Looking for ideas about how to build a successful career in tech & DEI and ways to boost your job search after a lay off? Hady Mendez, shared her insights about this and much more on Episode 60 of the Reframe & Reset Your Career podcast.

In this episode, we will learn about:

Taking ownership of your career development,

Opportunities are not always obvious, you have to put in the work and create them for yourself,

The value of creating content, building your brand and being strategic to help you stand out,

How diverse teams add significant value,

Dealing with the sense of loss arising from a lay off and the importance of self care,

Focus on your own journey and don’t compare yourself to others,

Job search strategies, including strategically using social media like LinkedIn and

How your network can help with your job search.

The edited transcript of the interview is at the end. It has been edited for clarity and ease of reading. I hope you find it helpful.

 

Hady is the founder and CEO of Boldly Speaking LLC, a company that aspires to expand the conversation around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Through her role as a speaker and facilitator, Hady encourages employees and leaders to play an active role in creating more inclusive workplaces.

With a diverse career spanning over 25 years, Hady has served as Head of Equality for a major tech firm, held multiple customer-facing roles in high tech and financial services, served as a leader across various Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), volunteered as an international champion for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, and served as Community School Director at an elementary school in the South Bronx.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Manhattan College, plus graduate certificates in eBusiness and eCommerce from NYU and NJIT, respectively. She also holds a Family Development Credential from the University of Connecticut.

Hady’s additional advocacy work has her serving as a member of the NY Advisory Board at Room to Grow, a nonprofit organization based in the South Bronx. Hady also serves on the Board of Pan Peru USA, an organization whose mission is to empower low income women in rural Peru. In her free time, Hady is an amateur street art photographer and an avid podcast listener.

Hady and I discussed how she managed her lay off and she told me “I didn’t post the same day, I probably waited a couple days and then I finally decided yeah this is going to be something that I’m going to be open and transparent about because that’s very much in line with how I am. I pride myself in being very genuine and real … I think everybody has to decide for themselves what is the mourning period and also be honest, it’s not like you mourn it and then you’re done. There are days even when you feel you’re done with the mourning that you think you had a really good interview and then you get “sorry we’re going to move on with someone else or you never hear back”. “

People & Resources Mentioned

Hello Monday – Jessi Hempel

Dale Carnegie – How To Win Friends And Influence People

Dr Robert Cialdini – Influence

Contact Hady

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hadymendez/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hadyontheweb/

Reframe & Reset Your Career Resources & Contact Info

YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/ReframeResetYourCareer 

LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reframe-reset-your-career/?viewAsMember=true

E-mail – reframeandresetyourcareer@harshaboralessa.com

Thank you for your continued support of Reframe & Reset Your Career, I do appreciate it. Over the Summer, I will be working on some other projects so will only be releasing 1 episode per month. The next episode will be out on Weds 13^th September. We will be back to the usual release schedule in October with episodes coming out on Weds 11^th October and 25^th October. Have a great Summer!

It would be great to hear from you, the listeners, and your thoughts about the podcast, YouTube channel or anything else, it’s always a pleasure to hear your views. I have had some great reviews but not had any way of responding. 

Edited Interview Transcript

Harsha: [00:00:00] Welcome to Reframe and Reset Your Career, a podcast to help if you’re looking for a job, feeling stuck in your career, or just trying to rediscover your why. I am your host Harsha Boralessa, and this podcast came from my passion for neuroscience and psychology and the interaction with career and personal development.

I will be interviewing recognized experts and successful professionals. And asking them to share the insights and strategies that have helped their careers thrive. Implementing change is not easy and does take time, but I do hope that their stories will inspire you on your path to greater success of fulfillment in your career.

Here are some highlights of today’s episode.

Hady: A layoff, like any other transition is the perfect opportunity to sort of recalibrate. You know, when we have different opinions, I think it elevates the, you know, what the team is able to deliver because, you know, you’re kind of seeing different sides of things.

It’s not just like you morn it and then you’re [00:01:00] done. Like there are days, even when you feel like you’re done with the morning that you like, you think you had a really good interview and then you get like, sorry, we’re going to move on with someone else.

Harsha: Welcome to episode 60 of the Reframe and Reset Your Career podcast. Our guest today is Hady Mendez. Before we begin, I wanted to thank all the supporters of the podcast, especially in the U. S., which is the second largest audience, and we have been downloaded in all states apart from Alaska, Kansas, Maine, Montana, and New Mexico.

Hady: I do have some people in Kansas. I lived there for six months.

Harsha: Cool. So please do connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know what you think of the content. Do subscribe, like, and share. It does make such a difference. Now back to the show. It is my pleasure to welcome Hadi to the show. Hello. So Hady, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Hady: I’m Hady. My pronouns are she, her, and hers. I identify as a Latina and a woman of color. I am based in Brooklyn, New [00:02:00] York, where I also was born and raised. I’ve lived in other places. So Kansas was one of them for a very short time, about six months, but I’ve lived in another, a couple of other States here in the U S and I also actually lived overseas in South America for two years in a place called Cochabamba in Bolivia.

I’m a Latina in tech. I have over 25 years of experience at the intersection of tech and financial services. I’ve spent some time in nonprofit. I’m my most recent job was head of equality at Slack, a company your, your audience probably is familiar with. Yeah. And I’m currently the CEO of a small business called Boldly Speaking.

I actually do speaking engagements. on diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I’m also looking for work. So maybe somebody in your audience wants to give me a job.

Harsha: Yeah, definitely. And I suppose part of the reason we came across each other was I saw that post you did after you were let go.

[00:03:00] And I thought it was really nice the way you framed it rather than some people get, get angry about being laid off, et cetera, et cetera. But I think you did it in a very classy way, but we’ll pick that up later in the podcast. But what I’d like to always start off with Adi is I’m a big fan of the arts. Is there a performer song, book or film, which you’d like to share with us?

Hady: I will have to say that Flaming Hot is the show, it’s a movie actually, and it’s Eva Longoria for those people who know I believe she was one of her big shows was desperate housewives. It is her directorial debut. And I don’t know, do you know what the movie’s about? Or should I, should I just dive in?

Harsha: Yeah.

Hady: So it features mostly a mostly Latino cast, which is rare, needless to say. And it tells the story of this employee. Who went from being a janitor to being the godfather of Hispanic marketing. And he invented [00:04:00] Cheetos, that product for the Hispanic community and, you know, it’s like a, was a huge success and then he went on to like get promoted and he was like a big senior leader.

I don’t really know who made Cheetos. I want to say it’s Pepsi, but I’m not really sure. Anyway it’s a great movie. It’s a feel good movie and it was just really well done. It’s, you know, it’s not often that we see so many multidimensional Latinos on the big screen. Like, usually it’s like, It’s a Mexican and they’re cleaning, you know, the floor or something, you know, it’s like, we have like standard roles and this was like very diverse and there were, you know, people playing lots of different roles.

And he had a really like powerful wife, which, you know, she was, you know, part of the, the, the movie showed her how she really supported him. And it was just, you know, really well done. So anyway, I’m very proud of it as a Latina.

Harsha: With Eva Longoria, she was an actress, and now she’s become a director. And I think if you can take control of the arc of your career, [00:05:00] not let it happen to you, but be on the front foot, because I think sometimes many people think, oh, I’ll wait for that opportunity to come along, or I’ll wait for that job.

But actually, if you’re leading your career and building it yourself, that’s very powerful. But also, I like the idea of representation, because I think if you don’t see people like yourself, then if you’re from a minority background or a marginalized community, then you feel that you can’t aspire to those roles.

So I just, I think there are so many interesting points coming out of that. So yeah. Yeah.

Hady: And there’s like a little write up. I saw it somewhere where I don’t think they were targeting her to be the director. And apparently she went in with all the notes and she, like, it was like, you know, she took like really took advantage of the meeting time.

Like she I think her agent like was like, Hey, he was kind of interested in the project and she showed up with like all these notes and like demonstrated that she really could add value to the project and [00:06:00] she got the job. So like, that’s also like. Goals, you know, for her to like, make like a hi. I move like that to just show up and like get, like, she took the job.

Like she was like, I’m, this is the job that I, I’m ready for this and, and I’m prepared for it and here’s all the value that I can add. And for me just to see her do something like that where she is the sage, she is in her career, it’s really inspiring.

Harsha: Yeah. And I think the point you make about preparation is so important because the people she was going to see, they may or may not have been thinking about her.

But I do think if you are say a hiring manager or somebody who’s trying to give somebody a chance, like an investor in a company you may have ideas about what you want, but if you can get somebody coming along, who’s actually done the research, done the project, almost reframe the whole problem.

That’s incredibly compelling and incredibly powerful. And it’s that whole idea, I think, of preparation, really doing a deep dive, getting your hands dirty, and then almost presenting [00:07:00] something to your interviewer or the investor and saying, look, maybe this is a way of doing things. I mean, what do you think, Hardy?

Hady: Oh, totally. Literally she is inspiring me to approach like my interview process in a different way because I think it was like she got a courtesy meeting and she ended up with the job and you know how many times we get a referral from somebody and we can’t just rest in our laurels and be like, oh, we got we’re going to get in there.

So now we just show up and, you know, things are just going to organically or naturally happen. Like you still have to put in the work and you have to show and demonstrate how committed and invested you are. So everything about that story is goals. Like I’m really impressed by it and I’m happy for her, you know, she’s hopefully going to use her platform to continue to amplify Latino voices in other projects moving forward.

So she’s very worthy of it. She demonstrated. That she was worthy of the role that she got in this project. So [00:08:00] I’m really happy for her too.

Harsha: And another thing that has struck me is that say you do go for a meeting and it could be just like an informational thing or a casual meeting. If you can come up with a compelling story and you can come across in a very sort of charismatic, charismatic, likable way, then even if that person doesn’t have a job for you, they will probably recommend you to somebody else or they will give you their endorsement.

You never know when that opportunity is going to come up. Yeah. And one really funny story was that I was at this event and I was waiting to get my food served and there was this lady behind me in the line.

So I said, take my spot, have my plate. And yeah, she served herself first and then I got chatting to her and then I found out her husband was this big cheese in a really serious company and yeah, nothing happened after that. I did get to meet the husband, but it does show that you never know.

Hady: I think you have to seize the [00:09:00] opportunities that you get. Yeah, and you have to give up 100 percent or 110 percent to every opportunity that you are afforded. And that’s what I learned from, from, you know, reading about what Eva did in this case. And, you know, but, but I feel like that’s, that’s how people.

Demonstrate their value. Like, you know, it’s not always obvious. And as, especially as a woman and a Latina, I’m probably not who people are thinking about when they’re thinking about their next director of DEI or their next director of strategic relationships or their next chief of this or VP of that.

And so it’s a lesson, it’s a, it’s a valuable lesson learned there to really show up, put, you know, put your best foot forward. And just reach for the stars, like put it all, put it all out there, like suit your shot.

Harsha: but one other interesting thing, I think that comes from that is that, you know, you can almost create how people view you. So say with your personal brand, you can put out good [00:10:00] content. You could put out video content. You can appear on podcasts.

Hady: My experience in the six months that I’ve been looking for work, I think I had a point of view that these interviewers and these potential employers were all getting to know me online.

And I have discovered that that is not true. I don’t think they spend as much time learning about my online brand as I thought they did. I think a lot of people do. I think lots of peers and, you know, I can’t tell you how many events I go to where people are like, you’re Hady, I know you’re from LinkedIn.

And I’m like, oh, hi. It’s sometimes a little like disarming, like you’re like, okay, I don’t know you, but like, okay, I’m glad you know me. And usually, obviously, I go on and like make, make a new friend type thing. And it is, I think a little bit of a misconception or a myth to think that everybody knows everything about you, you know, from an, like an employer interview or perspective when you enter into that conversation.

Oftentimes I find that they don’t know a lot about [00:11:00] me and I have to kind of make sure that they get to know me. And I can’t, like, rely on, on, on them, you know, on them having, you know, done the quote, unquote, done the research. Like, I think the burden falls more on my side to really get to know them and come prepared to ask questions and make sure that I’m putting my best foot forward for them to get to know me and what differentiates me from other candidates, et cetera.

Harsha: I totally agree with that. But I suppose the point I was making was that just in terms of, I suppose building your brand and getting your brand out there. It is important to, I suppose be on social media, sharing interesting posts, trying to create some content because at least, you know, if you don’t do anything, then nobody knows about you.

But at least if you’re out there. Putting out good stuff, then at least that’s, I suppose, the impression that people are getting about you and clearly the interviewers and research, they can’t do every bit of research about you. So clearly you need to be able to go in and sort of hit the ground running and say, hi, this is me.[00:12:00]

This is what I can do for you. This is the value I can bring. But I suppose there’s also the element of just being top of mind with your network or, or whatever it is.

Hady: I think so. I think there’s a lot of value there. I think people have different reasons for putting content out there. As I reflect on the reasons why I do it, there were, there were some reasons, some very strategic reasons why I did it at first which I could talk to you about now or talk to you about later, but there were strategic reasons why I did it to begin with.

But now I feel like there’s a lot of people who have shared with me that my content has helped them or is valuable to them, or they look forward to it. And so. You know, now it’s like kind of fun for me to come up with new content or new ways to add value to the people in my network. So it’s a fun little thing.

And I think it’s good. It keeps me challenged. Like, it’s like, I just don’t do my day job. I have like other things. There’s a cool podcast and I I forget where I heard it from. It might’ve, it might be on Hello Monday. It’s a [00:13:00] LinkedIn podcast by Jesse Hempel. And I believe it was there where I heard that people have.

The average person has somewhere like between five and seven jobs, one is like your main job. And then you might have like these little side hustles. And I think like creating content is like one of my little side hustles. Obviously I don’t get paid at all for it, but like it’s something that I take seriously and I’m trying to be strategic about, and it’s fun.

I think it keeps me some of my skill sets. You know, fresh, you know, like it, it has allowed me to build a skill set that, you know, I don’t have to, that there’s no obligation to do it. A lot of my peers don’t do it, but like it separates me from other people and it’s something that I could talk about and make reference to.

Harsha: And actually it would be good to pick that up sort of later on. But, but actually we’ve got slightly sidetracked because I had this list of questions and I was going to ask you about the beginning because it’s funny, I’ve actually been to Brooklyn and I was asking [00:14:00] whether you were from Fort Green and I think that’s where you grew up. Is that right?

Hady: So I was born in Fort Greene, I lived here for the first three years of my life, then I moved to like a different part of Brooklyn, I am mostly Brooklyn bred, so like this is where I was raised in Brooklyn, and then I moved to Queens, which is another borough in New York, and I’ve lived in Manhattan, I’ve lived in the Bronx, but actually I live in Fort Greene again right now since the year 2019, I’m about like five blocks from where I was born, the hospital is no longer there.

But the park is still here and the neighborhood has definitely evolved and changed since, since I lived here back in the late seventies. But yeah, it’s kind of cool. It’s, it’s cool to come back full circle. Fort Greene is a really nice, fun neighborhood and Spike Lee is like from Fort Greene too. So it’s like he made it famous. I guess, you know, there’s other people that are from here too.

Harsha: And isn’t Chris Rock, is he from Bed Stuy or from Fort Greene or?

Hady: Oh, I, [00:15:00] I don’t know, but Bed Stuy’s right near us. So possibly he could be from around the way, so to speak. There’s a lot of people that like either live here or. Are from here or like claim, you know everybody wants to claim Brooklyn.

Harsha: I was watching one of your interviews, previous interviews, and I love the role that your mother played in your interest in tech. Can you share the story with our listeners?

Hady: Yeah. I, at first I want to say that I’m very impressed that you found this in one of my videos because I know I only have talked about it once. And I remember it was a video we did for, I think like interns when I worked at Cloudflare or something like that, I don’t really remember, but yeah, it’s a funny story. So to back up just a little bit, I know probably most of your viewers or a lot of your viewers are from the UK.

So in New York City, and I’m not even going to say it’s all the US, but in New York City where I live. And where I was raised, you can pick an area of specialization or what, like people will call a major when you go to high school. And I know that that’s not [00:16:00] like a thing everywhere, but that is definitely a thing here.

And so when I was in junior high school, getting ready for high school, I had to kind of pick a major or I had to pick a school and a major and like kind of figure out like what my next steps were so you could pick like a math and science school or a business school or whatever. And so my mom, who never went to college.

Never had a professional job outside of the home. She suggested this was like in the eighties that I studied computers/ technology because, and I’m going to quote now, because that seems to be where the future is going. My goodness, she, she nailed it. So lucky for me, I had a natural bent for tech.

So I have been able to survive in the industry, but. It is pretty funny and cool that that’s what, that it was my mom who picked my major going into high school. And then I ended up like. It was like very early on in tech. So like I actually did punch cards when I was in high school, which is like very old school [00:17:00] technology.

And I learned COBOL, which is like one of the first programming languages that’s also very ancient. And then I studied computer information systems in college and got my first job as a, as a technology consultant, consultant with Accenture.

Harsha: Cool. So, shout out to your mom. She’s obviously a futurist and shout out to all the mothers out there as well. Gotta listen to your mom.

Hady: That’s right. Listen to your mom. They know what’s up.

Harsha: So after college, I, I saw you started off at Accenture and then moved into finance. So was this a strategic thing or did your career just evolve?

Hady: So I would say I did start off at Accenture. I spent about three years there and then I moved on to another company that was focused on benefits consulting.

And I was like more doing like just application development. Like I was a programmer essentially. And then my next job after that was with JPMorgan Chase and I worked there for about seven years. I was part of the Chase home finance area, which was focused like on mortgages and home equities. And I would say definitely that this was.[00:18:00]

Purely by accident. I was following the tech opportunities. Which were, you know, as they are today and always have been, and probably always will be abundant in the part of the U S where I live, which is New York city. It makes sense that that would have led me to financial services. Cause we are like a pretty big financial services hub and, you know, financial services and tech really go hand in hand.

Harsha: Most recently, you were the head of equality at Slack. Obviously it’s a great firm and that sounds like a really exciting role. Do you just want to tell us a little bit about that?

Hady: Sure. So I actually was the head of equality at Slack post acquisition. So Salesforce acquired Slack, and then I was responsible for like the harmonization efforts, bringing together the two companies from a DEI perspective.

And it was exciting. I was very familiar with all of the offerings that the Salesforce office of equality had, and I was responsible for like, just, introducing [00:19:00] my Slack colleagues to all of those offerings. So like mentoring programs, sponsorship stuff, ERG things like recruiting, DEI recruiting, just like there was like so many initiatives underway.

And I would say one of the biggest things that I focused on was harmonizing our quality efforts from an ERG perspective. So Salesforce had equality groups, Slack had ERGs. We kind of really had to bring these two kind of efforts together because they were really Kind of duplicative in nature. They’re very similar in that, you know, what they were doing.

Harsha: So for our listeners who aren’t sure what an ERG is?

Hady: Yeah, they’re employee resource groups or business resource groups You know, sometimes they’re called and they’re really like employee clubs. That’s what I like to call them. They’re just clubs. And usually they’re clubs that are based on, like, a common characteristics. So, like. I’ve been part of the Latin X [00:20:00] ERG. So all the Latinos get together and we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and we, you know, do like development for our colleagues. And we talk about things that maybe are unique or different for like Latin X employees.

And then, you know, there’s some for veterans for LGBTQ+ folks for black, South Asian and, you know people with disabilities. And so there’s just lots of ERGs for lots of different types of people, but, but really they’re clubs. And I spent a lot of time getting to know the ERG leaders at Slack.

Because the goal, like I said, was to really bring the two groups together. And ultimately I hosted an ERG offsite. Salesforce has a ranch in in California. Yeah, it’s a beautiful ranch. We spent like three or four days there together and we basically discussed like. The work that we were all doing the challenges we encountered the opportunities we had in front of us and really how we could partner in our efforts so that I was really proud of bringing the folks together for that.

And we ended up having work groups after getting [00:21:00] laid off. So I didn’t get to see the full fruit of my labor, but ultimately the goal was really for these groups to come together.

Harsha: Yeah. And so obviously we’ll go into the layoff, but I think it’s very important in any organization to get, you know, the people coming together and recognizing there are differences.

There are cultural differences, which need to be I think people need to be sympathetic. to those. But I do think the big thing with the equity and inclusion is that I don’t think people are asking for any sort of favors. It’s simply they want to be managed and led in a sympathetic and nice way like everybody else. I mean, what, what do you think, Hady?

Hady: Yes, and I would also add they want to be seen. They want to be heard. They want to have a voice at the table. They want to be included. They want to feel like they belong. They want to feel like they’re really invited to be part of the conversation to have input into the decision making process.

They want [00:22:00] to feel safe. They want to know that they can disagree in a manner that will still be, you know, there’s still be welcome, even if they don’t feel the same way, like, it’s okay to feel a little bit differently. You’re still part of the team, regardless of how you feel, like, you know, when we have different opinions, I think it elevates the You know, what the team is able to deliver because, you know, you’re seeing different sides of things.

I think ERG’s and underrepresented people really, yeah, what they want is to be seen, heard, feel included, and then, you know, get opportunity. The same opportunities. Everybody else has to advance to be to be acknowledged and recognized for their work to get special projects to get a leadership role to lead a team and to, ultimately be part of the C suite and be able to make a real impact.

Harsha: What I always find strange with some companies is that you need to have different voices in the room, you need to have different [00:23:00] opinions, because if everybody’s agreeing with the boss, whether it’s a man or a woman, then clearly you’re only having one perspective, and now the world is filled with different perspectives.

And it’s not only bad for the, it’s bad for the company from a bottom line, you’re not, you’re not being able to generate the revenues. You’re not going to be able to deal with your customers. And I think going forward, all people and companies have to be much more agile, being able to pivot, being able to reinvent themselves.

So I think with DEI, it’s not just a fairness thing, which is obviously very important, but actually it’s an economic thing. I mean, what do you think, Hady?

Hady: I think research shows time and time again, That when teams are made up of a, you know, diverse set of people, they’re more innovative.

There’s more like products are better, you know they find like mistakes or gaps in products that much sooner because people are [00:24:00] like, oh, well, what about this? Oh, I didn’t think of that like, oh, you know, I think there’s an example of a, of a see through staircase. And like, you could see underneath, like, you can see underneath it and well, obviously there was not a woman at that, during the building of that staircase, because a woman would have like, get that out in a hot minute.

And it’s just an example of, when you don’t include everybody, you are going to have blind spots. And there’s some leaders that. Like being surrounded by people who say, yes, yes, yes. You’re right. Everything you said plus 1, that’s not reality. That’s not real life. Like, it’s a field that feels very fake and performative.

I like an environment where I mentioned that before, like. Where you are safe to disagree and have a different point of view and share it. And it doesn’t mean like I, I often find that I have a different point of view and I just appreciate the [00:25:00] opportunity to share it. I’m not looking for people to be like, Oh, well, how do you said it’s, you know, such a good idea.

Like, maybe sometimes it’s I have a better idea, but probably not all the time. But like, I still appreciate being part of teams where I can share that and just maybe get people to think a little bit differently. Think about all the times where someone says something and you’re like, oh, I just thought of something even better, but like you need people saying different things so you could even think of something better and where people are just having that group think that that that doesn’t lead to a lot of innovation.

Harsha: I know I completely agree and I hate it at meetings when say the leader starts off by saying, this is my view because clearly you’re not going to disagree with him. Otherwise that’s a current limiting move Yeah, but, but usually it’s the men who are the ones!

Hady:, Yeah, I feel you. And yeah, that doesn’t sound like a leader who’s creating space for a different perspective. That sounds like a leader who’s kind of like through the [00:26:00] gauntlet and said, okay, you know, like I challenge anybody to say something different. And, you got to be pretty brave and bold to try and like, do something like that.

And sometimes you have to be and you need, you need all kinds of people on the teams. And oftentimes I like being the brave and bold one, but, that’s a lot of responsibility too. I don’t know.

Harsha: Totally agree. Going back to obviously Slack and then unfortunately you got let go, but it was actually on your two year anniversary.

So you were getting prepared to celebrate it and all that stuff. And then you had to rethink your posts. And I think being laid off at any time is, it’s hard, but especially if it’s coming like that, when you’re thinking, Oh, wow, I’ve had two years, this has been great. And then you get that information. Can you just talk a little bit about that and how you dealt with the shock?

Hady: Yeah, I remember I had last year. Yeah, that seems like so long ago, but it was just last summer. I went to Hawaii for what they call a Lima. It’s like a day where, or not a day, but [00:27:00] like a couple of days where senior leaders come together to kind of like.

Reflect on how the year has gone been going so far and then like make any adjustments and tweaks for the rest of the year. And so I had a picture from the lima that I was going to share on my, on my two year anniversary, but anyway. It was a sad day the day I found out that I was getting laid off. I knew there was a possibility because there was a lot of rumblings, not only where I was where I worked, but at other companies that layoffs were coming.

And everybody was like, there was already news in other places that other people had already other tech companies, tech firms have laid people off. So we knew there was that. Probability or that chance, but I don’t think it’s the type of thing you’re ever fully prepared for until it’s like you get the email and you’re like, did I just read that?

Right? Did it really say, like, my job is being eliminated. So, but I would say, like, it’s been 6 months since I found out and I’ve been through so much just kind of to give you a sense. I’ve been on a wellness retreat, which I did in Puerto Rico, which. That was [00:28:00] like a really good choice for me. And and I ended up spending like a month in Puerto Rico with my family.

So it was just lovely. I launched a business during that time. I attended a women’s leadership conference in Phoenix. I Participated in a lot of customer events for women’s history month through my small business. I attended a Latinas in tech conference in the Bay area. I I was part of a LinkedIn learning course.

So now I’m like famous for being like this laid off person and I actually talked about, kind of how to survive a layoff for a LinkedIn learning course. I have like my 15 minutes of fame. I think it’s like a little less than 15 minutes, but that’s cool. I wrote an article for an organization called real grow Latina, which has like thousands and thousands of members.

And very soon I’m going to be speaking at a Lean In Latina conference not a conference, but like a one day summit. In the bay area, so that’s happening next month, which I’m very excited about and I have some current job opportunities that I’m [00:29:00] being considered for. Finally, which I am very excited about too.

Harsha: Oh, well, good luck. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. But one thing I just wanted to touch on was this whole idea of the mental side of layoff. As you’re saying, even if you know it’s going to happen, it’s a really tough thing when the email comes through or you get that news. Because I think it’s that finality, isn’t it?

That, that job that you had or your title if for some people that, really attached to the, the role, it’s a huge blow to your ego. So maybe, can you just talk a little bit about the, you know, the process of moving on, because it’s like grief. It’s almost like a death or something like that, that it’s a huge loss.

Would you mind talking a little bit about that, Hady? Because I think for our listeners, that would be really helpful.

Hady: One of the things you said is important, that whole ego thing. I think two things. It’s like some people are very attached to their title. I think I might’ve been one of those people, but I was able to detach pretty quickly.

But what I felt was [00:30:00] I was embarrassed. Like, Oh my God, like, how is this happening? Like, why me? And I think, there were a lot of people I know that got laid off that never chose to share it at all. Like no one knows they were laid off. I mean, no one knows like outside of, I don’t know, people in their immediate team or something, but like, Other than that, they didn’t share it with their network.

And I also had to think about how I wanted to show up in that regard. I didn’t like post the same day. I probably waited a couple of days and then I finally decided like, yeah, this is going to be something that I’m going to be open and transparent about because that’s very much in line with how I am.

I’m pride myself in being very genuine, real, how am I going to be real and authentic and genuine and not shared like this humongous thing that just happened to me, it started off with just being. True to my brand, but it quickly became like, how can you navigate this and still feel okay about yourself?

Like, this is not a reflection of you. This is not, I know, like, factually speaking, that there was a [00:31:00] lot of other good people, amazing people that got laid off. And I’m like, well, that like consolation that I’m like, okay, it’s not in my head that I thought I was a good employee. And I’m like, it’s not in my head then that it also happened to other really good employees.

Once I realized that it wasn’t necessarily about my performance and it wasn’t a reflection of me. And this was happening to so many people that I kind of could just be like, okay, well, what’s the best way to deal with this? I know I needed to do like kind of a little reset.

That was a choice I very intentionally made to just be like, I need to kind of get well and get my head on straight and kind of like, hit that reset button so that I can approach my, my next step and my job search from a, like a healthy, good place. I think everybody has to decide for themselves, like, what is the mourning period and, and also be honest about like, it’s not just like you [00:32:00] mourn it and then you’re done, like, there are days, even when you feel like you’re done with the mourning that you like, you think you had a really good interview, and then you get like, sorry, we’re going to move on with someone else, or you never hear back, or the jobs on hold, or whatever.

Yeah. Remember that internal candidate or, you know, like a variety of things, or, you know, maybe you see, like, a lot like I’ve started to see a lot of the people that got laid off at the same time as me get new jobs. And I’m like, Oh, my God, like, how come I’m not getting in? And I’m like, It’s okay, Hady, you’re going to get your job when it’s your time to get your job.

And if ever there was a time for you to be like, I’m going to focus on my own journey and I’m not worrying about other people. This is the time to do it because everybody’s layoff journey is bound to be very different and you just cannot allow yourself to be drawn in to some of these other things that are happening around you. It’s just not fair and not good.

Harsha: There’s so many great points you’re making there, Hady. I think, one, this whole point about showing [00:33:00] up, because I really admire the way you’re always on LinkedIn. Not always, but you’re posting regularly and people know about what’s going on. You’re being quite transparent.

And for some people that would be thinking, well, do I really want to do that? But I think it’s better to be, out front and trying to add value and say, look, have you seen this article? or, maybe these are things, some things that I can help with you with, but also I like this idea of focusing on your own journey because everybody’s race is different.

You don’t know, you know, they could say they’ve got this job, but is it really as good as you think is the pay is you just don’t know. And everybody has to make that decision for themselves. What are they willing to accept? But I do think if you can yeah, focus on yourself, think about self care, all these things, it’s so important.

And then when the right job you know, there’s a sort of serendipity about it. The stars will align and things will work out.  

Hady: I do think that a layoff like any other transition is the perfect opportunity to [00:34:00] sort of recalibrate. And in my case, it was an opportunity to ensure that my next role was aligned with my mission and my values and I had to like, kind of rethink and make sure like, what is my mission? And what are my values? I’ve learned a couple of things during my layoff. So I’ll I’m happy to share them with you and with others because, you know, they might be helpful.

Things should come up for other people during this time. So 1 of the things I discovered is I want to work for a smaller company. Salesforce had 80, 000 employees that they now have less than that because they had layoffs. But but still, I’ll never say never, but I’m kind of looking forward to working for a company that’s smaller, you know, maybe 10, 000 people, something like that.

Like, I’m, it’s like, you know, everybody has a preference for like, university is like, you want to go to a university that has 50,000 people or one that has 3500 people. I went to a school that was 3500 people. So I think like, I like the more I like a more intimate, closer [00:35:00] relationships. That’s what I prefer.

And so that’s one thing I discovered about myself that what I would like from my next position is something a little smaller. And I want to make a big impact. I’ve discovered I want like a juicy role with a lot of responsibility. Like, I don’t mind having the spotlight and being able to really, have, be empowered to, to do great work.

And then I also have for sure discovered that my health and wellness is extremely important and that whatever role I take on next. It’s important for me to know that, you know, I’ll still have time to prepare my own meals because that’s something that I’m doing a lot of now and that’s been really helpful.

And I’ve been going for long walks and like, I still want the ability to do that. I don’t want to just go back into the grind into that little hamster wheel. I want to like preserve some of these. Good habits, and I want to continue to have self care as a priority [00:36:00] that, you know it’s a goal.

Like that’s always a goal. Sometimes I, achieved it more than others, but I’m definitely in a good place with it right now. And I, I’m very mindful that whatever role I take on next, I need to have space to continue to make, to keep that a priority self care that is.

Harsha: I love that. And I think it’s, it’s very important, whatever role you’re taking on that you’re happy in the, in the organization that you can see how you’re having an impact because I think sometimes in these very large organizations so I worked at EY, PwC and a bank and you sometimes feel, wow, you’re just, a small part of this huge organization. How much of an impact am I really having? But obviously you’re, you’re getting paid and that sort of stuff.

Hady: Yeah, and it’s nice to be close to strategy and like. Like having regular conversations with like a CEO or senior leadership team, like when you’re a part of a big organization, that’s so much harder to come by. And I want to be [00:37:00] like right in the thick of things. That’s my desire is to really ultimately be part of the C suite and be a key decision maker. So I want to be really close to that or as close to that as I can be.

Harsha: Just in terms of the practical things that you’ve been doing, can you share with our listeners what things you’ve been doing to get in contact with people, look for opportunities? Are there any practical things you can share with our listeners about your process for finding a new job?

Hady: I don’t think it’s that much different than anyone else. I’m on LinkedIn for the most part. That’s where I get a lot of my alerts or, you know, I’ll see posts that people have or lots of times there’s a, there’s a lot of people. I’m like, when this is all said and done, I’m going to have to buy a lot of people dinner because.

All the time. I have one particular friend. Her name is Pam. Shout out to Pam. She literally sends me like job opportunities like almost every other day. And I’m actually in the middle of an interview process with a company that she was like, you should apply for this job. [00:38:00] And I’m like, Oh yeah, I should. So she’s been great.

She’s been like my job hunter assistant in this process, or I would say partner in crime is probably the better word, but. Yeah, there’s been a couple. She’s not the only one. There’s been several people, people about honest with you that I don’t even know, like, Oh, I don’t know. Well, and they’re like, I thought of you.

Here’s this job as long as it has the people send it to me. So that’s been so kind and generous. I’ve had people actually serve as references or refer me like literally through a company process for a job. You know, occasionally had people be like, you should look at this company or like, you know, there’s not a job opening per se, but they’re like, I think you’d like this company.

If you’re thinking of this, what have you looked into that? And so they’ll make some suggestions for me. Yeah. So I, and, and I also feel like. Not everything has to be about looking for a job. Sometimes I’m just going to an event to just learn and be around people that are like me. Like yesterday I was at an event [00:39:00] for this Hispanic technology organization.

I just saw some people that I know and reconnected with people. I don’t think I’m going to get a job from being there, but like, I just reconnected with people and like stayed, you know, there was conversations around AI that were really interesting. There was also another conversation around investing.

In Hispanic like entrepreneurs and which I thought was also very interesting. So it’s just like new content, interesting conversations. I go to a lot of technology conferences. Sometimes I’m speaking, sometimes I’m not, but I just like, I just like being in the circle with people. And those to me, I consider that like planting seeds.

And I don’t know when I’m going to see like return on investment or like. See the fruit of my labor, but it doesn’t always have to be all about that because that’s a lot of pressure and stress for me and I don’t want to feel that way. I just want to feel like I’m organically just running in the circles that I need to be running in and eventually I’m going to come across the thing that’s meant for [00:40:00] me.

So I try to like. Not put undue pressure to just be like job, job, job, job, job. Like, it’s just like, it’s okay, Hady. Like just for now, enjoy the space you’re in, learn, you know, collaborate, talk to people, create some connections. And that’s good enough.

Harsha: I think that that’s a really important point you’re making is that look, every time you go to an event or every time you meet somebody, it’s all about, you know, can I get something out of this person?

Can they get me a job? Just yeah, reduce your expectations. Let’s just have a nice conversation. And I do think, look, if people have emotional intelligence and they’re decent, they will pick up the fact that, you know, Hardy needs a job. And most people are actually quite willing, if they find, you know, come across opportunities, which they think are good, they’ll, you know, as long as you’re a nice person, they’ll put you in touch.

And I think, people generally are [00:41:00] more giving than, than you realize. And you just never know who you’re speaking to or you know, how a post can bring, bring along something else. Now we clearly didn’t know each other and it was only because I saw your post and I thought, she’s in a difficult situation.

She’s been laid off, but she shows up and then I get you on my podcast. Unfortunately, I don’t have a tech job for you.  was thinking, if you can help people when they’re in a, a difficult situation, it’s, it’s much more powerful than, you know, if I went along to, I like Bill Gates and said, Bill, can I, can I interview you?

I can’t do anything for him, but hopefully somebody who’s watching this or listening, well, you know think how to, yeah, give her a chance. So, yeah.

Hady: I agree that you never know. Where a relationship or a connection can lead to. And it, you know, I have my, my small business. So maybe I [00:42:00] can get a speaking gig out of a conversation.

Maybe I can get a job. Maybe I can just have a connection and I can help them. I I’m helping a lot of people. During this time, believe it or not, I have like a mentee that, that, that I’m spending, you know, time and energy with. I’m part of a several boards that I volunteer my time with and I’m still connect and I’m part of like other like professional organizations.

So I’m still trying to connect people to other people. And I do that a lot and I’m not doing it because I’m expecting anybody to like pay me back. I’m doing it because that’s what we all should be doing for each other all the time. And if I think if we, if we did. Then, yeah, then we would be helping more people along the way, you know, to kind of get to the next place they need to go to.

But, but I do a lot of that because even when I think about all the way to when I was in college, I was like that. I was like, Oh, you should meet some such and such. Oh, that. Oh, that reminds me of this other person though. Like I’m going to introduce you to them. And I still do [00:43:00] that all the time. You know, that’s just a role that I play quite organically.

There’s no ulterior motive. I’m not looking to get anything else out of it, except to introduce to people that I think might have stuff in common and might want to like collaborate.

Harsha: Yeah, I think it’s really about, just the process of putting people together and I saw that on a previous interview talked about how the importance of building your network, you need to be organically planting those seeds.

And I think you were talking about how. You’ve got a lot of chips that you’re going to cash in. And you know, clearly look, it’s not done for any transactional reason, but if you have helped people hopefully they will come back and try and help you out when you’re in difficult times. I mean, what do you think?

Hady: Yeah and it’s not even, it doesn’t even have to be those people. It’s more like. The universe like I have been generous and kind and helpful when I can’t when I was able to, or when I’m able to, and hopefully there will be people in [00:44:00] in, you know, by the same token that have, you know that can help me in some way, and maybe the universe will align so that they can give something to me, some people.

I hope and I’ll never talk to them again. And that’s okay. Like I said, I’m not, that’s the reason I do it, but I just find by and large, like if you’re generous and you’re kind and you’re thoughtful and you’re, you know, generous that hopefully the universe will reimburse you at some point and say, you know, you, you did a lot of nice things for people that needed your help. Here’s a little bit of something in return when you need it.

Harsha: And it’s funny because those people you help who you help once and they don’t sort of help you reciprocate it. Clearly, they’re playing a very short game. They’re not thinking about the long game because, you know, you’ll remember that, that, you know, that that person.

Probably was a bit transactional. I was trying to like get something out of you. Whereas I think if you can think about the bigger picture and think, look, it’s not a [00:45:00] zero sum game. We can all rise. We can all improve. I always feel if somebody’s helped me, I will do my best if I can to help them in some way going forward.

Hady: Yeah. Well, it’s interesting because as I think about some of the people that I’ve helped, many of them are young people or. More people that are kind of in the earlier parts of their career, and they’re probably not able to help me right now. So it’s okay. Yeah, I want them to pay it forward. I want them when they’re in the position to help someone to help them, you know, when they can, I you know, and I don’t think they’re being transactional.

I just feel like it’s not their time yet. They’re not really at that place or level where they can help me per se in this case, but I want, you know, I feel like if we all paid it forward. That would be the great equalizer, you know, like at some point, everyone gets, gets help when they need it and everyone is able to offer help when they’re in the position to do so.

Harsha: Maybe they can help with social media or new trends or tech tips in that sense. But [00:46:00] yeah, one thing I wanted to ask you is how’s your business going? Boldly Speaking.

Hady: Great. I haven’t in all like in the spirit of transparency, I haven’t spent a lot of time. Invested a lot of time, like marketing or promoting it because I really am very focused on my job search right now.

And it’s, for me, it’s hard to do two things at the same time. Well, so like, you know, I’m like, okay, I need to like put this over here and I need to focus on the job search. But I, but you know I have like, excuse me, I have a couple of events coming for Hispanic heritage month, which is, which is exciting.

That’s in September and October. I’m going to be speaking at two conferences coming up and I feel like. Just from like keeping me like close to the topic of DEI and, and keeping me relevant and, you know, allowing me to connect with other people and to contribute to the DEI conversations. It’s really been like priceless.

So I’m, I’m very glad I launched it when I did because it’s been like kind of [00:47:00] sustaining me. During this time, so like, I can be part of some conversations and see what’s going on at some companies and help ERGs, which are things, you know, that’s stuff that I like and enjoy. I partner a lot with employees that are kind of at the earlier stages of their career.

That’s stuff that is important to me. So I like that. I’m still able to do that in some way, in some capacity, and then I’m really focused on what’s next for me. So it’s a balance.

Harsha: And, and for our listeners out there, if you’re looking for a speaker, Hardie is your your person. She’s available for any gigs.

Hady: I think so. I can talk about a lot of things. I like talking to ERGs. That’s mostly what I do, but I can talk to companies at large about inclusion and belonging and. I can talk about allyship and retaining underrepresented employees and why that’s so important and investing in that talent. And, and I can talk about a lot of other things too.

I’ve done a lot of work with [00:48:00] customers. I feel like I can always talk about customer advocacy and, and, and that sort of thing. But yeah, I, I thank you for the plug.

Harsha: No problem. And just in terms of the future, how can, how do you add value to any company?

Hady: Yeah. So my roles that I’m looking for are either DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion type roles or roles that are kind of centered around racial equity.

And I would say about halfway through my job search, I kind of. Like expanded the universe of organizations that I was talking to. So that, that is, I think what has brought me to where I am today, where I’m having lots of different conversations and the roles are really with some nonprofits and some internal DEI roles.

And it’s kind of much broader and interesting. I think pretty, I’m very excited about the opportunities in front of me. I think what makes me stand out is that I have over 25 years of experience in tech and financial services, but I also have. Five solid years in nonprofit, and I think [00:49:00] that combination is pretty rare.

I’m also versatile. I mentioned that I have worked with customers, so I’m a natural problem solver. So on the 1 hand, it allows me to partner with customers and come up with solutions to their business problems. And on the other hand, it allows me to act in, like, a senior role as it relates to programs and.

Program development and, and like measuring impact. And so I feel like I can do those two things pretty well. And those are two very different things, but like, I can step into either type of role and be successful and effective. And then I, the last thing I would say, and I know people like talking about emotional intelligence, so I’ll, I’ll kind of plug myself here too.

And I think. Even when I network, I like talking to a person, not like a group of people and I don’t really like being like, Oh, what do you do? And like, I’m like, can we go to a corner and just like, really talk to each other? Like, I want to like, really get to know you and figure out how we can, like, support each other’s efforts.

So I’m all about building trusted relationships [00:50:00] that can endure. Over many years, and that’s very helpful to me. The has been served me well in a lot of roles that I’ve had and I’m also good at, like, recognizing the contributions of other people and bringing people together for a common goal. Like, I like collaborating.

I like doing things together. I think we go further together. And I, I don’t, you know, I don’t like being the one that, you know, like the outlier, I mean, who, who does like, I want, I want to do the thing that everybody wants to do, but like, I really like when we all want to, we all are moving towards in the same direction.

And unfortunately, I have to tell you in DEI that that doesn’t happen as much as I hope that it would like, there’s a lot of times where I like, you know. We’re pushing people, kicking and screaming. And it’s like, well, this is the right thing. And we’ll, we’ll be glad we did this when it’s over. But like, I, I would love being in the position where I have more co conspirators that are like really looking to partner and do the work together.

Harsha: [00:51:00] No, I love that. And I think, yeah, that’s a great summary of the roles and the talents that Hardy has and can bring to any organization. One thing that struck me have you ever come across this psychologist called Robert Cialdini? He wrote this book called Influence.

Hady: No, but I’m yeah,

Harsha: he’s out. Yeah. Yeah, you should definitely if you haven’t come across him, you should definitely get that book And there are lots of YouTube videos about him.

So he talks about the six principles of influence I can’t remember all of them at once but it’s things like liking, consistency, social proof, and then there are three others But he’s the godfather of influence and how you can influence people not in a Machiavellian way, but in a nice way where you’re both going towards a similar goal.

Hady: I want to ask you a question. So you said he’s the Godfather. Did he come before or after Dale Carnegie? Because Dale Carnegie wrote the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And I took a Dale Carnegie class. So I’m with that program. [00:52:00]

Harsha: Yeah, of course. Yeah. After that, I’m not sure how old he is. Maybe he’s in his seventies. But the interesting thing is that I think Warren Buffett and his partner, well, Charlie Munger loves this book Influence. And I think there’s a story that they actually gave him one share in Berkshire Hathaway as a thank you for, so I mean, clearly they love him and that share probably would have been.

Wow. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, but sorry, I sort of gone around in circles slightly, but one thing he was saying, if you go for an interview, one really helpful thing to do, influence people in a positive manner is to say, yeah, why did you invite me for the interview? What made me stand out from the other candidates? And then what he was saying is that they will look at your CV and then they will almost, to influence everybody else on the panel, or even

Hady: Influence themselves.

Harsha: Yeah. So you’re, you’re actually using them to sell you back. It’s really interesting concept. It was just something [00:53:00] that struck me when we were talking about interviews and things like that.

But yeah, I would definitely check out his book. So say if you meet somebody for the first time, what you’re trying to do is find things in common about that person. So he talks about commonalities. So you sometimes say like you know, what city you from? Do you go to what school did you go to?

What sports do you like? And then when you find a common bond, then you can build a trust and relationship over that. And then it moves on to. Yeah, other more substantial consequential things. So I just thought I’d throw that in there if you hadn’t come across it, because I think it’s a really interesting idea that I think in life people always, you know, trying to you know, build relationships and I, I don’t think you can fool people into, you can’t fool somebody into liking you, but I think there is a way of saying, okay, we you know, we, we like a similar book or a similar.

Food or whatever it is. But I think we have more in common than we realize, [00:54:00] but most people don’t make the effort to actually build those relationships and actually find out what is similar to somebody else. And, and one funny story, I’ll just quickly tell you is that once I was at this event and I met this person and he started talking, I thought, Oh my God, I probably, I’m not going to like him.

And then afterwards, I found out that he knew somebody that I knew, and that made me completely change my view of him. He, he can’t be a bad guy. And then later on, he’s actually. Yeah. And he’s actually a good, good person. But you know, sometimes you meet somebody at the wrong time where they say something a bit stupid.

So yeah. And it’s funny because I think we all have these unconscious biases within ourselves and maybe we’re projecting stuff from ourselves onto other people. So you have to be very careful when you’re meeting new people.

Hady: A thousand percent. I had a situation, something like that just happened to me recently. I was at a cocktail reception and I met someone and I’m like, Hmm, I already put that person in a box. And then they [00:55:00] said, and I was like, what, what did you say? I’m like, okay, let’s keep talking. Like, that was very interesting. You just said, and very unexpected. And so I was like, okay, you know, like reminder, do not put people in boxes.

Harsha: Yeah. Or they, they like a particular book or, Oh, you like hip hop as well. Oh, you can’t be. Exactly. Excellent. So the final thing, how do you, how can people get in touch with you? Obviously you’re on LinkedIn. Are there any other social media channels that they can reach out to you?

Hady: Yeah, LinkedIn is probably the best from a professional perspective. I also happen to be an amateur street art photographer. I’m on Instagram under Hady on the web, but that is like mostly just street art photos from like, mostly New York, but other places that I visit. And then I’m on threads now, but I, I’m still kind of finding my voice on threads. So maybe don’t look for me on threads yet.

Harsha: Cool. And, and with [00:56:00] your photography, so it’s, it’s, it’s taking photos around New York and other places you go to..

Hady: Yeah So wherever I go in the world and, sometimes I’m traveling more than others lately, not so much, but. I usually go on a street art tour wherever I go. Like last year I was in Italy and in Portugal and I got, you know, I went on street art tours both in both places and then just discovered a lot of really cool art in both cities in Florence and in Lisbon and in Porto.

So like I shared a lot of photos from there and you know, if I go out west, if I go to like the you know, California, the mission area has some good street art. If I, you know, any places that I find myself, I’ll make sure that I’m. That I’m getting photos. I really enjoy it. And it’s like something that I started when I was broke and taking street art photos is free and very accessible.

Everybody can do it. And I find it just to be like a nice thing that it, you can do it at any time. [00:57:00] I have discovered there’s a lot of talented people. There’s a lot of people that have like. Use the platform to, you know, as a way to like talk about inequities or other like political views and like, that’s very interesting to me. So there’s a lot of like DEI in street art or more than you think, I think more than people realize.

Harsha: Yeah, I suppose there are these subliminal things coming through that you probably don’t realize, but yeah, the message is coming through. Oh, fantastic.

Hady: Yeah. And I actually dabbled. I had like a street art persona and I was doing a little bit of street art for a while and it was centered around women of color.

It was, I did it by design. It was for women of color. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. And you never know who’s going to see it or how it might resonate with them. I remember I had like some stickers that I was putting up and I didn’t go to Puerto Rico. I wasn’t in Puerto Rico at the time, but my, my niece was, and she had some stickers.

So she put it up. And then like [00:58:00] a third person shared a picture, shared a picture of herself with the sticker and was like, look what I found. And. That was cool to just have like a perfect stranger, like identify with the sticker and share it on Instagram and yeah, it was just, it was really nice.

Harsha: So Hady, really thank you for your time this morning. Thank you for joining us from Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Good to see Brooklyn in the house.

Hady: I appreciate the invitation.

Harsha: My pleasure. One final thing. Is there anybody you would like to give a quick shout out to who’s helped you in your career or your life?

Hady: Oh my goodness. One person, just the one person or two. Gosh, I’m not really sure. That’s such a, that’s a hard question, but I would say

Harsha: Well, your mom helping you on the tech journey

Hady: Yeah, well, shout out to my mom. She’s, she’s not alive anymore.

Harsha: Sorry about that.

Hady: That’s okay. But yeah, shout out to my mom [00:59:00] for raising me in an environment where I could have a voice and be confident and ultimately be able to not only advocate for myself, but for other people.

So thank you mommy for that. And for that. She, she raised four daughters and we, you know, she, she was a feisty Latina and she, we all are quite a feisty bunch. So thanks mom for that. And I think the other person I would shout out is probably my sister. She’s also a deceased. She’s not alive, but my sister was just like a really good role model for me growing up.

She actually was an engineer. She’s older. She was older than me and she was an engineer and she was the one that, she also kind of encouraged me, so she was like, since you’re gonna do tech, maybe you could be an engineer or like pursue like electrical engineering or something. I did not do that, but like I did the Comp sci stuff.

She was a good role model. I liked how she was very diplomatic in the, you know, kind of how she handled herself. And I always [01:00:00] aspired to be more like her and like getting along with people and bringing people together. She’s someone that I considered. To have been very level headed and I always aspire to be more like her.

I’m sometimes I could be a little bit emotional and like I admire the like the level headedness of people who can just kind of keep things even keeled. And so I aspire to be more like her every day. Yeah,

Harsha: that’s, that’s, that’s great, Hady. Once again, thank you so much. Wishing you all the best with your job search. Good wishes from London.

Hady:. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for inviting me to your show and for giving me the platform to share a little bit of my story.

Harsha: Bye Hady, bye.

Thank you so much for listening and staying to the end. That was such a fun interview. If you’d like to listen to more episodes, please podcast, which is available on your favorite providers.

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