Episode Transcript
Jharonne: Hello everyone and welcome to Ripple Conversations, the podcast where we have honest
conversations about the challenges and triumphs of creating an equitable and inclusive world.I'm your host, Jharonne Martis and today we're diving deep into the journeys of success as Black and Latinx professionals. The triumphs, the setbacks and the powerful lessons
learned along the way. I'm thrilled to be joined by an incredible guest today, Yrthya Dinzey-Flores. She's the Senior Vice President of People, Engagement and Culture at Warner Music Group. She is an innovative, cross-sector leader, driving excellence in philanthropy, social impact and workplace inclusion. Welcome, Yrthya.
Yrthya: Thank you so much for having me.
Jharonne: It's good to have you and to start, we'd love to hear about your career journey. Can you please tell us about a pivotal moment in your professional career, when you realised that success is not just about hard work but also about navigating the systematic challenges in our industries?
Yrthya: Yeah, I have had the privilege of working in a lot of amazing companies. In a particular moment in my life, I was working at Toyota, the car maker and I was finding a lot of fulfilment
in the thing that I was doing but not a lot of opportunities for growth and there were a couple of contributing circumstances to that. I think that the leader of our team, while she and I shared
a lot of cultural experiences in common, was not necessarily forthcoming with opportunities for me to grow and expand, even though they were plentiful within the company and I started to become a little bit frustrated. What I experienced to be sort of kind of like a barrier in the way or a obstacle that wasn't allowing me to sort of really fulfil my potential. And the thing that I realised is that it was a little immature, quite frankly, for me to place all of those expectations on my boss, right? It really was up to me to figure out what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it and to try and go seek out those opportunities. And what I did is essentially I went to talk to a couple of my mentors because then I realised my mentors are just not internal, they're also external. And I talked to a couple of people
about the things that I thought I wanted to do and how I wanted to go about it and I have to say, it actually led to a huge leap moment for me because I went from that position at Toyota running the USA Foundation to becoming the first Chief Diversity Officer for the state of New York.
And I really would never have done that had I let someone else tell me what I wanted to do. Had I sort of just put it in someone else's hands and just sort of waited for that next promotion, that next opportunity to materialise rather than going after something and really taking advantage of the blank space and using that to populate it with my own energy, my own desires, my own ambitions and go out in the world and look for something that really was able to fulfil those aspirations.
Jharonne: So were there any personal or cultural values you learned to push through these challenges?
Yrthya: Yeah. I mean, I think that I came to the US, I grew up in Puerto Rico and I came to the US after to pursue my college degree after graduating from high school and I think that one of the things
that I didn't realise was a lot of part of my experience and a lot of part of my sort of cultural heritage, was this necessity to adapt to circumstances, right?
To really look at the opportunity as something that allows you to grow and not as something that is necessarily standing in your way and I think that that is the thing that I learned the most from that experience, that I am a highly adaptable person, that I can navigate lots of different circumstances, cultures, even in places where I feel that I'm sort of a stranger or a newcomer,
sometimes even unwelcome, that I can sort of roll with the punches
a little bit, figure out how to adapt and survive and thrive and grow from that.
What was also interesting in that just to sort of be realistic about it, for a moment, is that you may share cultural values with someone but it doesn't mean that you individually exercise them in the same way. So I think I was sort of very stuck and like this person has the same cultural values that I have. Therefore they should deliver x, y and z for me, rather than say, oh, how am I going to sort of, give personality and dreams to those cultural values through my person, through my experience
and through my ambitions. And I think that was a really important lesson because it really taught me
that I have to be in charge of how I present myself in the world. I can't outsource that to someone else.
Jharonne: Right. You have to take power and control
about that. So let's talk a little bit about setbacks. Facing failure or rejection can be incredibly isolating, especially when you feel you're representing more than just yourself. Can you share a moment when you face a major setback and how you reframe that
into a stepping stone into growth?
Yrthya: Yeah. Wow. I mean, I think that there have been more than one. If you have a career that spans any amount of time, it's more than one but I think the one that resonates with me the most is that I took this amazing job at Time Warner. I was hired by a mentor of mine who became my sponsor. We had all of these plans laid out before us. I was going to succeed her in her role. She was going to, you know, mentor me through it. We were going to work together and then, probably eight months after I got there, the company announced that it was being acquired by AT&T and sadly, 12 months after that she ended up passing away from pancreatic cancer and it was really a moment of like a lot of uncertainty and a lot of feeling like, you know, from you lay all these plans and you have this strategy and you sort of are going to take these steps and this is the way your career's going to sort of progress. And then all of a sudden, like none of those things, none of that preparation could really chart the course for what was going to happen over the next couple of years. And so I think it really was a moment of like, wow, how do I recalibrate, right, and find a path that I think delivers the same kind of trajectory that I had sort of thought this opportunity was going to deliver?
I mean, long story short, I ended up staying for five years. Through the acquisition, which was an incredible experience to have because very few people get to be in a company and go through it and one of the largest acquisitions in the history of business. I mean, I think that there will be tomes
written about all of the things that took place during that time. It was an unprecedented time and I learned a lot about my capacity for leadership. I learned a lot about how resilient I am and persevering and I also learned a lot about standing up for myself and saying, you know, this is what I want to do. This is not what I want to do.
So it definitely was a moment of like, oh, all of the plans are now gone, right? Everything is down to zero. So how do I really take this opportunity and do the most with it and not just sort of like take the exit door because it's so difficult.
Jharonne: So you learned a lot about so you know, a lot about your own leadership, a lot about what you can withstand and push through. How did you manage self-doubt
during these times?
Yrthya: I think the thing that is so tricky about self-doubt is that it's not like it's not a consistent thing. It's a little bit of an ebb and flow. Like you can be feeling very confident about a project or an opportunity or an idea and the moment of self-doubt sometimes can kind of sneak up on you and it's very unpredictable, right? So I think that what I've learned throughout time is that I can't sort of control when those moments come and there are going to be moments if you're a realist, and a human being where you know you're not perfect, we're human, not perfect, ergo, not perfect, right, but if you if you realise and kind of like, let go of this idea that you're never going to have self-doubt
and what you really want to focus on is those things that you can control.
I mean, I'm sure that most of the people listening to this podcast, even you would probably like, have heard of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. And he talks a lot in there about ideas of like, control and letting go and sort of like what leadership is really about. Incredibly successful leader who then also had moments of self-doubt. Right. Like, those things are human. So what I try to do very
you know, sort of practice it because it's a practice, is to focus on the things that I can control in myself, right, and I know that no matter the circumstance, even in my moments of self-doubt, I'm always going to be persevering. I'm always going to overprepare. I'm always going to make sure I have the knowledge and the insight about the thing that I'm speaking about and I'm always going to
work super, super hard right? I will do those things all of the time and then the self-doubt will come and then I can remind myself, you did your homework and the self-doubt will come and I'll say but
I'm going to persevere and it'll come and I'll say but I'm resolute in this, right and I think that's really the only thing that I feel has worked for me.
I don't think there's any scenario where self-doubt becomes a thing that doesn't exist. I don't know if some leaders have figured it out but if they have, please bottle it and sell it so the rest of us can enjoy it.
Jharonne: I think it's part of the human experience, like you mentioned yourself. But one of the hardest skills to master is self advocacy, especially in spaces where you feel outnumbered or misunderstood. How have you learned to advocate for yourself and what advice would you give to others that are in a similar situation?
Yrthya: Yeah, I think the hardest thing for me about self-advocacy as a Latina woman
is always this idea of am I bragging about myself? Which is like a thing in my two cultures,
Puerto Rican and Dominican that's like not really a thing that women do, right? And so it was very hard for me to calibrate those sentiments with this idea of self-advocacy that exists in sort of the business sector.
So I think it took me a really long time to parse that what bragging was versus what self advocacy was and asserting the things that I can do that add value, which is what I think is, for me, the platform
on which I sort of rest myself when I do self advocacy on which I stand to do self advocacy. So I really want to talk about the things that I think I can bring that are unique to me and that are based in results and outcomes that I've been able to materialise or realise in a project or for a company or in business or in any other respect. So I really try to base it on that and it's not so much just about like me, me, me, me, me. It's also then about how that helps the team, how that helps the company,
how it helps us all together to get to a different outcome, a more perfect outcome, if you will.
Jharonne: You mentioned you worked at so many different companies. How can organisations, in your opinion, better support professionals, in these situations beyond surface level, just diversity initiatives?
Yrthya: I mean, I think that one of the best ways in which we've recently learned to do
this is to one, acknowledge the fact that not all of us know how to do self advocacy. So learning programs, really talking about the fact that there are different leadership styles, there are different ways for people to show who they are and the value that they bring and lowering the bar and the mysticism around it, I think, is one key way for organisations to do that.
I think the second way is in emulating and demonstrating that there are different leadership styles,
having diversity of representation among their leadership, right and diversity in every sense, right? Diversity of the way in which people process information, of thought leadership of course, race,
ethnicity, gender identity, all of those things, I think are important in realising that there are different ways and signalling to employees that there are different ways to lead and that all of those ways bring value to the organisation, right?
Jharonne: That's very important, especially in today's world. Now let's talk about triumphs. Representation matters and seeing someone like yourself in leadership can be a game changer. What's a moment in your career where you felt proud of breaking barriers or inspiring others?
Yrthya: You know, whenever I'm asked this question, it's easy to sort of revert to the position I got or the thing I did but actually my favourite way of answering this question is about opening the door and leaving someone behind who was able to then, you know, rise to a position of leadership or that I helped to mentor or bring into an organisation and seeing them succeed and so, you know, I am really proud of all of the relationships I have at those companies that are people that I had the opportunity to work with, or people that I had the opportunity to hire into roles or people that I recommended for roles at other organisations and that to me is the ultimate mark of success. Is not to have been the first chief diversity officer but it's the fact that we're three chief diversity officers into the role and they are still there because they did a good enough job that it was important
to bring someone else in.
Jharonne: And what feedback or reactions have you received from others that have reaffirmed the importance of success?
Yrthya: Oh that's interesting. I mean, I think my the best feedback that I receive
is getting that odd text message from person X, Y, or Z who's like, 'hey, I just got this new job. Thank you so much for the referral.' That always warms my heart and then it's also really nice when your mentor calls and says, 'hey, thanks for doing that thing that I asked you to do. It turned out really well.
Let me know how I can be helpful in the future.' I think, you know, ensuring that there's still a community of people, around me that I've helped and that helped me. and that we're lifting each other up is, to me, the mark of success. The roles and those things are just, you know, the vehicles through which I get to fulfil my life's mission.
Jharonne: And with that thought, let's switch it to legacy. What legacy do you hope to leave for the next generation of Black and Latinx professionals?
Yrthya: Wow, that is such a big question. I have a 13 year old daughter and she's really so sweet. Even though she's a teenager. She really is. She's adorable. And I definitely have been thinking
about this question a lot. I'm a working Mum, always have always been a working Mum. So when I think of legacy, I really do want to think that the things that I did helped make not just a better Warner
Music Group or a better Thomson Reuters or a better Time Warner. I really want to be able to say that I made a better America, a better New York, you know and I really do want my legacy to be in the civic institution part of life and giving to my boards and to non-profit organisations and in partnering and making sure that people have access to an opportunity in all facets of life.
Jhsaronne: So what piece of advice would you give to someone that's just starting their career and unsure of how to navigate these spaces?
Yrthya: It's so funny. I was just having this conversation yesterday with someone, a young man, that I'm starting to mentor and we've been working over the last couple months. He just got a new role. He's not so sure about it but I'm super excited for him because he's gotten a role in philanthropy, which is actually not an easy thing to pull off. It's a very small sector. Just by way of information represents roughly 5% of the jobs in the country. So it's very competitive and we were sort of like talking about all the things that he was feeling a little unsure about some of it and I think my advice is
the journey is not a straight line of decisions that you make and like one decision takes you to the next great thing and that great thing takes you to the next decision that takes you to the next great thing. It's a little bit of like a web, right? You are going to have to kind of move
in different directions, have different experiences, respond to unprecedented things and so it's really
about the totality of the journey and not trying to focus on one specific decision that you made in a moment where you had such limited information, right because that moment when you make a decision, no matter how much information you have, it's limited by comparison to all the information you're going to have after you've made that decision and after time passes. And so I think my advice is always just to remember that it's not one decision that makes or breaks everything. It's a series of decisions and it's the journey and it's the way in which you approach those that really matters for the totality of your career.
Jhaonne: So what actions then can listeners take to contribute a more inclusive and supportive work place for everyone? I mean, I think my favourite is and it's maybe because I do this all the time. I'm the kind of person that shows up at cocktail parties or events or things by herself.
I don't need companions to come with me to things because I will introduce myself
to someone. So my advice to this question is always try to talk to someone
that you don't actually know and listen to their experience and share your experience
and build the moment of connection and I just find that we don't do that enough sometimes. We don't necessarily dive in with genuine curiosity about someone else experience, right? You and I just met and we have all these points of connections, right? That we like, wouldn't have known about had we not sat in this moment together and this will be 25, 30 minutes but it will be transformative for the both of us, right, in ways that we can't really describe and so it would be really greatand, you know,
even if you're an introvert, sometimes you can find a moment of connection in a very simple way
that is not, you know, sort of overly onerous on your person. That's just like, what kind of coffee do you take and why do you like it that way? It doesn't have to be like an intense kind of moment but just a moment of saying, I recognise there's humanity in you and because we're both humans, I want to connect with you in some small way for this brief moment in this huge galaxy of stars that we all are, we’re all stars.
Jharonne: I like that and we're all stars.Any final thoughts or words that you would like to share with our listeners?
Yrthya: I mean, thank you so much to LSEG. I am incredibly proud to be part of the EDI council here.
It's just such an amazing opportunity working with Jennifer and Erica and the rest of our council members. It's been really, really great. I so admire the work that LSEG is doing to build a more inclusive workplace. That's really amazing and groundbreaking and keep leading. Yeah.
Jharonne: Well, with that, thank you so much for your invaluable insights today. We really appreciate it and thank you to our listeners for joining us. Representation matters because it shapes the world we live in. Until next time, let's keep breaking barriers.
