What Rules!?: A career podcast for women of color

If you’re comparing yourself to others, wondering if you should be further along in your career, our guest today shares how to get ahead at your own speed. 

While we’re encouraged to advance as quickly as possible, Paula Ramos, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, at Kimberly-Clark, believes in the opposite. Paula tells us how she has broken the rules by looking at her career as a sailboat and letting her curiosity guide her.

“A sailboat allows me to explore,” says Paula. “And it puts the control on me on how fast I go.” 

Get off the fast lane and sail your way into a rewarding career with Paula’s insight and advice.

Theme: Know What You Want

Episode Highlights:

• Looking at your career as a sailboat vs speedboat
• Determining how fast you want to go in your career
• How to find variety within your role and company
• Forging your own path at every stage of your career
• The trap of comparing yourself to others
• Are you a knower or a learner?
• Mentoring, sponsoring and being an example to others

Paula’s Bio: 

Paula Ramos is the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, where she has global responsibility for the company's enterprise strategy and the transformation initiatives designed to accelerate growth and value creation. 

Paula’s ambition is to fuse commercial instinct, pragmatism, technology and market insight to navigate ambiguity, champion consumer experience, and enable sustainable growth. With empathy, collaboration, and a passion for unlocking human potential, she builds inclusive teams that play to win and leave their mark upon the world.

Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark in 2021, Paula was a partner at McKinsey & Company. In her 18 years at McKinsey, she advised some of the world's largest consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, and pharmaceutical companies on finding new sources of growth, transforming business portfolios, driving commercial and culture transformations, and building lasting competitive advantages. She led the firm's global consumer health practice and played pivotal roles in McKinsey's inclusion and diversity programs.

A native Brazilian, Paula holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Magna Cum Laude high honors degree in Commerce from McGill University. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters.

For Women’s History Month, we debunk three myths many multicultural women have about supporting each other in corporate America. 

Do you think you’re only one person and can’t change the status quo? 

Are you afraid to sponsor another woman of color because she may make you look bad? 

Do you believe everyone should pay their dues as they climb the ladder?

These are all myths! Check out how we disprove each and offer ways to help and support each other when we choose community over competition. 

Episode Highlights:

• The impact one person make can on another woman’s career and life
• What to remember when you have the chance to help someone
• Easy ways to support another woman of color NOW
• What your role is (and isn’t) as a sponsor 
• What it means to refer someone 
• The benefits of sponsoring each other
• Why paying our dues hurts all of us

Mentioned in this Episode:

It’s Black History Month and Meredith Harper is on a mission—to empower women and people of color to embark upon careers in tech. Black, Latina and Native American women make up only 4% of tech roles in the U.S.

Meredith is the Chief Information Security Officer at Synchrony, a Fortune 500 company that is one of the largest issuers of store credit cards in the U.S. She shares how she has often been the only woman of color throughout her 30-year career in tech and how other strong women partnered with her to get ahead.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation with Meredith on how to challenge authority at work so that it benefits you and your company. “It's about being bold and it’s about being noisy,” she says.

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• What your LinkedIn banner says about you
• Chase after experiences, not roles
• It’s ok to be different 
• Challenging authority at work
• Pushing back benefits everyone
• Be bold and noisy to create change
• Resources to grow your career in tech and other industries
• Work integration with your personal life
• Infuse levity into whatever you’re doing

Mentioned in this Episode:

Let’s advance together in 2024! Today, we chat about lifting others to get ahead collectively with Cindy Tran, Managing Director at Slalom, a global business and technology consulting company.

As an Asian American, Cindy talks about how she was raised to be empathetic with everyone and how it’s helped her advance in her career. 

“That general commitment to adding value and helping others succeed,” says Cindy. “It makes other people want to help you.”

Tune in for how empathy can take you (and others!) far in the workplace. “It’s much more powerful to have others lift you up than for you to get there by yourself,” says Cindy.

Theme: Don’t Do It Alone

Episode Highlights:

• Cindy’s TEDx Talk
• Breaking through cultural barriers at work
• Learning from white male mentors
• Recognizing ego vs humbleness
• Lifting others to get ahead together
• How empathy impacts companies
• Lack of empathy between women
• Finding people who support you
• Having a multicultural woman as a leader
• Resonating with others while on your journey
• Helping others makes people want to help you

Cindy’s Bio: 

Cindy Tran is a Managing Director at Slalom, a purpose-led, global business and technology consulting company. She has over 20 years of experience in professional services, currently focused on Slalom go-to-market expansion into Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. 

Cindy has a strong commitment to serving customers and enabling teams to achieve strategic outcomes. Cindy is passionate about mentoring early career young professionals and community give-back opportunities.  

Together, Cindy and her husband are raising two young boys and are small business owners.

Mentioned in this episode:

Are you thinking about leaving corporate America? You’re not alone. 1 in 3 women of color currently in the workplace plan to leave their jobs over the next year. 

We’re here to tell you why multicultural women are needed in corporate America and what it means if more of us decide to leave.

Before you choose the path of entrepreneurship or the corporate world, check out our convo!

Episode Highlights:

• Women of color are leaving corporate America
• Why it’s important for multicultural women to stay in corporate America
• Wanting something different 
• Opting out of your power
• Choosing your own path
• Needing both entrepreneurs and corporate women
• Fitting into corporate culture if there were more women of color
• Taking care of yourself 
• Outsmarting the game  

Research Mentioned: