Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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
hello everybody
I am sitting here with the incredible sunny
I think everyone is gonna enjoy hearing from her
her unique perspective her view on the world and life
sunny would you introduce yourself to everyone
awesome hey Ashley
thank you thank you so much for having me
my name is Sunny Myers my pronouns are she her
I'm a proud member of the Lumbee and Saponi tribes
of North Carolina I
I currently reside in Raleigh Durham area
North Carolina of the original um
unceded territory of the TESCORA in Indian
I am a mama bear of 4 adoptive kiddos
a partner to Isaac um
for my day job
I am a senior manager for employee experience
belong being um
at fastly
and really my heart work is as a community builder
so I'm a founder and lead the strategy for the Auntie
Tech Collective um
which is um a space for indigenous women
two spirit non binary and girls um
in technology specifically
as well as another other community work
I'm just very thankful to be able to do that
and be supported to do that
and I'm a fried bread lover
I love some really really good earrings um
I am actually an engineer by trade
so I'm total a nerd and a data geek
so that comes up often
where people are kind of caught off guard
I have way more street cred in the engineering side
and technical side than I do on the
a dark side of human resources
but it's kind of it sneaks up every now and then
which is the way that my brain thinks
which I do think is a unique superpower now
and I do love a good sneaker collection
I have a number I won't even name of sneakers but yeah
they bring me joy and so between those are my earrings
that's kind of advice so you can just tell
we're gonna have so much fun today
and for those who can't see
obviously the earrings are fabulous
they're pink they're gold
they're long they're actually horse here so wow
fabulous yeah fabulous
well you have a unique path obviously
moving from a highly technical role as an engineer
to people focused so
can you walk us through
what motivated that type of transition
and what are some of the key turning points
that defined that move
your career oh yeah
if you would have asked me you know 15 years ago
would I be on the human resources side
I would say absolutely not
I didn't even know what a path into HR was you know
I have always been a math nerd
I hate actually reading
and so I just like to be in the numbers and to
to kind of have my brain just process things
and to build things
and so just knowing that I was always
had always have been in stem
I also I actually thought I was gonna go to school
or I did go to school for forensic science um
and then through a chemistry minor I was like
I actually hate this um
and so I went to my advisor who um
LED me into engineering
and we were looking at engineering
I looked at the salaries
electrical engineering paid really well and I was like
I'll go do that and so
little did I know
that was one of the hardest engineering degrees to get
which is not the most
especially for the least amount of women in that space
especially women of color
but some crazy thing with these things
you couldn't see
I was able to understand and articulate um
I think through my mouth foundations
and so I graduated with an engineering degree
and then went shortly after straight into industry
I was working for the dot in North Carolina as um
fiber um optics designer engineer
then I moved into building design and the m E P side
and then I went to lighting and kind of a start up in
in a large organization
and then I was tapped to ask to build the first uh
8 inch semiconductor factory or fab in North America
and so
I didn't really remember much about some conductors
except what I Learned in school
which was a while ago from then
and I said yes so I kept saying yes to those things
and when I was doing that work at Wolfspeed
I was also doing a lot of the front end work of um
recruiting for our early talent pipeline
I wanted to look around and see more folks like myself
because I was the only indigenous woman engineer
one of the only women of color engineers
definitely the only woman period on my team
and I just wanted to leave it better than I found it
heavily involved with starting and sustaining
our employee resource groups
which were not a really big
well known thing at the time
um and then just really
trying to change the workforce for
for the better so that like
you know I could have a better experience
but others who came after me
I could as well and using my voice and advocacy
my also having really great sponsors
and executive leadership who believed in me
and so I really started
kind of doing this work on the back end
that didn't really have a
title for this work and somewhere along the line
Amazon saw me doing this work and said
come do this for us full time
and I almost crap my pants
because I was so scared to leave a technical role
in this really cool project
and my manager was just like
you can always come back to this space
I will hire you immediately
and he was the CEO at the time
he was like
but I cannot think of anybody better to go do this work
than you and so he kind of kicked me out to go do it
and I said yes to Amazon from Amazon
I was at Palato Network doing the
the work
so through 2020 and into the later or early 2020s
and then um
left Palantir Network and uh
had a short stint at a non profit
as their chief operating officer
just to kind of um
internally
clean up some things that they needed support with
and then I knew I wanted to go back into tech
I am a wild woman
I guess to say this is where I want to be
um and so I landed it fastly where I am now
wow wow
that's the journey that's OK
so I have to ask this
especially with what you shared there
what are some of the
experiences or challenges that inform what you do now
in leadership and being an advocate
yeah I think it's about we can do really
hard technical things and we can be human focused
and so I think like a lot of leaders were taught
it's like one or the other
or they were gonna sacrifice their humanity
for their technical drive
or their innovation
and I think it's pivotal to be hand in hand
and lockstep and if you sacrifice one for the other
it's just not in balance and I think like
seeing that standard be met
of some of the best leaders that I've seen
and also see where it wasn't being met
and the you know
they thought they were driving high performance
you know and high powered teams
but they were really
just making people walk out the door
and not want to do the work
and so kind of just
looking at leaders who really got it right
and seeing what their leadership values were
um also
knowing a lot of our experiences were systemic issues
and processes and understanding the data
how do we look at this
you can say that somebody feels this way
which is really qualitative
but when you look at the numbers around that
when you look at the statistics around
under representation in these areas
like they're the data doesn't lie
and so
looking at the intersectionality of qualitative data
with quantitative data I said if you can
if you can spot check where that that both align
that's where your core problems are
and so just understanding where to really triple click
down was really helpful
because I wouldn't just show up and say
I feel like we should do this
or I think I'm hearing this
it was really like here's what the data says
here's what the people are saying and the like the
the backup with the comments
right or the input and then here's where I think um
just very solutions minded
and here's where I think we can go and how
what we could do
and also there wasn't a playbook for all of this right
some of this was trial and error
some of it was piloting you know
you don't always
we didn't know if some things were gonna work
and that's okay I mean
some of the greatest organizations
and inventions that we've seen
they didn't think it was gonna work
they didn't know it was gonna work
and so I just think it was just the
the flexibility and the courage to say that out loud
and then also minimizing your risk
like if it doesn't work how long will it take
when will we know what's our key indicators
ultimately
this work is also just good business practices
everything we do is from a business mindset
and embedded like with the business
but also taking
our business acumen and applying it to this work
and I think you know on the flip side
that's where I think some of this kind of got lost
and I think as we look at the systems
and our approaches
we can be more operational and process driven in that
and that's the sustainability of this work in my belief
for the long term hmm
I think this so this leads me to a
a hot button question with all of that
it sounds like obviously you're using um
the data to help drive decisions
that also have emotion tied to them right
but in a moment like this where
you know
inclusion diversity topics
community building it can be polarizing
it can be politicized right
how do you approach that at fastly
how are you dealing with that
yeah um
one of our leaders always has a term where he's like
keep fastly weird and at first I was like
I don't understand it now I completely understand it
fastly is really quirky in the most beautiful way
um fastlians are loud and proud
and fiercely protective of our organization
but really our culture
it's really hard to describe in kind of one sentence
or a couple sentences
they're really protective of our values
but I also believe that they hold people accountable
even at the highest levels of leadership
accountable to those values
and so I think that that's where you um
where you see that the sustainability of the culture
is when you are pressure tested
and right now
we are being pressure tested more than ever
um our organization has had every opportunity to
to be out of this work to
to not be focused on this work
and I think what's beautiful is
it's where we've actually reinvested in this work
where we've elevated this work
where we said no
we're in we're in this space
I also think you know
the pendulum swinging on you know
one side very far
and it's also swing swung on the other side very far
and so I think now that we're seeing this swing
it ultimately the arc of justice right always
always wins I believe
and so um
I think seeing that you know
at some point we come back around
and seeing the companies that stay true to the word
and stay true to their values'cause
it's not just because our CEO believes
or this or our executive leadership team
it's literally who we are as an organization
and embedded into what we do
does this work look vastly different now
absolutely yes
is the work continuing to move forward
absolutely yes
we've just had to you know
adjust what this looks like
and we've embedded embedded
a lot of this into an overarching employee experience
right it does not based on your identity
it's really based on you know
do you feel like you belong when you come to work
do you feel valued
do you feel you can do your best work in the business
do you feel like you can speak up in a room
even when everybody's saying something opposite
it's like the core values of being
a good human and being a human that we all
you know we all want to work beside
and everybody holding each other accountable to that
because I feel like when you can do that
is when you can come up and thrive
and I think that's where we get the best of of you
which then results in high performing teams
which then results in more
you know organizational innovation
um it's really like the secret sauce is that
is that culture
people want to people wanna be at fastly
we have a long tenure and I just didn't get it at first
I was like I don't understand this
this is weird or these chats are fire people wow
they said that and now I totally get that
they feel empowered and seen to say that
and so it's definitely quirky
but it's it's beautifully quirky
and I honestly wouldn't change anything about it
so I have a question based off that that you seem
you seem dedicated to the culture
and the culture seems dedicated to itself
which is beautiful right
that creates a really good environment
how do you handle the challenges of the environment
that have to come to you that you have to be the
you know the forefront too
to then protect this beautiful culture right
it's not just smooth waters
I imagine
you're likely actively protecting this beautiful space
how do you handle that as a human
how does that affect you personally yeah
I feel like when I was entering this work
I didn't understand the mental load
this work
and the emotional load this work would have on me
I think I was extremely naive to that
in fact
coming from a technical space and pressure testing
like how technical you are
how smart how could you pivot
how could you solve really hard problems
but all from a technical lens
and then I happened to have this people centric focus
so I feel like I like had made all that work
but then leaving this technical space
and also using my technical ability in these spaces
like I can create a process like no other
I can ops anything I have seen
I'm like oh
that is this great I'll build it
they're like what
I was like oh yeah
like I can just and they're like wow
I was like yeah
don't mess around with my spreadsheets
like I you know
I I love to be able to build
but the emotional and um
the mental load in this work was completely
it was complete I was not ready for that
and so I remember going to my therapist
thank goodness for therapist
Whoo in the world of AI
uh therapists are more needed now than ever
and I went to her and she said sunny
if I you have to care for yourself
and if I showed up today and I didn't care for myself
if I didn't have high emotional like EQ right
if I was coming to the space drained
you would not be getting what you need out of me right
now so
and so
you have to shift your mindset in order to be the best
right in this role
that also means that you have to center
your own well being in order to do that
and I it was just a pivotal moment of like
I don't want my therapist that like
you know depleted right
I need her at that level
so I can also get what I need to get
and so I think it was a responsibility to this work
means that I have to have a responsibility to myself
and my well being
so grounding looks different for everybody
I had some amazing um
coaches and friends
and just folks who I've Learned from
um it doesn't look the same
like what fills my cup up doesn't fill your cup up
Ashley and so just understanding what that is
I spend a lot of time my free time and community yes
sometimes it's challenging
but it also fills my cup up right
that give back cycle
the 7 generations mindset really keeps me going
I also ground myself
and prepare myself for challenging conversations
um I
a lot you can see probably back there
my smudging I smudge a lot
I have a practice where
if a conversation didn't go well
but I don't need to own how the other person showed up
they just didn't show up well
I wash my hands immediately
like I actually physically get up and go wash my hands
so like I'm reflecting that that's on them
like I might need to give them feedback
but that was not on me um
I think I have high discernment of what's mine to own
and carry forward
and with me and what is mine to leave behind
my responsibility is literally
not to solve all the world's problems
I will die trying and so
just understanding what problems are my responsibility
also how can I still think big and try to solve
maybe things that are outside of my realm
but I cannot exhaust myself
trying to solve the world's problems
I have to kind of focus around what my
what this area is and where my impact can be felt
and so just that discernment
the adjustment um
I often take my shoes off and like
my neighbors probably think I'm crazy
but I just go stand in my front yard and ground myself
I look up to the sun even if it's for five minutes
and I do that prior to a challenging conversation
I use a lot of friends as as coaches to say
here's how I wanna frame this
how do how do you think this would be received
super thoughtful about intentional conversations
I remove what I want to get across and focus it on more
how the other person might receive
when I'm trying to get across
I would love to also say I practice this all the time
and I don't I'm a human
I have emotions I try as I get older and more wiser
um I try to practice it more
um and being really intentional
but I don't always get it right
and I don't always show up well
but I know where that accountability lives now
and what I need to do better
and those like physical mental
and emotional processes and practices
really help me move through this work
and the leader that I am today
is not the same leader I was three years ago
and it was because
I've been really intentional
about the way that I show up
in my day to day work
that doesn't mean that it's not hard
that doesn't mean that
I don't want to tell somebody off
and take my earrings off sometimes
and just give it to him but like
I often think about the outcome
I'm trying to achieve first
before the reaction and so that's really been helpful
I think what's so
there's so many takeaways in what you just said so
so so many takeaways
what's interesting for people to hear
one is you're human
often we would hear something like what you're saying
which sounds so aspirational
I I wanna be like this
I wanna do this
I wanna be this incredible human who can realize to
get the energy off her and not necessarily take it in
but I love what you called out there
which is it's not perfect all the time
so that's okay
we also don't need to put that on ourselves
you're human too so thank you for calling that out
the idea of not taking on
things that we don't need to take on
so we free it
more space within ourselves to accept the good things
too those are all just such beautiful call outs
I have to ask as as a mom myself
so in terms of practicing this with kiddos
in terms of kiddos impacting your practice
informing it even I'm just so curious to ask
asking for a friend what's
what's the the experience there
yeah so I parent extremes right now
so I have two 18 year old seniors about to graduate
and then I have two littles
both of the Littles have disabilities
and so the parenting looks vastly different
parenting our twins they're just such brilliant
amazing humans who are a gift to the world
and also I'm their parent
not their best friend
I have enjoyed going into seasons of life
where we have better connection
like some of my favorite moments are late night
when they come home
where we're just sitting around and laughing
in the kitchen silliness
listening to music that we can't play
when the littles are awake
I I love this like adult parent season we're in
um and I think
I've just used this word multiple times already
but looking at things as seasons
not forever has really helped me
I mean there are days
and even more lately
that I have just felt depleted and defeated
and just straight up just
I'm a crier um
and so I've cried and I really think like
we didn't get here overnight with the twins
and so recognizing that we really were in the trenches
especially parenting adopted kiddos
or you don't have a playbook
and so learning as kind of we go with them
but as we look at the littles
um you know
just recognizing that because of their disabilities
I think number one first of all
getting support though we are very fortunate
fastly to have great benefits
and so I've really leaned in the benefits
and getting answers
getting multiple levels of support from professionals
has been just honestly
I felt like really gaslit for a while
I was gaslighting myself with like what's going on
and so just to have that reassurance of like
this parenting might look different
but it is actually the best parenting
techniques for your kids
I think also when I'm not getting it right
being held accountable
or being guided from the professionals who
you know are experts in this area
and then having somebody just to listen to you
when you're parenting special needs kids
you feel really alone there's a lot of honestly
resentment where I look at other families and I'm like
oh my goodness they can just travel
it's so easy they're not having a breakdown
they don't have to consider going to IEP meetings
and psychological meetings
and psychiatrist and all of these things
it's just so much again
like I love that I work remotely
have a lot of flexibility to go to my kids appointments
I was in a 4 hour IEP meeting yesterday
so just also having a really compassionate leader
a manager who knows that and I can share that
I can block my calendar about it
and knowing that I'm gonna be drained from that
but feeling I also have the capacity and
support to go through those
and then yeah recognizing that
there's a lot of areas
in my life that are just pulling from me
and so that means that I need to find areas of respite
um that means honestly going to the beach
spending time in the sand
in the water that's restoration
girls night out is one of my favorite things
even though I'm like oh
I gotta put on real pants
you know I still
you know it's a whole thing I
I like listen
I love the work from home life
and not having to put on real pants
and so you know
what does that look like I also think like
sometimes it's having girlfriends come over
and just having a porch wine night
and just kind of unloading
sometimes it looks like
it's calling my best friend and having a virtual wine
and just kind of being there for each other
my one favorite restoration technique is the memes
right now they just give me so much life
I have a like multiple friend groups that like
or folks that I'm just really close with
and like we just send memes
we don't even have to say anything
we just send memes back and forth to each other
and I feel like I feel seen
they're so funny my friends are really funny
but like it just helps resonate
that we're all going through a lot
I'm peri menopause
so the peri menopause means are just giving me life
so just knowing that like there is relation there
that there is community and that this is a season that
that just looks vastly different
I'm not going away on this week long girls weekend
you know for a number of reasons
but I am finding respite in the small spaces
that are definitely resetting that soul
so that I can be there my best self for the kids
the other thing I think with parenting for me is
I have not got it right
I look back at my parents and I never have
want to have resentment for them
for things that they didn't
they didn't have the tools
and they weren't equipped for
and so I don't want my kids to get older and resent us
because we didn't literally have the tools
or we weren't equipped for these things
so just giving my own like self Grace of like
as we as there's education about parenting
you know
children with special needs and adoptive parenting
and what that looks like like we're learning
and then repairing the harm when we didn't get it right
I think of just going to our kids
being really transparent saying like
I messed up here like
you know I'm learning
and just asking for their Grace and forgiveness
in that space and leading with that humility
is modeling who I want them to be as
as parents humans
but then as if they become parents
cause I don't ever want to put that pressure on them
um you know
they also can see that
they could ask for Grace and forgiveness
and have um
hopefully they give their own self that space and Grace
too you know what I
I just appreciate myself
and I know that others will appreciate
hearing what you just said
you're a leader you're a highly accomplished individual
and you're vulnerable and you're real
and there are things that bring you joy
there are things that are tough
just being so genuinely real and honest
it's refreshing right
it's not the Instagram filter truly yeah
I definitely don't have that yeah
in fact my kids will be like oh
you're pretty real real yeah
I don't I have never had that
probably to a fault sometimes
because that cannot that's not always
received well in professional settings
but I I do
who I show up in my day to day is
who I show up in my professional life
I I do know how to code switch
I'm a champ at it
but I do try to pull that level of authenticity
that comes through when people know me
and they see me in my community
they see me in my tribal community
they see me with my friends
there might be a little bit more fire and spice
that comes out
but like they're gonna they're gonna know me I mean
I wear the same big earrings
I am pretty loud
and high energy in all the spaces I come in
and so I hope that people don't see the difference
they really know that this is this is who I am
and I'm always wanting to change and and be better
but I'm also really proud of the human I am
and I'm really like settling into my core values
and really modeling
the way that I show up around my core values
and almost now they're I mean
not almost they are now non negotiable
I'm also really good at protecting
what doesn't serve me so
or I guess protecting the space
and getting rid of what doesn't serve me
probably to a fault
but my bandwidth for the BS is out of very big minimum
love it hear it love it embrace it feel it myself
here's my final question
it's my favorite question to ask
and I'm very curious how you'd answer this
with all of your experience
my goodness friend professionally
personally life
all of it if you can say something to your younger self
knowing what you know now what would you say
I think for me personally
is I always thought that bigger circles
were always better
that meant that I was more open that I was more giving
that I was more true and unfortunately
I had just gotten burned by being way more giving
and not because I wasn't receiving
it's because I think I aligned expectations with people
and didn't have a higher bar
for the way that people showed up
when we were in our trenches
for when we needed community
and so
I was very selfless about my time and space and energy
and I think in the back of my mind I had this like
oh well
it's reciprocal this is just what people do
cause it's the way that me and my partner show up
we are just community
humans who are on the ground doing the work
and recognizing that
that's not core values of everybody
and so as I've gotten older
I've recognized that
I've recognized it and tightened my circles
not everybody deserves that same same amount of me
and so you know
and I really again want to protect that
and so um
I think like looking back is
I think I would have been more protective of that
one of the things I love about my daughter is
she is wildly protective of who gets access to her
and at first I was like well
it's and I got so like
you're missing out and what about this
and I realized that I actually really respect that now
and I've Learned from her
and she doesn't have FOMO about like oh
I didn't get invited this thing
or I'm not doing this thing
she's just like no
my like I wanna bring around people who are
my rider dies and who get this
you know access to this space
and through and I've seen her really shine and thrive
and she's had
literally will have lifelong friends from that
and so I think like as I move into this season
actually having smaller circles
knowing who my ride or dies are pouring every
the same amount of energy
but into just them has really been
allowed me to be more sustainable and honestly
a lot more joyful a lot more just happy and and
and genuinely happy um
and it's allowed me to kind of like
when I do need to unload or I'm not showing up well
or I'm in the trenches
I never have to worry who has my back right
they're recognizing that they're coming
they're coming and meeting me there
um and I think that
that's been a really beautiful shift in
the way that I've Learned through my own kiddos
and something that I wish I would have shifted
early on versus having to kind of learn the hard way
well
you are nodding along as I'm agreeing with all this
going to implement some of this
so thank you for that
thank you for being just a transparent
open authentic human being who is leading inside out
I mean truly
it just your energy just is felt
um and I appreciate knowing you
I know those listening will appreciate again
your honesty and transparency
and the fact that it's work right
you're you're constantly doing the work
you're constantly showing up and willing to do the work
and not only are you creating that impact
in your personal communities
but you're creating that impact
in your corporate communities too
and it's just an honor to know you
thank you for sharing your voice
thanks Ashley appreciate you