Embracing and Owning Identites in the Workplace – Tricia Montalvo Timm, Salsify

This is texturing TV. Hey everyone, welcome back to techstrong TV. Our next guest I think is gonna be a great interview and a great story.

I want you all to know about I want to introduce you to Trisha Montalvo Tim. she's a board member for a company called Southside but it's much more than that. It's not actually why she's here.

But or at least mostly not why she's here, but let me introduce. You should tell yourself. Hey, you're welcome to text drug TV.

Hi Ellen. Thank you so much for having me. So yeah, you want me to start off and tell you a little bit.

Oh, yeah. All right. Okay.

So let's see. I have been working in Phil Collins for over 25 years. I started as a corporate associate at a large Law Firm representing high tech company and I work with high tech companies both big and small from startup companies midsize companies to large.

We'll find National Global corporations and along the way work with a number of different people and number different areas and my last operational role was a general Council. Of a company called looker which you know your your audience may know at the data analytics company which we sold to Google a couple of years ago. I was all so the executive sponsor of diversity equity and inclusion at liquor and started their Dei program there from the ground up and since then a couple of years ago, I pivoted and my career now consists of a portfolio career I call it which is a member of board a salsify which you mentioned I serve on three nonprofit boards also been dipping into Angel Investing and to particularly women founded companies or underrepresented entrepreneurs, and I'm also an author which I just published my first book called embrace the power of you.

I love it. What a great story. So Trisha, let's you know, I I think the story kind of speaks for itself.

but I want to jump into embracing the power of you, right and Well, let's start with what do you mean by that? your Often who you are and maybe Ellen I didn't like I talked about my professional background, but let me tell you a little bit about my personal background because it shaped a lot of who I was and how I showed up in the workplace and kind of how I'm showing up now. I'm the daughter to immigrants my mother from El Salvador.

My father's Ecuador. I grew up in Southern California Spanish was my first language and when my parents and my parents wanted the American dream for us as many immigrants do and as I was entering school age, they decided to move us out of the city into the company suburbs. And so all of a sudden I found myself as one of very few families that are Latino or or black in a predominantly white community and my parents wanted, you know, they very thick Spanish accent.

So they really felt some discrimination and one something different for us. They didn't want us to have that same, you know, Pain that they had gone through so they told us which I think is out of love, you know blend in. You know, Don't Rock the Boat really assimilate, you know, you will do better in your life in your career.

It just don't highlight where you're from because that's just gonna be a detriment for you. And so I did that. I started that at a really young age to really to other internalize the belief that being a Latina in this country was not enough.

It wasn't American and all these sort of belief systems that we have. And so I progressed through my career really downplaying who I was I didn't talk about my my family my culture. I didn't bring any of that into the workplace and the second thing that happened for me was being a corporate woman in Enterprise software.

There are very few women and Enterprise software. And so I also wanted to be a mother and so being a working mother in a Only male-dominated space was also very difficult because I didn't want any excuse to not be looked to for the promotion or that I wasn't dedicated to my career and all these other things. So so I downplayed being a mother in the workplace.

So I kept a lot of who I am on the back burner. I didn't I was a fearful of how I would be perceived how I would be treated and the lack of a potential advancement and but what happens with that as you do that is you you're not as engaged in the workplace. You're not bringing you're not connecting with your employees your managers your co-workers because you can't talk about You know what?

It's like having a college baby at home and you know being up all night and the things that we all struggle with as parents and so so part of my journey of You know not bringing myself and after 20 years frankly of doing that. I decided no more. I really needed to not only do it for my own well-being but for others in the workplace that are struggling with the same issue and may not have the voice to do it.

So I was a long answer but I think the backstory provides context to you know, why I'm writing this book now. I get it, you know look. America people may or may not in today's America want to acknowledge it but this is a country of immigrants.

legal and illegal not everyone came through Ellis Island and they were letting everyone in through Ellis Island 100 years ago 150 years ago, but wave of immigrants had a very similar for the most part sort of assimilation Journey. Right whether you were Irish or Italian. Or or Jewish or polish or you know name name a European immigration.

Space and their parents told those children to lose the accent be American blend in right forget. Here's your new Homeland your new country and and we And frankly, it was easy because we were all white. Yeah, that's what he didn't talk with an accent.

I mean look people look at me. They know I'm Jewish but I can't help it. But that being said it was a lot easier to pass.

Yeah that it is if you were Brown skins or or African-American black, right? And and so those people they didn't have that opportunity and that may be a reason why it took them so long and it still is a struggle to to assimilate but yeah, and they fed us this stuff. This is my own views Tricia.

So thank you for what it's right. They fed us this stuff in school about America being a Melting Pot. Right that you know you throw in a dash of this two dashes and that a tablespoon of that and some cups of this and it all becomes this homogenous America.

Well it but that's not the case. You know, I grew up in New York and I I lived in the suburbs. I lived in the boroughs I live you know in Manhattan New York is a mosaic.

Not a Melting Pot. Mm-hmm people tend to want to live with their own. So you have Greek neighborhoods and Italian neighborhoods and Irish German neighborhoods and you know all of these things and they retain their culture.

And their identity though, I guess if you look at it from space, it looks like a Melting Pot but when you're you know, you're right in it, it's different. I think a lot of the country is like that but I think the real story of let's say the last 40 since the Civil Rights Movement has been that brown and black people need to Get their share that dream and it's been it's a it's been a tough road then add women to it man. Right that that's just a double whammy.

And it is and we still we still have it. Got it, right. I mean that I don't think anyone out here says we do.

I live in Florida. So I can't even talk because you talk about diversity inclusion and and equality they want to do away with it in schools here. So I don't even know what to tell you.

Hard and the other thing I've learned. Is no matter how much I can empathize I haven't walked a mile in those shoes. Right where you have right?

So when you're writing about this you are writing about it as a mom who has to make a decision. Do I go into the office today or do I take care of my baby? Who's sick?

Right not to say that some dads. Don't do that. They do.

Yeah, but yeah, those are the big minority right? And so So, what's the answer? How do you be your authentic self?

How do you let your inner light shine through? I mean, what do you do? How do you do this?

Yeah, you know, I think that it's important to first recognize why you're not bringing it to the workplace. As you mentioned, you know being an immigrant maybe language maybe their skin color and and also external messages. I know that you know that there are a lot of different people from a lot of different identities, but some of the you know cultural and medium messages that we see, you know, we often see for example as a Latina, you know, you see me as the housekeeper of the nanny you see me it, you know in media and portrayed one way which internalizes not only my own belief that I don't belong as the CEO but also other people's belief of why that you know, I can't tell you how many times Ellen when people ask me what I do and the natural reaction is really I mean, they're out of constant surprise that I have achieved what I've achieved and so that constant those are you know called Aggressions where they constantly slowly over time really start deteriorating your confidence and so recognizing why your confidence may be shot why you have fear showing up in places authentically and unlearning some of those belief systems and recognizing and putting them almost.

Upside down and recognizing that we are as you mentioned Alan. We are a diverse community and Society. We need actually all of those perspectives in the room.

And if you're hiding that piece of yourself, you're not going to bring that voice into the conversation as we build products and services. We will be better companies and serve more people if we're thinking about how it impacts different parts of our society, and I think there's a big blind spot there that we're not really recognizing The value that we bring we're going to miss out. And so I think what I'm trying to do is is encourage people that you're different is actually a benefit it actually adds value and it's an asset not a liability as you enter the workplace.

Yep. So how I mean? short of you know, I'm a Latina or this or that how do we how do we do that?

And Especially a bigger companies. You know where where you have this, you know humongous kind of Workforce. How do we kind of?

Bring that authentic. Selfie. Like how does that manifest itself?

It's important. I think earlier you said, you know, I I haven't walked in your shoes. So I have a hard time having day and I appreciate that recognition and what I'm trying to do with my book and it's not only for the person who is hiding but it also at the end of each chapter has manager strategies for so for people who want to help want to be in this conversation.

What can they do? Because I think it's not only do not only do we you know those of us that I have been hiding or not bringing your whole self to work, you know, we have to have the courage to to walk in and do it but the environment in which we do it needs to be able to receive it and if the culture around you is not embracing different thoughts different perspective different voices and and willing to have a hard conversations. This is the hard conversation and I'm not gonna say it's easy people come with it want from very different lived experiences and and it's hard sometimes and a lot of people are afraid to make the Is afraid to stay the wrong thing and so they do nothing and so my book is really trying to encourage, you know, everyone to start having this conversation and for someone that may not have that lived experience.

I use a lot of stories I use my own personal story stories of others. So as they read the book they can walk in my shoes and and recognize I didn't I didn't think about my my female colleague what it must be like at, you know, when I schedule the 7:30 AM recurring meeting, but that's exactly what she's getting her kid to school. Maybe I can revisit that and think about it differently.

And so I encourage everybody to come into the conversation and with that more people that are fearful of bringing their whole self to work. We'll have a little have more psychological safety to enter it into it as their whole self. Absolutely.

Look, they're gonna be some people watch this Tricia and say yeah she lives in you know, she's from Silicon Valley one of these woke people. You know, we got crazy stuff going on in our country in the world today. Yeah, how do for for Latina women watching this or black women or any women are minority, you know underrepresented Community watching this who were working in places like Tennessee and Florida and Iowa and you know, some of these states that it just seem to be against this whole concept of letting individuality shine.

What what's your advice to them? Do I make waves or Go with it. Yeah.

Well my advice to them is to find support first of all being the first the few or the only in the room is incredibly difficult. It's incredibly lonely and whether you can find it within your organization, there are a lot of companies now employee resource groups that provide people and spaces to be with people similar to you or it's not in your organization. They're a number of different external organizations.

Those women's organizations. The line next organizations black women organizations all kinds and being around people that have had the same lived experiences. You allows you to recognize that you're not alone in thinking this is hard or not alone and thinking gosh I keep getting interrupted is that just me or is that something that happens to all women, you know, so you feel validated for that experience and that gives you the the Courage the tool Said to walk into that environment day in and day out, you know kind of fight the fight again because you can't do it alone.

It's really really hard to be the only one so I would say, you know find support and then also be intentional on when you want to show up make ways as you will or not. I think even now as I am much more vocal about this topic, I may be intentional and moments where I decide, you know, somebody made a comment that I found difficult to to process I make sure it's not to engage because those conversations Ellen over and over again are really hard. They're much more emotional over here than they are on the person that said it it's not political for me to try to talk about how hard it is to be a woman or a Latina.

It's very emotional and quite traumatic after, you know feeling less than for your whole life. And so you really have to have a lot of energy And so I may choose not to do it and that's okay. I think that you know, one of the things I talk about in my book is don't have any any shame for not being the one always trying to to be the advocate every time and for those that aren't from under underrepresented groups.

I just encourage you to be curious, you know, we are all more the same than we are different and I think through storytelling and hearing each other's lives. We can find the commonality between us and some of those beliefs and those on those barriers that we think they'll you know, they'll slowly fall down and you'll realize that we're really all people working hard raising our families and we're we're very similar in that way. You know what that is you talk to you will bring a full circle parents said live the American dream.

They want you that is the true American sort of dream, and I know that we are. Much more alike than we are different no matter where we come from and what? Sexual identity we have or whatever you want, you know.

Whatever you want to say. We do want the same things. We want, you know life liberty and the pursuit of happiness right like it says in the Declaration Hey Trisha, for people who want to get the book on Amazon or the usual book places.

com. com in the name of the book One More Time embrace the power of you owning your identity at work. I love it Trisha.

Thank you so much for coming on and talking with us. I got a chance to get something off my chest. Anyway, I'm happy about that.

Good luck with the book and and good luck with the mission. I think it's a great mission that we can have you back on. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. All right, we're gonna take a break here on Tech strong. We're gonna be back in a moment.