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In Ask Ashley, Founder, Thoughtleader and award-winning media personality Ashley Russo sits down with leaders who bring purpose and humanity to business.
Each episode explores how people navigate uncertainty, lead with empathy, and create meaningful change in their organizations and lives. Listeners gain practical insights on resilience, leadership, and financially confident decision-making amid disruption.
This podcast is brought to you by Ask Ashley. If you’re interested in building a confident, purpose-driven wealth plan, reach out to Ashley at ashley.russo@nm.com.
welcome to ask Ashley the podcast
where we shine a light on the unsung heroes
of the workplace I'm your host
Ashley Russo financial AI board member
thought leader and wealth management advisor
each week we sit down with inspiring leaders
exploring their journeys
motivations and the real challenges they face
from job insecurity to the evolving role of AI
in a world where many feel overlooked
these guests
are building hope and connection for their colleagues
join us as we uncover their stories
and discover how they're making a difference
one conversation at a time
well I'd love to start with you
just giving an introduction of yourself
obviously your personal accomplishments
give us an overview of you
yes so hi
I'm Jenilee Angeles Pasco
and I am currently
the director of operations at Runpod
and um yes
so on top of that I'm a mom of two children
I have a six year old and a two year old
and so my life is just a lot
love my career
love being a mom and just trying to balance everything
just a few things on your plate right um
I'd love to start with your career journey
so your early days um
all the way up to your current position and leadership
give us an overview of that
yeah so I started in HR about 10 years ago when I well
actually more than 10 years ago
so I started off in post production in Hollywood
and it was
really interesting in that we've never had an HR person
a lot of it was going through our operations manager
but I went to my boss one day and I was like
hey you know
I think as we're growing
we do need an HR person here to make sure that we're
you know recruiting the right people
the right talent uh
things you know
there's compliance issues and there's like
making sure that our employees are supported
and um
so yeah that's where my HR journey started
I went there um
was there for about 5 years
then got furloughed during um Covid
started working for a biotech company
which I was also the first HR hire um
which was a different animal than I was
than it was at the post production company
this was more buttoned up
more formal so I did work a lot with um scientists
which is also another um
a very different um
animal from working with entertainment in Hollywood
and um
I was their first HR manager
after that I worked at another company
it was an advertising company in LA
also as their first HR hire
so you can kind of see where my trajectory is
being the first HR person at all these companies
and I worked for a crypto gaming company
which was I was also the first HR hire
and now I'm still the first HR hire at Runpod
so that's kind of been my journey
of building HR foundations at these organizations
so I'm curious going back
um you were obviously around
I believe the time
you would line up for the Me Too movement in Hollywood
uh huh
curious how that impacted your world
your decisions um
if that influenced how you lead now
I'm curious about that yes
so you know
I'm a staunch women supporter
basically
one of the reasons I did ask my manager at that time
to be um
to move into HR was because I felt like the women
we only had three women out of um
I think it was almost like 25 employees
um I wanted to make sure that women had a safe space
and also to be able to retain and attract
you know different people than um the
the ha uh
employees we've had at that time
so it was basically
making sure that I was supporting the women
and also educating our employees on like
you know safety policies
and the Me Too movement was huge in Hollywood
at that time
so I felt like I wanted to make sure that I supported
not just the women
but also making sure that we did educate
like the entire workplace on like
what constitutes as harassment or just like
hiring policies and
and um
you know not having any bias in the workplace
um but it was
it was a very interesting time
and making sure that our employees were
were they knew what was going on and
and how we can make it a better workplace
for whoever we wanted to retain and attract
since what I'm curious in terms of your upbringing
so most people have the awareness and care to you know
you know guide other people through their journeys
and make sure they feel supported
and in any which way
usually comes from our own awareness in our own lives
so I'm curious how did your upbringing influence
just your viewpoint in the world
yeah so I mean
I'm an immigrant uh
with my parents we came to America back in like the 90
I mean the late 80s and so my parents
you know my dad was an architect in the Philippines
and my mom was an accountant
but when we got to America
obviously they weren't that anymore
and so they had to kind of start from scratch
um and they worked hard
they worked two jobs each
they basically
figured out a way to take care of me and my brother
they'll put us in good schools made sure that we
you know had the right education um
and you know I just saw them working
so hard to make sure that we had a great life here
and to make sure that we weren't um
you know without so they they um
the way that they did things was
they made sure that they still
you know showed up to our school events
school activities my mom never missed it uh
we still had the homemade meals
we never had nannies they figured out a way to like
fit their schedule with our school schedule
made sure to help us with our homework
and really support us and
and so
I feel that my upbringing really shaped who I am today
as a mom and
you know seeing my mom work and
and still do so well as a mother
who was supporting her children
and we never really had gaps in that
um it
I think it really shaped my life now
and how I see my career and being a mom
and so I'm start I'm also trying to juggle it all
and making sure that I have that career
have my own you know
life in outside of my children
but also being a very present and
and supportive mom to them
I'm curious on the being a working mom and
you know obviously in a leadership position
how do you in reality balance it all
are there self care routines
you make sure you have in place
I mean how do you have such a full plate
I honestly
I'm like the worst I
I as HR
you know I'm always telling employees like hey
take the time off and relax and make sure that
you know you're spending time with your family and
you know finding benefits
and all of that stuff to make sure that we're
we're supporting our employees
but I think for me I'm like
the worst person to actually follow my own rules
or my own recommendations and suggestions
because I honestly
don't know that there's enough hours in the day
um but I think seeing my mom do it all
it just kind of
challenges me to be able to do the same thing
for me and for myself and my children
self care is out the window
I mean like I'm sure
you know as a mom too
it's like
the little bit of time you get to have for yourself
is just like
also thinking about doctor's appointments
dental appointments like school activities
like what's coming up on the calendar
what meals I need to make
um how can I maximize those meals for the week and
you know helping with homework and
and just
even being able to read them their bedtime stories and
and doing their bedtime routines with them
and then after I put them to bed
it's like OK
now I still have to work and I think it's
it's great that Runpod does provide that flexibility
of remote work
because I'll take all my meetings in the mornings
and then I'll you know
do my drop offs and my pickups for my kids in school
but then after they go to bed at 8:00
I do work again and
but it's also being able to
work at a company that helps you have that balance
I think that's so important and I think employers
regardless if you're going in office
or you're working remotely
provide you that sort of flexibility
I think it goes a long way um
especially for working parents
I really appreciate
and I think our listeners will as well
that you didn't just tell us
you took 3 hours to meditate
and you made a fresh pressed juice smoothie
and then you had you know
three hours to do your hair
um I appreciate the realness of what you just said
and I think many others will too
but the reality is
to have it all means that you're not necessarily
you don't necessarily have it all
meaning you don't have all that extra time
but if it's important
you right the family life and the work life
and you make it work so I appreciate that very honest
real response
I think we all need to hear that more often
thank you um
I wanna go into uh
into companies you had mentioned that
so you know
how do you balance the need in this moment in time
where obviously
it's a very polarized you know
social environment how do you balance
the diversity and inclusion aspect of it
the feeling of belonging how are you addressing that
so at my company we're very um
so the way that we attract and retain our talents
everybody's from different walks of life
I think we provide a very safe space
especially um
with knowing and
understanding that not everybody is the same person
not everybody thinks the way you think right
and I think Ron Paul does such a great job of just like
welcoming and keeping that support for every employee
um I feel like as HR
you know you people are always like oh
it's HR they hire and fire you and
you know they're not
they're not your friend and I hear that everywhere
but for me it's not
I'm not trying to be your friend and I'm not trying to
you know um
but I'm also I'm flattered that you think I have that
that much power at this company
but I'm here to support you
in your entire employee experience
I am not only here to see you when you get hired
and I'm not only here to see you when you're
exiting out of the company
I wanna make sure that you're supported
that you feel welcome that you have all the resources
and that's why it's called human resources right
not because I'm the principal of the school
or I'm the fun police I'm here to make sure that your
your experience is good good
and you feel advocated for
make sense and it's
we should acknowledge it's a fast paced setting
right in a startup
it is and yes
challenges that obviously come into play
so how do you navigate that
when you're existing
in a lightning speed type of environment
yeah it's different hats for everybody
you know and I think that's
that's the challenging
but also amazing part of being a
part of being in a startup is that like
I think everybody knows and has the same mindset of
like we're all working towards the same goals
and towards the same um
we have the same kind of ambition
and the same kind of drive
and when you all when you all have that
you're more willing to be supportive
and you're more willing to help each other out
so for me in HR I do wear different hats
but I don't want anybody
to feel like they can never come to me or
or feel like I'm so
far removed from what's going on in the company
that it's like they don't feel welcome by me
I am always making sure that they are supported
and advocated for and we do that by
you know like even just benefits that we offer
or like the stipends that we offer
those things are all for the employees
making sure that they they use it
so it's for their health and wellness
for their training and development
like our
our time off you know
which is we have summer Fridays
we have the winter break
those things are to make sure that our employees
don't burn out so we do try to make sure
I keep thinking saying make sure a lot
but like
we do try to ensure that employees feel that they are
being supported the whole time
sounds like you're really working to cultivate
emotional and psychological safety
and you're almost trying to get ahead of a potential
issue right
of burnout that's a
that's a great one fast paced environment
you're almost anticipating a problem that might happen
and you're prepared by having these benefits in place
would you say that's true
which is an interesting approach
it's a progressive rate approach right
getting ahead of the problem
and then what happens if that fails
so if an employee comes to you
and is just mentally burnt out
or having a challenge how do you address that
so this is the reason why we do have
the things that we do have in place
is because Runpod
is very intentional in not being reactive
we're trying to be more proactive
especially with the benefits and perks
we do put out there um
any policies
really that come from HR have to go through leadership
and making sure that we're not just on a soapbox
or a platform of like
hey this is what we wanna do because we're trying to
um be like the best startup
you know but we're trying to do this because we all
we can see why a lot of startups fail
or why a lot of people leave companies
is because these are not in place
and so when we when I say that
we're being more proactive than reactive
we don't want our employees to
get to the point where they come to me
and they're like oh
I'm so burnt out we did initially have that and that
you know employees are like
you know
I feel like I'm not taking enough time off or you know
I feel like the company
is not supporting us in this way
and that's the reason we have those
health and wellness stipends
those training and development stipends
our summer Fridays our winter holiday break
is because employees tend to feel more supported
when the entire company takes a time off
so yes we do have flexible benefits
or we have flexible time off
but when a person leaves for their PTO
they're gonna come back to more work right
and sometimes it's like
I'd rather not take the time off
because I don't want to come back to more work
so when the company does intentional things
like a winter holiday break
where the entire company takes time off
then they feel like oh
everybody's taking off the guilt is not there
and I think these are very intentional
policies that we do have to
to help employees lessen that burden of guilt
so question on that obviously
as you guys have scaled right
which is an impressive thing to do right
with with the large employee size you have
and that that sort of situation
so has has there been anything that's been very
surprising to you with scaling
or has it been so intentional
that there hasn't been a ton of surprises
and it's really been quite sustainable
um it's been both so
you know there's growing pains at any startup
I think you know
you scale too fast or you scale too slow and you know
money is money it's gonna go it's
you have to make sure that
you're doing a good job of retaining
your talent and attracting even more talent
that's going to be a valuable part of how you
how fast you're scaling
and I think we've not had that problem actually
at Runpod every hire is very intentional
we wanna make sure that you're not only a culture fit
but you're a culture addition
and I think that's a lot of companies are always like
oh what if they're a culture fit
or what if they're not a culture fit
but it shouldn't be a fit
it should be an addition cause everybody is different
right you're not gonna try to fit into a mold
you're trying to be a valuable addition to a company
so Runpod's been very intentional with that um
and so I think
we do a good job of
hiring the right people for the right roles
so that that makes sense I'm curious personally
have you experienced any moment of self doubt
or challenge that
you know
you turned around and turn into personal growth
is has there anything that that's you know
affected you on that level
yeah I mean
I think HR you have like a
an invisible load
of everybody else's issues and problems
and I try
obviously not to let that get to me personally
but it does you know
it affects me every time I do a termination or or
or I have to talk to an employee about an issue
I that's when being human is the most important
is having that empathy having that
being able to relate
and making sure that they have a safe space
I think a lot of people think that with HR it's like
um oh
I'm gonna get in trouble I'm not gonna go to them
because I feel like if I say something
I'm gonna I'm gonna get in trouble with my manager
and they're gonna tell on me
uh for me I
I do make sure that I'm intentionally
giving them a safe space I'm always telling them like
do you want me to document this
or is this something that you feel comfortable
with me documenting obviously if it's a more serious um
uh issue
of course I'm documenting it
because that's just the policy for it
but I'm also basically their therapist
their confident their um
advisor you know
it can be anything from benefits to like
family problems to like hey
you know what
like how come we don't have this policy in place
and I do take everyone's suggestions um
and I do bring it up to leadership
because I wanna let them know
that I'm actually actioning on it
and not just writing things down and telling them like
yeah you'll hear from me
you know in a couple of weeks
you know I
I always let them know that
I'm gonna let leadership know
so we can actually improve on things uh
and I and I always tell people this at work um
if you don't let me know what's going on
then I can't do anything to improve it yeah
that's fair I'm curious
has it ever backfired not everybody's going to be happy
right like
I think I Learned that the hard way in HR
where it's just like
I try not to let it get to me where it's like
people aren't gonna always be happy
no matter what company I worked at
there's always going to be somebody who's like
not happy with whatever policies put out there
or it's not enough or it's too much or
you know it's like that
the Goldilocks porridge
like it's never the right temperature
what you do as HR is how you support them I
I think that's how I I respond with that
it's like like
let's say for example um
at Runpod
our benefits were very not as robust as they are now
so we started off with paying
I think
it was 100% towards employees for their premiums
but nothing for the dependents
and so when I came in I was like
hey you know I
I get that we have like this kind of team right now
but as we grow
we're going to be attracting people from
with different ages different like groups
and how are we going to support that scale
and so now
we've come to the point where we're paying 90%
for premiums and we've added dependents
and we're doing that for both employees and dependents
and 90% for a small startup is pretty good
because not everybody offers that
and so
we are very intentional with supporting employees
and their families and
and now that's showing
and people are very happy about it
you know they weren't happy about it before
because dependents weren't part of it
but now that dependents are part of it
and we're paying so much towards premiums or towards uh
employees and dependents they're very happy and
um it's things like that
that it's like it doesn't have to be robust right away
but if you're
if they're seeing you work towards something
and they're seeing improvements
I think it's honestly a win for HR
like anything and HR doesn't get a lot of wins
if that makes sense um
you know you're not going out there going like
oh Jenna Lee did a great job of like
terminating this many people
like let's applaud her
you're not gonna get that kind of of recognition or
or oh my gosh like generally put a policy out there
you HR doesn't get that kind of applause
the way an engineer would or a product manager would or
you know because you don't see the visible work
you only see it like I guess
you see the work when people are actually happy
and you're not getting as many complaints
and that's where you kind of see HR winning
that makes sense
so my question on that is as as a leader in the space
what would you
consider to be the most important soft skills
to have um
in my space in HR I think it's empathy
empathy goes such a long way
you don't have to be people's best friends
but I think they need to feel that
you can get to their level
and make sure that you're telling them that
you're their safe space
you're you're there to support them
you might not have all the answers and I
I think that's that's kind of the problem is
they expect you to have the answers
and you might not have all of it
but even being able to air out any sort of of issue or
or concern already goes a long way for employees
you know
you don't know the mental load that they're carrying
whether something's happening at home
or in their personal life or their health
so sometimes they give like 50% to work
instead of the hundred percent they normally give
and you kind of have to understand that
and I always let managers know
you know like to check in
and I think it's so important for managers to check in
because if
if employees don't feel like their managers care
then they're not gonna go
and it's gonna become an HR issue
and it ends up going to me
I think managers should be able to
be the first point of contact
before it escalates to HR
I've Learned many things today um
many many
many things but I'm gonna give you my highlight um
one is first of all again
I'll repeat this the fact that you are so real
of what it actually takes to have a full life again
there's I didn't hear that you're fresh
squeezing your juice every morning
I hear that you're showing up
you're dedicated um
and it might take more right
but you have the things you
you want to have in your life
which is really I also heard
which I think is a fascinating way of looking at it
the wins for you and your role um
come from other people's happiness and success
so you truly are a team player
you're willing to get your shine
from other people's shine
which is an incredible human way to approach the world
imagine if we all did right
imagine if we all approached the world
this be a much happier kinder place
so I think take away
I wanna give you my final question here and it's
it's the question I always ask um
at the end of our podcast
my question is
if you can give your younger self one piece of advice
now being where you are today
what would you tell her
I think I'd tell her everything is gonna be OK
I think you know
when you're younger
you get in your head and you're like
you have especially coming from a Filipino background
um you know
there's certain things like oh
you have to have to graduate college
you have to get married by this age
you have to have kids by this age
and just having that timeline
that pressure of like you have to do certain
certain things by a certain time
and you know
I never did any of that
the way that it was supposed to go
and it still worked out and in that
I have a career I'm a mom
and you know
it's as simple as it gets
it's not complicated for me
and that like
I don't need to have it all
I think I have everything I have right now
is just what I've always wanted
so I would tell my younger self that
everything is gonna be alright
I love that thank you for spending time with us today
of course and I
everyone will hear
love hearing your incredible lessons in your journey
thank you again thank you so much
thanks Ashley