Latest / AccessCo Leaders Career Conversations / Coalescing Gritty Teams
Transcript
- Ilyne Deliquina: Hello and welcome back to AccessCo Leaders. This is our first episode with our summer externship with our young adults. We have Ariana with us today and our guest, Alejandra McGinley Sepulveda, who I have gone back like three years. She was also a guest earlier in the semester with our high school students. So welcome back, Allie. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Thank you so much for having me. Hi everybody. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, Allie is still the director of business and unit management or business, yeah, business unit management with Clemens Food Group. Can you tell us a little bit, just a little, about Clemens Food Group, what you guys are doing there, and what you specifically do as a director with the company? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, absolutely. So Clemens Food Group is actually a division of the ⁓ Clemens Family Corporation. The food group actually ⁓ is a pork processor. ⁓ we have two plants of fresh pork and then we have value added. So all the delicious tenderloins and bacon that you find in the retails ⁓ are made here. Our brand Hatfield is how most people actually recognize us. ⁓ and then I'm actually currently ⁓ currently here in one of our plans in Michigan, ⁓ cold water, Michigan. So ⁓ a lot of ⁓ coverage nationally. And then as director of business unit management, I ⁓ lead a team of people who are assigned different port categories and they own the inventory, the production. So we're ⁓ looking to maximize the the margin and then ⁓ really kind of ⁓ shuffle all the meat ⁓ to cover all the needs internally for our production as well as our customers. So a very fast paced ⁓ day-to-day ⁓ job. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome. And when we first met, that was two promotions ago. So tell us how did you get involved? Well, four promotions ago. Let's go. That's awesome. Amazing. And this isn't your first professional job. You started off with other organizations. So tell us a little bit about your career journey. Where did you get started when you started working? And then like how how did those pivots and promotions happen? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Right. Yeah. So four control. ⁓ yeah, awesome. Okay, but yeah, goodness. Yeah, so this is my fourth role here at Clemens, and ⁓ I've been here three and a half years. I started at Clemens as actually a business unit manager as well. So I was part of the team that I lead now. ⁓ but I was focused on export products. So then from there I went to become a business unit manager of different categories. Then I moved on to be a director of international and industrial sales. That's that was last year. I think that was ⁓ the last time you and I talked. I I had that role. ⁓ and I moved over to director of business unit manager. This is all within the fresh pork sales team. ⁓ so it's been very, very fun and very interesting. I actually came from working at Girl Scouts though. So I sort of worked went from cookies to pork. ⁓ not quite sure how that connection happened. ⁓ but I'm happy to be here. ⁓ at Girl Scouts, I was also leading the teams who were generating all the earned revenue. So talk about retails, but the one that everybody knows is cookies. So all of that ⁓ operation was was ⁓ under me. my career path has been very ⁓ it has not been straight. I've taken a lot of pivots, a lot of turns. ⁓ I think I've been in marketing, e-commerce, retail. ⁓ I actually started my career in the hospitality industry. So I worked in hotels. I was working overnight while going to school. ⁓ I like to think that everything that I ⁓ learned through my very just curvy career path ⁓ has taken me to where I am today. and I've taken learnings from from each and every experience. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome. And because I believe this is part of your story and I'd like for l for our listeners to to know where you've come from and because I'm always so proud to hear your story. Tell the tell share with Ariana and our listeners where did you grow up? ⁓ you mentioned that, you know, the plant is now you're in in Michigan, but typically you're in Pennsylvania. But where did you grow up and how did you end up where you are now in Pennsylvania? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, so that's ⁓ definitely part of my ⁓ Kirby path. But ⁓ I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and I actually grew up there. ⁓ I was there until I was twenty-four years old. ⁓ I have a 13-year-old daughter. ⁓ so after she was born, we decided to relocate to New Jersey ⁓ just for better opportunities, ⁓ you know, ⁓ raising a family. ⁓ I moved from New Jersey, I was there for probably about a year, year and a half, and then I moved over to Pennsylvania to be closer to some family. and ⁓ now I worked out of our ⁓ headquarters in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. I actually live about nine minutes away from the plant, which makes it a really nice commute. ⁓ and I come here to our plant in Michigan every three months about ⁓ more or less. Ilyne Deliquina: And it seems like that's when we have you on the show. Every time you're Michigan, why don't you just let us know? It's time for a show. All right. Well let's hop over to to Ariana. Ariana, what's your first question for for Alejandra? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah. Perfect. Ariana M.: And how did all the other experiences that you had going into this job and ⁓ entering into where you are now 'cause you've had four promotions, all those other jobs that you had, do you think how did that you benefit from them to get to the position you're at right now? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, that's a great question. I I really like to think that starting in a hospitality industry really built me ⁓ for my ⁓ for my career. ⁓ whether you are customer facing or you're leading a team. ⁓ my team is always saying that I am very diplomatic and like I'm very calm throughout the chaos. Like I don't stress, I don't sh wait, I stress, I just don't show it. ⁓ And I think being in ⁓ you know being in the hotel industry, being customer facing all the time, standing in a desk, ⁓ having people complain to you, and you have to, you know, keep ⁓ your composure and really ⁓ just think about the customer and their experience, ⁓ really taught me that kind of patience and that kind of ⁓ understanding, listening skills, being empathetic. ⁓ from there, ⁓ I started kind of connecting. how we were marketing our services with how we were ⁓ giving our our customers their customer service experience as well. So I started kind of connecting different aspects of business while I was in the hotel business. And then that prompted me to want to learn more about those sites. So like how do we ⁓ connect marketing to ⁓ c ⁓ guest services? How do I connect finance to marketing? How do I so that kind of really prompted in me special More just curiosity to keep learning about business. ⁓ and then I just took all my turns. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome. Ariana, what's your follow-up question for Ali? Ariana M.: Was this always your career plan? Like what was your career goal back then, five, ten years ago? And then how do you think that you've kind of made that goal in a way in your position now? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: It's funny, I was just talking to someone before I joined the call. ⁓ I was telling them, like, hey, I just, you know, I'm joining this call ⁓ because I'm in a shared group ⁓ shared space. and one of the things that I admire of every of these sessions is the fact that all of you young people just have such a clear path and passion ⁓ that you're just like inspired to follow. That to me is just mind-blowing. ⁓ I did not have a path. I ⁓ I went from wanting to be an architect to wanting to be an engineer. ⁓ and I gave those a try, like for we had like experiences, ⁓ the colleges in Puerto Rico would do ⁓ some sort of like summer camp experience or a week here, a week there. So I would say, okay, let's go ⁓ experience the architecture ⁓ summer camp and I hated it. And then I did the same thing for engineering and I didn't like it. And I remember going to my senior year, starting of the senior year, and you know, you get all the pressures like what are you doing with your life, where are you going? What do you want to be when you grow up? ⁓ I went to my guidance counselor and I'm like, I don't know what I want to do. but I do know that I want to go to college and I want to, you know, move forward. ⁓ and we did some assessments. What do you like to do? What a personality. I'm very outgoing. ⁓ I love working with people. ⁓ so I kind of went first ⁓ to communications. That was my first bachelor's degree, actually. I went into journalism. I've always ⁓ loved writing. ⁓ I clearly did not ⁓ become a journalist, ⁓ so I kind of ⁓ pivoting is really what I've been doing forever. but no, I never expected to be here. I never expected to be leading a team ⁓ as great as the one I'm leading now. I never expected in my wildest dreams to be working at a pork ⁓ company either. So I don't know if that answered your question. Yeah. Ilyne Deliquina: Cookies to pork. Ariana, this is a great opportunity for you to share with ⁓ Alejandra what it is that you've studied and what your interests are in in your sh either straight or your curvy path ahead. Ariana M.: So it's funny that you say you started in hospitality. So I went to the hospitality college, ⁓ and I graduated with entertainment management. But within that field it's everything under entertainment and we actually had to take a a hospitality hotel class. We had to take ⁓ you know, sports and we had to take music because they wanted us to make sure, you know, we had a broad sense of what we could do with the degree. ⁓ I I do wanna get into sports. That's obviously my kind of plan going forward, but Right now I'm working at Ulta. I've been at Ulta for four years. I love the beauty industry. And if there were an opportunity to grow within that company, I would love to continue on because I've you know, I've been passionate about it since before I even started working there. So and then I also am doing a PR agency, ⁓ doing social media and communications. And that's funny you mentioned communications. That was originally the first plan of me getting my degree was communications. Then I was like, let's pivot to marketing, and then I ended up in entertainment management. 'Cause one my friends said, ⁓ instead of just shortening yourself to just this, entertainment is a wide variety and so yeah, I just recently graduated from that and I'm just looking to kind of build my career in whatever comes my way. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: That she doesn't meet me. I don't know. I don't what am I doing here? That's great. That is so great. And yeah, it's it's ⁓ interesting. That's one of the advices that I usually give when I join ⁓ these sessions is to not just p you know, don't narrow yourself to just one thing. ⁓ go out there, experience, network, ⁓ find yourself mentors, ⁓ though all those experiences will definitely maybe at the time it won't ⁓ It won't be exciting or it won't be something that ⁓ you're kind of questioning, like, hey, is it worth it or not? Later on you just realize realize how important it is. ⁓ and those people who you network very early in your careers often stay with you. and hey, sometimes you end up working for them or they were end up working for you. I've had that happen too. ⁓ and it's it's really good to just have people ⁓ in your corner. That's great. I love that. Ilyne Deliquina: Ali, can you ⁓ share some encouragement with Ariana ⁓ as far as, you know, because she has kind of a general degree in in management and then also an interest in marketing, what that can look like, right? So you went from, like we didn't we were saying, Girl Scouts and Cookies to ⁓ Clemens and pork, but how did you get your mind in a place where it's like, okay, this wasn't my dream to to to work with cookies or pork? ⁓ but I get to do X, Y, and Z. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, I think it's a combination really of ⁓ being curious and then being creative, right? So being curious, how do you learn? ⁓ you I've always wanna learn, I always want to grow. that's something that I'm passionate about. ⁓ but then also ⁓ creative enough to take the basic learnings of what you are experiencing now and then applying it to to other other aspects, right? So entertainment, like you like you said, could be beauty, it could be sports, it could be all the basic. You'll you're going to apply it no matter where you go. ⁓ so don't focus on s the specific, just focus on ⁓ the basic information that you are you are getting. And that's really kind of how I got from cookies to to pork, really. ⁓ at first I don't I can't lie, I was ⁓ the first few weeks I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, what did I do? This is completely different. ⁓ later on I realized it's all the same concepts. It they're all being applied ⁓ in a similar way. Yeah, there's a little bit of nuances, but you can take that with you wherever you wherever you go. Ilyne Deliquina: ⁓ before I get back to you, Ariana, ⁓ can you share, Ali, some of the your like the motivations and some of the benefits, like depending on where you are in life, if this company offers these things, like is that motivating to you? So can you share a little bit about what that kind of decision matrix looks like? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, I think it's ⁓ the stage of your life is very ⁓ important. ⁓ I I think probably the most important thing. ⁓ early in your career, you're looking, as you mentioned, ⁓ growth opportunities. are you able to learn? Do they have a leadership development program? Like really what kind of ⁓ investments are the company going to do ⁓ have in you? And then as you grow, right? Like when I had my daughter, obviously my priorities changed. ⁓ I was a single mom. I had to, you know, ⁓ bring her up. I couldn't be in the office from six in the morning to eight PM. ⁓ you know, I had I had priorities for so for me, ⁓ that changed. And then I had to look for companies that allow me to still grow, allow me to still ⁓ invest in myself and take different paths if I needed to, but also understand that Hey, I have a kid at home and I need to go home or ⁓ she's sick and I have to work from home, have that flexibility and work life. I like to say it's like more like work life synergy more than work life balance because they're never balanced. They're never like equal. ⁓ but it's ⁓ it's how do you do them both and do them both ⁓ effectively. ⁓ and that's really what I love about Clemens ⁓ so much. Ilyne Deliquina: That's good. Ariana, what's your next question? Ariana M.: Since you do run your own team, when you hire somebody, what does success look like to ⁓ to you as somebody who hires people to your team? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: That's a great question. I would say it depends on the role. ⁓ and depends on the job that they're interviewing for. So ⁓ interviewing someone for Girl Scouts would be different than interviewing someone for Clemens. ⁓ in my team currently, ⁓ we do assessments before our interview that just show us the personality, you know, like the disc profile and you know, different things. ⁓ one of the things that we definitely need is resiliency. ⁓ our ⁓ day-to-day changes, not even on a day-to-day basis, more of like a an hour to hour basis. ⁓ if you don't have a high level of resiliency, really you're not you're not gonna make it. ⁓ to me it's also ⁓ as a manager individually I look for someone who's hungry and driven and has that grit and I think once you have that and you're just curious and hungry to learn, everything else kind of comes after. ⁓ you have that drive, ⁓ you you're gonna I rather have drive than sometimes someone with experience. ⁓ we we sometimes have hired people from the industry that have years of experience, but don't have that drive and don't have that grit and they just don't make it. ⁓ so we rather get people who are really hungry and really want to learn and grow within the company. Ilyne Deliquina: Let's dive a little bit deeper into that. What does it look like when you mentioned doing assessments before the interviews and then an interview and you repeated saying like that grit and that drive and being hungry? What does that look like to you as somebody interviewing ⁓ somebody starting their career for one and then or just somebody just applying for one of your positions? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: I ⁓ just chimney in the Yeah, so I think for us it's more about ⁓ the ability like they have to have ability to problem solve, think on think on their feet, bring teams together, ⁓ think outside the box. That those are all those experiences and examples would really be something that we would be looking at for. ⁓ their ability to make decisions in a in a quickly ⁓ you know, quick turnaround, that's also i important. But ⁓ you know, we don't I I don't wanna rely so much on the disc profile because I hate just being like, ⁓ you're this and this is how everybody is, right? I don't want to put anybody in a box. But it does say up a lot about you. and then like what really motivates you. I I that's another question that I ask, you know, what what motivates you? Why are you here? ⁓ what do you see your where do you see yourself in the next five minutes, in the next five years, not five minutes, gosh. The next five years. ⁓ yeah, right. ⁓ Ilyne Deliquina: We're really hungry. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: And I think that to me it it's really paint a picture of who they are, who they wanna be. ⁓ if you have really big goals, that to me is ⁓ hey, you really wanna work hard, you really wanna get there, ⁓ and you have a path, you're you're clear. That to me is something that definitely ⁓ is a it's a good flag to have. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome, that's helpful. All right, Vanessa, what's your first question? Vinessa Gingrass: ⁓ you spoke a lot about collaboration and I know collaboration is a large part of leadership. Can you speak to that a little bit and ⁓ how you're successful in that? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, ⁓ collaboration is really probably a k it's a it's a key thing to do in our in our team and in our company. ⁓ we ⁓ there is no team that works on an asilo really. we have to pull in key teams together, ⁓ understand what is the larger impact of our decisions, ⁓ and we got to do it quickly at times. So ⁓ is the ability to ⁓ I would say we have our our ⁓ we call them our Clements way, they're fundamental, so thirty thirty ethos. That we like really live by. And one of them is embracing diverse perspectives. ⁓ is probably my favorite. And ⁓ further than just diversity, I'm thinking more about ⁓ what areas of the business do I need to include in this decision before I say yes or no? ⁓ and just think about ⁓ individuals and it's not about hierarchy. ⁓ I can I can add the COO or I can add an intern ⁓ an intern. Like it's not about that. It's really more about representation of ⁓ departments and teams that are ⁓ affected or impacted or could have any ⁓ any input on the decision making. and then we we have that and we have also you know invest on relationships. You have to do that as well. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome, awesome. Ariana, your next question. Ariana M.: What would you say the biggest challenge is ⁓ running your own team and what does it look like on the daily? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: ⁓ I would say ⁓ at first when you become a people manager, ⁓ the the most difficult thing is really delegation. ⁓ you have to ⁓ understand that you're not now the only person doing a a war a job that you have to delegate. And that for me was really hard. ⁓ 'cause I tend to just wanted to do it all. And now I have a team who I have to manage and they have, you know, larger things to do. ⁓ but it's also to me, it's very important to have trust in your team. ⁓ not having to micromanage, let them like the team here is actually they are more experts than I am on what we do every day. ⁓ and that makes it both hard and easy because they are running their own business units. There are all ⁓ experts in their area. I trust them, but I also I think the challenging part for me is that I have to know enough have enough knowledge to then challenge them on their decisions and make them kind of think outside the box. So it's having that balance. Ilyne Deliquina: It's awesome. Well, we do have Djoser, our other extern who just hopped on. ⁓ Djoser, just so you're aware, Alejandra is she goes way back. ⁓ we've done these kinds of interviews for the past three years or so. And ⁓ she shared a little bit what what she's doing now as a director of business unit ⁓ management. Right. ⁓ and ⁓ and then kind of her journey. She started started off at ⁓ at Girl Scouts and now she's with Clemens Food Group. ⁓ But lots of other experience. And Djoser is calling in from ⁓ San Diego. He is going to be heading to Morehouse College ⁓ in August. So ⁓ excited for him. ⁓ let's see. Djoser, you probab I don't know if you ⁓ if you're ready for any questions yet. So we're gonna we'll go do another round and then you can hop in and ask questions. If not, then we'll ⁓ we'll get you in for more of the introduction. So ⁓ Ali, I'll asking us the next one. You mentioned some relationships, and we talked a little bit about this earlier. And I've seen some of the posts on LinkedIn with Clemens Food Group that there are a lot of families, like legit families, who are all employed there at Clemens Food Group. Can you share a little bit about your dynamics and what does building a community at the same company do for you personally? And what you've seen, how that is as far as the morale of a company. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, so Clemens Food Group, I mean Clemens, a family corporation, is actually family owned by the Clemens family. So I think it starts from there. ⁓ you you you feel the family values from the top. ⁓ and we have ⁓ Clemens family members working all the way from the CEO who was recently promoted in May, all the way down to interns who are coming in. ⁓ I personally have also my husband who works at ⁓ Clemens. ⁓ we did not meet at Clemens, but I did bring him over after I joined the company. He works in the operations team. So there's a lot of that. ⁓ there's a lot of families coming in, there's a lot of ⁓ people who have met their significant others in the company too. I mean, we're a company of ⁓ say five to six thousand people. ⁓ so and we're all spread out from Pennsylvania to ⁓ Michigan. I think the you can feel the values really. ⁓ we're all sort of working, ⁓ we have this extreme ownership mentality where we're all kind of thinking as Clemens Food Group, this is our business. Like every decision I'm making, I'm doing it for the Clemens Food Group legacy. And it's really ⁓ it's kind of ingrained from the very beginning when you start and you feel that relationship throughout. ⁓ everybody ⁓ in every department and in every area of the business. ⁓ I I've honestly never seen anything like it. Ilyne Deliquina: That's amazing. Yeah. That's a one of my values too is just continuing to be part of organizations that value that community and that ⁓ that aspect of because it's more than just being part of a team. You're truly a family ⁓ outside of those lines. Let's give it a try, Djoser. Do you what's your first question for Alejandra? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Absolutely. Djoser Burruss: Hi, it's nice to meet you. ⁓ I noticed that ⁓ in your answers so far you've said a lot about like just like the community aspect in what you do. And I was wondering I think in certain spaces it might be kinda hard to recreate that. So I feel like if you were maybe to leave this food group unfortunately or had to join another group that might have been a lot bigger and more ⁓ maybe less focused on community, how would you recreate that aspect? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, that's a great question. Nice to meet you as well. I ⁓ I think right. My first initial thought is like, I just wanna change it, let's make it better. I just wanna ⁓ just make a, you know, boil the ocean. It really starts with your team. When you're leading a team, having that community sense in a team is is ⁓ first priority. ⁓ creating that trust both ways. ⁓ they have to trust you and you have to trust them. it's We're all working towards the same goal. There's no I, it's always we. That that just it starts smaller. I like to think that it it can replicate. It's kind of contagious, right? And it it grows from there. ⁓ as a leader, it's ⁓ I find myself sometimes just fighting for that in a larger group ⁓ and fighting for ⁓ a little bit more diverse perspectives. ⁓ you have to be ⁓ I would say a ⁓ natural disruptor and be comfortable with with challenging the status quo ⁓ to make changes on a large scale. Ilyne Deliquina: Joseph, what's your follow up question for our ⁓ for ⁓ Alejandra? Djoser Burruss: Yeah, that was a really good question. I noticed how like I like how you touched on being like a natural disruptor and being willing to kind of force uncomfortable situations to make a change. And I was wondering, like, is there any specific instances instances in the Clans Food group where you had to do that despite there being a large community aspect? Like, is there anything you've had to change or anything you've come across that didn't feel right and you've kind of had to speak up and create that change? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: ⁓ yeah, I actually I would say ⁓ I do it pretty frequently. ⁓ sometimes I have to find myself like, okay, Allie, ⁓ take a step back. ⁓ choose your battles. But yeah, it's ⁓ we also have ⁓ a lot of ⁓ people here who I mean have worked here for longer than I've been alive. And that's something to me mind blowing. I also don't haven't seen that ever at anywhere else. We have so many retirees that we have to have like two ⁓ series. ceremonies per year because there's too many for just one. that to me is is interesting. But with with that, ⁓ someone who's been here for 35 years, 40 years, we we get the the comments sometimes like, ⁓ this is how it is and we've always done it that way. ⁓ Great, that doesn't mean that we have to continue doing it that way, right? Like 40 years ago, we were one small plant. Now we have ⁓ I don't know, five plants at this point. ⁓ it it gets more complex. And with complexity goes comes challenges. You have to pivot, you have to change, and you have to be unc ⁓ comfortable with the uncomfortable. ⁓ so those are kind of moments where I'm like, okay. ⁓ great that ⁓ we have done that ⁓ so long you know like what are the challenges what's the team feeling ⁓ what can we change and obviously what can we take ⁓ learnings can we take from the previous process and implement them to the new one but ⁓ there's no need for us to just you know be stale in a process just because we've done it like that so for the for so long so that's sort of an example where I'm kind of you know, challenging a little bit. ⁓ sometimes it's well received, sometimes there's resistance, but ⁓ ultimately you're trying to make ⁓ the decision that's best for the business. Ilyne Deliquina: I love that being a natural disruptor, Allie. We're out here, you know, just being a voice for the people. ⁓ I do have a follow-up question with what you just shared. ⁓ you said that sometimes it's received well when you're like giving, you know, some pushback or some, you know, some feedback. Who helps you make that decision and say, okay, pump your brakes, Allie? Maybe we need to like move our energy somewhere else. Do you have a mentor? Do you have ⁓ other colleagues that hold you accountable? Share a little bit about what that dynamics looks for you. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: It's a it's a a combination actually. I do have a mentor. ⁓ I'm very lucky to be mentored by our former CEO who just retired, ⁓ which is just like such a great honor. but also I have a good relationship with my direct boss as well. ⁓ and I can brainstinks to him and say, you know, like I'm feeling really passionate. He also knows that I am a I'm stubborn, although he says my stubbornness sometimes could be my superpower. ⁓ it's to me it's gonna be like fifty fifty. I don't know. Sometimes it's just ⁓ I just get very hyper focused. But I'll bring stuff to him. with the embracing diverse perspectives, we're never made making any of these decisions just like on a one-on-one. I we're usually in a larger room ⁓ with a lot of voices, a lot of opinions, a lot of different perspectives and experiences. ⁓ so ultimately it's it has to be a consensus in the group, right? ⁓ and We ultimately try to understand, like, okay, what is the bottom line impact? ⁓ because yeah, it might affect this team, but it's gonna help this other. ⁓ try to take a step back and then understand what does this do for the company and for the future of the company. And then that kind of leads it it leaves us to make the decision, whether we go forward or we we it's like, hey, the juice is not worth the squeeze, let's just step back and leave it as is, right? ⁓ and that happens often. Sometimes we we go down the rabbit hole and then at the end we would just realize, hey, this is just not worth it. Let's just leave it here. Ilyne Deliquina: That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. ⁓ and I love that you you're you're speaking more again in that collaboration with your with your colleagues and your mentors. So that's awesome. We're coming back to you, Ariana. ⁓ your next question for Alejandra. Ariana M.: Yes, so since you do have a mentor, ⁓ how how does that kind of work, the mentorship? How often do you reach out to your mentor? What guidance do they give or what questions do you ask? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: That's great question. ⁓ another thing I ⁓ encouraged you to do to get ⁓ a mentor, a mentorship relationship. ⁓ it could be for a year, it could be for a lifetime. I've I've had multiple mentors. ⁓ but I ⁓ I'm a very organized person. So I kind of have ⁓ of already like a structured plan of what I'm going to talk to him for the next year. ⁓ and I have to say it doesn't ⁓ it almost never goes that way, but ⁓ I can talk to him about, ⁓ listen, I'm having this challenge. ⁓ can you help me like get me a bigger picture? Right. He has such so much experience. ⁓ and I'm still, you know, I've been here all ⁓ three years and I still like to think that I'm relatively new. I'm still learning. I learn something every day. ⁓ so I go to him for kind of like, Hey, let's ⁓ scenario play here, try to help me understand, ⁓ stuff like that. ⁓ I also work with him a lot on ⁓ working on my opportunities. ⁓ So for example, one of my opportunities is that when I need to make a decision and I don't feel like I have enough information, I tend to freeze and not make a decision. So how do I overcome that? How do I use my strengths to overcome my opportunities, right? Those are things that I focus to work on him. It's a little bit more kind of general. But it's really more ⁓ sort of like personal and professional development that I'm trying to work with him. ⁓ we when we started, ⁓ we shared each other's stories. ⁓ and you know, I think that's such a ⁓ interesting way to connect with each other, to find similarities between our stories and then to really understand, ⁓ okay, I get it. This is why Ali is that way. I understand it there's so much connection to ⁓ who you are, where you've been. ⁓ what you've ⁓ experienced so far to who you are and who you'll become. ⁓ so it's a really interesting way to connect. We meet at least once a month. But ⁓ if I have a crisis, I always text him and hey, do you have a minute? I have ⁓ I need ⁓ some guidance and ⁓ he usually replies pretty quickly and we can just jump on a call and ⁓ you know, he helps me process and then he ⁓ he's retired now so he's ⁓ spending time with his grandkids or ⁓ you know, enjoying his his time off, but ⁓ is really helpful. And I also mentor, ⁓ I have ⁓ three mentor ⁓ mentees right now. ⁓ and I do the same with my mentees. ⁓ I they have my phone number, they can call me at any time. ⁓ they are within Clemens, so they can come find me. ⁓ they say me on IM. Hey, do you have a minute? ⁓ but we also meet once a month as well. Ilyne Deliquina: That's awesome. Allie, you know, because that's one of my favorite topics is mentorship. So I have like 25 different questions, but we are going to focus on our externs here. So ⁓ and yeah, next session, that's right. Or continued conversation after the show. so Allie's being really, you know, she mentioned that she is being mentored by the retired CEO. That is a big deal. You don't just walk into a company and the CEO says, that person, I'm gonna introduce I'm gonna take them under my wing. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Next session. Ilyne Deliquina: And I'm fortunate enough to know a few of the people that he has mentored because you guys are all awesome. But tell us what did that look like? How did he decide? Like, how did you shine and for you to be like chosen to be mentored by the CEO? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, ⁓ I have to say it was a little scary the first time we met. ⁓ just i it's this i sort of weird because you kind of think of the CEO and I've seen him in person, we've had conversations, I've done presentations in front of him. You know, he's not a complete stranger. ⁓ like I said, we're very we're not like very hierarchy, like we can be in meetings with everybody, but just to sit one on one and ⁓ and know that the former CEO was taking time of ⁓ of his week to just sit with me. It's kind of he was he felt like he wasn't a real person and he was like a celebrity, just right. ⁓ but it all started with ⁓ Ilyne, you know I ha we have Blend as one of our ERGs. ⁓ I'm the president of the board. it's it really focuses on providing opportunities for black and Latino employees ⁓ within the company. And I'm Puerto Rican, so I'm ⁓ also sort of part of our audience. ⁓ and ⁓ our ⁓ executive sponsor, who is our senior our HR V ⁓ for I for HR, ⁓ he suggested, Allie, you should be considered for this mentorship program as well that that we started with in ⁓ about a year ago. ⁓ so we've built this whole program, we have all the structure. ⁓ I never imagined that I would be a s a student in it or part of it ⁓ from the other side. And then he suggested that. ⁓ right you've been ⁓ identify as a successor to a VP, you're you know in this lit leadership track, you're all in this ⁓ you know, trainings, you have to be in this this this mentorship program so you can have a mentor and have it's really more about having s a sponsor and someone who is like advocating for you within the company in different areas that you're not usually ⁓ involved in. So he suggested my ⁓ Craig Edsel, who is the former ⁓ CEO And at first I'm like, ⁓ no, I don't deserve that. There's no way. ⁓ but he appr the ⁓ the scene our executive sponsor approached him and ⁓ he was like, ⁓ yeah, absolutely. So Ilyne Deliquina: a formal process with this company. But then for our I mean, I would encourage our externs and any of our listeners, there is oftentimes that are informal ways to find your mentors. And speaking of that, I wanna go back to our externs here. Djoser, do you ⁓ currently have a Have you had those kinds of conversations? Djoser Burruss: Yeah, that's a great question. I wouldn't say I personally have like formal mentor, but I definitely have people I could go to that like figures I've known in a long ⁓ for a long time that I can go to if I do have any trouble. ⁓ I like how ⁓ Alejandra mentioned how ⁓ She didn't just gain ⁓ a CEO as a mentor. She had to kind of join multiple groups that allowed her to get the connections to eventually have the former CEO as a mentor. I really resonate with that. For example, I've been like, you know, as I was mentioning earlier, I've been in a lot of cultural clubs that pertain to my own identity, ⁓ as like an African American, Asian American man. And I think through that I've made a lot of connections and I well, I haven't really made any formal mentors. I found guidance through club advisors, which are always teachers. And even outside of school and sort of extracurriculars that I've been in, I've just met ⁓ trusted adults essentially that have either taught me or ⁓ essentially just like supervised me. And even though they're not essentially mentors, I'm still able to talk to them. ⁓ for example, I'm in ⁓ an extracurricular called College Bound. It's essentially to help Ilyne Deliquina: Mm-hmm. Djoser Burruss: ⁓ or give guidance to ⁓ black students in my school district ⁓ when it comes to college and they gave everyone the option of attending a four year university or college and it's been really helpful I've been in been all four years and have had contact with some of my teachers and like they've helped me out. Ilyne Deliquina: That's awesome. Allie, can you give ⁓ some encouragement or some wisdom to Djoser who like you see you've shared that you're really organized with your, you know, preparing and processing, having a formal mentor. But what can what how can Djoser take his experience, having trusted adults in his life, speak into certain areas? How can can you give him any wisdom on how to like better organize and and seek those different areas of his life and finding the right ⁓ guidance and mentorship? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, absolutely. I would say being intentional about looking for a mentor is I think the most important, right? ⁓ you will have mentors in your life that will happen organically, ⁓ who you just run into w in your path and you keep that relationship. ⁓ and yes, not all mentorship ⁓ relationships have to have a whole year plan, ⁓ like I'm like I'm saying. Sometimes it's informal. ⁓ one of the things that I I like to do is ⁓ To be intentional about having multiple ⁓ sources of mentorship and not always find people who are similarly ⁓ like minded to you. sometimes having someone who is an entirely different ⁓ personality profile than you ⁓ is helpful because then you're also understanding how someone different from you will process something that you're struggling with. And that kind of ⁓ helps you create this more like bigger picture mindset. ⁓ when you get to lead a team, you'll have people in your team who are different than you. And then how do you connect with them? How do you manage them that way? That is always very important. ⁓ In my case, I have someone who my opportunities are his strengths. And I also have someone like we we do like that matching like strengths with opportunities. But then we also have matches matches where it's like strength with strength. So okay, s how is someone like me gotten to the point that they have and how do they how they can help me, but also how does someone that is completely different from me ⁓ process everything and give me ⁓ advice on on what I'm trying to accomplish? So be very intentional. Ilyne Deliquina: That's good. And I love that you know, your emphasis on being intentional. ⁓ really quick, I I think what we need to pick up on the nuance too is it's not gonna always be a Latin female who is mentoring you. You're you know, the CEO is a caucasian male with all this experience, but keeping an open mind to that, also sharing that like there is value to if you can see it, you can be it, right? So finding those and just like what Ali said, like. It doesn't have to just be that one person, right? Like for me, also finding another Asian American that I can look up to to do the things that I want to do and get, you know, who's paved the way. So ⁓ thank you for sharing that, Ali. What about you, Ariana? Have you found a mentor ⁓ as you're starting your career? Ariana M.: Yeah, so when I we had the Ulta convention this past April in Orlando, I actually was able to meet with a couple of people that were higher up in the company because it's all of corporate and then all of the district managers and area managers. So I actually accidentally ⁓ talked to somebody and I said, ⁓ you're in marketing. That's something that I'm super interested in doing and he asked for my LinkedIn. We connected about a month later and ⁓ we had a recent call actually as of two or three weeks ago. where he said he would be open to being my mentor and we kind of agreed that yes. So I do have a mentor now. ⁓ and that's why I was kind of asking like, ⁓ what are the questions or what are the steps? Because he said at any moment for me to feel free to reach out and he even gave me his phone number. So start I'm starting to build the connection and it's nice to hear that that's kind of the the route that it's supposed to go is is building that connection and reaching out anytime you have questions. Ilyne Deliquina: Hop in Allie. I know you already said, why are you here? She's got Ariana's got it all together, but I she needs to have some kind of kind of encouragement and wisdom. Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: I know. ⁓ This is why I love these sessions. I walk away. I feel like I learned more from you guys than I can teach you. So I'm sorry. But ⁓ no, I would say though, ⁓ Ariana, ⁓ I was not ⁓ an accident. It was meant to be. So ⁓ I love that you put yourself out there and you just like spoke to so I I I get nervous around people and anxious. ⁓ it's kind of, you know, uncomfortable for some. So ⁓ that's amazing. ⁓ I would say Don't feel like you have to have this structured relationship. ⁓ right. ⁓ there will be months, or I don't know how often you meet with him, but there will be months where you're like, ⁓ my gosh, I'm meeting with him tomorrow. What am I talking about? And I think that's why I have like this list of like just like very intentional topics that I can just pick from, depending on where I am in the in the month or depending on things that I've lived, ⁓ I can just like grab it and insert it, right, as needed. There will be months where you're just talking, ⁓ sharing your feelings or shell sharing a challenge that you've had at work, or ⁓ hey, I'm in the middle of this project and this is happening. How can I, how can you like, what do you think you can do? Stuff like that. So ⁓ it's ⁓ it's flexible. But always keep in mind that you own the relationship as a mentee. You have to be the one who's ⁓ seeking for their ⁓ support and their mentorship. ⁓ and there will be times where the relationship kind of dies it dies, right? Like it served as purpose, it's okay to move on, ⁓ you are not reaching out as often. ⁓ you kind of got in what you what you needed, and that's okay too. ⁓ but but really ⁓ keep being again intentional that you own that relationship and it's ⁓ it's really you who is seeking out to them ⁓ more than than the other way around. ⁓ Ilyne Deliquina: I love that you said owning that relationship. I also have heard stewarding the relationship, right? So it's not always like you know, take, take, take, but it's like, you know, saying ⁓ affirming them as your mentor, like this is really working out. Thank you. This has really encouraged me. You know, just having those natural conversations. ⁓ whether that looks like an actual on the phone, on Zoom kind of conversation, or even just a simple text like, Hey, this happened to me day today. Thank you for for that conversation. It led me to this. So ⁓ great, great ⁓ question. Or ⁓ encouragement there, Iana. ⁓ Djoser, your final question for for Alejandra today. Djoser Burruss: Yeah, so you were mentioning a lot about like the relationships between ⁓ one and their own mentor. And my question was, I guess, to what extent like should you be building a relationship with your mentor? Because you had to mention how it's it's mostly gonna be you reaching out to your mentor, not the other way around. But I was wondering, I guess like the way I interpret that is that maybe your relationship isn't super deep. And it I don't think it has to be all the time, but I think like what's the value in ⁓ a relationship being more than I guess just a mentorship, but like maybe like like a friendship, but I guess kind of having some deep connection, like what's the value that and like is it always value ⁓ valuable to build that and how would you go about doing that? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, I would say it's it it varies, right? It depends. I don't expect to become friends with our former CEO, right? ⁓ but I have had mentors who have ended up being friends. I have had mentors who end up being ⁓ my boss, or I've had had mentors who ⁓ ended up being ⁓ one of my team members, right? So having that relationship ⁓ it kind of varies depending on on who you are and personalities. ⁓ as a mentor, I I always say yes, your the mentee owns the relationship or stewards the relationship. ⁓ but I get invested in my mentees, right? So if I don't hear from them, I I always ⁓ hey, send a text message or an IM if they work within the company, like, hey, ⁓ how's it going? Just checking in, making sure that you're okay. I'm here if you need anything, right? ⁓ because I'm it is my personality, but we've also developed that relationship. So I care about them. I c I I love seeing them grow. I love seeing them get themselves into ⁓ you know, diving into challenges and coming out on the other side stronger. Like I I really enjoy that. ⁓ so it's something that I personally have have gone, but it it's a two way road, ⁓ for sure. It's not I I say owning or the relationship or stewarding because I like the scheduling, all the logistical aspect of it, ⁓ depends on you. ⁓ but it is an investment. ⁓ the mentors are investing time in you and effort and energy. ⁓ so they wouldn't do it ⁓ if they weren't invested in you and interested in doing that. So there is a there is there is a two way dynamic there for sure. Ilyne Deliquina: Yeah, that's so that's so true. Djoser, we spent a lot of time talking about mentoring and learning more about Ali. What did you pick up from this conversation today? Djoser Burruss: Yeah, I guess a lot of it it's pretty general and can probably apply to anything, but it's just having to be social and I think the necessity of having to break out of the shell and network. So personally I think I'm like naturally ⁓ very introverted and shy. And I think it's a lot of value in that. But I guess so far, like what the session has taught me in the session before, I think a lot of my experience is kind of making that transition from like high school to college. And I think it's like somewhat like relevant, even like making like a LinkedIn, it kind of showed me that you need to be able to break out of your show more to find these opportunities like ⁓ being a mentor. as she was mentioning, she joined ⁓ multiple groups that kind of gave her the connections to be a mentor. So kind of still only the necessity to go out of your show and network and join new things so you can get those connections that can make those things happen. Ilyne Deliquina: That's right. I'm glad that you picked that up. And you gotta be s you gotta be ready. You gotta stay ready. That's awesome, Djoser. And then over to you, Ariana. it was a great conversation. What resonated with you the most in our conversation with Alejandra? Ariana M.: I like that you kind of explained I that you weren't you didn't always start wanting to be in this career path, but that's kind of how it ended up and how you picked up all your skills and everything that you kind of needed to be ready for this position through other jobs that you had beforehand. That's actually very encouraging because I'm obviously makeup and and sports aren't in in the same field necessarily, but you found a way to connect every single job that you had and that really stood out to me. Ilyne Deliquina: Awesome. All right, we're down to our final minutes here. ⁓ Alejandro, what is your final words of encouragement or wisdom for our externs today? Alejandra McGinley-Sepulveda: Yeah, thank you. First, it's been an honor, guys. You I mean, it's so encouraging to see young people be so focused and ⁓ just ready to ⁓ kick some butt out there in the world. ⁓ it's really, really inspiring. So thank you for allowing me to be here. I would say, Djoser, I am kind of like a s introverted, extrovert, ⁓ you know why they say like I can go out there and be very social and network. It drains a lot of my energy. So something I have learned is ⁓ to be mindful of that. ⁓ stepping outside of the comfort zone and of your box is also something it it kind of can take a ⁓ mental health child you know ⁓ a toll or energy so be mindful of that yes do it ⁓ but also take some time and be within your comfort zone right ⁓ I think you're you know very intentional already about your mentorship and ⁓ it sounds like you're ⁓ in a good path. ⁓ and Ariana it's ⁓ yes ⁓ makeup ⁓ and sports are not ⁓ in the same ⁓ line neither is cookies and pork ⁓ but yeah, I I I'd say everything, even from like childhood things that I've learned, like I I just continue to like bring them on with me. They're in my toolkit and I just pull them out whenever I need it. ⁓ just keep an open mind. ⁓ I think you have very clear path. ⁓ pretty inspiring yourself. So ⁓ I yeah, I don't know, man. This is you guys are awesome. Ilyne Deliquina: you've already heard, ⁓ everyone is on LinkedIn, so make sure you make those connections. ⁓ Allie, thank you so You know we're gonna have you back on the show again. ⁓ definitely have a safe trip. You've been listening to AccessCo Leaders Career Conversations with our externs, our summer young adult externs, and our amazing guest, Alejandra McGinley Sepulveda, who is the director of business unit management at Clemens Food Group. We'll see you next time. ⁓ And