Hustle Grind Shine & Reignite: Episode 9 with Latisha M. Roberson

Since she was a little girl, Latisha M. Roberson was obsessed with her teachers in school and just knew that she was going to be a teacher. Through a chance opportunity as part of a mock trial team in middle school where she met an African-American attorney, the direction of her life was forever changed by that fortunate coincidence. As an HR executive and diversity and inclusion professional, Latisha M. Roberson has spent most of her career building, developing and evolving innovative talent programs for Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations. In this episode, join us as we go on a journey from Capitol Hill to consulting for big corporations to providing coaching and career services empowering women of color in the workplace.

In this episode we cover:

• How to turn a career crossroads into a career pivot that propels you forward
• Why you should stop giving your genius away for free, and the power your network has in speaking up for you (especially when you’re not in the room)
• Why transparency about your parental boundaries and self-care time is critical not only for you, but also as an example for your team (hint: take a hookie day)

Check out Latisha’s career and coaching services at Lead with Latisha

About Latisha M. Roberson

Latisha M. Roberson is a dynamic diversity and inclusion professional with 15+ years of knowledge and experience in building and evolving innovative talent programs for Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations. She has specialized experiences across a multitude of disciplines: from government affairs to community relations and media relations, to strategic partnerships and executive stakeholder relations. Roberson’s generated a depth of experience and accountability in driving large-scale employee engagement programs and initiatives with significant ROI. Her passion for leading transformational culture change in creating a more diverse and inclusive environment for all makes her a highly sought-after speaker and workshop facilitator. Learn more about Latisha’s career strategy coaching and speaking opportunities at Lead with Latisha.

Transcript

Jessica Hartley: 0:01

Welcome to the hustle grind shine and reignite podcast. I'm your host Jessica Hartley. Join me on another journey with amazing and talented professionals of color, laugh and cry and take notes. But most of all be inspired all of this and more on our next episode of hustles, grind, shine, and blisko Hello and welcome to another episode of hustle, grind, shine and reignite. I'm your host, Jessica Hartley, and it is my pleasure to bring you another esteemed guest. My guest today is the amazing and accomplished Leticia Roberson. I had the opportunity to get to know Leticia very well and also call her friend during my tenure at Accenture. She is a dynamic and when I say dynamic that is with a capital D, diversity, equity and inclusion professional with more than 15 years of amazing experience building and evolving innovative talent programs for Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations. But Leticia as you all know, every guest that will be on this episode, these episodes will is so much more than that. And so with that, Leticia Welcome to the show, happy to have you.

Latisha Roberson: 1:28

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited for this conversation.

Jessica Hartley: 1:31

Yes, yes, yes. So let's dive in. And we will dive in where we get started with all of our guests, which is to go back way back in time always have that black street song in my head. But let's go back to your childhood. And can you talk a little bit about where you grew up? Where do you call home? And what did you want to be when you were a kid and sometimes that changes over time. But I find it very interesting, sort of the threads and the sort of pieces of who we are as a child, how some of that obviously changes and evolves and matures as we get older. But you always feel some of the pieces kind of that started in our roots when we were little. So can you start us there?

Latisha Roberson: 2:16

Yeah, so I actually I live in Washington DC right now. And I live not even two miles from where I grew up. So I grew up in Hillcrest heights, Maryland, which is in Prince George's County, Maryland. We like to call it pretty girl County, but it is a suburb of Washington, DC. It is one of the largest and most affluent African American counties in the country. But I will absolutely say that I am a product of the public school system, the Prince George's County Public School System, and I continue my undergraduate education at Towson University, right outside of Baltimore. So I am a DMV girl, through all the way through. So, you know, I grew up here, I started my career here working on Capitol Hill, and I'm a resident of Washington, DC now, so DMV girl all the way through. But when I was growing up, I was obsessed with my teachers, like I idolized all my teachers in elementary school, like I will name every teacher that I had, from kindergarten all the way up to fifth grade. So and I wanted to be a teacher, like that is what I wanted to do. I loved my teacher so much. And they were just like, such an integral part of my development those years. And I just wanted to be a teacher. Let's see. So my mom was a stay at home mom and one of four siblings. I like to say I'm more than middle because my brother's the oldest, and then my sister and then me and then my little brother who does not like to be called My little brother anymore because he's grown. Brother. And I was just always like that nurturing, you know, teaching everybody, you know, bossy, some people would say, but that was my personality, right? So I thought I wanted to be a teacher until I got into middle school. And I was on the mock trial team. And I met an African American woman attorney, again, like I was just so enabled with her. And I wanted to be an attorney then. So all throughout high school, I wanted to be an attorney. You know, my major in college was law in American civilization, political science, and my first job was on Capitol Hill. And I was like, oh, yeah, like, I'm gonna go work on Capitol Hill, and then I'm gonna go to law school. But then I started to meet like, all these lobbyists in heaven than go to law school. And at that point in time, I thought I wanted to stay in politics. So I said, Okay, I'm gonna be a lobbyist. I don't need to go to law school to be a lobbyist or lawyer to be a lobbyist, right? Like, I'm just going to do that. And that's what I do. So I was on Capitol Hill for about three years, and then I went on to be a lobbyist for United Negro College Fund UNCF. Now, and that's actually how I came into Accenture. So I came into Accenture and their government relations office and a lot of people don't know that I'm a lobbyist by trade, which is like the most interesting thing because, you know, I'm a DI, professional, you know, I'm HR executive, and who would have known that I got my start as a lobbyist. But it works, right? Like all the skills that I learned for, you know, being persuasive. And people and advocate, don't get

Jessica Hartley: 5:17

into an argument with

Latisha Roberson: 5:21

advocacy as a big part of DNI. And then, you know, just HR in general, like any type of people role or people function is really about being an advocate for others. So, you know, although I didn't become an attorney, or a teacher, you know, those are all roles in jobs that are huge advocates for others. So it's in my blood. So although I didn't become a teacher, or lawyer, you know, who thought I'd be where I am. Now, those are all careers that require people who are passionate, and who are advocates and who like to educate and bring awareness. So yeah, that's how you

Jessica Hartley: 5:54

talk to me about some of these transitions that you made. So you went to school, and you're like, Okay, I'm gonna get this degree, I'm going to Capitol Hill, you went to Capitol Hill. And then you were sort of really at that point where you're like, Okay, do I go to law school? Oh, I can still stay connected, but just in a different way? How did you make that shift from being on one side? And then moving into the lobbying? And then how did you then make that shift? Again, we, I care about the glue in between? So how did you then say, Oh, I'm going to go to this place called Accenture. And I'm sure that, you know, maybe in your interactions and dealings, when I ultimately came to Accenture, I had never heard either before, I didn't know what management consulting was, I haven't had a previous conversation on one of the other podcasts. Someone else, you know, a lot of people kind of make their way in and sort of through management consulting in some way or another. But I've found out that a lot of us, it's particularly people of color, and women of color. Management Consulting is like this whole other world that you've never heard of, and experience, and it definitely is a whole nother world. But we'll get to that. Let's go back to the glue in between going from one side to the other. So,

Latisha Roberson: 7:05

like, for me, all my transitions are where I've gotten to a crossroads, where I felt like I just needed to do something else. And you know, when you're on Capitol Hill, there are you know, like three integral roles of a Capitol Hill staffer, right? You come in your entry level, as a staff assistant, I did that. You move up, you're a legislative correspondent, that's where you're responding to all all the letters and causing things to come in. I did that. And then you our legislative assistant, which is when you're actually working on like all of the policy things. And I did that too. And I knew I didn't want to be a chief of staff, because I just felt like I would have no life, right? Like, you will be very busy, do other things. But then I started to meet like all these lobbyists, you know, through my jobs and learn what they did. And it seemed fun. And I was like, that could be the next step. And most people, they are either career staffers on Capitol Hill, or they come for three, four years, like most people I know. And then they go off and do other things. They go to law school, or they go to be a lobbyists. Like, that's really it, or they go and get an MBA, and they go and work. You know, in corporate America, like those are really the paths you don't meet a lot of people who have spent their entire careers on Capitol Hill, you have a lot of boomerangs, you know, people who go and then they come back. But once you hit like three or four year mark, you really start to assess like what your next steps are. And I said I wanted to be a lobbyist. That's what I wanted to do. And with Capitol Hill, it's all about connections, right? Like, so I had to find lobbyists who worked and I'm like, Okay, what do I want to do. And while I was on Capitol Hill, I'm gonna date myself. But, you know, one of the legislations and bills that I worked on was no child left behind. So that is where I really started to think about and really bring awareness to issues around inequities in education, which I'm really still passionate about. Now. You know, we could talk about that too. But you know, inequities in education, and they're really starting to think about, like my own upbringing, and how there could have been different ways I could have gone or you know, which good or bad had, I had the awareness that allows these kids don't have or the opportunities that a lot of kids don't have, so No Child Left Behind, just opened my eyes to some of the inequalities in education system. And I said, you know, what, I want to go work for an organization that does that. And you know, CF was headquartered in the DC area at the time, and I randomly applied randomly, like, and I got the job. And I loved it there. And that's when I really started to learn about because I did not go to a historically black college and university. So I started to learn more about like the history and the culture around historically black colleges and universities. And then that's actually how I got to Accenture, which is random because I had been a UNCF for a few years. And I was at an event business high Education Forum and Accenture CEO at the time was there. Wow. Right. And I was talking to them. I was just talking to him randomly and he said to me, Hey, you know, I really want you to talk Two at the time, he's her name. And he said she is government relations. And I think you should talk to her. So I talked to her. And I told her I used to work on Capitol Hill. She asked me if I knew a few people that she knew. And I was like, oh, yeah, absolutely know that I got a call from that person. The next day, they were like, Oh, she really likes, you know, like, what are you gonna do? And I was like, I don't know who they are.

Jessica Hartley: 10:24

I mean, talk about your network speaking for you, right? I mean, we talk a lot. You know, I know you obviously, in addition to the day job, and the side job, we all have a bunch of slashes and we talk a lot about the relationships and the connections that you build across your career. And we talk about the value that your network brings, but the value comes in what you have contributed to that network. And we never know what's happening behind the scenes and phone calls and emails and say, hey, you know, this person is this person. Great. I was just talking to

Latisha Roberson: 10:57

this man, you know, he was sitting beside me, and we were having conversation about like, community colleges. And you know, what we like the people like to call I'm saying occultations underrepresented, right? I could go on about that, too. But you know, we were talking about that I was, you know, telling them I was at UCF, he was talking about partnerships. And he was just selling like, not a conversation. He was like, you know, and my first role when I got to Accenture was supporting him, the CEO, he was doing an initiative called the springboard project where Accenture was working with other organizations through this group called the Business Roundtable, where they were working with community colleges to do partnerships to really untapped the potential and community colleges. So it was great. Like, I stopped him, and it was full circle because I stabbed him on Capitol Hill. I wrote testimony for him. Like, it was just amazing that, you know, here I am at this huge, huge consulting firm that I've never heard of, until, you know, my friends on Capitol Hill was like a legless jet, you gotta, you know, if she wants to interview you, you need to figure it out, like do your research, like, here it is. And I did. Alright, but you know, who to know, just from me just having authentic conversation with somebody that he was CEO of organization and was like, let me connect you with someone who I think you should talk to, and then just being able to really use my skills and my network back on Capitol Hill to do that. And I was in Government Relations at Accenture for about because I served three CEOs to government relations center. So the chairman's Yeah, right. I,

Jessica Hartley: 12:31

what is that, like, I mean, because, you know, reporting into CEO or supporting a CEO, global CEO, company with hundreds of 1000s, I talked to people about, you know, as you're moving through your career, you're changing altitudes and changing, you know, but that's not altitude, that's like, you know, flying and then, you know, SpaceX like stratosphere, that's a whole nother world and level, what was that light for?

Latisha Roberson: 12:57

It was very intimidating at first, but, you know, I had just had to do it. And once I supported the first CEO, and then you know, his tenure was over, the next CEO came in, and he was passionate about something that I was passionate about. So we connected on that level, because at the point in time, we had just really started to Accenture was still building like their inclusion diversity team. And he wanted to do work with HBCUs. And guess what, guess what used to work for you on TF, right? I guess who can make those connections? Yes, who can educate you and tell you like what it is? And guess who can go to these career fairs? And who can really speak to these students? You know, on behalf of Accenture, right, I felt like it was just all falling together. But then it got to a place where our priority started to shift, and what we were focusing on etc. And then now the CEO came in, and he was focused on something different. And I just was like, Okay, well, maybe I need to focus on something different. And that is how I started to transition out of Government Relations at Accenture into other things. And you know, this, but I've had about five different roles. While I've been at Accenture, and they have all been through word of mouth, or somebody recommended me. I like saying, Oh, hey, let's he should be great for this. Or saying to me, you know, Rebecca is looking for someone to do this. I think you should talk to her. So yeah, those how every role I've had an adventure has evolved or happening. For me, it's been all about my network. And you'll never get such a buzz where people talk about all come together on the network. But I can attest, your network is very important to getting that role. And all of these roles have been like you said, like so definitive for me, you know, my gross was in my career. So I mean, don't get me wrong. I know. We'll talk about the hustle and grind because there have been some bumps in

Jessica Hartley: 14:40

the road. That's what we're going next. So you're previewing a little bit of where you're going and nobody's career is perfect. And some of us sort of some folks sort of meander along the way. Some folks have a career plan and it's our one pager as they go from roll to roll to roll about what they're trying to achieve. Leave. But even with the greatest intentions and the greatest strategy that you can have, sometimes things don't work in the way you want, you know, you don't get the role that you want at the level that you want, you don't get promoted, when you really think you should. And you're looking around at your peer set, sort of advancing past you. And these are the things that we face as women in corporate America as people of color in corporate America. And so maybe talk about some of the challenges that you had in not just obviously, the challenges in kind of what it was like to navigate. But how did you sort of move past that sometimes you actually have to just have acceptance, right? There's a what are the things you can change? What are the things you can change? And what are the things that are going to take some time to change? So

Latisha Roberson: 15:46

I think I had to learn the hard way, the importance of being vocal about what you want. Because the first time I was passed up for promotion, that I thought I deserved, my leads at the time say, Well, I didn't even know you wanted to get promoted. So of course, because they didn't know I wanted to be promoted, they weren't fighting it for me at the table for promotion, or given me stretch assignments that were, you know, setting me up for promotion or given me the exposure that I needed for promotion. And at that point in time, I say, Oh, well, you know, a lot of us think that we could just put our head down, and we can do great work, and it will be recognized. But no, that's not like you need to be intentional about what you want to do. I never said to him, Hey, I'm looking to get promoted, like, what do I need to do, or we've never had those types of conversations. And of course, these are things that happened to a lot of people early on in their career. But I think that was the first definitive moment for me when I really understood the importance of having to take control of my career. And then I was like, Okay, I'll start telling people, but then I had to learn the balance between, you know, letting people know that you're interested in being promoted, and then being really pushy about it and setting it up as an expectation. To, you know, your desires to grow within your career without sounding like, Hey, I'm expecting to get promoted. Alright. So I had to really learn the messaging, and you know, how to talk to people about career growth and appropriate way. Number one, I had to figure out that I'm used to do that. Number two, I had to figure out how to do that. And then thirdly, I had to figure out who's a sponsor versus who's a mentor, I know, we talked about this all the time, like there.

Jessica Hartley: 17:24

But preach on it, come on to teach and preach on it, because I preach on I have, you and I both have lived these experiences where we've had tons of mentors, the love is there, the support is there, the advice is there, but they don't control a darn thing. When it comes to whether or not you get from

Latisha Roberson: 17:42

people, they're not making those decisions. And a lot of times they don't have the authority to act on your behalf or to speak on your behalf. So that was the third thing for me, that was really pivotal. And me being able to navigate through this thing called Corporate America is really understanding who was a mentor versus a sponsor. But they also write understanding that sponsors pick you, right, like, sponsors have protegees. Mentors have mentees. So if you want to be somebody's protege, they have to decide that they're going to commit to doing that for you, a mentor mentee relationship is very 5050, I believe, because you're invested in seeing that person grow, that person wants to learn from you, like there's a lot of give and take, but when somebody says they're gonna sponsor you, that is very intentional. And a lot of times, they're putting their reputation on the line for you. And they're giving you a lot of time that you need, where they are teaching you and they're exposing you and they're making those connections like that is a big time commitment. So when someone says to you, I'm going to sponsor you, you have to live up to the expectations, but you have to make sure that that person doesn't regret sponsoring you. And I had to learn that too. It took me a few years to really understand that if I want to get to the next level, I have to have sponsors, it's great to have mentors, but I have to have sponsors, I have to know who's going to be at the table, I have to know who has the authority, I have to know who's going to be able to give me the opportunities that I need. So once I figured out those three things, I was able to navigate. I'm not gonna say easier, but better, right, I was able to navigate better because I always thought about those three points when I was at a crossroads within my career.

Jessica Hartley: 19:25

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And so glad you brought that up as a topic. I think about myself in my own career. And the moments that I ultimately made decisions to leave certain organizations was because you get to hustle and grind and get the work done. And then you realize, okay, that's not enough. And then you lift up your head and you speak out the things that you want. And then you get to a point where you're like I am doing all of those things that people have told you to do. Not don't just do work and deliver great excellence talk about it, be able to support yourself, be vocal about what you want to eat, and even then and sometimes you don't get it. And then what do you do? And, you know, for some of us, we ultimately decide that we need to find another organization that will recognize. And you know, one of the things that I learned in my career was just also being very clear about not what you want now, but what you want in the future. And I think about the role that I have now, in literally, I think the first conversation with the CEO, the organization, I said, I aspire to be in the C suite one day, that's an aspiration. So any role that I take needs to move me if not one step, multiple steps closer, and I'm here to learn not just into the role, but I'm here to learn from you, and learn how you operate at the C suite level, because I want to take all of those things in as I continue to aspire up. And I find it interesting that you talk to people, then you say, Well, what's your five year plan? Or, you know, what's the title that you want to have before you retire? And people aren't even that far out yet. But when we think about strategic intention, you got to do that talk a little bit about motherhood, and work. I won't even lie in us as we're balanced. There's not there's, I'm like, it is all sacrifices, it is just one of those things that you can actually live with, and what are those things that are non negotiables? Right, when it comes to sacrifice, so talk about mother that I mean, you have a beautiful daughter, and you also have sons in connection with your spouse, and just how has that been navigating that in corporate America in these spaces, and you've been in some influential and impactful roles for very influential and impactful people and you and I know that comes with a level of commitment, but also stress in navigating

Latisha Roberson: 21:45

that. So I will say when I started the motherhood journey, it was a pivotal point in my career, it was actually a time where I felt like I had been slighted within my career, because, you know, I went out for maternity leave, as most moms do. And someone had to backfill me because I was in a critical role. And I had to train somebody, right, I trained somebody to backfill me, and I came back, it was all good came back, and they were like, You know what, like, basically, like, we're gonna find something else for you to do, right, we're gonna keep him in this role, we're gonna find something else for you to do. And you know what? He got promoted that cycle. And I didn't. And I was like, I trained him,

Jessica Hartley: 22:29

I trained him to do his job.

Latisha Roberson: 22:31

Well, right, like all the processes and plans and procedures and strategy, you know, were in place for him. I set those up, and I was gone. I was, you know, at this point in time, we only got eight weeks, but I took 12. And, you know, I was gone for 12 weeks, and I came back and you still have to go through the performance cycle, the performance cycle ended, like maybe two months later. And I'm thinking to myself, like, how's that even possible? Like, I left after training him, right. So that was the first time I ever felt slighted, like, you know, someone took something from me. And that was also the time where I was like, I got to get out of here. My work isn't appreciated here, right? Like this, that should have been me. Like, that was my work. I trained him, right. So if he's doing a rockstar job in it, anyway, that's all interpretive, depending on who says it, but like, that was the first time that and it hurt even more than when, previously when I didn't get promoted, because they didn't know because that was more of myself. I was like, okay, he didn't know now he knows. Right. Right. And this was not the same manager, but still in the same office. So everyone knew what my intentions were. But you know, and that was when I decided that you know, what, like, maybe I need to be doing something else anyway. Because anyone who has ever lobbied or worked in government relations know that it is a lot of early mornings and late nights, you're going to practices you're going to fundraiser, yeah, you know, before word afterward. You know, I was running our PAC, our political action committee, which is huge, right? So I was having to go to all these events and I was, you know, I was like, You know what, and it was hard for me because I would sometimes leave out in the morning and I wouldn't see my daughter until I was kissing her goodnight when I was coming in. And that's when I started to think maybe I need to switch what I'm doing to a role where I'm not required to do early mornings and late nights maybe I need something that's a bit more you know, there's never a nine to five within management consulting or within roles we used to climb executive ranks like they're very rarely nine to five strict naturopath there are now because I've learned how to set boundaries.

Jessica Hartley: 24:36

But even then, sometimes there's

Latisha Roberson: 24:40

kids are down now let me go back to work, but you know, your time but for me, it was really hard because I felt like I had to do something different because I was a mom, right? I felt like at the time like I wasn't gonna be able to advance within that team because I you know, it's mom. So I started looking for Other roles and again, like this was a pivotal time because it was another somebody else was going out on maternity leave. And we had a new office managing director in DC at the time who had I had gotten to know, it was one of those things where she told him like, well, this he was looking for something different. He was like, Okay, were you okay with it, and then let's just go with her. Like, I trust her. I know her. You know who that office manager director was telling me I just

Jessica Hartley: 25:29

the incomparable Martin Rogers, the ultimate sponsor, and mentor, all rolled in.

Latisha Roberson: 25:35

You know, it was one of those things where, here I am doing something completely different, like, I had been involved in a lot of Metro DC stuff, and you know, volunteer. And of course, like with the HBCU stuff that I was doing previously, so I had gotten to know him. But I mean, this was like, the ultimate opportunity, it was something different for me. And I was able to build my network a bit more to a, you know, work for one of like you said, the best mentor sponsors, just like amazing people out here. So and that was when I did that for nine to 10 months before he recommended me go work for the r&d team, right?

Jessica Hartley: 26:09

Yeah. And see, again, we're talking about these connections, right? Yes, you've got to do the work and deliver

Latisha Roberson: 26:15

that. I will say, though, like, that was another role that required a lot of time outside of normal business hours, because it was a market facing role. So it required me to play in a lot of large scale employee engagement events. And it required me to go to a lot of events with like, our clients and our community partners. And I was struggling, and with my time and my commitment as a mom and feeling like, I was sliding my daughter and my time there. And then you know, like, okay, is this gonna be another long night? So, again, I said, maybe I do need to do something different. And one of the things that I've been talking about a lot lately, too, is how there's this title of working moms, but there's no title of working dad, right? Like, as, you know, working moms or career women, like, people expect us to do certain things or to be unavailable for certain things. But there's never a question when it comes to men who have children, as it relates to their commitment to the job or to the role or what they can and cannot do.

Jessica Hartley: 27:15

It just isn't or we celebrate, we give them all, you know, when they do set boundaries, and I'm going to take care of my child. Right, like, revolutionary, you know, is it as if they're a saint? And it's like, no, they're just doing what they're supposed to be doing? What we all actually want to

Latisha Roberson: 27:34

do parenting, right? Just Burning Man is just what why is there a title of a working dead? Yeah. Why don't men start off by saying I'm a working there? Because it's so relevant to anything that's going on? Right? Nobody thinks, Okay, well, he can or can't do this, because he's a working dad, or, you know, we should reward him for doing this because he's a working dad, it only falls on women. And I mean, again, it's archaic. I mean, we can do things about it. But I did there was like that two year span in my career, where I found myself making a lot of decisions based on my title was mom, and I don't regret, right, because, you know, I had to do what I thought was best for me and what I thought was best for my family, and what was best for my career. So maybe I did slow down my career progression for a few years. But those were the pivotal years of my daughters. And, you know, everybody at Accenture know, Sydney, right? Because I've never, ever felt like I've had to compromise that. Like if I needed to bring her to a work event, guess where she was coming? Or if I needed to stay home, and I'm gonna dial in, and she's sitting beside me, Hey, say hello. And that was your pre pandemic,

Jessica Hartley: 28:42

pre pandemic, pre self care and all of these things. And so actually, let's just touch on that briefly around self care. How do you reignite reinvigorate yourself? How do you make sure you're setting those boundaries? I've found that, you know, as we mature, in our careers, the polls on you are different, right? Especially when you're a people leader, and a manager of other leaders. And it can still bleed into a lot of things. And I've even think last night, we're waiting on takeout. And I kept looking at my phone, and the spouse was like, you know, you get and I'm complaining about venting a little bit about something you'd like we'll stop looking at your phone. I'm like, Oh, how do I do that? Yeah. So how do you take care of yourself? How are you you know, refilling your cup. And because in these roles, when you're really laser focused and di is in your title, you are constantly taking care of others. You are caretaker, I don't want to just say Mother, a parent, but you are caretaker of others, which means you also carrying their burdens, their troubles, you're trying to navigate things. How do you take care of yourself? What does that look like?

Latisha Roberson: 29:54

Oh, I do this and I tell everybody, they should do it, but I take one hooky day a month, right. So And it's not really a hooky day because it's paid time off. Like, it's my time I should use as I choose. But I pick one random day each month. It's usually like a Tuesday or Thursday, and I do whatever I want to do. So if I want to do school drop off and come back home asleep, I'm asleep. If I want to binge watch, I binge watch, if I want to go treat myself to a manicure pedicure, I do that if I want to have lunch with a friend, I want to go for a walk. I don't deviate from that. Like, you may not know what day it is, I may look at my schedule one week and be like, You know what, this Thursday is a really light day. I'm gonna take my hooky day on Thursday. Right? So and I started doing that about right before the pandemic, like, maybe about two years ago, I started doing that because I was scheduling time off. And then I would let people schedule over it like I you know, it'd be one of those things where I would, you know, schedule a half a day off and had a teacher, you're the only person that's not available at this time, like, are you flexible, and I would say you know what I am because I'm not really doing anything. And I had to stop doing that. So I had to learn to make sure that I'm dedicating some time, the time that I earned to myself, so I do a hooky day, like once a month, whether you know a few other friends may play hooky with me. And we go just have a fun day, we might have a picnic, we might go out on a boat, like whatever it is, we might go shopping, but I do that I don't deviate away from that, I do that. The second thing is, I am a stickler on my exercise time because it is a stressful for me. So I'm a peloton enthusiast. Yes, I drink the Kool Aid. But I say that so serious. But I do that at least four times a week. And I'm also like, as a leader, right, we talked about that important that I like to say good examples for my team. So I'm very transparent with them. So you know, I'll let them know, Hey, I'm gonna be away for about an hour and a half because I'm about to ride. And you should do the same thing. Like, if you want to go for a walk, do it if you want to, like go ride your bike for a mile, like you should do it. I'm transparent, because I want them to be transparent with me. I don't want them to feel like they can't live their lives or do things to take care of themselves. And tell me about it. Like, you're gonna go walk your dog great. You don't tell me that enjoy the time where you're out, right? Like walking the dog, right? Or, you know, you want to leave a little early to go pick your son up early. Great, right? Like, I'm sure he'll be happy, go get pizza, something. So I'm very transparent about like, what I'm doing so that they feel comfortable enough being transparent about what they're doing. So we have a culture of we have life outside of work, and we embrace it. Yeah. Right. And yes, for me, I not gonna say I didn't really have leaders that were that way. But when I saw people around me who were being transparent about the balance part of their life, I felt comfortable enough to do it. So I felt comfortable enough saying I was gonna leave at 330 because I wanted to catch, you know, a soccer match or, you know, hey, I'm meeting or whatever, but we have to get out of this culture of, you know, setting expectations around people that they have to, from manufacturing, just sitting there doing whatever, because a lot of things can happen, or, uh, you know, outside of work hours, so we just have to be a bit more flexible, and you have to be transparent about what's going on. So when it comes to self care, like, I'm just transparent about it, and I schedule that time. So that's how I stay sane. With the and then like you said, like, set a boundary. So when I sign off at 530, to go to school pick up between 530 and 930. Like, I'm just not going to be available. Like that's my family time. Like we're cooking dinner, we have a bath, I might be you know, catching up with my husband, like, you know, and if I decide to answer email at 10 o'clock, then, okay, I decided to do that. I decided to do that. But overall, like, you probably should expect a response from me in the morning. Yeah, no, I try to be very conscious of people's time, because I don't want them to think that if I send them an email at 1030, that they should respond immediately. Right, right. Yeah, I try not outside of working hours, because I don't want, you know, my team to feel like they have to too. Now again, there are some times where there's a fire or something's burning, or something comes up, and you have to have to do it. But I try to make them more of you know, like a one off type of thing. And that's not the culture. It's not a culture of aspect that we're working all day, every day, unless we have to Yeah, sometimes we do.

Jessica Hartley: 34:21

My thing that's so critical that we as leaders, in that manage teams, we know that when I look up or when they look up at us, or look sideways, they are looking at representations and we're setting the tone and setting the stage for for what it means to be a leader and to be a leader is to set boundaries. And to be a leader is to I mean, sometimes I even have them you might you know, everybody's calendars are ugly and particularly ugly. And now they're starting to encroach like later and earlier and I've gotten to the point where I'm like, if that's critical, I'm happy to do it, but if it's not critical, I need you to move it and not even tomorrow or Thursday, like, can you move to next week? Can we talk about this into wheat? Like, do you need me to make an answer or response right now? And I think there's also this other place, probably a little bit of hubris of just like, we care so much so that you want to be in everything and you need to be connected. And it's like, no, actually, you should chill if they make a mistake, or it's not done exactly the way you wanted it to be. It's okay. That's all right. People also have to learn. Yeah, absolutely. So talk to me a little bit about lead with Leticia. I mean, in this world where work can be great and be fulfilling our day job, or nine to five, whatever we want to call it. But I'm finding more and more particularly women and women of color, we're venturing outside of the four walls of work, and pursuing additional passions. And so that doesn't mean you're walking away from those things that you do every day. And we like to eat and we like roof over our head and all of that. But we're finding not only other ways in which to leverage our passions, but also I'm finding a lot of women contributing and supporting others in their career. So talk to me, what was the catalyst to say, Now is the time for lead with Leticia.

Latisha Roberson: 36:11

So this is a funny story. But I had a friend who actually like called me out on it, and she was like, you are giving away your genius that you need for free, like, you are out here getting people jobs, you are out here making connections, like you are out here, counseling people, there are people who do this for a living, and you need to be one of them. I just looked at her and I was like, Girl, like, autonomy, knowing I do this out of the kindness of my heart. Because people will reach out to me and you know, hey, they will ask me for advice. They would, you know, ask me to make connections or offer to make connections. You know, I was talking to people constantly, like helping them think through like different situations and providing strategies for them. And she said it to me, and I didn't really think anything of it when she said it, but then I started to be more conscious of it. And I was like, You know what, she is absolutely right. But then also right, I was starting to do more, you know, like speaking engagement and panels and things like that, on behalf of my role at Accenture. But a lot of times I wanted to speak on behalf of myself right my opinions may have been different, or you know, what they wanted me to say may have been different than what you know, I was actually gonna say, and I just really wanted to establish like a personal brand for me. And that is how legals the t shirt got started. But then as I was thinking about my business plan, and my ideal customer, my ideal customers me so I started to think about like all of the different opportunities and all the different trainings and all the different TED Talks and all the different conversations that I've had with people or that I could have had with people or had I had them with people a lot earlier in my career, how it could have helped me like how it could have helped me advocate for myself champion for myself, however, would have helped me advance a bit so my brain just started turning so that is how leaving fussy she came about and leave because he she is my business so my grind right my hustle and my grind and my shine I will say

Jessica Hartley: 38:13

and your shout out to you till you said it before I am.

Latisha Roberson: 38:17

In my and I don't like to call it a side hustle because to me it's not a side hustle. Like it's just something that I'm doing. And I'm hustling on it but I just hustler life in general. I think we all do like we hustle as parents, you know, we have a list friends, you know, we hustle as colleagues like we're just having a grind and a husband. So this is the perfect name for a podcast. But you know, with a teacher, you don't have to strategy services. So you know, I help people think through like what is their next step or where they want to do? I do speaking engagements. So I do podcasts like this amazing one here. You know, I serve on panels for conferences, I do keynotes, I will you know, guest speak at different employee resource group events. I do speaking engagements. But then I just also serve as a voice like a thought leader in the space as it relates to black women in corporate America. So I do that through my Instagram page and through LinkedIn and through different articles and things that I do and my blog and my website. So it's really just leave with the seashell is a brand. But it's also a business where I support women through their career growth and not just career growth. But I support entrepreneurs as well, you know, just women through light. So that is what led me to lead with Leticia.

Jessica Hartley: 39:26

I love it. And you've been producing such great content. And I very much like it's the right rule for everybody. Black is a river by Alba black woman, and especially all of those in my network that are out here, just shining as we wind down Teesha share with me something that you consider to be a highlight of your career. Just something that it just made you incredibly proud. Just as you think about life and work and career and all those

Latisha Roberson: 39:57

things. They're like two or three ones that I you know that, okay, if you want to write, you

Jessica Hartley: 40:01

can run out a lift, it's okay. Because, you know, this is the shower curtain everything, but I just always want to make sure we're just just, you know, I could talk to you for five hours and

Latisha Roberson: 40:14

I'm coming up, but so I will say the first one is so when I talk about, you know, my work with, you know, at the time global co2 Senator Bill Green, but one of the pivotal moments is when I was prepping him for his testimony. And, you know, I told him, I said, Bill, you only have three minutes, right? That's it, right? That's why I wrote it for three minutes. And he's like, you know, and stuff. And he's like, they're not gonna cut me off. Okay, great. So we're in the committee hearing room, and guess what, he gets cut off, light comes on. And he gives me this look, alright, so he looks, give me this look, and kind of shakes his head. But then whenever, like, for the next couple of weeks, whenever we were in the room with other people, you know, he will always make this run and joke about, like, if he says, You're gonna get cut off, you're gonna get cut off, or like, whenever someone was talking over time, or whatever, like, he would just look at me, like, are you gonna let them know? But for me, I felt like, Hey, I told you what was gonna happen, right? And it's happening. So that for me, I had some validation. Right? Like, I know what I'm talking about. And at that point, like, my confidence really skyrocketed from that, right, because, you know, had the Congressman let him go on, then he was like, I told you so right. I mean, one of those moments, but like, I was right, in that instance. And you know, and that stuck with him about me, right. So that was a pivotal moment for me. And then I was never ever, and I didn't want to tell him, like somebody was like, you can't tell him that like, oh, like, I know, the procedure. Right? I worked with him. And I know, and I was afraid to tell him that, but I had to tell him that to protect him. Right. But that really helped to elevate like, my confidence, right? That was one point. And then to the second point is just being in the IND space. It's like the relationships that you make, and like, you know, this because this is how we connected to Accenture. But you know, a big part of my role was planning these Employee Resource Group summits, every year, I would just meet so many people and just learn about their stories and their journeys, and just be able to make connections and help to elevate them propel them, you know, throughout their careers. And just to see, like, where they started, when I first started doing them to how they've grown, and scale, like, so large. And to be like, I did that just to look at the program and know that like, this was my signature program. And I for five years, you know, I built this program, I you know, it was a very grassroots program. And now it is fully supported, you know, by the organization. So just to really look back at some of the programs or things that I've done that have made a tremendous impact on so many people. Those two are two moments are that were very definitive in my career to really show that, like, Hey, you can do this, you should do this, your voice is important, it should be heard, but just the impact of the programs that are created and the hard work that went into them. So I would say those are two pivotal points in in my career.

Jessica Hartley: 43:02

Well, I love that and such a great point to end on Lutetia sharing those two moments one around confidence, I think, in both ways, one sort of that sort of external validation, right of the confidence that you had. And sometimes we have to tell our leaders things that they don't necessarily want to hear. But the other piece of just, I think the hustle and grind at the end leads to shining in you starting this year, the National almost global, you know, in a lot of ways influence ERG program, and a large global multinational corporation like Accenture. I mean, that is definitely something tremendous that a lot of people don't get, but to your point around impacting so many other people, I think of all the work that we did together, and just you know, in the last couple of weeks, you all going through your performance cycles and just seeing the young people, promotion them mix. It did it promotions, and man, I just feel so good. And I'm texting people congratulations. Because they obviously had to do the work. But we were able to impart a lot of advice and guidance that we didn't necessarily get when we were coming up. So let's say Keisha, I thank you for joining me for this conversation probably will have you back on again. So excited to see you continue to shine and grow in your own right, I can't wait to continue to watch you with lead with Leticia and all of the things that are going to come from that. So just thank you for joining me today and sharing your world and your life and your career with all of our listeners today.

Latisha Roberson: 44:37

Thank you so much for having me. And again, as you know, I love talking to people hit me up, Lea, Felicia leaves a teacher.com That's how you can connect with me. So I look back with you again. Soon. I'm sure it'll be sooner than we think because I'm sure

Jessica Hartley: 44:55

but thank you Thank you for listening to another episode of hustle, grind, shine and reignite. If you liked this episode, like, subscribe and share on all your favorite podcasts. I hope you'll tune in to the next episode featuring another amazing and talented professional. In the meantime