What advice would you give to your younger self?
I think I would repeat the advice I received from my parents because it worked out pretty well: “Find what you love to do and build your career around it. It makes the bad days better, and the good days great.”
My parents say that they knew I was destined to be an engineer from a young age because I always gravitated towards building blocks over other toys. As I continued through my education I was always interested in technology and science.
When I graduated with a degree in civil engineering and operations research from Princeton University, I began to explore career options. Choosing a supply chain career within the healthcare industry was a no-brainer for me. Being able to innovate while impacting the lives and health of people around the world provided me with the sense of purpose that I needed from my career. I knew I found my home at Johnson & Johnson once I read Our Credo, and saw how deeply it aligned with my own personal values… something I think is key to a long, fulfilling career.
What does your company do to support diversity in the workplace?
At Johnson & Johnson, everything we do is guided by Our Credo. It codifies our commitment to patients, the world community, stakeholders and our employees who work with us throughout the world… stating that we must provide an inclusive work environment where each person must be considered as an individual. We must respect their diversity and dignity and recognize their merit.
For more than 130 years, diversity and inclusion has been key to the success of Johnson & Johnson—starting as far back as 1908, when the company hired its first female scientist. And although this long-standing commitment is engrained in our Company heritage, we know there is still much more work to do.
Within my organization we have teams in nearly every corner of the world, which allows us to truly maximize diversity of the ideas, solutions and results we bring to light in service of the diverse patients, consumers and customers we are privileged to serve. Additionally, our Supply Chain Diversity & Inclusion Council is focused on advancing three main areas globally.
First, we are continuing to increase representation of people of color, particularly black and brown, within all levels of our teams around the world. Some of the ways we are doing this include: ensuring diverse and inclusive interview panels, furthering our global sponsorship programs, and accelerating our professional development trainings around the world.
Second, we are advancing a culture of inclusion. We will achieve this with a multipronged approach, equipping our leaders with proper tools and resources for inclusive leadership, as well as educating about racism through empathetic conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion across Johnson & Johnson globally, including our onsite manufacturing employees.
Third, we are committed to continually diversifying our suppliers—not only by selecting qualified businesses owned by people of color, women and other minority populations—but also by setting an expectation to see diversity and inclusion incorporated in all of our suppliers’ business practices.
We also encourage our employees to celebrate their diversity through our Employee Resource Groups, which connect colleagues around the globe with common backgrounds, ethnicities and passions… such as our Johnson & Johnson Women's Leadership & Inclusion (WLI) initiative, of which I am proud to be the Executive Sponsor. WLI’s mission is to drive change and foster an inclusive organizational culture that champions the advancement of women so we can achieve greater gender equality.
Johnson & Johnson also offers opportunities for employees to make an impact on diversity in the external environment. For example, our WiSTEM2D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing & Design) program, of which I am also the Executive Sponsor, aims to spark interest in young girls and women to pursue and maintain careers in STEM2D disciplines.