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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
hi everyone
Ashley Russo
here with one of my favorite humans on the planet
we have become BFFs forever for life
will you please introduce yourself to everyone
absolutely well
hello everyone
I am Jyl Feliciano I currently serve
as the Global Vice President of People
Culture and belonging for Highspot
which is a tech sales company
think sales enablement train
coach sales to get in close deals faster
so really excited to be here
overall I've had 20 years of experience um
helping guide and coach executives and leaders
from Fortune 500 down to kind of smaller start UPS
on building high performing cultures
that thrive on the center of inclusion
belonging and the human uh
the humans that make those organizations actually run
so I'm excited
it's an exciting time to really talk about this topic
but then also
other things about leadership and finances
so Ashley thank you for inviting me
I'm excited to get into it
yes so many things
so many things to talk through
let's start with
can you walk us through your career journey
and what initially inspired you to focus on inclusion
equity diversity and belonging
yeah absolutely
so I started my career um
in financial services actually um
and starting right out of college
um you know
I had to really learn how to show up like me uh
in the workplace and what that means is um
it was majority you know
male dominated um
there weren't a lot of you know
women in leadership uh
women of color I'm also neurodivergent
I'm a parent like I was all these other isms
and to find my voice was a struggle
Ashley and to be open and real I
you know Learned to assimilate
so I Learned how to play golf
uh I was actually really good at it
but it was really expensive and I didn't enjoy it
but I Learned you know
to watch different movies
in terms of understanding
kind of the cultural references around me
um and I just was exhausted masking
and I was sitting in a conference room by myself
and I thought you know what
I'm done
I'm done being whoever I'm portraying myself to be
I want to be authentic to who I am
how I grew up the point of view I bring to the table
cause guess what I am a customer right
um and
I can actually advocate for folks who look like me
and have lived experiences
and that is what challenged me to uh
go into diversity equity inclusion
belonging any acronym that folks are using these days
because I Learned that
if you actually create an environment
that allows authenticity to enter
you have the grounds for high um
retention and innovation is at its all time high
and there is a revenue um
component to this so ever since then
I am gonna be the stand out
I want to continue to advocate for others
and because I don't fit in
it may be a great candidate to lead and diversity
equity inclusion and belonging
fascinating fascinating
I love that finding yourself by being yourself
I'm curious were there any significant turning points
challenges along the way that sheet
how you approach your work
that's a really great um question
I would say a couple um
the first is you know
I suffered from imposter syndrome
a lot earlier in my career
especially
as I started to get into the leadership ranks
um and what a
what that did was
it actually silenced my voice in a lot of
business decisions and a lot of
my ability to build relationships in an effective way
and actually I had to work through that
I had to really lean on mentors
I had to do some inner self work to say
you know what I belong
I belong um
and once I
Learned to carve space out for me to have discussions
but also to influence without authority
that for me
was a turning point as to how I can actually show up
lead and then set an example for others
around me to do the same um
the other is just mentorship right
I had a mentor her name is Paige Scott um
and funny thing Paige
though
was my boss and a later mentor in my early career
she now is a customer of ours
I see her at conferences um
and she would carve out spaces for me to
you know present at the executive level
go to board meetings um
spaces on all company all hands
um so
that did help me understand that access
was one of the key formulas for
success of all employees
so I think those were some of the turning points
working through impostor syndrome
and then
being lucky enough to have one of the best mentors
that believed in me and made space
even though I didn't think I was ready for it
wow that's a really good message
that you didn't just show up at this level
you worked to get your um
and allowed support in right
that's that's sometimes the hardest part
I'm curious did your upbringing
your childhood did that shape the way you view things
or have an impact on your experience and journey
yeah absolutely
so um
I am a uh
Chicagoan through and through
born and raised
but I'm also the granddaughter of civil rights
activists and Chicago
so I was the kid outside of the town halls
like eating my chips and my Barbie dolls and
but what I Learned is that advocating and pushing um
policy
that change and shapes the trajectory of one's lives
is one of the most important things that we can do
and I'm not trying to do a political rant here
but it truly was a part of
building the core of who I am
as a person as a leader
um I also Learned about perseverance
I've seen so many times where um
you know my parents
my grandparents really advocated for different things
Equality for housing and healthcare
fair educational you know um
resources and they weren't successful the first time
but they kept going they kept going
and I remember my mom told me when someone tells you no
it's not a no it's just that that person doesn't know
so keep going go around them
go over them go under them
keep going and those are some
you know early on lessons that I Learned that really
you know suit me to today
I'm not afraid to fail I'll keep going
I'll go up around down
we'll get there one way or the other
oh I love that
I love that so let me ask you this question
how do you balance making data driven decisions
and bringing that to the human side of
of diversity and inclusion initiatives
especially in this changing
societal conversation around diversity and inclusion
yeah you know
one of the things that I am grateful for
um Ashley
and you know
I've been doing this work for over 20 years
but I started out as an operational engineer
and what that taught me is
if you construct systems that drive behavior
you don't necessarily
have to call out the component of the system
that's built to do what okay
so systems
development around inclusive work environment
has always been the answer to solving
some of these equity gaps
and lack of belonging and engagement
so far um
so I Learned how to build
the second thing is
I Learned that if you can't measure success
then success didn't happen
at least from a workplace perspective right
so not only did I have to learn how to layer in a
through line of inclusion
belonging and fairness into the employee experience
everything from recruiting to onboarding
pay equity how one gets developed to
you know how one's performance review
um is facilitated in a fair manner way
it's about how you architect it from beginning to end
okay to having data
to not only understand how each of the employee phases
perform under those guidelines of fairness
and access to all people the thirdly
and you'll enjoy this Ashley
it's about marketing and communication
because we have to really
talk about what this work means to us internally
as opposed to
leaving it up to kind of external forces
to mold the narrative so
we've been very intentional about how we market
and how we tell the employees story through data
and the lived experiences of employees
and how that through line has driven business impact
innovation enhanced our AI strategy
um helped us retain top talent
and then how that ties to our revenue
so it isn't a machine it's an engine
and it should just naturally be something
that a company does I call it
moving from a state of unconscious bias
to unconscious inclusion
oh I love that
I love that shift right there
that's good that's good
so it sounds like
because there's a system in a process
and data in place
it also can lead to removing the emotion
and the emotional reaction
and making it more of a process
I'm curious how you're dealing with the balance
um with the
the skepticism that is out there
uh right now
in this moment in time towards diversity and inclusion
how that impacts company culture
how that impacts you as a human and posing this is in
in this process and if the system in process helps you
just simply get out of that
you know skepticism that's out there
yeah I
I love the conversation Ashley
like let's do it
let's face it head on but
you know a few things
so one I am extremely lucky
and privileged to have an amazing leadership team
that knew
that this work was critical to driving business outcome
this was never about um
getting points you know with um
you know kind of the external
you know layers around like our brand and our image
it was simply the right thing to do right
so our why was really
really different than maybe some others
right where their why was tied into hey
this diversity thing is like
actually profitable right now
like let's invest and do all those things right
so the intention um
behind it so um
they very much are still committed to the journey
but we do recognize that we serve customers
we recognize that the world around us
um some in the world around us
may feel different about this topic
so
one thing that has changed is the language towards it
right and honestly
I don't really think that we
there was a unified understanding of what diversity
equity inclusion really was
I think it was up to interpretation
based upon the lens in which you see the world
and that was problematic so
yeah so what that means is um
we've had to take a step back
and actually just talk about the thing
versus putting a label on the thing right
so the fact that you know
I'm saying hey
we're just running an analysis to make sure that
you know the performance ratings
um you know
our fair equitable and
you know right size for kind of what
we expect across the different performance categories
for our distribution
we're just doing a check to make sure that we're
you know aligned with market standards
um so that
our commitment to employees
around fairness and access are being upheld
no issues there okay um
if I you know
share data on our workforce
right just a workforce health data
it's not let's look at these diversity metrics
because diversity means different
so it's just metrics right
so let's look at the workforce metrics
and be able to tell the story of every employee group
and intersection of employees
because working dads I really appreciate
when I talk about them
and the role that they play in the family of parenting
right now um
so we just open it and just say
how are people doing and then we
then we look at the different pockets of people
and how they're experiencing the workforce
and being okay with what that is and
you know working to bring awareness
but support across all employee bases
so
that is how we're really navigating through this time
but we are lucky
because our commitment and our why hasn't
you know hasn't changed
you mentioned dads
and it brings me to the thought of parents right
so I feel like kids I know you're a parent
I'm a parent obviously it
it can influence how we see the world
because obviously we're very aware
that there'll be a generation that inherits the world
that we leave yeah
I'm curious how being a parent raising children
how it's influenced your viewpoint as a leader
yes um
well first of all
you can't see the back of my hair
because I think I have plugs that are pulled out
because
raising children is no easy um
feat but I will say that No. 1
they have helped me really understand that patience
is essential when you are dealing with humans
someone was patient with me
you know
so patience and Grace and their EQ is just so high
actually they can actually call things out by name like
hey
I don't know if this was healthy for my well being mom
like I never said that to my mom right
um
but um
but you know
patience and Grace for humans is important
um the other thing is
they challenge the way that I think about the world
and the workforce right
so I do find myself
sometimes leading on what I was taught talk
versus what I believe to be the next evolution
of what we need right now
and my children have taught me to take a step back
to ask myself questions
to make sure I'm looking through that lens
and to challenge my own assumptions and bias
um as to the next practices that I recommend
you know for our workplace
so I love that um
it hurts sometimes cause I'm like
they're right shoot
they're right um
haha and
you know what they value
it's just like it's so mind blowing right
like my children will leave a job
purely because they don't believe in the mission
or the workplace culture is not to their standard right
whereas my generation I'm a Gen X sir
like we came in during a recession
um we were just trying to pay student loans
it's like it's not about the workplace culture
it's about having a steady paycheck
and we were gonna talk right
from the generations before us
but very much
there's an expectation for the next generation
that culture is table stakes
that leaders should be investing in it
companies should be serious about behaviors
that should exist to create a healthy culture
that then tie into employee engagement
into innovation
and then obviously it's a ripple effect through um
revenue
so what's going through my head
what's fascinating is from
you know feeling like an outsider to start
and then
turning that into inclusion in your life's work
to the courage that you clearly have
and empathy that you have um
to take in the world around you from
you know the up and coming generation of
how are they seeing the world
the courage it takes to stand by data
versus give into emotion
especially in an environment that
feed into emotional reactions
you're incredibly well balanced
it seems with just your approach
and I'm curious
how do you keep yourself level
how do you practice self care
what keeps you
in this state of being able to take all of that in
thank you for asking the question
because
I think we all need to ask ourselves this question
actually like no matter what industry
what role like
this is important
and deserves attention for a moment of reflection
but for me you know
one thing that is critical to who I am is my faith
so I'm making time to you know
read you know my
my Bible I am
you know praying
I am just really tapping into my why
which is a higher um
mission then the things meaning work and
you know
friends and finances is bigger than all of that
and that that's been really important for me
to remember why I do what I do
because very much as walking the world in the lane of
otherness
it does
emotionally pull you to a place where you feel like
oh my gosh
I just keep losing I keep winning
I'm trying to push for fairness
and we're being pushed back
and you know
so it very much is this balance of saying
it's about why these things will never stay the same
let me focus on what I actually can move
versus what I can't do that's important
I also think that you know
here in our country
everybody should have a therapist for free
that's just my personal haha um
and and that's about
you know equity and healthcare
um but therapy is
is huge and I encourage everyone to really um
think about that as a a measure
but then also I have wonderful colleagues friends
um you know
that do the same work
and we continue to feed off of one another
we're thought partners we're
you know pushing for some of those same things
so just to surround yourself with
you know
like people that can also challenge you is important
it'll help you temper kind of where you are
based upon what's happening
in the environment around you
yeah yeah
I personally align with especially the therapy part
all that's important right
um I think that's great
so let me let me
this is a question that I'd like to ask
I think it's a fascinating question
in this fast paced moving world
I think we're
we're in the year of the horse or something
everything is very fast paced
AI technology right
there's just things are going a million miles a minute
I'm curious if you can hit pause
on something that's happening right now
right in the
the global world what would that be
um and why
oh Ashley
this is such a good question
if I could pause anything um
and really kind of laser in on um
you know what
what I think is most needed right now
I do think that courage
is the thing that should be at the center of who we are
as humans um technology will evolve
workplace needs will evolve your
your family's needs will evolve
but I my hope is that for the future
that we have leaders that have courage
to do the right things to challenge what's around them
to reward
behaviors that actually drive the right outcomes
um
yeah I think courage is needed
and courage and decision making becomes really hard
when you're trying to manage towards
you know
the board's expectation and your revenue outcomes um
but then there's this inroad
or this center of just doing the right thing
and to balance those is a lost art sometimes
and I would hope that
that's something that people really recognize
tap into and and really use that as a leisure of uh
tap into that and use that as a lever
to drive effective leadership behavior
so we need to redefine leadership
I love that I love that
and I think it takes courage to do everything
you're doing as an example
um now this is my final question
and it might be my favorite question to ask
with all the incredible experience that you've had
with the leadership position that you're in now
what would you say to your younger self
with all the information you now have
oh yeah
I would say to my younger self that one
it's going to be okay
and what I mean by that Ashley
is that no matter what we experience
what we face there's
there's a lesson in it and somehow things work
themselves out
even some of the scariest thing I've experienced
loss in my family and uncertainty and job security um
but things tend to pan out and it's gonna be OK um
I think that's one thing
the second thing I would say is
be bold and be courageous
and don't be afraid to fail
like failing is nothing but a learning experience
and I know that's really cliche
but I'll give you an example um
like I I will
will do things that are like outside of the box
so I wanted to find a a mentor
so I went to uh LinkedIn and found retired uh
CEOs of Fortune 500 companies
and like literally I just emailed them
like I was sitting watching Netflix like
and I got two of them to say yeah
I'll I'll
I'll talk to you right um
and one is a really big you know airlines
a former CEO of a former
or really big airlines here in the US and they're like
yep just because you asked
I'm going to make time for you right
so don't be afraid to fail
because you just never know who you could be
or what you can actually do in this world
unless you try
oh that is
that is a powerful thing to say
and it goes back to courage right
it takes courage to put yourself out there
it takes courage to be willing to fail
and then to question what's actually a failure right
there is no failure if you showed up and you tried
um I think that's absolutely beautiful
and again
in a world with plenty of things going on right now
that message
I think will help a lot of people sleep deeper at night
so you know
I absolutely love you thank you thank you for
amazing amazing conversation
we appreciate you being here
thank you so much for having me
and thank you for creating this platform
to amplify voices
keep really important conversations going
and I do see this as a lever to continue to inspire
so many especially
you know in
in where we sit in today's time
so thank you Ashley
you got it