Since being in this role, I’ve worked hard on building a relationship of trust between Human Resources and staff so that employees know they can come to me and see HR as a resource for support.

One challenge has been trying to keep up with everything! It’s hard being so many things for so many different people.  I’ve been the HR Manager here for almost three years and I’ve only been in HR for a little over five years, so I’m relatively new to the field compared to others.  Even still, I have to make sure that I’m doing things as confidently, and as transparently as possible while also remaining humbled to the fact that I may be doing some things that I’ve never done before and may need to call on others for help.

Let go of perfection and leave room for grace, and never underestimate people or get stuck in your assumptions about someone before getting to know them.  Be open to being surprised.  We’ve heard people say you never know who in your network may help you land that next job, or support you by being your mentor or sponsor.  Support has come to me from unexpected places and people so I have learned to let go of perfection and the notion that I can do it all alone.  I’ve come to ask for and accept other people’s help and not take others for granted.

Diversity and Inclusion has always been a part of who I am but not always a part of my job so I would unofficially try to incorporate it whenever possible because I know the value that it can bring to an organization.  I grew up in a social justice household with parents who were educators and activists heavily involved in work around gender equity and anti-racism.  My life experiences and my work in Human Resources and particularly in D&I have allowed me to do a lot of self-reflection.  On paper, I am Hispanic-American, but I present white.  Even navigating my own white-privilege because of how I look, owning that, and not being afraid to dig deeper, I get to dive deeper into myself.  Through this work I see things in myself I was not aware of, and I get to dive deeper into the essence of what it means to be a human being, beyond any self-imposed boundaries like gender, race, socio-economic status, etc.  At St. Martin’s, we have a new Head of School and he understands the importance of D&I, so now I have top-down support at work.

Projects like this search for a Director of Diversity and Inclusion really allow me to dive into D&I, which is helpful for the school while contributing to my own personal and professional development.

I was first exposed to NAAAHR through a colleague of mine in the fall of 2014; a temp in our Accounting department.  At the time I had was in a blended HR role and looking to transition into Human Resources full-time, and she invited me to come to an NAAAHR chapter meeting.  She was spewing off a list of names of ‘Who’s Who’ on the Atlanta HR scene. …I didn’t know any of those names.  Wanting to get into the field full-time, I figured I’d better take her up on going to that meeting.  When I arrived, I found that I already knew at least one other familiar face; the then president of the Atlanta Chapter, Eileen Gray.  I fell in love with the chapter at my first meeting; the vibrancy, the passion for HR, and the immediate connection with the people.