Month: August 2023

Originally published by Walgreens Boots Alliance

In August of 2017, my whole life changed. I was hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk in Tel Aviv, Israel. For several days after, I was in the ICU at a local hospital, unconscious and suffering from internal bleeding; a broken pelvis, wrist and leg, and a knee LCL and ACL tear.

When waking me for the first time, the doctors realized something was wrong. I had suffered a stroke while unconscious. I ended up staying in the hospital for six weeks until I was cleared to fly back to the U.S. to continue my recovery. I moved to two hospitals before going to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (SRA) in Chicago. SRA is where I learned to speak, write, use my left hand and walk again.

I deal with ongoing effects from the accident. I have nerve damage in my right leg that causes shooting pain and some loss of feeling. It has caused a permanent limp and I can’t run. Climbing stairs is slow and hard, and I have occasional pelvis pain. I also have “left neglect,” which refers to a deficit in awareness that occurs following an injury to the brain’s right side. Because of the injury, my brain has difficulty with some left hemisphere functions like speech and comprehension. When I’m tired or stressed out, my words can get jumbled and it can be hard for me to communicate effectively.

Despite this, the greatest lesson I’ve taken from my accident is to be open and share. I was a very private person before, but now I’ve learned that sharing our stories can help others and bring us closer together. I’ve also learned to ask for help and tell people what you need.

I have been with Walgreens for 16 years and am an art director on the pharmacy concept team in Marketing. I primarily focus on design for all things immunizations, but also work on Medicare, pharmacy services, VillageMD and U.S. Healthcare. I have been so lucky to work with some fantastic people in my career. When I was recovering from my accident, they sent videos and care packages, and were amazing support in my recovery. They were understanding and provided coverage while I underwent therapy at SRA until I could ramp up from part-time to full-time work again.

In a typical day, I wake up to the sounds of my 2-and-a-half-year-old son, Dylan, singing “Old McDonald” or “Wheels on the Bus” over the baby monitor. My husband and I get him off to daycare, I brew a Nespresso and settle in to my desk for a day of remote work, which I do most of the time.

I design store signage, flyers, digital ads, social posts and more. If you’ve seen any flu shot or COVID-19 vaccines artwork in the last few years, there’s a good chance I designed it! The larger creative team at Walgreens is the best. Everyone is so smart, and I love how we work together to get everything done.

I am the communications lead for both Women of WBA and disAbility Alliance business resource groups (BRGs). BRGs are an invaluable resource here at Walgreens and make it possible to find close communities at a large company. The connections and friendships I’ve made through these groups are invaluable. The most impactful events I’ve helped plan are when team members get the chance to share their stories surrounding their personal conditions that inevitably affect their work lives; for example, fertility issues. I feel empowered that I’m helping to amplify people’s stories and foster connections. Our diversity and differences strengthen the culture at WBA.

I’m also on the steering committee for the American Heart Association Heart Walk and I’m very passionate about raising money for research, especially as a stroke survivor.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago, so if it’s a nice day I’ll try to sit outside on my patio. That said, sitting or standing for too long hurts my leg and pelvis, so I try to keep moving or go for a walk, or do a Peloton ride or Pilates class over my lunch hour. I also do acupuncture every other week to help with nerve pain. After my accident, we moved into a ranch house so I don’t have to deal with stairs. It’s very nice having the flexibility and support from my manager to work from home most days, so I don’t have to deal with commuting, especially on what I call “bad leg days,” when the pain is difficult to manage. I do love connecting in person for strategic sessions with the broader business and design team, but am grateful the majority of my work can be done remotely.

I try to wrap up any work by 5 p.m. so I can spend quality time with my son and husband. My son is my miracle; after my accident I didn’t know if I could get pregnant or have a child. I’m so grateful for him every day.

When our son goes to bed around 8 p.m., my husband and I will either watch something together (we’re huge sports and prestige TV fans) or we will go our separate ways (I can only take so much baseball, and he can’t take my reality TV habit!).

I’m grateful that my role at Walgreens allows me to be creative and come up with new ideas. I was an art major in college, and design and aesthetics are my passions. I love that I get to “make pictures for a living,” while helping our customers and patients get the valuable health information they need.

Originally published on Built From Scratch

Just as the remaining summer days are winding down, a new season of learning arrives. In partnership with SkillPointe Foundation, The Home Depot’s Path to Pro program is redefining the back-to-school experience, equipping students with the essential tools required to navigate their journey. 

Scholars are sharing their perspective on why they’re choosing a career in the skilled trades.

Lazaro Samano always dreamt of pursuing a career in construction. He wants to help build homes and work on challenging commercial construction sites and loves seeing the progression of these large-scale projects. After graduation, he’ll pursue a job as a project coordinator, project estimator or construction management assistant.

“The scholarship and education will help tremendously by encouraging me to keep pushing through being a full-time dad while being employed full-time and in school.”

– LAZARO SAMANO

LOCATION: BAKERSFIELD, CA 
FIELD OF STUDY: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 
ANTICIPATED PROGRAM END: NOV. 2024

Sabrina grew up with a love for math and figuring out how things work. She studied Civil Engineering in college and decided to pursue Construction Management after speaking with a student advisor. As a woman in the skilled trades industry with ADHD, she knows the road ahead may be difficult, but she refuses to let that hold her back.

“Being a woman in construction requires determination, dedication, and resilience. I want to be a voice for the women within the industry, a voice for the young adults with learning disabilities, and a voice for apprentices that don’t get the opportunities they deserve.”

– SABRINA KRAUSE

LOCATION: PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA 
FIELD OF STUDY: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 
ANTICIPATED PROGRAM END: MAY 2024

Aaron has worked in various trades over the years, including insulation installation and vessel engineering in Alaska. He is now studying HVAC while taking care of his fianceé and their four children. After graduation, Aaron wants to become a commercial or residential service technician.

“I enjoy working with my hands and diagnosing / repairing machines. It’s what I’ve always done and always will do.”

– AARON KIRBY

LOCATION: PASCO, WASHINGTON 
FIELD OF STUDY: HVAC 
ANTICIPATED PROGRAM END: OCT. 2023

Meredith says her childhood was “filled with Legos and Lincoln logs.” In grade school, she helped build technical theater sets and started helping with disaster response teams as an adult: “I have had a lifelong interest in building things hands-on.” Now, she’s studying woodworking and wants to start her own home renovation after graduation.

“I have a passion for sustainable housing and reusing resources as much as possible, and hope to bring that passion into my business, finding ways to repurpose materials from one project to another.”

– MEREDITH METZ

LOCATION: ASHEVILLE, NC 
FIELD OF STUDY: CARPENTRY / WOODWORKING 
ANTICIPATED PROGRAM END: JUNE 2025

To learn more about The Home Depot Foundation’s commitment to trades training visit our website or check out the 2023 ESG Report.

Keep up with all the latest Home Depot news! Subscribe to our bi-weekly news update and get the top Built from Scratch stories delivered straight to your inbox.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., August 24, 2023 /3BL/ – AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today released its annual Corporate Responsibility (CR) Report, detailing progress toward goals spanning environmental sustainability; digital impact; supply chain responsibility; and diversity, belonging and inclusion. For 28 years AMD has reported on its CR programs and initiatives, and this is the company’s first report incorporating environmental and social data from recent acquisitions.

“At AMD, Corporate Responsibility is an integral part of our business strategy, culture and the relationships we foster with our customers and partners,” said Susan Moore, corporate vice president of Corporate Responsibility and International Government Affairs at AMD and president of the AMD Foundation. “Together with our employees, partners and customers, we are focused on responsibly designing and delivering high-performance and adaptive computing solutions for a more connected, sustainable and inclusive world.”

AMD conducted a new environmental, social and governance (ESG) materiality assessment1 in 2023 to determine its most important issues in corporate responsibility based on their potential impact on the business and the potential impact the business has on society and the environment, known as “double materiality.” The assessment reaffirmed existing focus areas, including topics such as product energy efficiency; diversity, belonging and inclusion; responsible sourcing; and human rights in the supply chain. Responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and product use emerged as new issues with high impact on both AMD and society. AI is an immense opportunity that comes with unique challenges, and AMD is committed to working with the industry to innovate and deploy AI for good while reducing risks.

Key highlights from this year’s report include:

Accelerating sustainable computing: Semiconductors have an important role to play in the global response to the climate crisis, powering critical research and enabling more energy-efficient devices. As the demand for compute-intensive workloads like AI and high performance computing (HPC) accelerates, processor energy consumption is of critical importance. AMD prioritizes innovations that improve both performance and environmental sustainability through its goal to deliver 30x energy efficiency improvement in processors and accelerators for AI-training and HPC by 2025.2 For 2023, AMD is on track toward achieving 13.5x improvement from the 2020 base year using a configuration of four AMD Instinct™ MI300A APUs, launching later this year.3Addressing greenhouse gas emissions: AMD also aims to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations and collaborating with direct manufacturing suppliers and customers. In 2022, AMD achieved a 19% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions compared to 2020.4 Aligned with AMD goals, 70% of the company’s direct manufacturing suppliers5 have public greenhouse gas emissions targets and 68% sourced renewable energy in 2022.6 AMD was again recognized as a CDP Supplier Engagement Leader for related goals and governance, landing in the top 8% of respondents.Partnering across the value chain: AMD works with suppliers, partners and peers to address environmental sustainability and human rights issues across the semiconductor value chain as a founding member of the Semiconductor Climate Consortium and Responsible Business Alliance’s Senior Environmental Advisory Taskforce. In 2023, AMD also completed its first Human Rights Saliency Assessment to enhance its human rights strategy.Advancing representation and STEM education: AMD wants to go beyond representation to lead the fabless semiconductor industry in inclusion and developing underrepresented talent such as women in engineering roles. Importantly, retention of female engineers remains strong at the company, and 92% of global employees say AMD creates an environment where people of diverse backgrounds can succeed. AMD is also passionate about enabling the next generation of innovators and continues to invest in STEM education through partnerships with universities, K-12 educators and nonprofit organizations.

AMD prepared the 2022-23 Corporate Responsibility Report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards (2021). In addition, the report includes climate-related disclosures included in the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) as well as relevant disclosures in applicable Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards.

Learn More:

Check out the 2022-23 Corporate Responsibility ReportRead a message from AMD CEO Dr. Lisa SuFollow AMD on LinkedIn

About AMD 
For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. Billions of people, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research institutions around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees are focused on building leadership high-performance and adaptive products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) such as the availability of AMD Instinct™ MI300A APUs; and AMD’s goal to deliver 30x energy efficiency improvement in processors and accelerators for AI-training and HPC by 2025, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as “would,” “may,” “expects,” “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “projects” and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this press release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this press release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Such statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond AMD’s control, that could cause actual results and other future events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices; global economic uncertainty; cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry; market conditions of the industries in which AMD products are sold; loss of a significant customer; impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on AMD’s business, financial condition and results of operations; competitive markets in which AMD’s products are sold; quarterly and seasonal sales patterns; AMD’s ability to adequately protect its technology or other intellectual property; unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations; ability of third party manufacturers to manufacture AMD’s products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; availability of essential equipment, materials, substrates or manufacturing processes; ability to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products; AMD’s ability to introduce products on a timely basis with expected features and performance levels; AMD’s ability to generate revenue from its semi-custom SoC products; potential security vulnerabilities; potential security incidents including IT outages, data loss, data breaches and cyber-attacks; potential difficulties in upgrading and operating AMD’s new enterprise resource planning system; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party intellectual property to design and introduce new products in a timely manner; AMD’s reliance on third-party companies for design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software and other computer platform components; AMD’s reliance on Microsoft and other software vendors’ support to design and develop software to run on AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and add-in-board partners; impact of modification or interruption of AMD’s internal business processes and information systems; compatibility of AMD’s products with some or all industry-standard software and hardware; costs related to defective products; efficiency of AMD’s supply chain; AMD’s ability to rely on third party supply-chain logistics functions; AMD’s ability to effectively control sales of its products on the gray market; impact of government actions and regulations such as export administration regulations, tariffs and trade protection measures; AMD’s ability to realize its deferred tax assets; potential tax liabilities; current and future claims and litigation; impact of environmental laws, conflict minerals-related provisions and other laws or regulations; impact of acquisitions, joint ventures and/or investments on AMD’s business and AMD’s ability to integrate acquired businesses; impact of any impairment of AMD’s tangible, definite-lived or indefinite-lived intangible assets, including goodwill, on AMD’s financial position and results of operation; restrictions imposed by agreements governing AMD’s notes, the guarantees of Xilinx’s notes and the revolving credit facility; AMD’s indebtedness; AMD’s ability to generate sufficient cash to meet its working capital requirements or generate sufficient revenue and operating cash flow to make all of its planned R&D or strategic investments, as well as the impact of financial institution failure on AMD’s cash and cash equivalents; political, legal, economic risks and natural disasters; future impairments of technology license purchases; AMD’s ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; and AMD’s stock price volatility. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in AMD’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to AMD’s most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.

© 2023 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Sarah Feller
AMD Communications
(512) 574-5583
sarah.feller@amd.com   

Suresh Bhaskaran
AMD Investor Relations
(408) 749-2845
suresh.bhaskaran@amd.com   

1We include certain disclosures, reports and information on various environmental, social and corporate responsibility-related matters on our website (collectively, our ‘ESG Materials’). Our ESG Materials may contain information that is significant; however, any significance should not be read as necessarily rising to the level of the definition of materiality used for the purposes of our compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws, even where we use the word ‘material’ or ‘materiality’ in our ESG Materials (including where we use it in connection with our materiality assessment) or in other materials issued in connection with the matters discussed in our ESG Materials. We have used definitions of materiality in the course of creating our ESG Materials and the goals and metrics discussed therein that do not coincide with or rise to the level of the definition of materiality used for the purposes of our compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws. Moreover, given the uncertainties, estimates and assumptions inherent in the matters discussed in our ESG Materials, and the timelines involved, materiality is inherently difficult to assess far in advance. In addition, given the inherent uncertainty of the estimates, assumptions and timelines associated with the matters discussed in our ESG Materials, we may not be able to anticipate in advance whether or the degree to which we will or will not be able to meet our plans, targets or goals.

2Includes AMD high-performance CPU and GPU accelerators used for AI training and high-performance computing in a 4-Accelerator, CPU-hosted configuration. Goal calculations are based on performance scores as measured by standard performance metrics (HPC: Linpack DGEMM kernel FLOPS with 4k matrix size. AI training: lower precision training-focused floating-point math GEMM kernels such as FP16 or BF16 FLOPS operating on 4k matrices) divided by the rated power consumption of a representative accelerated compute node, including the CPU host + memory and 4 GPU accelerators.

3EPYC-030a: Calculation includes 1) base case kWhr use projections in 2025 conducted with Koomey Analytics based on available research and data that includes segment specific projected 2025 deployment volumes and data center power utilization effectiveness (PUE) including GPU HPC and machine learning (ML) installations, and 2) AMD CPU and GPU node power consumptions incorporating segment-specific utilization (active vs. idle) percentages and multiplied by PUE to determine actual total energy use for calculation of the performance per Watt. 13.5x is calculated using the following formula: (base case HPC node kWhr use projection in 2025 * AMD 2023 perf/Watt improvement using DGEMM and TEC +Base case ML node kWhr use projection in 2025 *AMD 2023 perf/Watt improvement using ML math and TEC) /(2020 perf/Watt * Base case projected kWhr usage in 2025). For more information: www.amd.com/en/corporate-responsibility/data-center-sustainability.

4Reported data includes Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions (base year 2020). Based on AMD calculations that are third-party verified (limited level assurance)

5Manufacturing suppliers are suppliers that AMD buys from directly and that provide direct materials and/or manufacturing services to AMD.

6AMD calculations are third-party verified (limited level assurance) based on data supplied by our direct manufacturing suppliers which is not independently verified by AMD.

As we prepare this issue of the Sustainability Newsletter, we cannot look away from six facts.

Fact: Three new Atlantic Ocean hurricanes are in formation and moving over warmer ocean waters toward the Caribbean Basin islands. The waters surrounding the Florida Keys (islands) are at 100-degree F (38C). The region’s beautiful coral formations have been bleaching white. In the nearby Gulf of Mexico, warmer waters may result in new storms whipping up this week and heading toward the southern states of the U.S. – threatening movement of oil and gas shipments out of Texas.

Fact: On the Pacific coastline, Hurricane Hilary has passed over Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, and is moving through highly populated Southern California and toward inland Nevada. Hilary is the first such storm to hit this region in almost a century. Think about how many people have moved into California since the 1920s — and now are in the path of the storm.

Fact: A large “heat dome” sits over much of the U.S., from the northern Plains states (the Dakotas) extending south into Missouri. Many days the midday temperature tops 100F.

Fact: In Washington and Oregon the skies are clouded over with smoke from regional fires. A few times this summer literally hundreds of forest fires blazing in Canada – thanks to drought conditions there – resulted in giant smoke formations moving hundreds of miles south into the U.S. New York City sat enveloped in a giant yellow cloud for a few days.

Fact: France has issued “heat alerts” for southern parts of that country as much of southern Europe experiences a heat wave. People are told to stay indoors. French wine-growing regions may be affected as the grapes reach maturity. Spain has wildfires blazing at its Canary Islands tourist destinations. Tourists in southern EU nations are experiencing high heat conditions.

Fact: A Pacific Ocean cyclone (they’re called a hurricane in the Atlantic) passed near to the Hawaiian Islands, and dry conditions and high winds whipped forest fire flames, scorching, and destroying 2,000 buildings in the historic Hawai’ian Kingdom capital and former whaling city of Lahaina on the island of Maui. This is a tourist attraction drawing two million visitors each year. Almost 1,000 persons remain missing since this tragic event and U.S. President Biden visits the island this week. This is the worst U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

Taken together, these facts tell a clear story: the “future” of the climate change crisis is here. The United States administration took early steps to meet climate change challenges in the form of the “whole of government” approach originating in an Executive Order issued by Biden just one week after taking office. We outlined the sweeping measures of the EO in a G&A Institute Resource Paper.

Counterpoint: It’s another “fact” now that the U.S. conservative movement led by the Heritage Foundation think tank has developed a comprehensive plan (almost 1,000 pages) for the next Republican president (presumably in 2024) to counter (and dismantle) the current “whole of government” plan to address climate change. This is the battle plan for the first months of a future Republican presidency.

We bring you the details in two top stories this week. We suggest readers consider the effects of the “facts” of climate events of recent days in the context of the “battle plan” to reverse U.S. government, industry, and community actions to address the increasing threats of the climate crisis challenges.

This is just the introduction of G&A’s Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view the full issue.

Originally published on GoDaddy Life

Listen to the Podcast, here! Transcription provided, below.

Janelle (Host): Hello, and welcome to the Own Your Career Podcast. My name is Janelle Jordan, and I’m a Program Manager on our Talent, Performance, and Engagement Team, and I am so excited to be here with you. Throughout this series, you will hear inspiring interviews with employees who have achieved career growth at GoDaddy through internal promotions and movement. In addition, you’ll hear tips, best practices, and advice to support your career journey. Career management is necessary for a successful journey, and we hope that you’ll walkaway ready to own your career. Thanks for spending time with us today. Now let’s jump into the career spotlight with our guest. I am here today with Geoffrey, who is a Marketing Manager on the Content Creation and Education Team, at GoDaddy. Hi, Geoffrey. Welcome to the podcast!

Geoffrey (Guest): Hi, Janelle. I’m so excited to be here. And yes, everyone that’s listening, I am smiling that big. Hey, Janelle! Hey, everyone that’s listening!

Janelle: Let’s get to know you quickly. Geoffrey, can you share with us who you are and a little about what brings you joy?

Geoffrey: Yes! So first of all, I’m a Sagittarius. One of my favorite things to do is actually indoor cycling. So, like, spin classes with choreography, with the push ups, all that type of stuff. I enjoy working out and moving my body. I love dancing, love cooking and baking. I’m also a sucker for trash reality TV, but also, like, rom coms and action movies. I enjoy hanging out with friends, relaxing, yoga, playing in the park, going out and exploring Austin. That’s also where I’m located, in Austin, Texas. Those are the things that bring me joy.

Janelle: Well, I’m so excited to have you here with us today and for our listeners to get to know. Could you give our listeners an overview of your career journey, here at GoDaddy and what that’s been like for you and your experience and your movement here?

Geoffrey: I actually was with a company called Main Street Hub. I started with them back in 2015, and I want to say, in 2018, GoDaddy acquired them. That’s how I end up at GoDaddy, if you will. But I started out in Sales and then went over to Account Management Retention. And then one of my friends that was on the Warm Leads Team then at Main Street Hub said, “hey, there’s an opening for Regional Development,” which is like Demand Generation, what I do now. They were like, “here’s her number.” And I called her. We talked, I think for like an hour on the ins and outs of just public speaking, like being yourself, like all these things. And so I went through the interview process, and I was just nervous. Ended up getting the job, clearly, because I’m still here today! And I’ve actually been working with my boss, Emma Vaughn, since 2017. It’s been a wild ride, but honestly, would not change it for anything. Ended up doing that. Just worked my way up. Now, I’m a Marketing Manager on the Content Creation Education Team.

Janelle: Your friend told you that you should call this leader. And how did she know it was a fit for you?

Geoffrey: Personality. The ease of talking to someone and making them feel like maybe they’re the only person in the room, but also at the same time, being able to connect with an audience, be able to connect with them, because that’s a big part of our job is we’re creating this educational concept. At the end of the day, when you want to connect with people, not everyone can do that. And so I think that’s kind of what she saw in me.

Janelle: You had a knack for that. Exactly where you need to be. Would you say that your sales experience and background helped kind of ease you into being just more extroverted and more comfortable with speaking?

Geoffrey: Yes, it was definitely something I did outside of work. So I grew up in Georgia. You get enrolled in FFA (Future Farmers of America). But I really got into 4-H (a youth development organization). It was then that I did my first District Project Achievement, where I had my first chance to do more public speaking in front of complete strangers. And then, I became a camp counselor. So there’s no room to be shy! I would say 4-H had a really big part in making me, the outspoken, somewhat shy, but very loud, introvert/extrovert person that I am today.

Janelle: And confident in who you are and what you’re saying. Which it just ties right into why you’re successful in your role today. And you may have already answered this question, but I’m going to ask you anyway. Who inspires you?

Geoffrey: I would actually say my boss, Emma Vaughn. She inspires me a lot because I used to get really upset because, oh, this didn’t work out, or this didn’t happen, or X amount of people didn’t register for our webinars, or I get really down on myself, and she’s like, “you have to think about it this way. You can only control what you can control and what you can’t, you have to leave it to whatever it’s going to be. You did everything in your power that you can control.” And so, that really stuck with me. I love working here, but she makes it a twelve out of ten experience here. The way that she gives feedback back to her team is very real, and I think that’s, like, a really big thing is I think when I started with her, I was like, you have to be very real with me. When we do one on one, I was like, It can’t be like this. Oh, you could be doing this. And that. No, I want to know if this was bad. Please tell me. Tell me what I can be doing better. Tell me that way so not only I can grow, but also we can all grow. And I think that’s another big thing that she’s taught me is let’s not just look at how you can grow personally, but when you grow, everyone else grows as well.

Janelle: For folks listening, it is just so instrumental to have at least one person, one leader at the organization, whether it’s your direct supervisor or a dotted line or maybe even somebody who’s not in the same field as you that you look at as a mentor. And then that provides that level of honesty, because honesty builds trust. And you can do so much when you have that kind of a relationship. You can really soar you really can.

Geoffrey: There’s no limit. I almost broke out into High School Musical singing.

Janelle: My kids were making me watch that show yesterday. The timing of that comment is hilarious. Geoffrey okay, so we’ve got all sorts of positive things to say about your career, but let’s talk about some of the challenges, right? Because it’s not all cotton candy. It’s not all roses. So let’s talk about what is the worst career decision you’ve ever made? Or what are some of those mistakes that you think of that still sit with you today that were like real deep learning lessons for you?

Geoffrey: Being completely honest, I still make those mistakes. I love that about me, but I also hate that about me. When I take on too many things, I tend to forget the little things, like the little details that I usually am so good at. I will say I found I just need to take on less. That’s been one of the things I’m still learning, is not to take on too much. Learn how to delegate and do it confidently, but also at the same time, really learn from those mistakes. Don’t be like me and repeat them. And I am learning. I learned this a little bit later on is always, always speak up. And I think that’s one thing that it didn’t hurt me in my career, but I didn’t know it until later to speak up even more. So I think, honestly, I was shy coming into the team because it was something new for me. And I was like, this isn’t just creating content. There’s more to it. And that’s when the imposter syndrome set in. And I was like, oh, no, I cannot do this. But I was like, I can do this. And so I think that was another thing, is always have confidence in yourself early in the game and not like the fake it till you make it. It’s like, have that real “Issa Rae in the mirror gut” talk with yourself and lay it. And you have to be serious with yourself but also give yourself those breaks. And also those claps those praises too, when you can.

Janelle: That’s such good advice that we just don’t give ourselves enough grace. But, with that impostor syndrome, it’s this notion that because we haven’t done it before, we can’t do it when it is the reverse. Right? Listen, I haven’t done it before, but I can 100% do it.

Geoffrey: I feel like every GoDaddy employee can identify with this. The changes that we’re constantly making every day there’s something happening with us. But I think that’s what makes us the best, because we’re our able to handle those types of things. We glow up from that. We learn from that too. We just have to give ourselves grace, you know, eat that pint of ice cream, take that hour mental walk and know, go have some tacos. I’m talking about myself!

Janelle: No, you’re talking about me. I was having trouble focusing the other day, and I was, like, beating myself up about it. And I said, listen, Janelle, you can’t focus right now. Just get up and go walk your dog. Go scroll through Instagram. It’s okay. Come back to it. When you’re connected with yourself and you can sit down and focus, it’s fine. Instead of just sitting there stewing about how I can’t do this one task.

Geoffrey: Just let it go. Let it be what it’s going to be, but go do these fun things because we work so hard and we need to give ourselves those kudos constantly.

Janelle: Yeah, I love that advice. You’ve told us just a little bit about what you do here and where you are at GoDaddy, but what is a common myth about your job, department or field of expertise?

Geoffrey: People say it’s easy. You’re just like speaking to people when in fact it’s really not. Or that it’s easy for us just to put together content. I mean, I really hope that no one’s talking bad about us. You all better not be. But it is a lot of work. But it is a lot of creative work. We have to do some research. It’s a job that when I first got into, I was like, oh, we’re just doing social media education. At that time, we were grew and did more. We grew up. And we do website design. We pretty much talk about everything that we can turn into intake form. They list out what they want on demand, live, 30 minutes, 60 minutes in person. Hey, we can come to a city near you all. And then we meet with the requester. We meet with our team. We figure out who’s going to be the best for this. It’s one of those things that I feel like a lot of people don’t see on that backside of all that work and planning that goes into making a webinar, doing an event, an educational event at that. You have to be educational. You have to be fun with this content. And the things I love about it is we weave in GoDaddy customers, weave in personal examples. We weave an antidote. We make it so personal. They’re like, oh, my God, I learned so much. And they do, because at the end of the day, our job is to make sure they’re taking away at least a few things from this. Whether that’s how to set up their website, whether that’s how to go to GoDaddy studio and use all the tools there, but use it creatively and specifically for their business on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. We want them to walk away with tangible things that they can do.

Janelle: That doesn’t come out of thin air. There’s project ****management, and there’s collaboration, and there’s design and development and reviews, and there’s practicing and failing. To get people to find creativity in themselves, you had to be creative first.

Geoffrey: Yes! And you brought up something else. It’s like practicing. People are like, oh, you just get up there. I’m like, no, if it’s a topic we’ve done before and we have a little bit more depth with it, fine, we can do it. Sometimes that’s us, like, doing a dry run. That’s literally us going through the entire presentation word for word, doing all the animations, the transitions, and really making sure it flows and it works. We’re not being repetitive, and I think that is something that people don’t see. We’re like, this work does take time, and I still wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it. And I think that’s why I do love my job so much, is because it is this tedious work, this amazing creative work that we get to do. It just helps our customers not only become more educated, but I feel like it makes them feel more connected with us, too, on that human level. Which, I feel like we’ve been doing that way before the pandemic started, but even more so now. I feel like we feel even more connected with those customers.

Janelle: Such an important part of GoDaddy and how we impact our customers and our community. You’ve got to feel so good about the work that you do.

Geoffrey: Yes. And not only that, but I work with incredible women as well on my team, and that’s one thing I do love about GoDaddy is supporting women in our company. And that’s something that I do truly love. Like, I work with two amazing women on my team, and so that’s something I love about this as well. It’s a great team.

Janelle: Geoffrey, I cannot thank you enough for taking time out of your day to chat with me and to tell us and the employees of GoDaddy about yourself and your story and your journey and sharing personal things. I just love that. If our listeners wanted to reach out to you to connect for mentoring or advice or friendship, how can they reach you?

Geoffrey: Honestly, reach out to me via Slack. That’s the best way. And let’s take it from there. Like, let’s set up a zoom for, like, 15 minutes and have virtual coffee or something. I love telling my story and I hope that a lot of people gain some type of insight on how to navigate their career. It’s not just a straight line, there are some ups and downs, but you really have to lean into those ups and downs and really speak out and seek help. You’re in a company that has great leaders, but not also that, but great colleagues as well that you work with because everyone here is a leader. Not only that, but people that are going to take the time out of their day to speak with you and listen to you and be that mentor for you. So, I think that’s really important. So, yes, hit me up on Slack and then also on LinkedIn as well. Reach out to me there.

Janelle: Thank you for listening to the Own Your Career podcast. We aim to inspire, motivate and empower our employees to meet and achieve their professional goals. If you are interested in being a guest on a future episode of this podcast, visit the MyCareerPortal Career Spotlight page and complete the interest form. While you are there, check out the resources articles that are available and reach out to us with feedback, questions and ideas .We’d love to hear from you. Thanks. Have a great day everyone.

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