Diversity Woman Magazine

FALL 2015

Leadership and Executive Development for women of all races, cultures and backgrounds

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d i v e r s i t y w o m a n . c o m Fa l l 2 0 1 5 D I V E R S I T Y W O M A N 25 By Jackie Krentzman G rowing up in the 1960s, in a suburb of Detroit in a middle- class African American family, Tyronne Stoudemire was one of the few black students in his school. Tat experience—at times both positive and nega- tive—has informed his think- ing and his innovative and frank approach to D&I.; As the vice president of Glob- al Diversity & Inclusion for the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Stoudemire has had a long and illustrious career in diversity and inclusion. He previously served in diversity leader- ship positions at Mercer and Aon Hewitt. At Hyatt, based in Chicago, he is responsible for 95,000 global employees. Despite his 20-plus years in D&I;, when he was frst asked to enter the feld, he wasn't the least bit interested. Diversity Woman sat down with Stoudemire to explore his initial resistance to the D&I; feld, his philosophy of diversity and inclusion imple- mentation, and how his up- bringing infuenced his think- ing and career. Diversity Woman: Tell us about your upbringing. What did your parents do? Tyronne Stoudemire: I was born and raised in Detroit. Both my parents came from the South for a better life. My mother was a registered nurse. My father worked at Cadillac Motors. He took early retirement and started his own trucking DW: Did that experience come to influence your cur- rent work in diversity? TS: Absolutely. When I coach on diversity, I tell that story about how I moved from a very homogenized communi- ty where I was most comfort- able to a place where no one in my family was comfortable. I had to navigate through those diferences. Now, I didn't do that independently. I did that with people in my community. Tere was a [white] couple by the name of Wally and Laura who lived on the corner. Tey were your typical Leave It to Beaver family. Laura wore the poodle dress, the apron, the curls, the heels. She was a baker. Wally was always mani- curing his lawn, trimming the bushes, always doing some- thing in the garage. Tey ac- tually came over to welcome us into the community and brought us some apple pie and cookies. I took the apple pie and cookies, and my mother said, "Do not eat those cook- ies because they're going to try and poison us." Tese messag- es of like and dislike and race and status were part of my life. Laura and Wally befriended our family and became very close. Tey would come over to help us clean up the trash on our lawn. Tey were very instrumental in try- ing to make us feel comfortable and that we belonged in the community. When it was time for me to go to school, they vol- unteered to take me because my mother worked nights and my father worked days. Tey took me to school, to my Hyatt's Tyronne Stoudemire has one overriding philosophy about D&I; programs: they must enhance the bottom line Making the Business Case for D&I; We Mean Business > Men at Work business, hauling gravel and sand. He be- came pretty successful. We moved from the inner city to the suburbs for a better life. Tis was back in the mid-'60s. We were the frst black family to move into this community. We were not welcome. Many people would throw trash on our lawn or throw eggs at our windows. Tey would drive their cars across our lawn. It was really very scary.

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