't dare

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Speaker 1: to do? So, as you said, that is our DNA.

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Speaker 1: So don't so do what others don't dare to do?

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Speaker 1: Was a core belief of our founder and that's exactly

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Speaker 1: what he did when he founded Nissan. And one thing

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Speaker 1: that he did was that he learned. He took on

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Speaker 1: opportunities to UM get in on the ground floor and

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Speaker 1: really learn about technologies and build his UM, his his

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Speaker 1: skill sets as he was ready to UM actually found

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Speaker 1: the company. And so that in practice is about us

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Speaker 1: as a learning and innovative company. So UM we what

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Speaker 1: it means to our employees is that we want our

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Speaker 1: employees to continuously learn and innovate UM and it is

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Speaker 1: with that sort of mindset um that we can be

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Speaker 1: the first with UM new introduction of new technologies in

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Speaker 1: the market, such as Nissan being the first automotive company

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Speaker 1: to introduce a mass produced all electric vehicle. Yeah give

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Speaker 1: it up for that, I mean the Nissan Leaf. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think about so when we talk about

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Speaker 1: your opportunities in the marketplace. Obviously we're having this conversation

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Speaker 1: today because there is diverse talent that doesn't always get

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Speaker 1: an opportunity, and you guys are stepping up to the

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Speaker 1: plate to recruit you know, the you're here that because

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Speaker 1: we need a pipeline you know, full of black talent.

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Speaker 1: And so often you see companies who you know who

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Speaker 1: may have a faux pole because they didn't have enough

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Speaker 1: diverse candidates at the table to talk about what things

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Speaker 1: may mean culturally. And so when you think about even

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Speaker 1: having people at the table in the or room at

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Speaker 1: the corporate level in the manufacturing side of business, how

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Speaker 1: does the perspective of black people, how does that create

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Speaker 1: value for Nissa? Well, the first point is that you

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Speaker 1: have to know who your customers are. And we absolutely

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Speaker 1: know that our customers are some of the most diverse

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Speaker 1: in the automotive industry, with nearly our cultural customers being

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Speaker 1: multicultural consumers. So we know that in order for us

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Speaker 1: to continue to drive value for these customers and to

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Speaker 1: speak to them in relevant and authentic ways, we have

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Speaker 1: to have their voice at the table. So UM, without

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Speaker 1: those different voices, we couldn't continue to innovate that the

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Speaker 1: way we do. We couldn't continue to UM to produce

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Speaker 1: and design market driven vehicles. So having the voice of

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Speaker 1: the customer represented at the table is highly important for us,

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Speaker 1: and it is how we continue to innovate. Yah. It's

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Speaker 1: interesting because when I think about d E I, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're championing obviously the academ's diversity, equity inclusion UM. So often,

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Speaker 1: like you know, when we get in these positions, whether

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Speaker 1: you're coming in as an engineer, whether you're coming in

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Speaker 1: on the sales side of the business, and then on

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Speaker 1: day one, you want to you know, champion d E I.

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Speaker 1: Can that be a could it be a mistake? But

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Speaker 1: I've had these conversations where you know, people want to

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Speaker 1: come in on day one and be just let's throw

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Speaker 1: up their fists in the sky, right, But do you is,

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Speaker 1: would you admonish us to actually be good at your

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Speaker 1: job first? What we hired you for first? Like, what

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Speaker 1: would you say to that when somebody feels like they're

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Speaker 1: in a position to where they want to, you know,

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Speaker 1: create opportunities for other people, but they may not have

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Speaker 1: earned the stripes or it should that be the case

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Speaker 1: that you gotta earn the stripes. Well. One of our

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Speaker 1: beliefs as it relates to d I at Nissan is

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Speaker 1: that UM d I belongs to everyone. Diverse, equity and

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Speaker 1: inclusion belongs to everyone. So this is not something that

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Speaker 1: can be a torch that's held solely by me or

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Speaker 1: my chair person. UM. It can't be uh something that employees,

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Speaker 1: you know, even at the lowest level of the organization

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Speaker 1: feel um that they aren't being heard or they're that

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Speaker 1: they're not being valued. So it's really important for everyone

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Speaker 1: to feel like they own it. UM to really understand

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Speaker 1: the company's strategy and vision and mission and how d

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Speaker 1: e I fits into that. And certainly for us, d

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Speaker 1: I is fully embedded into our corporate strategy and so

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Speaker 1: it is important for everyone there too have the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to speak their voice, to be heard and of course

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Speaker 1: you have to be very thoughtful and um professional and

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Speaker 1: strategic and how you do that, but there's certainly a

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Speaker 1: place for everyone to be themselves, to be authent to

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Speaker 1: be heard, and we welcome all of our employees stepping

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Speaker 1: up and participating. We have employee resource groups that really

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Speaker 1: provide this opportunity for employees to um support our d

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Speaker 1: I initiatives at any level um of their career. And

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Speaker 1: we always say that you don't have to be a

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Speaker 1: member of to stand with so in other words, like

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Speaker 1: we have our black employees at Nissan, that that group

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Speaker 1: is for people that look like us in this room,

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Speaker 1: but it is also for our allies, those people that

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Speaker 1: have to come with us and those people who need

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Speaker 1: to learn about us, because you know, another thing that

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Speaker 1: we really push for is inclusion. We have all the

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Speaker 1: diversity in the world, but if we don't value that

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Speaker 1: diversity in a way that that diversity is included in

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Speaker 1: our organization, we don't really get reap the full benefits

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Speaker 1: of d I or of having that talent in the organization.

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Speaker 1: So we really encourage and basically require, not just encourage,

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Speaker 1: but require our leaders at the senior manager level and

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Speaker 1: above to have inclusive conversations with members of their teams

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Speaker 1: so that they are building that trust and learning about

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Speaker 1: other members of their teams so that we can continuously

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Speaker 1: innovate together. You know, It's it's one thing to have

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Speaker 1: a large slate of black employees on the manufacturing line.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm I'm curious to know what you guys

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Speaker 1: have done to make sure that we're rising through the

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Speaker 1: ranks so that we can see more chiefs like yourself

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Speaker 1: in the organization or vice presidents are directors absolutely, so

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Speaker 1: you know, for Nissan UM, ensuring that we have representation

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Speaker 1: and advancement UM of our black employees and even other

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Speaker 1: diverse populations UM is really important to us, and it's

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Speaker 1: critical to us because certainly there were times in my

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Speaker 1: career that I felt like, hey, I want to be there,

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Speaker 1: but I've never seen anyone that looks like me there, right,

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Speaker 1: So that representation is very important. And one of the

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Speaker 1: things that our chairperson did was that he sat down

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Speaker 1: following the George Floyd incident with the black employees at

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Speaker 1: Nissan to hear their story, to hear um how this

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Speaker 1: incident impacted them and what the company could do to

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Speaker 1: really speak to them and make sure that they felt

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Speaker 1: included and like this was was a home for them,

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Speaker 1: and so we heard a lot about what more we

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Speaker 1: could do to develop our black employees. So we have

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Speaker 1: partner with Mackenzie which is a global um UM management

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Speaker 1: consulting firm, and we have a partnership where we have

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Speaker 1: UH sent cohorts of our black employees through their development program,

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Speaker 1: and we started with all of our black executives, so

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Speaker 1: one percent of our black executives had the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: go through that program and be matched with sponsors UM

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Speaker 1: that were you know, top leaders, senior vice presidents in

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Speaker 1: our company, and we are now UM have had several

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Speaker 1: cohorts of non executive emerging leaders, so anyone from analysts

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Speaker 1: level up through our senior manager level. UM. To make

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Speaker 1: sure that we're fully developing our employees, we have lots

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Speaker 1: of training opportunities that we fully invest in for our employees. Certainly,

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Speaker 1: we offer professional development opportunities, mentoring opportunities. So we are

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Speaker 1: really focused on doing the things that we need to

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Speaker 1: do to ensure that our black talent is prepared and

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Speaker 1: ready to continue to rise through the ranks. I like that.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's this old story. It's kind of a cliche,

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Speaker 1: but there was a CEO and the CEO walking the

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Speaker 1: line of the floor, and you know, the CEO says,

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Speaker 1: you know, we gotta invest in our people. We gotta

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Speaker 1: you know, build them up. And the CEO says, well

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Speaker 1: what if we what if we build them up and

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Speaker 1: they leave? And the CEL says, what if we don't

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Speaker 1: build them up and they stay? You know? And so

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Speaker 1: I I think about what you just mentioned about the

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Speaker 1: things that you guys do to build your employees up.

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Speaker 1: But let's talk about some let's dig in there. So

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Speaker 1: financial literacy, like why is that important to Nissan even

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Speaker 1: internally and externally to the communities that you guys said? Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, one of the jobs that I

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Speaker 1: had um at Nissan was that I served as our

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Speaker 1: finance director or controller for our Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation.

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Speaker 1: So clearly by the fact that we have a finance arm,

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Speaker 1: you see that we not only design, but we manufacturing, market,

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Speaker 1: we sell, and we finance these amazing products. Right, and

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Speaker 1: we know that our customers go into that dealership and

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Speaker 1: that experience they have in those dealerships really speaks to

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Speaker 1: how they view Nissan as a brand. Now We don't

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Speaker 1: own the dealerships. They are independently owned UM businesses, but

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Speaker 1: you know, we certainly have agreements with them, and so

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Speaker 1: we know that if that experience for the customer is

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Speaker 1: not good, they're gonna say that, hey, I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to spend my money with Nissan. So it is important

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Speaker 1: for us to build that financial literacy, you know, for

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Speaker 1: our customers and our employees, to ensure that when they

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Speaker 1: buy a Nissan product, they know that they have made

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Speaker 1: a good investment and they walk away from that transaction

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Speaker 1: feeling like Nissan really partner with them and left them

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Speaker 1: in a place where they feel very comfortable financially. So

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Speaker 1: ensuring that we provide our customers and our employees the

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Speaker 1: tools UM that they need to make good financial decisions

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Speaker 1: and to build that that generational and that personal wealth

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Speaker 1: is important. You know. For our employees, we offer UM

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Speaker 1: opportunities for them to take part in financial literacy courses

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Speaker 1: through our benefits programs. UM are black employees at Nissan.

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Speaker 1: UM this year sponsored Accession where the employees had the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to participate and learn about personal financial UM wealth

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Speaker 1: and building that wealth and even externally through our philanthropic efforts.

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Speaker 1: We partner with many organizations UM and certainly some that

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Speaker 1: are focused on financial literacy and delivering that literally literacy

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Speaker 1: directly into the community. So too that come to mind

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Speaker 1: our Youth about Business and junior Achievement which focused specifically

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Speaker 1: on students. And we also have a partnership in Mississippi

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Speaker 1: where with the Education um UM partner partner where they

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Speaker 1: offer UH financial literacy training to teachers K through twelve.

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Speaker 1: You know, as soon as you got me thinking because

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Speaker 1: I after George Floyd's murder like that, there were so

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Speaker 1: many companies who started to bring on d e I practices.

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Speaker 1: You've been doing this work for a long time, you know,

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Speaker 1: so I wonder how we make this sustainable? Like and

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, to some unfortunately, this

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Speaker 1: is like a nice to have, like we gotta have,

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Speaker 1: you know, you gotta put a person in position, and

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Speaker 1: it's it's just a nice to have. But there's also

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Speaker 1: financial implications like this we bring value you know, when

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Speaker 1: you when you promote you champion black people and black communities.

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Speaker 1: That has a financial imperative also, So how do you

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Speaker 1: communicate to even your counterpart companies or companies outside of

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Speaker 1: your industry. Why it's important to invest in black people. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, we recognize

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Speaker 1: and acknowledge that our employees and customers and communities UM

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Speaker 1: expect us to align with their values and expect us

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Speaker 1: to be inclusive of their perspectives of needs. And we

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Speaker 1: also recognize that there's a lot of competition out there.

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Speaker 1: You know, people have many choices as to where they

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Speaker 1: want to spend their money when it comes to buying automobiles, right,

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Speaker 1: they can choose NS on, there's others out there, but

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Speaker 1: we have to make sure that we are doing the

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Speaker 1: things that are important for our employees and customers UM.

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Speaker 1: And and to acknowledge that you know, CU customers and

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Speaker 1: people in the community see major corporations like Nissan as

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Speaker 1: more than just a car company, right, and so they

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Speaker 1: want to make sure that the companies that they spend

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Speaker 1: their money with are also investing back in their communities.

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Speaker 1: And for us, that looks like our philanthropic partnerships that

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Speaker 1: we have through our Nissan Neighbors Program UM, where we

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Speaker 1: focus on environmental support, educational support primarily esteem education, and

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Speaker 1: humanitarian aid. It's also our Nissan Foundation, which is has

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Speaker 1: a singular mission of supporting UH nonprofits that have educational

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Speaker 1: programming specifically focused on raising awareness of our vast cultural differences. UM.

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Speaker 1: It's also about the opportunities that we create for businesses, suppliers,

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Speaker 1: UM our dealerships, making sure there's diversity there so you know,

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Speaker 1: in a specific community, we have to make sure that

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Speaker 1: we're building up those communities because when we build those communities,

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Speaker 1: it creates a good will UM, a feeling of loyalty

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Speaker 1: and UM an affinity to our brand, which means that

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Speaker 1: more customers, more people want to buy our cars. And

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Speaker 1: that's important. You know, when when you're telling your story

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Speaker 1: about your growth through Nissan, I was listening and like

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Speaker 1: you said that you were vocal. People knew this is

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Speaker 1: where Sun you want to take it all right? And

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Speaker 1: I love that because I'm wondering how, because a lot

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Speaker 1: of the people in this room are either just starting

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Speaker 1: their careers or will start their careers very shortly, how

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Speaker 1: do you know that you're on a growth trajectory when

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Speaker 1: you're with a company. Well, I will say one way

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Speaker 1: that you don't know is if you're not speaking right.

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Speaker 1: So you have to go into your career and into

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Speaker 1: the company and really um put forth the effort. So

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Speaker 1: you know you're there to do a good job, right,

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Speaker 1: You're you know you're there to perform. And even once

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Speaker 1: you're there, you're you're competing. You're competing against all the

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Speaker 1: people who came for many colleges around sometimes the world.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're a global company, so we have people

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Speaker 1: from you know, all over the world that work right

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Speaker 1: here in Tennessee with us. UM and but you also

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Speaker 1: have to be able to collaborate with all those individuals,

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Speaker 1: right and so UM it is very important for you

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you are performing UM, that you're

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Speaker 1: doing the job will. But the other piece of it is,

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Speaker 1: you know, like a Nissan, we say, you know, you

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Speaker 1: own your own career. Now it's our job as a

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Speaker 1: company to give you the tools that you need to

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Speaker 1: advance in your career and to have those conversations with you. However,

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Speaker 1: you also have to speak to your leadership out what

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Speaker 1: it is that you need. Right. So if you need something,

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Speaker 1: you know, whether it's a training, you know, speak up

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Speaker 1: and say, hey, I need this training, whether it's you

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Speaker 1: can take on more responsibility, Hey I need more, give

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Speaker 1: me more, I can handle more, whether it's hey I've

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Speaker 1: been doing this for a couple of years. I'm ready

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Speaker 1: to do something different. What are the other opportunities for me?

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Speaker 1: And I always encourage young people when they come into

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Speaker 1: the company to talk to people in different areas of

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Speaker 1: whatever that function is, function is that you're working in,

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Speaker 1: or even other functions that you might uh interact with

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Speaker 1: or touch. You know, as you are advancing in your career, UM,

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Speaker 1: make sure you're having those conversations constantly. And that is

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Speaker 1: also what helps you build your network. It helps you

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Speaker 1: pick ups mentors UM. Eventually you what you don't realize

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Speaker 1: is there are people there to sponsor you UM. And

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Speaker 1: so it's really important that you recognize that. You know,

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Speaker 1: once you even get into a company, you can't just

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Speaker 1: sit back and wait for that company to to give

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Speaker 1: you everything. You can't just sit there and say, oh,

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Speaker 1: I'm doing a good job, these promotions are gonna come. No,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't happen that way. You have to speak up.

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Speaker 1: You have to be vocal. You have to you know,

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Speaker 1: you know read the room and know who your competition

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Speaker 1: is and know how to advance in the in the company.

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Speaker 1: You have to have that professional maturity. You have to

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Speaker 1: be able to navigate that culture. How much personal investing

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Speaker 1: in yourself did you do to separate yourself from the

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Speaker 1: package you talked about the people that you're working with,

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Speaker 1: you're also competing with for new opportunities. How much how

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Speaker 1: much personal investment in yourself did you do too? You

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Speaker 1: know create that this is UM. I think that's really important.

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Speaker 1: You know. For me, I decided that I was going

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Speaker 1: to go into corporate and I majored in accounting UM,

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Speaker 1: and so I had the opportunity to consider going into

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Speaker 1: one of the at the time, it was the big

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Speaker 1: six accounting firms. Up now it's not not Big six anymore. UM.

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Speaker 1: But I still wanted to have my c p A right,

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Speaker 1: So even though I was going on the corporate route

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Speaker 1: where the c p A wasn't necessarily a requirement, I

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Speaker 1: felt that is going to be something that sets me apart.

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Speaker 1: So I made sure that I completed that cp A

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Speaker 1: because that was just another another check that I had

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Speaker 1: in the column for why I was the right candidate

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Speaker 1: for the next opportunity. UM. So as it relates to

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Speaker 1: self investing, you have to continually to do the things

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Speaker 1: that build you up, so you know, seek out that

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Speaker 1: additional training Um, there were times that I took the

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Speaker 1: opportunity that no one else wanted. Right, you know, don't

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Speaker 1: always go after the the sexiest job. Take on those

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Speaker 1: roles that that aren't necessarily the sexiest. And what I

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Speaker 1: found a lot of times after doing that was that

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Speaker 1: I left the that role in a position that it

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Speaker 1: became a much more sexy role than what it was

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Speaker 1: before I had it. So investing yourself by going after

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Speaker 1: the training, the mentoring, the sponsorship, those are the things

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Speaker 1: that you can do to set yourself apart. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: ask one more question, but if you do have questions,

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Speaker 1: we'll take two, and I would ask that you go

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Speaker 1: to the mic now if you do have a question,

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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna get to one more and then we'll

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Speaker 1: see your two people show up. But so for there's

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Speaker 1: no secret to anybody in this room that the automotive industry,

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Speaker 1: particularly the manufacturing side, is getting more and more robotic. Right,

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Speaker 1: there's more and more robots filling up these manufacturing lines.

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Speaker 1: For students in this room or who may be interested,

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Speaker 1: um in being the automotive industry, what jobs inside the industry,

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Speaker 1: you know, are have the longest longevity opportunity to be

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Speaker 1: able to create a fulfilling career. I think the thing

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Speaker 1: that UM, I mean everyone sees a lot more electric

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Speaker 1: vehicles on the road right, So that is where the

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Speaker 1: future of the automotive in automotive industry is headed absolutely UM.

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Speaker 1: And for Nissan, our goal is that our cars will

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Speaker 1: be electric by and that we will be carbon neutral

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Speaker 1: by so UM. Autonomous driving is also a major technology

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Speaker 1: that is coming and so for for us as we

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Speaker 1: are looking for the talent of the future absolutely UM.

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Speaker 1: We are looking for that talent that's trained in data analytics,

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Speaker 1: artificial intelligence, robotics, UM, augment it. Yeah, reality, those are

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Speaker 1: some areas that are gonna gonna be the areas of

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Speaker 1: the future UM. And certainly, you know, anything in the

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Speaker 1: steam area is gonna continue to be important to us

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Speaker 1: as well. So I say, you know, the things that

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Speaker 1: you're doing today, UM, and in any sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: additional training you can get in some of these other

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Speaker 1: areas I mentioned, UM, are what will certainly be in

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Speaker 1: demand for us in the future. Before we see the questions,

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Speaker 1: I give it around a prose for that you can

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Speaker 1: come to the mike and say your name and where

433
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:24,360
Speaker 1: you're from, what gave you oh oh, and I don't

434
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 1: work in the industry, so it's not just what different

435
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 1: category oh so um. So, most of my career was

436
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:53,199
Speaker 1: was definitely in finance. But the unique thing about my

437
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: career in finance was that I supported many functions. So

438
00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 1: finances it's just a support function right. Our job it's

439
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: to basically make sure that the company continues as a

440
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: going concern, and so we partner with different areas of

441
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: the business to help them achieve their goals and strategies

442
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: and initiatives. And so I started out working with our

443
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: manufacturing organization UM. I supported our supply chain management and

444
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: logistics organization. I supported our Infinity division UM, which is

445
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 1: our luxury brand UM, and I supported them from a

446
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: US marketing and sales standpoint. UM. I supported the Nissan division.

447
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 1: I supported purchasing, and when I supported purchasing as the controller,

448
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 1: I supported our UM parts production, which, of course you

449
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: can imagine that's the most significant thing that we're buying

450
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 1: UM every year. You know, to produce a car, there's

451
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 1: lots of parts that go into that, from the the

452
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: still that's used, you know, all the way to the

453
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 1: seats that are in the interior. Right. So, UM, so

454
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: I literally pretty much supported probably just about every function

455
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 1: in the company. There's a few that I didn't, but

456
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: you know, I touched on a lot of those major

457
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: areas of the company, and in doing so built relationships

458
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 1: with the people in those functions. And then in order

459
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 1: to truly be effective in my role, I had to

460
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: understand their business as well. So it wasn't just about

461
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: understanding finance, it was about understanding that functions business. And

462
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 1: then once when I was in purchasing, you know, I

463
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 1: mentioned all of the different commodities that was responsible for

464
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 1: for from a buying perspective, but I also had supplier diversity. UM.

465
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: I also had our supplier um relations UM, which included

466
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 1: like our planning our huge annual supplier awards event. Right.

467
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 1: So you know, the things that I've done at Nissan

468
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 1: have really spanned the globe. I was part of cross

469
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: functional teams where we looked at our our brand and

470
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 1: things that we could do to grow the brand. I

471
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: was part of acceleration teams where we look to how

472
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: we expand our reach with multicultural consumers. UM. I was

473
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: on a raw materials cross functional team. I was on

474
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: a diversity cross functional team. So through my career, I

475
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 1: really have touched on and and interacted and collaborated with

476
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,719
Speaker 1: people from so many different parts of the business, and

477
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: that is really what really builds your your network and

478
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,600
Speaker 1: your your brand and your value and what you can

479
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: contribute to the organization. Thank you. Last question, I'm gonna

480
00:29:47,760 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 1: ask them both. Go ahead, ask them both. Convenued. Okay, So,

481
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: so your first question related to if you're not in

482
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: a tech technical area, so you know, as a corporation,

483
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 1: I mean, it's much more than just the technical aspects,

484
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: I mean, right, I mean we certainly that is key

485
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 1: to who we are as a company. Right We we

486
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: we build a manufacture these vehicles that have to be safe,

487
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: um and and have to be a good investment for customers.

488
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: But there's all these different UM areas that are needed

489
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: to help support that, right. So, um, you know there's

490
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: many majors out there, you know, like communications is really important.

491
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,840
Speaker 1: Being able to write, being able to um articulate a

492
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: message verbally, UM. Knowing when to communicate you know, in

493
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 1: a written format versus of verbal format. Knowing when to

494
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 1: pick up the phone versus you know, shooting off a

495
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 1: crazy email. You know, those types of things are important

496
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: important being able to collaborate, you know, to to come

497
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: into work and to be able to solve problems with

498
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 1: people who think differently from you. How do you build

499
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: um relationships with people who are thinking different How do

500
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: you help you know, if you're, for example, in the

501
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: communication space, how do you help function like I don't know,

502
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: maybe an engineering function communicate something that is important, um,

503
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 1: you know, either internally or externally. Um. So there's there's

504
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: many different areas of the company that are important. You know,

505
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: certainly marketing is a huge thing. You can create an

506
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: awesome product that is the highest quality, but if you

507
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: don't know how to market that to the end consumer,

508
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: you're not gonna go anywhere with that product, right. So

509
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: there there are lots of other skills that are really important.

510
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: But I would say, you know, personally, being able to communicate, collaborate,

511
00:31:55,400 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: build relationships, network, those are some skills that everyone can

512
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 1: can practice and home. There are certain question was what

513
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: brings what gets you up excited to go to work

514
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: and how does that play into your retention? So on

515
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: the panel earlier that I was on, Ramasis said that

516
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 1: you know, he he said, I'm gonna go to Nissan

517
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna be there three years, right, And I

518
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: said I'm gonna go to Nissan, I would be there

519
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: maybe three years maybe, right, And here I am eighteen

520
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: years later. So I completely agree with his point that

521
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: we went into this not expecting to be here so

522
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: much later. But I think it's just the ongoing potential

523
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 1: for Nissan. UM. We're constantly rethinking who we are, right

524
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: and so one of our things that we're doing is

525
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: we're changing our business, changing our product, changing our culture.

526
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 1: And when you as a company recognized that, you have

527
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: to look um inside and say, what is it that

528
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: I need to do to continue to retain the top

529
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 1: talent to continue to be really event in the market.

530
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 1: How do I need to constantly do a p d C,

531
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 1: A a check on what I've done in the past

532
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: to understand what I need to Um, let's see, I

533
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: have an engineer here helped me out there. Okay, Okay,

534
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, that's new for me. Yeah. So it's

535
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,200
Speaker 1: so that you know, So we we use that that

536
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: phrase as a way to say that we constantly have

537
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: to reassess, look at what we've done, figure out what

538
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 1: we need to change, create that action on how we

539
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: need to move forward. So when you have that type

540
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: of culture, you're just always motivated to um change things.

541
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: I mean, we we really encourage our employees to innovate,

542
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 1: to speak up, you know, and sometimes that's hard, right,

543
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 1: and you don't always have the perfect leader that is

544
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,719
Speaker 1: welcoming of hearing that voice. But it is something that

545
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,680
Speaker 1: we are truly um focused on in our culture to

546
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 1: make our culture one wherever one feels that they belong

547
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: and that they feel that their their voices are are

548
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: valued and heard. Um. So, I think it's just the

549
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 1: constant opportunity to make Nissan better. To be a part

550
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 1: of this, This company that can, that can has the

551
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,360
Speaker 1: potential to continue to be great is what wakes me

552
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 1: up and keeps me going every day to do what

553
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: others wanted. Sean Gervassiar. Black Tech Green Money is the

554
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: production of Black and They Afro Tech on the Black

555
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: Affact podcast network and I Hired Media. It's produced by

556
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: Morgan du Bond and meat Well Lucas. The petition that

557
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 1: products a support by Sarah Ergin and Rose mc lucas.

558
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davids and Vanessa Serrano. Learn

559
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: more about my guests and other tech disruptors and innovatives

560
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 1: at afrotech dot com. Enjoy your black tech, green money.

561
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:22,719
Speaker 1: Share this with somebody, Go get your money. He's in love, yeah,