Ep. 162 - May Snowden is on the cutting edge of addressing diversity and inclusion. She is an independent diversity and inclusion strategist, consultant, educator, facilitator, speaker, and executive coach. She has more than 20 years of experience and insightfully creates and leads initiatives that strengthen corporate cultures and brand identification while improving relations with customers and vendors. In this episode, May talks about how corporations and small businesses can create a diverse and inclusive leadership environment. Listen in to learn how you can build a culture of diversity and inclusion within an organization’s leadership. You will also learn why you need to be exposed, experience, educated, and empathetic towards different people.
Key Takeaways:
- How to build a culture of diversity and inclusion around an organization’s leadership
- How to be part of the systemic change by acknowledging the Black Lives Matter movement
- How to contribute towards an antiracist society as women using our voices and power
- How not to be afraid of making mistakes and knowing how to ask for forgiveness when you do
- How to get exposed, experience, educate, and have empathy for people different than you
"Do what you can do, with a positive attitude, and don't be fearful about making mistakes." -May Snowden
In this episode you’ll discover:
May describes her childhood and two incidents that shaped her passion for inclusion [2:16]
The importance of small businesses and corporations uniting in inclusion to thrive [10:09]
How to approach creating inclusive behaviors within an organization’s leadership [14:46]
How to get clear on individual political beliefs to be open to inclusion and diversity [16:40]
Why you should ignore the systemic boxes of inequality as a leader or business owner [20:28]
Understanding the deeper meaning behind the Black Lives Matter phrase and movement [23:51]
The general questions you need to ask yourself when faced with prejudiced situations [28:37]
May describes racism as a pandemic and establishes her faith in seeing change this time [29:54]
Why the current generations are the ones to bring the much-needed systemic change [33:44]
The four different things you should embrace to understand people of other races [35:47]
CAREER
May Snowden is an accomplished and nationally recognized Diversity & Inclusion professional who utilizes the powerful combination of her Masters in Business Administration, Masters in Public Administration, Human Resources expertise, P&L Operations and life experiences to deliver world-class training, coaching, and consulting services that include working in three different industries: US WEST in Denver, Colorado; Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York; and Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, Washington. Organizational design and change management is part of her forte with the perceptive ability to re-engineer organizations to improve efficiency and productivity while reducing costs. In this area, May is recognized by colleagues for her strong P&L operations acumen, the ability to build and lead high-performance teams to meet and win competitive challenges, and unparalleled diversity leadership experience.
May's specialty is to insightfully create and lead Diversity & Inclusion focused business strategy initiatives including learning programs that strengthen awareness, cultural competencies, corporate performance, and brand identification while improving relations with customers and vendors. May has a gift of bringing people together: celebrating similarities, honoring differences, resolving conflicts, and building exceptional team performance.
May has also worked in Government Relations with federal, state, and local governments, including the U.S. Senate, which gives her the seasoned experience to effectively interface with government organizations.
May is a Business and Certified Life Coach who helps individuals learn how to manifest their life's dreams. She has combined her business education and operational experience with transformational life mastery skills taught by new thought leaders such as Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Edison, Wallace Wattles, Albert Einstein, Napoleon Hill, Mary Morrissey, and many others. As a Coach and Consultant, May's goal is to inspire and enable current and future leaders to shape their future for successful results, help individuals live a life they love, and develop organizational cultures of engagement, inclusion, and success.
May also served as the vice president of global diversity for Starbucks Coffee Company, chief diversity officer for Eastman Kodak Company, and executive director of diversity for U.S. WEST.
AFFILIATES
May Snowden is a Senior Fellow in Human Capital and Program Director for two councils of The Conference Board: the Global Diversity & Inclusion Executives Council and the Diversity & Inclusion Leaders Council II. She is also an affiliate with FutureWork Institute.
EDUCATION
May Snowden received her undergraduate degree in business from the University of Maryland at College Park and her Master of Executive Business Administration and Master of Public Administration degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
RESOURCES
Global Diversity & Inclusion Executives Council
2021 National Diversity Woman Media Conference
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