Career Cheat Code
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Career Cheat Code
063 | Diversifying NYC Agencies feat. Maria Osorio
How does a drinking water scientist become a cornerstone of diversity and supplier inclusion in one of the world's largest cities? Embark on Maria Osorio's incredible 25-year journey through New York City's government, where her passion for empowering minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs) shines. As the Chief Diversity Officer for the Mayor's Office of Contract Services, Maria shares invaluable insights into how initiatives like "MOCs in your Neighborhood" and strategic alliances with local chambers of commerce are opening doors for small businesses to compete for the city's $40 billion procurement budget.
Transitioning careers is never easy, especially within unpredictable government landscapes. Maria's story reveals how she leveraged key transferable skills—such as research, analytical thinking, and effective communication—to navigate her shift from a drinking water scientist to a pivotal role in MWBE support. Discover how education, particularly an executive MPA, played a critical role in her growth as a leader. This part of her tale serves as a reminder of the delicate balance between personal development and professional adaptation.
Relationships are the cornerstone of career growth, especially within large governmental frameworks. Maria recounts her rise from the Department of Small Business Services to the Department of Youth and Community Development, emphasizing the power of networking and mentorship. With anecdotes of growing up in Harlem and ties to the Dominican Republic, Maria's journey is a testament to how cultural backgrounds can fuel a lifelong commitment to public service. Tune in for a compelling narrative filled with career strategies, essential advice on building professional relationships, and personal stories that illustrate the resilience required to succeed.
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Host - Radhy Miranda
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Producer - Gary Batista
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I don't know. I think she'd be like what is wrong with you? You've been a science geek since you were a child and I still love. I still love the sciences. I still stay on top of my field of water quality science, but I think I've I've done okay. I think the I think everything happens for a reason and the experiences that I had and the pivots that I've made brought me here because this is where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, and again being able to see successes within our community is so rewarding. I mean, it just feels so good and I think that alone makes this a great choice and I think the choices I've made have been great. I don't think I've changed any of the choices I've made.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Career Cheat Code. In this podcast, you'll hear how everyday people impact the world through their careers. Learn about their journey, career hacks and obstacles along the way, whether you're already having the impact you want or are searching for it. This is the podcast for you All, right, Maria.
Speaker 3:welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for having me. Good seeing you. It's been such a long time.
Speaker 3:Definitely Our paths crossed back when I was working at Columbia University a long time ago. I was at SPS. We were at the Small Business Services of New York City and we were both working together to support entrepreneurs throughout the city, so love that we've been able to reconnect, stay connected, all of the things and now showcase you and your career here.
Speaker 1:Awesome, excited, yeah. So let's dive right in. Let's tell the world what now showcase you and your career here Awesome, excited.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So let's dive right in. Let's tell the world what it is you do for a living.
Speaker 1:Sure, I'm Maria Tresa Osorio. I'm a chief diversity officer for the mayor's office of contract services. I've been with them coming into two years, but I actually have 25 years with the city of New York.
Speaker 3:Wow, what does that mean? Your title sounds fancy. What do you even do for a living? What does that mean on a Monday when you walk in?
Speaker 1:For the city of New York chief diversity officer really focuses on supplier diversity. So I'm the point of contact for my office for all things with the minority and women-owned business program. So it was actually under the previous administration that it was advised that every agency have a chief diversity officer and be the point of contact for all procurement that are part of the MDBE program. So I do that for my office. But we are also one of the three oversights of the program. So under the rules the mayor's office of contracts has authority over the procurement section of the rules small business services or still overseas certification and vendor services. And then the mayor's office of MDBE is our lead. They are our legislative arm, our policy writing arm. They're the ones that really go out to Albany and petition the governor and other elected officials when we need changes to the state procurement rules which really lead what changes can happen in city government.
Speaker 3:Wow, which makes sense, right, because I know you've built a career on supporting MWBEs and supporting not only entrepreneurs but just people within our communities, right? So I think this is in some ways, a natural kind of progression to your career, although sometimes the way that we look at DEI is really looking internally, so we don't always see it kind of manifest in this way, but in your case, I think it actually really makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. It's something that's important to look at both internally and externally. You really need to support your internal network, your employees, your system, make sure you have an office culture that's positive and supportive of your people who are doing all the work, but also make sure that you're giving something back to the community and doing something to help those small businesses. It's no secret that small businesses are the ones who really hire local and they're the ones that bring money into our neighborhoods, so we really need to support them and get them to learn what are the challenges of procurement, how to find available access to capital and finance and so that they can compete for contracts, because we spend $40 billion a year in procurement and it's mostly the big boys who get them. We need to be able to share that wealth. There's enough opportunity for growth and enough businesses who can actually win and be part of the city's procurement system.
Speaker 3:That's great. So how are you going about that? How do you actually teach some of these get the word out work with these minority women in business enterprises, MWBEs I realize we speak in acronyms because we've been in the world for a while. How do you actually go about doing this, or create new programs that support these MWBEs, and how do you do your job that way?
Speaker 1:Sure, it's a combination of both outreach, so us hosting events, both as an agency. We have what's called Mocs in your Neighborhood where we have a learning and development team they're part of our strategic arm of the office who really schedule and network with organizations to host events to train vendors on understanding the procurement process, understanding enrollment to our citywide digital procurement system passport, and to actually learn how to find and compete for contracts. So it's everything from working with the different chambers chambers of commerce. We work with local organizations that actually have vendor membership, like Regional Alliance, small membership of small contractors. We work with other agencies. We know an agency has a large procurement coming up. They need multiple vendors they're going to award to. We partner with them and with City Hall and we help organize actual events, networking events, bring the vendors in, talk to them. Let them learn who the big prime contractors are and where there's sometimes opportunity for subcontracting if they can't be a prime themselves.
Speaker 3:That's great and I really appreciate this part of the conversation right, because been in the city in city government for a long time, so you know how complex it can be to navigate that.
Speaker 3:But then we have people like yourself that are working to make it easier for entrepreneurs and make it easier for entrepreneurs and make it easier for people to come in and actually secure some of these contracts that sometimes entrepreneurs don't know that they can work directly with the city of New York or with different agencies, and I think you've just been spearheading this work for a while to make sure that those opportunities are created. So I just appreciate you also sharing that, because there are a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners in the city of also sharing that because you know there are a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners in the city of New York that may not even know this. And then there's another level of then you work with the state, then you work with federal right but, like just in the city of New York itself, that's a whole ecosystem that if you, if you're able to contract with them, you can do some really good work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think part of the issue is also we're also kind of working silos. In addition to like, we have the mayor's office and we have over 40 agencies that fall under the mayor, but there are a lot of big dollar, highly budgeted agencies that are not under the mayor, that have their own MDB program, their own rules and procurement systems, so I try to teach those also. Health and Hospital Corporation, new York, new Jersey Port Authority, mta these are state authorities. They're not state agencies nor city agencies, so they live in their own bubble and they have a lot of opportunities for vendors and we want to make sure that they have that message and they learn that you need to look and seek and connect with those authorities as well, because there's a lot more money and more opportunities in those individual agencies than some of the groups of agencies within the mayoral system.
Speaker 3:You seem very passionate about your work. What's your favorite part of your?
Speaker 1:job, who I worked with to get certified when I was at SPS. I see them at events now and they're like I remember you. You helped me with this. You connected me to that person, bridging gaps like I've met, like recently, with the asylum seekers. One thing my office has done is we've connected a couple of vendors who we knew were having difficulty finding opportunities to those agencies that we knew were gonna have opportunities upcoming Nothing definite yet but we knew that it was in the pipeline.
Speaker 1:We got their capability statements out there, got them connected, introduced them to individuals, told them you have to come to this event because there's going to be certain agencies there. Let them know who you are, what your interests are and then seeing that connection actually grow to an actual contract award and someone actually being able to profit and make money. I mean winning a contract. Yeah, it's providing a good of service to New York City but to that business owner that's income to their family, that's them being able to pay their employees and seeing that just knows that the work that I'm doing matters and that there's actual impact long-term.
Speaker 3:That's great. What are some of the challenges of your type of role?
Speaker 1:Politics I mean city, state and federal government are the same. Whenever there's a change in leadership, the surrounding teams around that leader also change. So there's also different focuses on what's priority, what isn't priority, with certain programs, certain legal activity changes. It's hard for have good consistency with different mayors when you have a change of people at the top. So that makes that's part of the challenge. And also even before mayor's change, like we've noticed, since late last year into this year, there's already been senior level people in the administration leaving. Now, within this administration, certain agencies have changed leaders. There's going to be a change in focus because everyone wants to put their mark on the work that they've done. It's hard to be consistent in doing work that we know is going well when you have changes being made on top and then wanting to refocus what we're already doing that is successful.
Speaker 3:That makes a lot of sense and I'd imagine if you hire a new leader, they're going to come with their own ideas, their own ways to do things. That just may disrupt the way that things are going and sometimes that goes great. Sometimes it lands in the middle, Sometimes it's not the best success, but you know it's, it's, it's part of the process. So that makes a lot of sense. Is this role what you always wanted to do for a living?
Speaker 1:Oh no, no, it fell on my lap. I actually started as a drinking water scientist. My my bachelor's and my first master's are in environmental science. And after grad school I moved to the state of Massachusetts. I worked for the Massachusetts DEP Great learning experience. The work was amazing.
Speaker 1:Getting a different perspective on the environmental field in a different state and what their challenges are and also what their successes are, was fantastic. But it was a very discriminatory and sexist work environment. I had difficult. I mean, I did great work-wise but socially was very isolating and people treated me as if I was different. I didn't have. I wasn't treated like the rest of the scientists and wasn't really part of the crew. So I made it to three years but I couldn't stay that much longer.
Speaker 1:So I came back to New York City because I got a job with the New York City DEP Department of Environmental Protection. So I was excited. I was back in Harlem. I was like great, I'm going to be working with city government here where there's more diversity.
Speaker 1:And my division was the same situation. I was the only person of color, I was given very simple work, wasn't treated at the same level as all the other scientists, but I had the bachelor's and master's that matched it. So it was a challenge. I will have to say that my first director was fantastic. He retired after my first year there and then there was another scientist who was a wonderful woman who I'm still friends with, but I never worked directly for her, so I was dealing with other supervisors, other dynamics, and it made it hard to stay. But I love the field so much I stayed for five years, five very difficult years, but it's an area that I just love and I still keep on top of the field and I know what's going on in drinking water science. But it was really my first love.
Speaker 3:That's such an interesting pivot, right From drinking water science to supporting MWBEs, which you've done for quite some time now. So can you talk about what skills were transferable there and what you were able to bring over, like what you were able to bring over and how you were able to like make that first pivot into this type of work?
Speaker 1:Sure. So skill-wise, it's a combination of research being analytical, communication skills, writing skills. I mean everything that I did in the sciences. But I was also able we also had to have the capacity to talk about science in layman's term, because not everyone in leadership understood the technical area when we gave presentations. So I already had experience speaking to people in the community and speaking at community boards. So that was kind of what helped me transition to other areas.
Speaker 1:Where I went to after DEP was the Office of Environmental Coordination, which was part of the Mayor's Office of Operations. So I still worked on environmental issues, just not specifically drinking water, and at that time the city council was putting out a numerous local laws that were specific to sustainability and environmental protection and some of them were procurement related had to implement a series of environmental policies. All of a sudden I got a call. I said hey, because I was in the same building Environmental Coordination for Operations, the same building as Mayor's Office of Contracts. I got stopped. I got a call. I said hey, let's talk, because we're looking for someone who can do A, b, c and D and we know that you have a technical background in environmental science. Would you be interested? And I ended up working for my current office back under the Bloomberg era for five years.
Speaker 3:Wow, I love that. And during that time you also ended up going back to school right For a second master's.
Speaker 1:I did.
Speaker 1:I started to get staff to manage, Started working with and it started low level managing interns, managing temp staff, and then I started managing other staff and I was like, wait a minute, and when you study a physical science you don't learn anything about budgets, HR management, organizational behavior.
Speaker 1:I mean there were skills that I felt that I was lacking and I couldn't really be successful as a manager. So I went to Baruch and I did an executive MPA on Saturdays so I wouldn't interfere with work. Because I needed to work, I needed to make money, you know, be able to pay my rent with work. Because I needed to work, I needed to make money, be able to pay my rent. But at the same time I wanted to make sure that I had the skillset to succeed, because I saw how some of the managers I work with didn't have those skills and how it was really hurting their staff and I didn't want to do that. I saw good examples but I saw negative examples and I wanted to make sure I went the right path. So I earned a second master's to learn those skills that I felt I needed and it helped me transition also into other areas in government.
Speaker 3:Do you feel like that master's in public administrations actually paid off for you, do you?
Speaker 1:feel like you got what you were seeking out of it. Oh, definitely, definitely. I learned so much about actually understanding and writing policy, researching policy, really having a different focus on the work and being able to address the work in a different way, because when you're in the sciences, you're still technical and in the weeds I had to really learn how to look at things big picture, which I never had a skillset in doing that. So it really helped me look at work differently, interact with individuals differently, understand our budget what was feasible for us to do as a government office and what wasn't our budget, what was feasible for us to do as a government office and what wasn't. So it definitely helped. I have to say the HR management part was fantastic because I actually interacted with staff really well. Then I have staff from back in the day asking me if I have any opportunities because they'd love to come work with me. So it's always like a good feeling.
Speaker 3:So now you've been at that point, you've been in the city for about 15 years or so, right, and you continue to do some great work over the Department of Small Business Services. And then you ultimately went over to the Department of Youth and Community Development. Can you tell me about, kind of, your roles there and what you were responsible for doing and how you continue to grow in your career during that time, because you've held multiple positions at each of these agencies agencies, right, it was clear that you were doing good work and folks were recognizing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the senior management employees of DYCD. We were seeing how MDBE was a huge impact and DYCD had good numbers, but he wanted to really increase their utilization of MDBEs. I was doing numerous presentations at all of our quarterly meetings, citywide meetings, so people knew who I was. You know they were used to hearing me speak and talk about data and talk about initiatives that we were doing at SBS and they actually created a position for me to be their special advisor for MDBE. So I actually went to DYCD, initially just focused on MDBE, working with their small purchase team which is where the bulk of the money is that they have available for minority women-owned businesses and really transformed the program, got the purchasing staff to look at MDBEs more so for opportunities, train them on the rule, train them on how to find opportunities, and it just blew up and started to do really well. Then within the organization there was some reorganization of the agency and I was asked if I would be interested in becoming their deputy COO.
Speaker 2:The.
Speaker 1:COO at the time oversaw purchasing and the work that I was doing, so it was really a position where I was now reporting directly to him, not only doing the MDBE work but now actually helping him support the organization, overseeing HR and facilities management.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 3:So you see, I love hearing these stories because you incrementally kind of continue to get more responsibilities, continue to learn more things, right, like you had not necessarily managed an HR team but now you were comfortable in doing that in different points in your career.
Speaker 3:And you, I think, are a shining example of place, of how you can have so many different careers. Just in city government. Right, like within city government, you can spend your entire career and literally have like entirely different paths. Like you can start off as a scientist and now be the expert in DEI and working with businesses and contracting and and all these other areas in ways that I don't know, that you know a lot of folks give it credit for in in working in the city because you can, you know your, your, your scope can change so much and leaderships change and bring different opportunities for folks. And as long as you're willing to own your career and not necessarily stay like, if you like your role, great you stay there. But if you want to seek different things, you can go to different agencies and try different things out and have a youth lens now on the work that you're doing and have an entrepreneurship side on the work you're doing so. I just think it's fascinating how you've been able to navigate your career through the city.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't easy, but I cause I've always, even to date. Networking is tough for me, but networking is how you get jobs. It really is like one of the biggest ways to get opportunities. Most jobs are not posted, you know. So government gives you the opportunity to meet folks in different agencies, participate in events. One thing I always participated in events, attended seminars, lecture series that other agencies were having that were topics of interest. So it gives you a chance to really network and meet folks in other industries, other agencies.
Speaker 1:You know we have agencies that are small, only 40 people, up to NYPD, that's 40,000. So,000. So there's a lot of opportunity across the board and we hire everyone, everyone from people who do legal services, accountants, scientists, every type of scientist you can imagine. Also you name it. The city hires them physicians, doctors. There's so much opportunity. I think government is a great place to not only do well in serving the public, but also where you can grow and learn a lot of different skills and you have opportunity to move around. It's easier to move around once you're in government than coming in from the outside.
Speaker 3:That makes sense. So let's backtrack a little. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing. Where were you born, raised? Where are your parents from? All of that?
Speaker 1:Born and raised in Harlem. My parents are from the Dominican Republic. My family came in the late 50s to escape Trujillo, the last dictator.
Speaker 1:So Harlem was a hub for a lot of Dominicans who came in the 50s. Harlem and Hamilton Heights, so a lot of the original Dominicans are in that region. And on 135th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam, my grandparents, two of my uncles and one of my aunts all had apartments on that one block. So when I was growing up that was a party place. Every Saturday we got together, you know, we used to have the little Miller beers we were allowed to drink under supervision, learn how to dance music and then Sundays would be Sunday dinner at my grandmother's. So that one block. I really spent a lot of my childhood and then, once folks got older, started getting married, moving around, people started spreading around, but I was raised to know my culture. I was one of those stubborn kids who didn't learn Spanish well, but my father never spoke to us in. Stubborn kids who didn't learn Spanish well, but my father never spoke to us in Spanish because he didn't want us to have accents in school.
Speaker 1:So my mother would do all the Spanish speaking my father in English.
Speaker 3:Wow, first of all, I love that because that's a real New Yorker story, right. That's like just one of those stories that's just so relatable when you have your parents come over here and a lot of them settle very close to each other and you have that dynamic and all that and then you know the language for sure is part of this part of the culture. All right, tell me about some of the things that you do outside of your job. So, are you on any advisory boards or boards that you support other organizations and lend some of your, your expertise to?
Speaker 1:I'm on the board of the Dominican Day Parade. I have been since 2016. I'm the secretary. We are the national Dominican Day Parade, so we're the one that runs down Sixth Avenue and it's coming up in a couple of weeks. So you know there's a lot going on, but we're very excited. I'm on the board.
Speaker 1:I recently joined the board of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, which is it's a little house right on the corner of 204th Street and Broadway. It's actually the last remaining piece of the Dyckman family farm, which covered a significant portion of Inwood, the largest farm that ever existed in Manhattan. And that little sliver of land. It's an organization that really focuses on anti-racism. That little sliver of land, it's an organization that really focuses on anti-racism. So it's a really amazing organization. They partner with community groups, educational programs, they have a lecture, a series, so it's just a great place to learn about the history of Manhattan, to learn about the impacts we had on the Native Americans who inhabited the area that the Zachman family took land from, but also trying to merge the community with what we do and what we have to offer, because we know it's a majority Latino community. It used to be more Irish, Now Latino Dominicans are taking over, but we want to give them services and do stuff with programs with children. There's a lot of educational programs there. The museum is open for tours, we're having renovations done in the main house and actually found slave quarters and information on who the slaves were and what their names were. So it's just a great, great place to go visit and they have a slew of events that we do year round.
Speaker 1:So I love, I really love the Dyckman Museum. Then I'm also I just joined the Dominican American Chamber of Commerce, so I'm hoping to get more involved with them. They are bridging business not only with New York but also with the island, and the two principals actually have been icons in the MDBE, certified. They've done a lot of work in the community. Manuel Lebron is the principal and Maria Curi, who's the chief counsel to the organization. She's also been a longtime Bronx resident, Riverdale. Her family has had businesses throughout here and in the Dominican Republic. So there are two people who really look to support all Latinos not just Dominican all Latinos in understanding business and really growing their business. So it's a nice combination of connecting my MDBE world with stuff that's happening real time in the community.
Speaker 3:That's great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it sounds like you're very intentional about, kind of where you join some of these boards on right Because you know, like the Dominican Day Parade, dykeman House, like all of these things that are like rooted in culture, rooted in community, and it's just a good way for you to then bring in all of the things that you've learned through your career Right and lend that perspective to support those organizations and help them grow and help them execute on their missions, but still for you, tied to the things that you love. So I think it's just remarkable and I think one of those things that I like to encourage folks like try to get on boards of things that you actually care about Right, try to like be connected to things that you're going to be passionate on, because being on a board is a lot of work. So like it can be a lot of work depending on the organization, and like you want to make sure that it's worth your time, worth your investment and it's something that makes sense for you and that you're not dreading doing the work for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I wonder if subconsciously I gravitated to these organizations because of my experience in the start of my career. So I think maybe I was meant to do DEI work and really support that space and my experiences would let me here.
Speaker 3:How do you think younger Maria would feel about the person and professional you've become today? That may be a little far away from her aspirations to be in the medical field, but still doing remarkable work.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think she'd be like what is wrong with you? You've been a science geek since you were a child and I still love. I still love the sciences. I still stay on top of my field of water quality science, but I think I've done okay. I think everything happens for a reason and the experiences that I had and the pivots that I've made brought me here because this is where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, and again being able to see successes within our community is so rewarding. I mean, it just feels so good and I think that alone makes this a great choice and I think the choices I've made have been great. I don't think I would change any of the choices I've made.
Speaker 3:Any advice for people looking to make some of these pivots?
Speaker 1:Stay on top of your interests. Don't stay where you're unhappy. Really make connections to folks. I know networking is hard, but you really have to put yourself out there. I think finding a mentor and a sponsor is great.
Speaker 1:It took me a long time to understand what I was looking for and how to find a mentor and it just happened organically. I just met people in the industry and in the business. There's an MDBE that her and I become great friends and she always says I'm her one board member because I'm always giving her advice but she gives me more advice than I give her. So it's just. I think naturally you will gravitate to people who you're meant to know and meant to support you and at the same time give them whatever support they can get.
Speaker 1:One thing I haven't done it in this current role, but in my previous two roles I was actively working with the city's mentorship program.
Speaker 1:The previous mayors actually had a mentorship program where they sought other folks, other professionals, to really talk to younger folks coming into government to learn, and I'm happy that I've done a lot of people of color over the past decade, just giving them information not only about career choices and seeking certain education, the degrees or certificates to support their interests, but also just basics about understanding the civil service process.
Speaker 1:You know there are a lot of folks who work in government for decades, don't never took a civil service exam, aren't like permanent city employees and they're the first ones to get laid off, even with 20 years of service. So I think understanding and navigating that kind of civil service process in city government is hard and not all agencies HR teach that that's a personal choice. So I help them with kind of the logistics of being a government employee and how to protect yourself and know your rights. At the same time. Look at these opportunities, look at this path of education and I connect people to other agencies. I've helped some people get jobs better than mine and I think that's what makes me happy. If I can make a phone call or send your resume to someone and you land a job there, then I know I've done good.
Speaker 3:Can you speak a little bit about? How do you find aside from like a formal program like that? How does one find mentors and you mentioned sponsors if you can talk a little bit about what you mean by that as well?
Speaker 1:Sure, a mentor is someone to me who you share ideas, you bounce off ideas, give you guidance, can sometimes give you direction. Where a sponsor is someone who will say your name in a room that you're not in. They will champion you, they will push for you, they will help you find opportunities without you even knowing about it, because they really speak about who you are, what you can accomplish, and really put your name out there. So I've had the luck of having both without looking for them. So it's a hard thing to really find, but you really need to fine tune and really follow your interests and connect with people who are in that realm.
Speaker 1:So for me, being in government, I was in MDBE I started talking and networking people in MDBE offices and other agencies and just making friends. I see them at events, I see them in city hall meetings. Start talking to them, make those connections. Later on you will see that it's an actual, a stepping ladder for growth and a learning experience. Start going to their events when their agency has events. I do that all the time. I invite folks to our events. So it's just kind of building your network of fellow government employees and letting that grow into something else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and you know a lot of times it doesn't have to be a formal title to it, right?
Speaker 1:No, not at all.
Speaker 3:Like you could just build a relationship with someone. And then you know you realize that you communicate with them all the time. But then you find yourself going to them when you need advice or they come to you when they need advice, and like you just form that organic relationship. And I say that right, because I've had conversations with folks about, like go up to someone and say, hey, will you be my mentor? And I'm like that sounds like a lot of responsibility. I'd rather just like connect with you and be friends and be in your network and then, if it evolves to that, great. But like putting a formal title on it sometimes can be scary for folks, right. So so I appreciate you sharing you know definitely the difference between a sponsor and a mentor. I think that was spot on. And then, too, just how you can organically build those over time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I use LinkedIn a lot. I didn't before, but I mean I did just for posting general stuff. You know, connecting to people, I knew. But I've actually started reaching out to people I don't know. You know, for example, I went to a conference last month, a DEI conference in Chicago, and I met some really cool people but it was, you know, just light chit chat, no, no deep conversation. We didn't exchange information. But I found them on LinkedIn and I sent them messages and I said hey, I met you at such and such conference. Do you want to connect? I'm interested in such and such program you mentioned and some folks have responded back and we're now connecting.
Speaker 1:And that's how you build and learn from others as well. Because one thing with DEI, there's so much in the space. My office is small. My office is about 180 people, but I've connected with people who have worked in 5,000 person offices. Their approach and strategic planning is very different than mine because of the scope of work and the amount of people. So I want to learn, I want to see, maybe when I retire in three years, maybe I'll go to a larger corporation and work with 10,000 people. So I want to learn, I want to see. Maybe when I retire in three years, maybe I'll go to a larger corporation and work with 10,000 people. So I want to connect with folks who are in the same space and I've learned to try not to be afraid and just reach out. The worst it can do is not respond. So why not take a chance, connect with folks, reach out to folks.
Speaker 3:Growing up in New York City, you know there was for a long time a perception that city government moves so slow, right. And then I worked in city government. I'm like I don't know what government y'all talking about Like, city government can be very fast sometimes depending on the role, depending on what you're doing and depending on the lens that you're looking at it from. But for me I definitely felt like things one move really quickly in city government and two, you can really own some really interesting projects and spearhead some things and bring them to life. Has that really been your experience in city government as well?
Speaker 1:It has. But it depends where you are Because, to be honest, things move really slow when there are budgetary constraints, Whenever there's resource constraints, whether it's budget or staff. So that's been our biggest challenge really since COVID. I think things really slowed down with COVID A lot of loss of staff, A lot of folks retired, Budgets got tighter. We went from kind of getting back on our feet after all of the financial hardships of COVID in government and then now we have asylum seekers and really helping support the migrant community. That's a new budget constraint that we have. So some of the larger agencies with larger budgets can get things moving faster. Smaller ones are more challenged if they have smaller budgets. At DYCD things moved really fast. We were assigned new programs by the mayor. All the time there was money put in. The council have funding. So again, because there was money flowing and staff, things were working faster. So it's really based on budgetary constraints how slow or quickly things can move.
Speaker 3:I'm a big proponent that you don't have to sacrifice doing good for doing well. Can we give folks an understanding of how much money they can make being a chief diversity officer at a city agency, realizing that it'll vary by city right? New York City is probably the exception to a lot of cities but just want to make sure that people can understand that you can have deep impact and not necessarily be starving. Check to check.
Speaker 1:No sure. For New York City a chief diversity officer can make anything from about $100,000 up to $200,000 plus a year. The state pays a little less. I've seen the highest salary for chief diversity officer in the state maybe in the 160s 170s but it's a great living. I wouldn't have been able to stay in this role if I wasn't making a decent salary. I grew up in public housing in Harlem, so once you leave you don't want to ever have to go back. So even though I've stayed in government all these years, I definitely looked for opportunities for growth and continued increase, to really have financial stability, and you can get that with government definitely.
Speaker 3:Great See, and I think that's one of the reasons why I really started this podcast.
Speaker 3:Right, because I was working in government at the New York City Economic Development Corporation it's a quasi-government agency, but we'll claim it and I realized that folks had really interesting roles and some of them were urban planners, some of them were transportation planners, some of them were in communications, and I'm like realizing that you can have so many different types of careers and make a decent living, and that was one of the first things that I wanted to highlight.
Speaker 3:I'm like you know, folks are amazing and doing great work, and these are careers that I wish I would have known as a youngster. Right, because when I was young you know lawyer, doctor, engineer and, like you're, thinking about accounting. Right, like you're thinking about how to make money, and it's like you could actually have impact and do great work and build your city up, make sure that your city is in a better condition than when you were born, and provide opportunities for folks and make a good living. So I appreciate you sharing that. Are there any resources or forms of media I like to call it, whether that's a book, a podcast, anything that you have read or consumed that has shaped you personally or professionally.
Speaker 1:One thing I've done in government is I stay on top of the city state newsletter that comes out every morning and Cranes, new York, for professional Like. I definitely want to stay on top of what's happening. There's changes in the mayor's office all the time that I don't hear from about until like a week later. But these newsletters stay on top of what's happening in city government, state government. When there's a change of leadership, where there's opportunity, you know when you see one leader exit, you know, know someone's coming in. There'll be staffing opportunities. So I want to know what's happening within government but also at the state level, because it has a large impact on what we do here at the city level. Same thing with Cranes, new York. Cranes, new York is really tied into talking about small businesses. They have a lot of work. They've done a lot of work in really highlighting what small businesses do, what they're experiencing. They've really done a lot of work on the MDBE space and articles on that. So I definitely want to know what they're saying, what their viewpoint is, because sometimes their viewpoint is skewed. It's not really what's happening in government that we're experiencing, but it's good to know what journalists are putting out there, what they're saying about the work that we do and also the impact to our small businesses. So I definitely love staying on top of that On politics, just for my own interest, because I like to know what's happening in the world. Greater.
Speaker 1:I'm a CNN junkie, can't avoid it CNN. But also I love real time with Bill Maher. I'm a huge Bill Maher fan and I love the humor. But he really is a smart man. He's well-read and he has great panelists on from different points of views. His show is not skewed to the left or the right. He gets everyone a chance to speak and to really air out and prove what they're saying and what's your backup to what you're saying. So I love that show Big.
Speaker 1:On LinkedIn I follow companies that are of interest, not only for future but just what they're doing. Who's doing work in my community? I see a Gilbane construction truck. What work are they doing? I follow their page. I want to know what they're doing in our communities, what they're building. Are they looking at local hiring? Is there an opportunity for folks in our community? So I do a lot on LinkedIn over the past year, significantly following companies, following people, keeping track of what's happening in government as well, because every government agency is on LinkedIn. Now I like to stay informed Because I do so much government reading, policy reading policy writing, report writing. A lot of the stuff I read for fun is fiction. I love my serial killer books because I love the ones that have science behind them. So definitely read a lot of fun stuff really, to take away all the technical and government stuff that I read all day.
Speaker 3:Anyone that you would recommend for folks.
Speaker 1:I like the Kay Scarpetta series, which are from Patricia Cornwall. It's a whole series. There's like over 20 books. She's a medical examiner that works closely with police and they actually get into the science when they talk about injuries, when they talk about people murdered, like she's really in the lab telling you exactly what she's seeing, what's happening. So it's a little technical, but they're really a fun series of books. I really enjoyed them.
Speaker 3:Okay, I think there are two things. One, I really appreciate what you mentioned there around using LinkedIn to consume information, because I think a lot of folks sometimes are cautious about their engagement with LinkedIn because they feel like it's self-promoting and it's branding yourself, which I think is really important. Professional branding is really important, but I get that. But I think what you said, which is also follow organizations and follow publications and follow people that you're interested in just in the field and that are experts in their field, so that you can learn and stay up to date on as to what's happening. I think that's a great career cheat code, because it actually lets people know that they can just use the platform in so many different ways and consume information in a way that's easier for them.
Speaker 1:Definitely, even for job seekers. If you want to negotiate a salary or learn, look at what's in the market. You know you have government, nonprofit and corporate America posting jobs left and right. Look at the salary ranges, seeing. Do you think you have an opportunity to compete in your workplace and actually market yourself for a higher salary and saying, look, this is what's out on the market, this is the work that I do. I think it's a great tool to see what work is out there, what the salaries are and what are you earning. What is your value? What if you think it's an opportunity to say, hey, I'm doing A, b and C and D? Maybe we should talk about a salary negotiation. Use it, utilize it.
Speaker 3:One thing I want to provide a space for you to share Any times when things were as like you look like such a complete package of like. You are chief diversity officer. You have this storied career. Any times that were not as simple, um, personally or professionally, um, that you had to overcome something that you felt like kind of you know, as part of your story, as part of the things that we, that we carry and that most people just wouldn't know.
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely. I think it's more familial and personal stuff. My father and I were super close when I was a kid my parents came here with college degrees from DR but they couldn't get a job. So in the early 60s my parents one of my aunts, former uncles they all went to City College. They got another degree, they all got second bachelors.
Speaker 1:My father stayed and got his master's, came an architect Great, he was doing fantastic. But he loved women, women and drink. So when I was 13, he left. He left with one of the women he was involved with and took the money. So my mother struggled with three girls raising us. She had left college to work two jobs to help him while he was working and going to grad school. So she sacrificed her own for him. So we went from a two-parent household to a single mom and she worked two jobs. She gave us everything we needed and it was hard and I saw her struggle. So now the idea that we can pay to take her on vacation, we give her money for her to do her church retreats and enjoy her senior center activities All the hard work I do is to go back and help her and everything she struggled for to take care of our family.
Speaker 3:That's great. You're really the embodiment of the American dream. This is what our parents and grandparents and folks saw when they came to this country, right? So, similarly, I came here. I'm an immigrant, so I came here with my mom when I was young and she came with a college degree and she had a nice office white collar job there and then came over here and how to handle three different jobs as much as she could to to make ends meet, because that degree did not quite translate here. So you know it's it's definitely a story that I think resonates with a lot of folks, definitely something that I appreciate you sharing. And you know it's something that is part of our stories and it makes us kind of bring the perspective of who we are, how, as you said, you're appreciative of, like now you're able to like provide things for your mom and like take her on trips and like. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:The only, the only sad part is that she's fighting cancer, and I wish I could get rid of that too. But pray, she's a tough woman. Uh, she looks better than I do, though you will not believe that she's actually ill, but um, she's just turned 87. She's strong. I mean, most of my family live into their nineties, so you know, I'm like she's going to get there too.
Speaker 3:I like it, I love it, and we're sending her all the positive vibes from the podcast because we're rooting for her and we're rooting for you, thank you. Is there anything else we have not discussed that the world should know about Maria?
Speaker 1:No, I think you got it all. I think, you got it all.
Speaker 3:I love it. Thank you, I really appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did and believe on the mission we're on, please like, rate and subscribe to this podcast on whatever platform you're using, and share this podcast with your friends and your networks. Make sure you follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn at Career Cheat Code and tell us people or careers you would like to see highlighted. See you next week with some more cheat codes. Peace.
