Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

I’ve always thought I had a strong support network, until I saw what that looked like for others. I wondered how my peers were able to navigate these corporate streets, arriving on time and unscathed. They were climbing the proverbial ladder and progressing in ways I wasn’t; even the ones I outperformed - by far. I learned it was because they had active sponsorship.

I thought for sure Cisco would reject someone like me. I was shocked when my leader, Tschudy Smith, took the time to get proximate to me; it changed my personal journey.

Last week was Cisco’s fiscal year earnings announcement, so now seems like a great time to take a look at some of my learnings from my tenure as co-lead of Women of Cisco Americas board.

Happy 20th birthday to Conexión, our Employee Resources Organization (ERO) for Latinx employees.

As Cisco commemorates Juneteenth for the second straight year – more than 150 years after the last Black American slaves were freed – I see my family’s history being validated, and see myself represented.

Proximity is like opening curtains on a bright, sunny day: the light comes in and shows you all the details of the room, especially the things you may not have noticed before.

Now more than ever, we need Inclusive Innovation to help solve the most pressing problems we as a society face today. Learn how we are doing just that by role modeling, empowering, and enabling our teams.

The horrific events of 2020 became a sobering wake-up call. These circumstances pushed me to lean further into the experiences of people who are different from me – people who are underrepresented, marginalized, or vulnerable in some way.

There’s no doubt that life has been tough and we have all had to find our own ways of coping with a different way of living. How do we find ways to move from just about coping to thriving in this environment?