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February 21, 2021

Discussing empowerment with Tiana S. Clark, Chief of Staff at Microsoft

Tiana S. Clark is Chief of Staff, Partner Channel Sales at Microsoft. She's a women's empowerment coach and an award winning filmmaker for the tween web series, Soci Circle. She is a USAF veteran and was awarded Airman of the Year during her service.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;25;15

Narrator

At a crossroads of uncertainty and opportunity. How do you navigate forward? This podcast focuses on making smart choices in a rapidly changing world. We investigate the challenges of being at a crossroads and finding opportunities that arise out of disruption. Listen in on future forward conversations with the brightest luminaries, movers and shakers. Let's navigate forward together and create what's next.

 

00;00;25;17 - 00;00;44;19

Lisa Thee

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Navigating Flora podcast. My name is Lisa Thee and I'll be your host today. One of my favorite hobbies in life is collecting the best thought leaders I can get access to and sharing some of their brilliance with the world. And today we have somebody who meets all of those bars. Her name is Tiana Clarke.

 

00;00;44;22 - 00;01;11;09

Lisa Thee

I have the luxury of considering her a coach and an ally, and I know that by the time we're done with this conversation, you'll see her as a coach and an ally for yourself as well. She is a mother of four, an award winning filmmaker for a web series focusing on twin issues. She is also a retired Air Force veteran and was airman of the year during her service time.

 

00;01;11;11 - 00;01;35;15

Lisa Thee

And last but not certainly not least, she is a tech company executive with Microsoft and is somebody that we all can learn from in terms of moving our career forward in life. So thank you for being here today, Tiana. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where you're from and how you think that shaped some of the work that you do today?

 

00;01;35;18 - 00;02;03;23

Tiana Clark

Yeah, listen, my background, where I'm from, I am from Gary, Indiana. Gary, Indiana. When I grew up, there was the murder capital of the world. So and I was orphaned. So you talk about how it shaped the work that I do today. Definitely shaped me because, you know, I learned independence at the age of 11, You know, even though I had a lot of family around me, I always felt like I was the one responsible for me.

 

00;02;03;26 - 00;02;34;02

Tiana Clark

But I learned so much in my upbringing, just in my environment. You know, I know we there's a lot of stigmas and things put on those types of environments. But I tell you, I learned self-awareness and learned survival. I learned how to recognize game. I learn how society really works for people who are underserved and been in a lot of situations that taught me how to navigate and how to de-escalate and learning community just so many different things.

 

00;02;34;02 - 00;03;00;07

Tiana Clark

And it saved me and so, so many ways for one really helped me to feel empowered. And just over my life, that sense of empowerment has really motivated me to empower others. So I rescued myself, if you will, from a myriad of alternative endings that could have happened after growing up in that environment and losing my parents at a young age.

 

00;03;00;07 - 00;03;29;01

Tiana Clark

But I bet on myself because that was the one element that I could control. Like I'm responsible for, for me. And yeah, and so I started to master that and really be able to drive the outcomes that I want to see. So to that end, now I've launched Socially Circle. You mentioned that for empowering tween girls and I'm launching a career program called Driver C for empowering professionals in their career professional women. So I'm all about empowerment, and I think my upbringing really saved me to be that way.

 

00;03;29;03 - 00;03;56;04

Lisa Thee

Absolutely. So you went from rescuing yourself to now lifting others for somebody that does. What do you think about your area of expertise? Do you mind sharing with us some of the things that you have learned through that journey and what you find empowering and what you are using to help lift the community at large?

 

00;03;56;07 - 00;04;34;09

Tiana Clark

Yeah, you know, in terms of my area of expertise, that's such a hard question because as you know, you're a generalist. My journey, I know my career journey has really had all the different areas that are plentiful and flexible that I mean, gosh, in the Air Force, I mean, my role at the tender age of 19 was to learn all there is about military aircraft and invasion and air to air and surface to air missiles and go train pilots on that.

 

00;04;34;09 - 00;05;04;03

Tiana Clark

And guess how many of those pilots looked like me? Yeah, right. So you talk about how that can teach you how to navigate a world in corporate America where you find yourself in very similar situations. You know, looking at my experience as a teacher and helping young people to really empower them to rise to expectations that were not being set for them in this at risk school district that I worked in.

 

00;05;04;05 - 00;05;43;12

Tiana Clark

So that's teaching me a lot more about empowering others. You know, working in the tech industry for almost 15 years now and so much that I've learned there about change predominately. But yeah, just bringing all of those things, all of those life experiences really help to shape the things that that I'm doing today. So yeah, I find it so inspiring how you're able to bring your full self forward in all the places that you've shown up because a lot of times people get invited to the table that maybe don't fit the majority, but that doesn't mean that they're empowered to actually have a voice.

 

00;05;43;12 - 00;06;12;28

Lisa Thee

And I think you've done a really good job of helping to not only get a seat at the table, but help lead the conversation. And that's incredibly important. So with that, can you tell us a little bit more about social circle and what inspired you in the midst of a high tech career, in addition to being a mother of four children and all of your responsibility, these as a wife, as a mother, as a leader to go off and develop and launch a web series. What were you born? What was going on?

 

00;06;13;00 - 00;06;40;21

Tiana Clark

You know, this is what's crazy. Some of the most beautiful things are birthed out of struggle. And ironically, when I was feeling that you ever have in your career where you start to put too much value into your position. And when you don't feel that you're valued, you start to question your own worth.

 

00;06;40;23 - 00;06;58;18

Tiana Clark

Right? And I was going through that a little bit. And then I had to remind myself, like, no, like we are let's talk about what we've accomplished in our past and let's let let's not let that affect us. But I had to snap out of it. But it's when you're in situations like that, when you really start to think about, okay, what is my purpose?

 

00;06;58;18 - 00;07;28;22

Tiana Clark

What is my true purpose and who am I? And I started really getting back to that. And the interesting thing about it is it's about empowering girls. But I was also empowering myself in that moment to do something that I felt was aligned with my purpose. And so, yeah, social circle is really a passion. It was a passion project for me because I wanted to see us empowering our girls the way we're empowering women.

 

00;07;28;24 - 00;07;51;13

Tiana Clark

I wanted to see us build a new generation of inclusive leaders, leaders who are going to look a little bit different than what we have today, right? Because we're growing, we're evolving. And when you think about things like diversity and inclusion, for example, right, we want to be able to sort of break the cycles that we're hot that we as adults are still facing today.

 

00;07;51;16 - 00;08;15;01

Tiana Clark

And it starts with our young it starts with having these conversations at a much younger age where our youth are malleable and also focused on a lot of the issues that young girls go through. Right. There's so many so many issues that we went through when we were younger, and they're going through that. And then some. We didn't have technology at our fingertips like they do, right?

 

00;08;15;02 - 00;08;36;23

Tiana Clark

So there's a lot there to unpack. And one I'm finding is that we're not having the conversation. We're not having a conversation with them. And when I have these conversations, they, you know, they get so excited, they're happy someone is there to talk about these things. And then there's that peer to peer learning that happens as well. Things that we couldn't get through to them as adults with.

 

00;08;36;23 - 00;08;57;20

Tiana Clark

Like, I give you an example. So first off, Social Circle is it's a web series, right? So we approached it through video because tweens spend like 70% of their time watching videos. So it's like meet them where they are. But on top of that, I like to use that those those stories, those scenarios as a jumping off point to have deeper conversation.

 

00;08;57;23 - 00;09;18;16

Tiana Clark

So I'm at a school and I've got a group of fifth, sixth and seventh grade girls. One of the episodes actually touches on cell phones and we start getting into a conversation about the pros and the cons. Well, I have a fifth grader who shares that she really wants a phone or parents will ever get one, which is what the episode is based on.

 

00;09;18;19 - 00;09;42;15

Tiana Clark

But I have a seventh grader in the room who says, listen, I know you want a phone. I've had one since I was in the second grade and I have an addiction. And it's a problem that I am trying to break and so I think you need to be careful what you wish for. Now, listen, there's no way an adult would be able to get through to this fifth grader the way a seventh grader could.

 

00;09;42;16 - 00;10;10;23

Tiana Clark

Right. So those peer to peer discussions are extremely powerful as well. Absolutely. And in the lives of digital natives that have no nothing but an immersion in a tech environment, they have an insight into what the what they're really entering into as they're doing that peer to peer mentorship. And the way that we we probably really go, Oh, they want to show me all the tricks of how they follow their parents and get around the past couple.

 

00;10;10;25 - 00;10;38;18

Lisa Thee

Yeah, it's very interesting, very interesting. The other thing I love about what you've done, the social circle on the terms of diversity inclusion is cast a cast that represents a broader lens of what life in America looks like and and has representation of real children and what those ratios actually look like. It's not a token character, right? That happens to be diversity.

 

00;10;38;20 - 00;11;00;14

Tiana Clark

To fill some kind of good what absolutely that was and key component to this is we want that girls to be able to see themselves represented on the screen, to be able to see girls who look and act like them going through the same issues that they face. And I mean, obviously that's lacking in TV and video and all that today.

 

00;11;00;16 - 00;11;39;20

Tiana Clark

But also even the content, you know, this isn't slapstick comedy. This is us actually finding ways to bring conversation to issues that they're going through in a way that they can relate to and want to engage in. That's exactly spot on to what you've accomplished with your intentions. And as somebody who has girls that are in the age category that you're targeting, I'm incredibly grateful to have content that I can expose my daughter to that not only lifts and inspires her, but also helps her to see the talent all around her and not be blind to it.

 

00;11;39;23 - 00;12;06;10

Lisa Thee

With that in mind, I think you're also working on another little side Hustle project today around your master's class, and I would love to hear what you're thinking in that space in terms of educating adults.  

 

00;12;06;12 - 00;12;43;21

Tiana Clark

Yeah, so what I found, especially being being a black woman in corporate America, but I think this can go for a lot of us in corporate America, is that, you know, there is really no playbook for career advancement, like we're off figuring it out. And one of the things that I really honed in on right now is now diversity, equity, inclusion. It's a hot topic. It's something that a lot of companies are starting to engage in, or maybe they already have, but they're doubling down. It's definitely getting a lot of attention and a lot of awareness right now. However, depending on where you are in that spectrum, right, Like how far you've really gone with diversity, equity and inclusion, A lot of times we focus more so on the diversity piece and what happens is that it becomes a revolving door, right?

 

00;12;43;21 - 00;13;16;24

Tiana Clark

So you get the people in, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to stay. And from my experience, there's really two factors that lend to having retention. One being, are you creating an inclusive environment? Right. But the second is, are you advancing career? Because if I come in the door, great, I'm glad to be here. But if I start to see my peers are all advancing and I'm still sitting in the same place, right then I'm probably going to be looking for another job and I'm probably going to leave the company.

 

00;13;17;01 - 00;13;43;24

Tiana Clark

And so those numbers that you're trying to get up, those metrics that you're trying to hit, they're just you're constantly chasing them. And so my hope is that I can help people to advance their careers, whether they're companies that are actively focused on that or not. Right. To really help them build their own playbook for what they need to do to advance based on what it is that they actually want.

 

00;13;43;26 - 00;14;05;07

Tiana Clark

And that's all come from, you know, just my own experience going through that. But I want to empower others to be able to do the same. Well, 15 years into a career at a growing tech company and achieving the position of chief of staff for a large sales organization, you certainly have the chops to showcase that you've navigated through the system successfully.

 

00;14;05;14 - 00;14;31;19

Lisa Thee

And I love how you're democratizing the information to people that sometimes are left behind. Frankly, in terms of having the information on how to succeed in terms of advancement. Exactly. So what emerging trends are you seeing in your field? We know that you're working in tech, that you think we should all be paying more attention to. I mean, I can talk about, you know, a guy and all of that really cool technology.

 

00;14;31;19 - 00;15;01;07

Tiana Clark

But the thing that has fascinated me the most, okay, is I mean, this sounds crazy, but I feel like I've been really, really learning a lot about all the technology tools that are out there, like outside of the enterprise space. So ironically, it's the entrepreneurship that takes me out of the day to day of what I'm used to seeing.

 

00;15;01;09 - 00;15;35;28

Tiana Clark

And when I look at entrepreneurship and the amount of tools that you need to actually launch and run a successful business, there is so plentiful And I'm just so amazed by, you know, right. I mean, the productivity tools that I mean, thank God for Canva. I mean, it's making my life so much easier. Right. These calendar scheduling tools, you know, that all these email campaigns and tools and being able to build your own website like that.

 

00;15;36;00 - 00;15;55;09

Tiana Clark

There's so much out. Every day I'm learning about a new tool and I'm just I'm amazed at how many people are out here creating products because they themselves see the gaps and they're like, You know what? I'm going to empower others. We're going to we're going to solve that gap. And I'm just like, Oh, this is exactly what I need.

 

00;15;55;12 - 00;16;23;26

Lisa Thee

What's how much is. I love that. And, you know, that's how we got connected originally, right? We both are traditionally corporate people that have driven a lot of interest preneur our ship and are exploring entrepreneurship and bringing some of those great ideas back into the corporate environment. So I appreciate you highlighting them. And what is your job look like today versus ten years ago?

 

00;16;23;26 - 00;16;55;18

Tiana Clark

How has it changed over time? Oh, well, I mean, ten years ago I wasn't quite at Microsoft yet, so that's interesting. So very, very, very different. But I'll tell you, what's been the same is that I've always had my career and then what I'm doing to give back. I remember once a a mentor once said to me, it was at a time where, like I went for this role and I thought I should have gotten in.

 

00;16;55;18 - 00;17;14;21

Tiana Clark

And I was really like, sad about it. And and she was just like, listen, you know, your job is not always going to be what fulfills you. You need to make sure you still have in your life that thing that fulfills you. And that's one thing I can say, you know, my job might look different. And then ten years ago, I was at a fortune top ten.

 

00;17;14;21 - 00;17;36;04

Tiana Clark

Today I'm at a fortune top ten. So there are some things that stay the same as well. And that piece, you know, it's always been something that I've done, whether it was a nonprofit that I was working on or there's just always that giving back. So some similarities too. So as much as things change, some common themes stay the same.

 

00;17;36;04 - 00;18;07;12

Lisa Thee

You are consistently focused on empowerment. You're consistently focusing on lifting women around you, whether they be young or more advanced in their career. And you are leveraging some of those early skills that you developed coming up in an environment that required you to really count on yourself to get that done. Absolutely correct. Yeah, you're spot on. What achievements are you most proud of?

 

00;18;07;14 - 00;18;31;06

Tiana Clark

I am most proud of. You've got a lot of actually, it's funny. You have a lot of things. I'm most proud of. My empowerment, though, because I realized that I have to get in the driver's seat of my own life, and that is what I'm most proud of. And I can give you three examples. Even just joining the military, nobody.

 

00;18;31;08 - 00;18;54;17

Tiana Clark

People laughed at me when I said I was like, good food, prissy. You can't serve in the military. Right. But I knew. I knew that I did not want my grandparents taking out student loans and all this in my name. And I said, you know what? I'm going to find a way to get my education paid for and see the world at the same time.

 

00;18;54;19 - 00;19;26;19

Tiana Clark

And what happened? I got my bachelor's and master's degree paid for by the military, and I lived in England for like four years and traveled the world. But it was because I don't let other right live my life. For me, that's just one example. Another example is I remember I learned from a coworker the simplest thing called checking the labels on your food, like taking a package, turning it around and reading the ingredients.

 

00;19;26;22 - 00;19;50;12

Tiana Clark

I came home that day where, you know, I've been going to Weight Watchers to learn that. I'm glad you got it for free check on that day. It took everything out. The Patriots threw it in the garbage that said we started over. That was like 12 years ago. And we just stay. We eat natural. We eat healthy, organic foods, ingredients I don't trust.

 

00;19;50;12 - 00;20;14;02

Tiana Clark

I don't buy it. Same thing with things we put on our bodies. And then lastly, just another like empowerment moment that I'm proud of is, you know, when I have four children, as you mentioned, my first two, I had them the traditional way, you know, the hospital. I did not enjoy that experience, though. I felt like I was going to a doctor who barely remember my name.

 

00;20;14;04 - 00;20;38;25

Tiana Clark

We had this five minute kind of code visit. I felt, you know, condescend it. And then they're all up in the warmest part of you. Right. Right. And then both of them were induced and that creates complications. And then one day I was watching a documentary, I think it was called The Business of Being Born or something like that before.

 

00;20;38;25 - 00;20;59;05

Tiana Clark

And I said, Yeah, why would you change my life? Wait a minute. I don't have to follow what I don't have to follow whatever the traditional rules are. Like, I can empower myself to do this the way I want to do it. So I got a midwife, and I had my next two babies at home, naturally, in the bathtub.

 

00;20;59;12 - 00;21;19;14

Tiana Clark

Instead of being stabbed to a bed and told I can't eat any food afterwards, I was in my own bed eating pizza like right afterwards, like I'm empowering me. This is loving. Do it over here. So it's like we have one life to live in as ours. And I'm just proud that I was able to recognize that before it's too late.

 

00;21;19;17 - 00;21;57;04

Lisa Thee

I agree. I agree. You know, in my experience in life, I learned a lot more from my failures and my successes. I can you share one of those with us and how you navigated through it to get the lesson out of it?  

 

00;21;57;04 - 00;22;20;17

Tiana Clark

Well, I don't really see failures because I feel like anything that didn't work out for me was destined to go that way for, I think, maybe like 20 something years ago, I came across this phrase by a philosopher, and I'm not going to pronounce his name right, but it's like Epictetus or something like that. But the quote was, I am always content with what happens for what God chooses is better than what I choose. And I've just always listened to that, right? And so anything that I might have misconstrued as a failure was simply God pivoting me to the right direction because that was the wrong one. Or I was supposed to learn something from that.

 

00;22;20;17 - 00;22;42;26

Tiana Clark

And that learning that experience that I got was like a complete win for me. So yeah, there's been a time where I felt like, I know I did all the right things and I was like the top candidate for a position, but they want another direction. I don't see it as a failure because I know I was the best person for that role, but it wasn't meant for me.

 

00;22;42;28 - 00;23;02;07

Tiana Clark

I was meant for something greater. Oh, I can relate to that so much. Yes. And there have been so many times where I have to repeat a monster to myself for a while of You can't do this. What was never your art? It wasn't meant for me, so I can't lose it if it was never meant, actually. Exactly.

 

00;23;02;11 - 00;23;28;00

Tiana Clark

Yeah. Yes. Another time I remember I accidentally gave my customer wrong information, and I almost screwed up a multimillion dollar deal. You know, with failure, the key word is almost like you didn't screw it up. That's like I humbly admitted my estate. My mistake. You know, I talked to everyone individually, cool things off, took my lumps. I learned from that, and life went on.

 

00;23;28;03 - 00;23;53;09

Tiana Clark

I think the failure would have been me holding on to these things as baggage, you know, because the failure is in your mindset and you have to shift your mindset and just learn from it and know that it worked out the way it was supposed to. Absolutely. Absolutely. So you've been in a lot of positions where you maybe see things a little bit different than your leadership because you have more experiences to pull from and a broader perspective to bring in.

 

00;23;53;11 - 00;24;21;06

Lisa Thee

How do you help keep the key priorities that you think should be top of mind for decision makers happening within your sphere of influence? What do you rely on to make sure that they're thinking through things from a broader lens?  

 

00;24;21;09 - 00;24;47;02

Tiana Clark

Hmm. You know, I think it's just really this is having the courage to to speak that when you know of key priorities that the business should be focused on. I mean, that's what I find people struggle with is just having the courage to have the voice and speak up. And sometimes it's calling the baby ugly. Know, I remember once when it is. I remember once one of my VP's this was a while back and he was a new new to the organization, new leader. And really, you know, obviously he wanted to make his mark a huge project coming up.

 

00;24;47;02 - 00;25;09;24

Tiana Clark

But because he was new and because of his authoritative leadership style, there wasn't a lot of trust in the organization. And so morale was low. And we've got this big project and it's like not really working out. And I just have to tell him. I'm like, listen, you know, when people are talking, it would be good if you allow them to finish talking.

 

00;25;09;26 - 00;25;35;00

Tiana Clark

And then before you say something negative, say something positive, and then you can maybe give some challenging feedback like, this is me coaching the VP, right? But it takes a level of courage to do that. But in turn, it built trust, a lot of trust between he and I. So yeah, I think it just really starts with that confidence.

 

00;25;35;02 - 00;26;01;02

Lisa Thee

Yeah, I really resonate with what you're saying because I think so often people in positions of power are looking for a touchpoint of somebody that will be honest with them and not just try to anticipate what they want to hear back. Right. Because then you're only as good as yourself, right? Yes, definitely. Yeah. So we've all been affected by this pandemic and we all know it doesn't impact everyone equally. Can you share some of your experiences and managing through this?

 

00;26;01;03 - 00;26;22;22

Tiana Clark

You know, it's funny because when this first happened, a lot of people would ask me, you know, how I'm dealing with COVID in terms of now having to work remotely. And I would always say, you know, I've actually been working remotely for like years now, so it didn't really affect.

 

00;26;22;23 - 00;26;53;02

Tiana Clark

So it's a strong muscle. So I feel like. But you know what I missed, though? I missed how I was affecting my family because it might be business as usual for me, but not all four of my children, they were all in like four different activities, each screeching halt and not seeing their friends not being a part of any of their activities, you know, not being able to go to school.

 

00;26;53;02 - 00;27;22;18

Tiana Clark

When you just started making friends this year in and then my husband, you know, I get to come in my office and just be here 12 hours a day and work business as usual, probably more hours and think, oh, he's managing all of this right? And so I was like, Oh, there is a change. And we have to not only focus on us, but we have to make sure we're supporting those whom we love as well.

 

00;27;22;21 - 00;27;45;02

Tiana Clark

Yeah, Yeah. And sometimes that change isn't self evident right at the beginning, right? Some of that has longer term effects as as things go on. We all thought this would be a two week thing and three months thing, and we all have to accept that. We really don't know how long of a thing that will be, right? Yeah.

 

00;27;45;04 - 00;28;12;11

Lisa Thee

Yeah. So I would like to wrap with finding out where people can keep tabs on what you're working on. I know there is so much creativity, empowerment and uplifting things coming from you on a regular basis. Where can people find you and how can people support your work? Thank you for asking. I got one handle for everything, and it's just Tiana s Clark.

 

00;28;12;14 - 00;28;43;17

Tiana Clark

So it's Tiana Clark on Instagram. On LinkedIn. My email is Hello. It's like my website is Tiana Clark. So if you want to get in touch with me here, keep tabs on what I'm working on. You can go to any of those places. If you are a career professional and you think that A the driver's seat program is something that might be interesting to you or beneficial to you as a three in one, it's the course a community and the coach.

 

00;28;43;17 - 00;29;09;08

Tiana Clark

So you get guided mentorship as well. So that'll be kicking off. Then you get this reach out to me and I'll be sure to include you and the launch details. I love you. I love that. And I will also mention that if you are somebody that is looking for incredibly high quality content targeted at tweens and represents diversity in authentic and organic way, please check out social circle.

 

00;29;09;08 - 00;29;34;08

Lisa Thee

I'm sure you'd be open to doing some licensing agreements for your content as well, clearly. And that is one handle as well. So she circles. So for all of those say hello social circle social circle dot com Instagram, LinkedIn. Definitely. And if you have twin girls, check it out. There's a conversation guide as well to help you to navigate those discussions.

 

00;29;34;10 - 00;29;58;06

Lisa Thee

Well, I just want to thank you so much for being here today to share your light. I'm so inspired from the ways that you've empowered yourself to the ways that you're empowering the rest of us to look imposter syndrome in the eye, not give in to the challenging thoughts that we all have in the back of our minds, and to just push forward and lift ourselves and lift everyone else with us in the process.

 

00;29;58;08 - 00;30;14;29

Narrator

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Hey, everyone. Thanks for listening to the Navigating Foreign podcast. We'd love to hear from you. At a crossroads of uncertainty and opportunity, how do you navigate forward? We'll see you next time.

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