Latest / The Bold Lounge / Sondra S. Phung: How to Find a Way or Make One

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Sondra S. Phung: How to Find a Way or Make One · The Bold Lounge

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Bold Lounge Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Lee Burgess and I will be your host.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact in the world.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories that every week will hear from someone who's taken a leader on an extraordinary journey.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to hearing their stories, they'll also learn about their bold mindset that they used to make things happen.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whether they faced challenges or nothing away, they persisted and ultimately achieved their goals.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: These impactful stories will leave you really motivated and inspired to pursue your own goal.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be created.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Tune in and get ready to be inspired.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited today to have Sandra Sutton Fung.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: She is the Marketing General Manager for EVs at Ford Motor Company.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing today?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Lee.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to be here.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing fabulous.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me on the show.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So excited to jump in and talk about being bold.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: But before that, I thought it'd be nice if you do just a brief introduction of yourself for the listeners.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sure thing.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am a Southern girl by heart.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm from Georgia.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So even though I've been away for 25 years, I still lead with that.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I am a mom of a wonderful nine-year-old daughter.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a wife to a really loving husband for the last 16 years.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what I will say to you is for my professional career, all of it has been at Ford Motor Company in various roles in product development, IT, and for the last 20 years, a marketing sales and service.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And some fun things to talk about in there.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Not only being in the South, but kind of some of maybe a bold moment in there or two, and uh being able to do some things with Ford.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I remember your story and some excitement about sharing that with others because there's some good pieces to that that are very bold.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll start off with just letting people know your definition of bold.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for Sandra?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I would say bold is really the trait of being willing to take a risk.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think so many of us, and if I think about women, women of color, just people in general, we we all have that self-doubt.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, the boldness is the difference in moving past that self-doubt to actually take on the risk for what can be an amazing reward at the end.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's really what being bold means.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Being willing to take that risk even when there is stress and self-doubt in inside of you.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Even when those butterflies come up or that gut check of should I, shouldn't I?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you go for it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you still go for it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you it and actually just realizing that what's the worst thing that can happen?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: You fail, you learn, and you try again, but being able and willing to take on that risk.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the combination of that, right?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that willing part, like you know, if I could bottle willing and like sell it because I feel so many people are totally able, they just don't know that they're the ones in charge of that next step or they're too hesitant or whatever it may be.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So what is look, yeah, when you think of that definition really of being willing and able and and going forward even when there's self-doubt, what what's your first moment of bull that you remember?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I can pick many times over my life where I felt like I've uh done exactly that.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: But what I will tell you is the one that really was that gut check for me was making the decision to say yes to go to Japan.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: I love this story.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can you share a little bit about it?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: As I tell, I will tell you, uh, you know, again, I'm from Georgia.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: My town has 5,000 people.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: I made the big leap to move to Atlanta for college, made a bigger leap to move from Georgia to Michigan to Ford Motor Company.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And after two years of being at Ford, I was offered this opportunity to go to Japan and work for our joint venture with Mazda in Hiroshima.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there was all of this self-doubt, like, what am I gonna do?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is it going to be like?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: How do I here I was, I was 25, and I really had not thought about living in another country, driving, they were right-hand drive market.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I was gonna be driving on the opposite side of the road.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't speak the language.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so there were so many reasons why I should have said no, but I said yes.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what I will say to you, it was such uh an amazing experience while I was there culturally.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I gained lifelong friends, friends who years later would fly in to be a part of my wedding.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was just an amazing experience, personally and professionally.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I love something you said in there.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: There were a lot of reasons to say no.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like you listed several, like didn't know, didn't plan, probably uncomfortable, a lot of habits or routines that would be different, culturally different, just being different.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that's being bold, right?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you chose, like when you think of a t chart, here were the no's, there are like 10 bullet points and three rows.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, what what was the thing that kind of pushed you?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Was it just the adventure of it?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Was it just the unknown of it and a little bit of like there's opportunity there that you could see?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the thing that really pushed me, and I have to go back to I have to give credit to my HBCU, which is a historically black college and university.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I attended Clark Atlanta University for undergrad and grad.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And one of our mottos was find a way or make one.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it really has been this guiding light for me all of my life.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I was at my lowest, even during times, yes, even um during my 25-year career, you have highs and you have lows, but I always go back to find a way or make one.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, it was this is an amazing opportunity.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: People don't get this opportunity.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: African-American females at that time were not getting this opportunity.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And why would I say no to something that, yes, it's unknown, but there could be great reward on that other end.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so I said, find a way or make one, Sandra, to make this decision work for you.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and I did.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, I didn't have kids, I wasn't married, so that made it an easier decision, but it still was a big decision for a girl from a small town in Georgia with 5,000 people.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: How many lights did you have in your town?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about this when we first talked about it.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, we had one.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: We had one stoplight.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we had multiple stop signs, but one stoplight.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So your town was a little smaller than mine.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I grew up in Pennsylvania where I think when I was there, we had four stoplights.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So very rural, very country Pennsylvania.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so definitely a small town vibe.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Then you went to Atlanta.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that's like a bold move right there, too.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Just kind of doing that move from small town to a pretty it's big.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Atlanta, Atlanta's big, and then going over to Japan.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: What was the you if you can even summarize it?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm sure there's a lot of like incredible moments and like learnings in there.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: But were there any surprises for you, like good or or bad, when you made that bold choice?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: To go to Japan?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I will say the big surprise for me, it was the culture.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, and I hate to see this, their definition of African-American women was what they were seeing on TV.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: My definition of Japanese was what I was seeing on TV.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get together and you realize you're just people who want you to spend time together.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you like each other, you spend tons of time together, you really like each other, you you know, hang out and do things and take trips together.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: My first trip to Europe was with one of my Japanese colleagues.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, hey, why don't we go to Italy together?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it'd be great.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's a yes.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But what what I found, and I don't think I've ever actually shared this, but by the time my three years assignment was up, I was at the train station in Hiroshima, and at least six of my Japanese colleagues were there to send me off.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was crying.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: They were crying.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was emotion.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what I what I thought about is like, what a wonderful full circle moment for me that I have created these relationships and these bonds that I never would have thought possible three years ago.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Japanese taught me so much about being true to yourself, being accountable, being on time.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I found myself rushing and running, and I don't run anywhere to make sure I was on time because that was so important in the culture to be where you were supposed to be when you said you want you were so you were going to be there.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I introduced a lot of my friends to fundraising and the idea of doing charity work.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: We we did a ball for JDRF to raise money, and I also had them over to the house on holidays.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We carve pumpkins and do things that again, first experiences for them.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Never carve the pumpkin.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was just a great experience on both sides.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lesson in there of like preconceive what we see isn't what is once we spend time and exactly, you know, and getting to know one another.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's it sounds like a really fun exploration.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'll share this is what we do, and then I want to learn as much as I can, like soak it up.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: What you do, sure.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take a trip.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that in itself was fun and probably an adventure, you know.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like our we say in our family, oh, making memories.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, like Miyujima Island, and you know, which is about um a short chain train ride from Hiroshima, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: The colors, the leaves, the deer, someone's always out there cooking oysters right by the sea, and you're you just wow, wow, what a moment.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so like a worldly moment that a lot of us don't get, right?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you had it at a very young age, which I think at least I think 25 is young.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: I now say 25 is young as well.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you had some formation there too, of like things that probably were foundational to like where you are today, right?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like understanding and probably being patient and not judging immediately and working sometimes, maybe where to go back versus forward, like being patient in a way with some things as as you're working through communications or projects or strategies.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Those are just a few I could think of that would come out of that experience.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so as you transition back to your assignment being done, what happened in between kind of that assignment and where you are today leading the EVs?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I will tell you that assignment really was a leap prog for my career because what ended up happening is fast forward, that was 2003.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I came back, uh 2006, Ford was uh making a big bet on China, and we were gonna launch 15 products over a five-year period, and they were looking for people to join the revolution of Ford growing in China.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And wasn't at a time when people were racing to go learn about China, it wasn't the number one automotive market in the world at that time, and you know, I raised my hand yes again, because I'd actually been over in Asia.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: I understood that there was so much to learn and gain from that experience, and so many friendships to be made.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I said yes.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was an easy yes for the for the Ford because they knew I already knew what it was like to be an ISC in a foreign land.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just again a great experience.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, working at a joint venture and having a 50-50 partnership and relationship meant that everything was a negotiation, and you had to learn how to create alliances and partnerships with people in order to get things done.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned so much about the art of negotiation, the art of being being and doing what you say you're going to do, because you know, your word means a lot in that type of environment where you're really working on something together, but each has a 50-50 ownership of it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then China, it in and of itself, what an amazing country in terms of you could go north, south, east, west, and you will see various, you know, whatever your your idea of China was, a bit a different part of China will change it.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can see blue skies.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I remember going to this place called Lugu Lake, and you know, I really felt like it was God's country.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: There weren't street lights, the sky was the bluest I've ever seen it, the the clouds were as white as I've ever seen.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've been to other places in China where you could barely see through the smog.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it was again amazing friendships, people who I still stay in contact with literally just received the care package last week from a good friend and who was working for me there.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Fine Chinese teas that my husband and I have been in jail.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, fabulous.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Once you have, and I'll just say this like real tea or real coffee.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: So my husband's Colombian, and so like that is the best coffee in the world to me.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I can't do the Starbucks and the Keurig, you know.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, like once you have it, like it's such a lovely thing to be able to get into.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're absolutely right.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: My husband and I are such schnobs, and we we rare, rarely go to an Asian restaurant that is a chain, uh actually, almost never, because you have to go to authentic places.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that you talked about at the very beginning was self-doubt.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So did you have any self-doubt during these times, or were you just like bold moment, bold moment, bold moment?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because it does seem in my talking with different people, like once you have one bold moment, like it does kind of make the next one a little easier.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean they're all like rainbows and butterflies, and there's no challenges within it, but it means like, okay, I work through it, right?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that one bold moment kind of leads to the next bold moment?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I would say yes and no, but I I think for me, your bold moments are developed through a foundation of who you were or are as you grew up.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I and and I'll take a step back on that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I often talk about being from Georgia, but I will say, you know, it was not the most uh inviting town when it came to race relations.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like we had a white homecoming from and a black homecoming from, and uh, we had a white homecoming queen and a black homecoming.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was really, really, you know, segregated and it wasn't that long ago.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't, yeah, it wasn't 1960, it was like 1992.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I want to point that out for people because I think that's hard for people to think of like that was still happening in the 90s, and that's when I was also graduating and starting college.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that wasn't that long ago.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, and I and you're you're absolutely right.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I what I will say is, you know, when you grow up in that type of environment, you always carry some level of self-doubt that you have to push yourself through.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why couldn't we do this?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what was the difference in me versus them?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, at some point you make peace with it and you move on.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why the best decision I ever made in my life life was attending an HBCU and having this affirmation day after day of the intelligence and creativity and beauty of African American people.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I will say to you though, what that did teach me is to be bold.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use a term that was recently introduced to me, but I love it, which is step into your power, which is in a way being bold.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Stepping into your power when when you when your back's against the wall and you're feeling all these butterflies, really step into your power, find that way or make one, you know.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that has just been a guiding light for me since I was a child, who was told, you know, maybe I couldn't be what I wanted to be just because of the color of my skin, to, you know, the woman I am today, who is, you know, in in many terms, successful in the work that I'm doing and really self-assured in terms of what I want and am willing to do to get to anything I want to accomplish.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like those bold moments, they they may not feed the next one, but I think they bolster or they establish kind of what you are able to do, what are you able to s withstand, and then what are you able to overcome and just ignore you know, so I think there's kind of yeah, moments in there of all those things uh I think really well defined by you.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So when you went through, like you were in product development, IT, and marketing, those are very different, right?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: In the sense of Yeah, so so tell me a little about self-doubt in any of those transitions.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or it's kind of like you're like the person in the room raising your hand.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'll do it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I will try it.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Is that you?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say to you is that this is where I have to give credit to Ford Mortar Company.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: One of the key reasons why I decided to join Ford was their Ford College Graduate Program, which was a rotational program where you had this opportunity to try different areas of the company and at the end of those two years, you know, determine what you wanted to be when you grew up.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, my first assignment was in IT, where I spent a full year there working on a global HR project where we were overhauling our HR systems.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: After that, I went over and did a position in marketing plans and brand development, which was a marketing rotation, more so a product marketing rotation.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then I finished up in product development, where I was a program management analyst on the first generation of Escape of the Ford Escape.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I had three amazing yet very different experiences in the first two years of my time at the company.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was that last experience on the escape program and program management, where I was offered the opportunity.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: We were about to launch the Escape in Asia, and they were looking for a program management analyst, and the opportunity was offered to me.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be forever grateful to Paul Lyndon, who was my boss at the time who recommended me for that role.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's a lot of yes.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like uh, let me try it, let me learn it.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Those rotations sound awesome in the sense of kind of getting a flavor.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was in nursing school, so it just reminds us like some of your rotations as you go through in a way of like what you liked, what you didn't like, what you never want to go back to again.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you had any of those moments, but I do.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple of jobs in my 25 years that I don't ever want to go back to.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right, good.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're human.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's good to know.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, coming into electric vehicles, so like I think sometimes boldness and innovativeness, boldness and agility, like those are things that innovation, strategy, agility, like I love all of those things.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I would consider myself a pretty bold person too, and moving through some of the things in my life and without really knowing what the outcome may be.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel like what drew you into the the EV world and and help people understand kind of what that is?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't think everyone may know.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So EV stands for our electric vehicle, and what we are doing at Fort Motor Company is really joining the electric revolution.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're currently the number two battery electric vehicle brand in the US.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Clearly, Tesla's number one.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: They had a huge head start ahead of us, but we are committed to being a battery electric vehicle of choice, you know, for our American consumer.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say to you is the decision to come over to the Model E team was one that, you know, I'm very happy that I that I did.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is where a lot of energy and enthusiasm and agility, it's like working in a startup or working with family, which means there are a lot of fights sometimes because everyone like focused on their area, and then you have to come together.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what I will say to you is it's been great taking in the new ideas, listening to different perspectives.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And quite honestly, kind of opening your mind up a bit more because when you've been somewhere for 25 years, you do have tendency to have a bit of group think.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so some outside voices and people, my my boss joined the company earlier this year.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: So just to have his different perspective on things has been really refreshing.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: But what I will say to you is I am really passionate about EVs from a standpoint of what it could mean to marginalize communities.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I say that from a standpoint of last month, my bill for charging was less than$50.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine going an entire month in your car?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a quarter of a ton of gas right now.
• 22:47
  unknown: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even lying.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's brutal out there.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know that.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know you know that, but what I have what I've realized is you know, coming home every night and just chart plugging in my electric vehicle and just being at peace.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So quiet, it's just a game changer to me.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I said to someone recently, if they really wanted to have a spokesperson for EVs, it should be me because I was out here living my life in my expedition, which I still love very much.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of positives.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: There are just so many positives.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you know, so I I do find it to be a passion point to make sure that people do understand what those positives are.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Which one did you settle on?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know when we first talked, you were test driving the truck.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Which one did you end up with?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have to tell you, I was completely selfish in the decision I made because I actually managed a Mustang Mach E business.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I that's exactly what I chose, the Mustang Maquis, which is an SUV.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a very cool vehicle.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter, who's nine, thinks it's cool, and that's a big deal.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is a big deal.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mom's cool, mom's car is cool.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so super excited things happening there.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So as we kind of think about just the different things that you've worked through and done in your career in your life, a lot of that really has been based on going back to your definition, stepping through any sense of self-doubt or you know, feeling those butterflies.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then what would your advice be to someone who needs to step into their power, who needs to find a way or make one?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's the first thing they should do?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think the first thing you should do, and I wish someone had pulled me aside when I was starting my career and said, you know, here's kind of a couple of things you want to do.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: You want to get involved right away with your company in some form.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: So for you know, for me, it was joining the Ford African American Network and having an instant community of people to uh engage with, but also to support initiatives that were happening within the company.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: But the game changer for me is getting a mentor, someone who you can share all of your ideas, whether whether they're silly or serious, or you have this career plan, does it make sense?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: What should I be doing?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be someone who has been at the company long enough that they can tell you this is what it's going to take to get to the next level.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I just wish people would do that in their first to second year of the company so that it helps them to move ahead.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And to, I just wish that advice had been given to me like right away.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I finally figured it out.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: But it if it had been given to me earlier, I think it would have, you know, even been more impactful to my life and career.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the end, securing an advocate, which is very different from a mentor.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: That advocate has to be someone who would be willing to break down barriers that inevitably exist in large corporations.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: They have to break down doors for you.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, forget all these self-made people.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I believe everyone who's gotten anything in life has had at some point an advocate, I should say gotten, who has achieved anything in life, did it with an advocate that was supportive at some point in that journey.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when I received my first supervisor position at Ford, I had an advocate, someone who really believed in me and gave me tons of work to make sure I could prove to everyone that I deserve that position.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: But he was there every step of the way helping me.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I just believe that over time, if you do those things, if you get involved quickly, secure a mentor to deliver and write out your plan and continue to craft that plan.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually secure advocates who have seen your work product, seen you deliver the results, and are willing to advocate for you into areas that may not have been open to you before.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: You may be the first in that area.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is what it's all about.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the find your people, right?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Find your community, wherever that is.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're a great example of like you don't have to leave a company to evolve or advance or or grow your career.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like you've done it successfully within the same company.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: And credit to the company too for having the ways and the means and the opportunities and experiences.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it sounds like the majority of them have been very positive, right?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think from that sense, find your tribe.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then second one is get a mentor and one that really knows the ins and outs of the organization.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because just like you said, you know, I remember starting really early on, and I had an idea of how things would go.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: But man, if I would have had a mentor, it probably would have been a little easier for me, you know.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think a little bit of you know, maybe the bureaucracy, like certainly when you're in your 20s, I think there's there's some mentoring that's definitely needed, even in your 40s, probably.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just speaking for me, and then an advocate.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: That tribe, that mentor, and that advocate are key ingredients to success and success within an organization, or if you feel like you need to change an organization, those are some good markers to think about.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and not just success within the organization, but I call it personal peace as well, right?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you can you can get an anxiety or stress or self-doubt, and doing those sorts of things will help you on that journey immensely.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story, your bold journey, and I know that you've inspired people that are listening.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much for being on the bold lounge.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Lee.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge Podcast.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Through the continuum of bold stories, vulnerability to taking the leap, you will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact for others through their unique and important story.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others and share their journey of belief with a bold.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and look forward to sharing the next bold journey with you.