Ep. 67 – Retaining Diverse Talent in Corporate America with Michele Heyward

In this episode, Michele Heyward discusses her experience as a woman in the technology field. She discusses the numerous challenges in her career due to discrimination and stereotypes that she's faced. Michelle also discusses her company, Positive Hire, which uses people analytics to connect black, Latina, and indigenous women who are scientists, engineers, or technology professionals with management roles. Listen as she explains how her company is working to help retaining these talented individuals in the technology field.   Here’s a bit about Michele’s passion: Michele Heyward is the founder and CEO of PositiveHire, a tech company engineered to connect Black, Latinx and Indigenous women who are experienced scientists, engineers and technology professionals to management roles. As an experienced construction project manager in the energy sector, Michele is armed with technical sales and technology transfer experience.   Michele’s vision is to not only help underrepresented women in STEM find inclusive workplaces, but to also prepare business organizations to retain them. Michele holds a BS degree in Civil Engineering and MS degree in Industrial Management, both from Clemson University. Let’s dive in! [00:01 – 11:00] Women on the Struggle with Limited Resources and Exclusion  Michele’s childhood love of science and technology - pursuing a career in engineering Founding Positive Hire - connecting women in the science and tech industry The different impact between men and women in corporate America   [11:01 – 30:21] The Focus on Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Helping medium size manufacturing companies retain diverse talent How retaining this talent can prevent lawsuits and recruitment costs Sponsors vs. mentors on power and influence in both the department and industry   [30:22 – 33:51] Closing Segment Bring the human into what you do Connect with Michele! (links below) Parting Notes   You can learn more about Michele Heyward by visiting her website https://positivehire.co/. You may also connect with her on Linkedin and send her an email at [email protected] Sponsors: Banowetz Marketing: Growing a business is hard. Banowetz Marketing provides an action plan and expert help so your family business can thrive. BanowetzMarketing.com/James Coupon Code: JAMES to get 3 FREE hours of logo design or redesign work with the purchase of any other product.  If this content impacts you, please subscribe for more access to the empowering conversations from me and guests working to help you engineer your success! Use this link to drop a question or a topic that you would like to see covered on a future episode: Questions or topic suggestions.   Let’s connect! Find me on my <a href="https: