Episode 28 : Meet The Speakers - Marissa Lee

Her Career Ladder

This is the dear corner office podcast for workplace leaders learn why Black Latinx and indigenous women lead and how to get them back. I'm your host Michele Heyward. They, I am so happy you are joining me today because I have another treat for you. I have another trophy, okay. You can tell somebody had me laughing in the green room. I won't say her first day started Marissa or her last day start with Li Mei be somebody with a similar name. So everybody, I want you to meet Marissa Lee. She is one of the virtual summit speakers for this year. And you don't want to miss her session. So first of all, Marissa, can you tell the people just just a couple of things about you like one one really like fun fact. And then everything else can kind of be like a little, just a little bit of your, your your back your biography. I'll say,
I'm gonna start with my fun fact, I'm giving you two because one, it's a proud fact, I am a firm parent, I have a Rottweiler named domino boss, Lee, he is a righty ambassador. So always put him on display because I'm proud of him and to be his firm mama. And the other fact is, I'm really into songwriting and singing me. So when my book came out, I had the opportunity to write a song to go along with it. It was my first song that was ever released. And I've been writing since I was in middle school. So that was something that was huge for me that I really liked to do. But it allows me to tap into the creative side, which I incorporate in the work that I do. But that's definitely something that I speak to. And it gives me the upper hand when we do karaoke. So if you're trying to do karaoke, call me up.
Because I will know the songs, and I can hold a tune, it's just a little bit. So um, so those are my, you know, my fun facts, but a little bit about me been in HR over 12 years. And it's always been HR for me. So when I started and I'll share a little bit more about my background, when I graduated, I graduated in 2009. And you know, the recession was going on. So I thought I was going to be able to land a job immediately, that did not happen. So I learned quickly about being resilient and being able to be strategic about gaining experiences. And he's positioning myself for the roles that I want. And so it was really a blessing in disguise for me, because it helped me lean into owning my narrative, owning my professional story out the gate, so then I could really set the tone. And then once I got that full time job, which was two years later, yes, my career accelerated. So that was I looked at that as my prep preparation season. And then that allowed me to be as be able to execute as I went forward.
So y'all heard that two years, and I know, some of you are like, Oh my god, I can't do it. And like you said, it's being resilient. Unfortunately, especially as black women, especially as like seamless, especially as native women. We often times are so as I call the company positive hire because we are often not looked at positively. And I refuse to let and so I literally named the company positive hire because that's what we are. And so, if we can be they can see us very negatively as as a candidate, and so I really like that. So it takes us longer than average, to get jobs unfortunately, even in a good economy. So thank you for sharing that much. So you got to to HR hunchy, and human resources. So what was like What was your first like gig like in HR? Like, what was that like?
Um, so my first one will after my internship was just like a standard HR internship, I would say I was doing high volume recruiting. And most of my HR experience is in the business partner space. I'm a business partner through and through I have experience on the I would say the Center of Excellence or expertise side more in talent. But I had the chance to start in high volume recruiting for a big retail company doing peak seizing recruiting for them. So that was quite interesting. doing screenings. Were for people sitting there too. You may keep the other guns they're leaving and they're not moving forward and having to manage to do that and all So with the group interviews and taking them through that process, but while I was there, it gave me the opportunity to expand because I knew I needed more experience. That's where my mind was focused, I was trying to position myself to get a full time job. And you already know, when you you don't have the experience. They're like, well, you need experience. And I'm like, that's what I'm trying to get, like, help me out here. That's what I'm trying to get. So in that role, I really look to see well, what else could I do? So I started doing zip code analysis, I started doing social media, I was doing orientation, I was really picking up additional responsibilities on my own. So then I can better position myself. And so I talk a lot about those additional responsibilities, or the responsibilities that are assigned the invisible labor that you get, and how you leverage that, to be able to position you for the opportunities that you're looking for.
Yeah, sometimes those invisible responsibilities are definitely more than we we want to carry. But that's a whole other discussion. So but I think it's very important that you bought up that utilizing the invisible responsibilities as an opportunity to position yourself because during your talk, you're really focused on position for impact, leveraging your power to pivot, promote, and post up. So I'm trying to figure out what is this poster was posted a post up is where you are in your position, and you are owning your space in your role. So where you are getting the recognition for the work that you were doing, you are being able to, are we still there, I will see you my show, I'm gonna keep going just in case. But post op is where you are able to position yourself, you get that recognition, you are operating in your full capacity as you are navigating in the role that you have. So it's being able to embrace where you're at at that time, and make it optimal, and make sure you're getting the best and the most out of it. So that's what post up means to me, promotion, of course, is you're looking to move up, or you may be looking to move out and up somewhere else. So really understanding as you look to excel in your career, where is that best place to be able to do that and what organization is going to nurture that and give you the opportunity to be able to do your belts in that space. And then pivot in is for example, if you've been out of the market for some time, you know, I shared not long ago when I started in my career, I it took me two years to find my first full time job. So being able to use your experience identify those transferable skills to be able to position you as you go forward. I see your back.
I was never gone. I was okay. Star first say she said she knew karaoke. I was like I'm gonna get the star her stage and go where did you go?
Like okay, well, okay, I'm on okay. Tell me Beyonce you gave we gave her roll it Okay.
On it on it all day. I mean, you got it. You got to do that. I can't get the the OutKast song out of my head, but you get you get the point. So So you learn the skill set very, very early in your career. How has this information helped you further in your career? How to post up pivot? Like what what have you done later? And maybe even shown one or two people how to do it as well? Because you do career coaching as well?
Yeah. I think understanding where you're at in the journey is important. And that's one of the things I'm going to talk about during the session is knowing your lane, what are you really looking for, and sometimes people feel like it's the promotion, but it's not the promotion they need. It's, they need additional experiences to really position them for the role that they're going for, or they need to sit down and really get vision about how they're trying to grow in their career. So what my experience and expertise has helped me do is evolved the process of expanding how people look at talent growth and talent development. It is not linear. It's all over the place, but even with it being all over the place, it should be intentional. And so that's where I look to help people focus in on really getting clear on where they're trying to go. But staying open to how they gain that experience and expertise to best position them, and then own own their space on their power wherever they're at in their journey. Because you can get power from a position, yes, but you can get power from other places. And a lot of times people look at it as Oh, well, you know, I have this positional power, but you have so much other power, you can be tapping into some of the most influential people in organizations may not be all the way at the top, they may be in other places, but they know their craft. So they could be an expert that they go to or and other than that known entity, or they just have the ability to build those relationships so they can influence and share their perspective and opinion. So when we talk about power and speak about it, I want people to think about power more broadly than just you know, that one dimension of okay, well, I'm this leader, and I have this title, it goes far beyond that.
Thank you. Thank you for that. So I want to back up to a couple of things you said about your career. And because you mentioned some words, and and I know I was like I don't even know what that is, or you know, before when I initially heard it, and others may not because my audience is scientists, engineers and technology professionals. So you said the word talent, and we were talking about karaoke. So I want you to like first decipher, like what talent, what is this talent you're referring to?
So when I'm talking about talent, I am talking about the resources and I hate the use of resources, people in the organization that are executing on a certain job, you will see differentiation in talent, when you hear top talent, or you have your value performers or high performers. And what that means that is speaking to the aspect of when somebody has that talent or top talent, they have the potential to be able to move up in the organization, they shown aspiration, they shown the ability to be able to perform consistently, they shown the desire to want to be able to move forward. And as they continue to do that, then that helps to better position them as a talent and usually talent are connected to roles that are going to help an organization drive their strategy. So based off of data, it usually supports. Having top talent in your roles helps increase profitability. But that doesn't mean if you're not labeled a top talent, you don't have anything to offer, you can be a high performer you could be you can like what you're doing and just don't have the aspiration to continue to move up in the organization. That's what I mean, where people have to understand what they are looking for, how that connects with what their organization is looking for. And then being able to be okay with, okay, if my organization wants me to continue to go forward, but I'm happy here. What does that mean, for me in my career journey? Am I okay with that? And if so, being alright with that? If not, then what things do I need to do to position myself to, to be aligned with how the organization is trying to develop me and grow me? So those are different things people have to kind of pause and reflect on because a lot of the times what I've, what I hear when I'm talking to people, is there's this view of, you know, I just want I want to grow my current company, and I grow me, but what does that mean? What does that mean to you? And then how is your organization looking at growth, because they may be looking at that differently. And they may be differentiating the growth on whether you're a top talent, or you're a value performer, or, you know, whatever you you know, you provide to the organization. So there's a lot of things that are taken into consideration when you're discussing talent.
Thank you for that. And I love I love how you you pull that together. So if you're just joining us, this is Marissa Lee, she is one of the speakers at the women of color in STEM virtual Summit. This year, we are talking about raising the power in your career. That's how she is so if you miss the catch in the connection to power, that's what she was talking about. There are different meanings to power and to think broadly. And so I didn't mean to I like they know if they haven't seen it yet they're not going to understand what what you mean by power. Like, I like what you say, but what is what does that have to do with this? So last year, if you were with me last year, it was the power of you. And now that you have the power of You it is now raising the power. And so everybody, nobody don't follow this. I know it because I go yes, my right. On a journey, it really helped us grow. And so if you like, but I didn't go to the power of you still show up here, because you still have power within you. And Marissa and other speakers are going to be helping you raise that power, not only in 2022, but throughout your career. So definitely, definitely be sure to join us. So Marissa, before we get out of here, before we get out of here, what is one reason people should attend your session.
One reason people should attend my session is they want to bet on himself. And double, double the way out triple the payout, because you should be investing in you. And showing up is going to allow you to do that. So you can position yourself in the best way so bad on you and show up.
I love it. I love it. So join Marissa she will be live wins Wednesday, a week from today, again is Wednesday, February 23. At 7pm. Eastern time, you can check her out, you got to go register though, you got to go register where that's a good point. And I got a long link. So I'm gonna drop it in the comments. If you catch my assistant, we made a short link. But me being me, I was like, what's that? Like? When I go make up? I just drop him in when I gotta go look for somebody else stuff. It's not difficult. It's on the graphic. I just don't be paying attention. Delegation is delicate. Should you trust people and they were like, Oh, I gotta go copy and paste it. Yeah, don't follow me. Do better than me. Don't follow me do. Delegate. You're proud of me though. I delegate it. So it's sometimes that's raising the power in yourself is delegating work without a title to other people. Because, like, Yo, Mike, I need you to go out and check out the crew. It's such a such location. Like, okay, like, he did it. He did it. He didn't say nothing. Like okay, I like this delegate. Great, what you need Michelle, can you I got you like, man, it was nice to that nice and warm in that office during the winter time. I can see. I would just call their buddy. I was like it was that delegation came in good. Everybody, let me stop. We're gonna get out of here. We will see you next week. The Summit starts on Sunday. I want to get jumped to march February 20. At 7pm Be sure you go register. I will put up this banner. So you can go check it out. It has some link on there. And again, I will drop the link in in the comments. And again, it's summit 22 Women have got women of color and stem.com. It's a long link but I will definitely share it with y'all. So everybody, have a great night. Thanks for ReSSA for coming on and we will see you starting Sunday. Don't forget to rate review and subscribe to the podcast. It helps me grow. Visit positive hire.co That's positive hire dot c o