Joy Peña | Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader @ EA

Good evening, everyone. That is so kind. Being the first is not easy, but I'm excited. I'm Joy Peña, Global Diversity and Inclusion Leader at Electronic Arts. I will admit that I'm partially excited because I have a 4-and-a-half-month-old at home, so to be out here dressed and dolled up kind of makes me feel like I feel like Superwoman right now, but I'm also excited because I live for this. I love women connecting with other women. I love sisterhood. I always wanted a sister, to be frank, since I was young, but I only had a brother who was 21 years older than me, so I technically grew up as an only child. My mother, on the other hand, had 9 sisters and 4 brothers. Yeah, that deserves a stage at a later time for storytelling. Because she grew up, and there being 10 of them, right, 10 women, she always seemed to seek out sisterhood, no matter the environment, whether it was work, church, the neighborhood. And so I grew up with women around all the time. And many of them, not just those who were my biological aunts, just women that she had come to connect with, I called my aunties. So it was kind of an unintentional gift to understand the power of sisterhood, women always in the house, laughing and talking, connecting on the couch or in the kitchen or on the phone. And I thank my mother for that. I began to then seek that out in every environment myself. She also took on someone who was somewhat of a daughter, second daughter to her, 10 years older than me, who really became like a big sister to me, by the name of Michelle. And she's influenced me tremendously to this day. And so listen, there are countless names that are of women that I could I'm going to tell you about who have influenced me in very many different circumstances of my life, but you won't know their names. There is the name of one woman, though, that I hope you know, who left a lasting impression on me, and that's Hoda Kotb. So hopefully you know Hoda. Hoda is, right, co-anchor of the Today Show. Well, when I graduated from college, I was a part of the NBC page program, one-year program where you really cut your teeth and get to know the business. And so I did that, and I had a 12-week assignment at Dateline NBC. And I was, for the most part, answering phones, offering help on research and different projects. And I had heard that Hoda and a few producers were working on a story about Whitney Houston. And see, Whitney was like auntie in my head. You know, there are some of these women that I'm like, you know, she's Auntie Whitney. And so I thought, I have to work on this project. How am I going to work on this? I started to offer just help and support, and Hoda welcomed it. She even gave me time to spend in her office to hear about her journey and for her to counsel my career. And two women producers as well who opened the door for me. Anyway, the show aired that was about Whitney. It was a Friday night, and I told all my friends, you have to watch this. You'll never know that I worked on it. But, you know, I did, I gave time to this project. So a Friday night it aired. As the credits are rolling up at the end, there's my name as an assistant producer. And this is a year after graduating from college. And I was blown away. I was in my tiny apartment in New York on the floor, literally floored. You would have thought I'd gotten an Oscar nomination, it was such a moment for me. But it left such an impression on me. And to actually add to that, not expecting kind of credit for this work as a recent grad, in the next week, Hoda sent me flowers just to say thank you. I know, right? Just to say thank you for contributing to this piece. And I was really blown away by that. And I'm sure she sent flowers to everybody, and I'm sure she would not remember my name, but it left such a Maybe she does. I hear her daughter's middle name is Joy. Who knows? I don't know. Maybe I left an impression on her. I don't know. But I am so happy that she— we had that experience because it stuck with me. And I'd like to say that every experience that I've had with women and leaders has been wonderful, right? And obviously I'm not someone who subscribes to this this myth that women don't support women, because I think secure, confident, driven, focused women do support each other, and that's been my experience. Right? We do. We do. We do. But I, you know, will share that I've also had an experience where I didn't feel so supported, and it left as much of a lasting impact on me. And so when I moved from New York to California about 12 years ago, I also transitioned from television production into HR, to really do much of what I'm talking about, opening the door for others and their opportunities. And there was a woman I had heard about who is really successful in the field that I'm in and had become really, you know, well-known for it. And so we had had the opportunity to meet at an industry event, and the person who introduced us said, you know, the conversation was great until he kind of said, "Joy reminds me of a younger version of you." And the conversation went cold at that moment. And that would have been fine, you know, for whatever the reasons were. But I bumped into this person at a few industry events later that year. And in mutual circles, folks would try to introduce us, and that would go kind of like this. So, so-and-so, you know Joy Kenyia, right? You've met her. And she would say, "Have we met? Did we? I don't know." That happened a few times. And I think I'm pretty memorable, but apparently, you know, she did not want to acknowledge me, right? And that really crushed me. Someone who I'd looked up to and really had hoped to connect with. And listen, I've matured professionally to understand that, and I don't want to demonize her, to understand that she maybe was having a bad day or a few bad days or a bad season, but I learned not to idolize people, right? We're all human. But I also didn't want to be the woman who doesn't see another woman, right? I really, really— it birthed in me a passion to do the opposite. And so I share both of those experiences because they birthed that passion in me to connect women. And since then, when I've even been in between jobs, I've hosted a few workshops for women on how to network, Even had hosted brunches and happy hours for women in my network out in Los Angeles, about 30 to 50 women, assistant to C-suite level, and have heard of so many opportunities that have come out of those connections. And so, you know, you don't have to host a brunch or a happy hour, but I want to encourage you to look around you. You know, who haven't you seen? Who haven't you acknowledged? Who can you connect with? There's so much power in that. Quite honestly, and you've probably heard this saying, I don't think one candle loses its flame by lighting another. So if we all encourage each other, support each other, and champion one another, I think that that's a pretty powerful light that we create together. So, you know, I really want to leave you with this, and I'm shocked that I have 2 minutes left, because when they told me 10 minutes, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I could tell you a story for an hour." really treating this like you're on my couch or in my kitchen. But what I want to leave you with is this: as you rise, women, as you rise— men too, because I see a few good men in the house, which is awesome— as you rise, I encourage you to reach back. Someone is watching you. Someone is. Reach back, lift another sister up, you know, open the door for an opportunity. Even if it wasn't open for you, open the door for someone else with encouragement, with advice, with experience, with knowledge. Reach back. As you rise, reach out. Reach out to your peers. They don't even have to be in your industry or your profession. I honestly, some of my greatest sources of inspiration, actually there's a particular group that I affectionately call my lady loves. There are 10 of us who graduated from college together. We are from all different fields and industries in various cities across the country. And I have girlfriends out in California as well. And let me tell you, those group chats are the best hype man a girl can use before a presentation. And even today, I mean, they're in their cities waiting to hear how this goes. And so there's such power in that. And that's what I encourage you to do—reach out. As you rise, finally, I would hope that you also reach up. And if there is not a Hodakapi to reach back at you, if you're blazing the trail, then who are the aunties in your head that you can also think about and that you've been inspired by, that have amazed you in the ways that they've blazed their own trails? Be inspired by them as well. And so I wish you great success, but I also wish you great sisterhood along the journey. Thank you.