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Welcome to The People of Work, the podcast where we explore the unique journeys that bring people to their careers. Every episode is a deep dive into the twists, turns, and surprises that shape how individuals find their career paths—whether they’re engineers, artists, baristas, CEOs, or anything and everything in between.
It’s not about the destination; it’s about the story. Through honest conversations, we’ll uncover the moments that define careers, the challenges overcome, and the lessons learned along the way. These are real stories from real people, celebrating the diversity of work and the individuality of the people behind it.
Join us as we break down stereotypes, embrace the unexpected, and shine a light on the human side of work.
[00:00:00] LaToya Davis: no one in my family had a college education, worked in corporate America. Like, none of that was part of our story, but they knew what they wanted and every generation since then has built on kind of the hard work and the values, if all the things that I've been through and everything, that's always what carries me through.
[00:00:17] LaToya Davis: Even in the tough times of.
[00:00:18] LaToya Davis: like All the people that came before me and how hard they worked to make sure that where I am now is, nothing they could have imagined, but also everything that they were trying to achieve.
[00:00:28] Ami Graves: You are listening to The People of Work, the podcast that dives into the real stories behind what people do for a living and how work shapes who we are.
[00:00:42] Ami Graves: Hi everybody. Thanks for joining us back again at The People of Work. I'm so excited to introduce you to, uh, my next guest, Latoya Davis. Latoya is, first of all, a very good friend of mine.
[00:00:56] Ami Graves: LaToya is the Executive HR Business Partner at Kimberly-Clark. Um, she has a, very wide range of responsibilities there, and we're gonna talk about that. But I wanna dig in first to explore Latoya's background and how she ended up in HR to even begin with.
[00:01:12] Ami Graves: We're gonna talk about why she chose Purdue, and I was at iu, you know, somehow, we still, somehow we still remained friends throughout that.
[00:01:21] Ami Graves: So, LaToya, thanks for joining me today. Appreciate your time.
[00:01:24] LaToya Davis: So excited to be here
[00:01:26] LaToya Davis: and love the podcast so far and I'm excited to be
[00:01:30] LaToya Davis: here.
[00:01:31] Ami Graves: let's go back, uh, to the beginning. Whatever the beginning is for you. Think about when you're at home. Um, I'm interested in learning about how work was framed for you. Like what was happening at home. Did you, were you doing chores and getting paid for 'em? Were your, parents work?
[00:01:47] Ami Graves: Were they working and were they talking to you about college or entrepreneurship or a dream job? So, gimme a, gimme the, the lay of the land.
[00:01:55] LaToya Davis: I was brought up with a single mom. I am the only child, but I grew up with a lot of family around me. in a family environment where like it was a big support system. So single, single mom, one household. We always had people, cousins, friends, people that, grew up in my house, people that went to school there because a big value in my family and our, and our kind of ecosystem was around. Support, so in whatever form or fashion. So there would be times where people would move to different neighborhoods that had better school systems and things like that. So, you know, ifwe're all gonna stay in one house and we're gonna make sure everybody gets the best opportunity.
[00:02:30] LaToya Davis: And that
[00:02:31] LaToya Davis: probably takes it back to before my, my story is built on the foundation of a lot of people that came before me that didn't have the opportunities that I now have, like, you know, very well-known saying, but really one that resonates real with me and I think is that like the baseline of my whole story is I'm my ancestors' wildest dreams.
[00:02:50] LaToya Davis: Like just two generations ago, like no one in my family had a college education, worked in corporate America. Like, none of that was part of our story, but they knew what they wanted and every generation since then has built on kind of the hard work and the values, around that. And so if all the things that I've been through and everything, that's always what carries me through.
[00:03:11] LaToya Davis: Even in the tough times of.
[00:03:12] LaToya Davis: like All the people that came before me and how hard they worked to make sure that where I am now is, nothing they could have imagined, but also everything that they were trying to achieve.
[00:03:22] Ami Graves: I love that. For you and, and for your family. I know your mom is so, so proud. I personally know how tough it can be to be a single mom. So tell me about, like, your mom is working, definitely instilling in you the importance of education. So talk to me about that. What was she talking to you about work and what kind of example did you have in her or, that broader support system about
[00:03:45] Ami Graves: the idea of work
[00:03:46] LaToya Davis: so I grew up in an area called East Chicago. It's outside of Chicago in Indiana.
[00:03:51] LaToya Davis: It's a border city. Very industrial. So like this is a huge place where steel mills were pop, were like took over this area. And the industrial revolution. My mom, and dad both worked in the steel mill industry my entire life. My mom worked 36 years. I think my dad was like 37 years. And so in where I grew up, if you worked in the mill, that was like a good job. And at the time in the eighties when my mom was starting out of this, she graduates from high school, 1975. Like The concept of gonna college is not that if you can get in the mill, like this is the aspiration of this area.
[00:04:25] LaToya Davis: And so,dad is older, so he was already in the male, my mom as a woman, right?
[00:04:29] LaToya Davis: Like they would hire women
[00:04:30] LaToya Davis: into the male, but in administrative roles,
[00:04:32] LaToya Davis: or like janitor, like things that women did at that time. But then as we think back, we were barely you know, a thought. But the eighties is also when women really start pushing their way in the workforce and saying in different ways.
[00:04:44] LaToya Davis: And my mom was one of those people that said. Yeah, these like admin jobs are nice, but like, let's just say hypothetically, this is where she told her they're paying like $5 an hour. Those meal labor roles are paying like $15 an hour for non-educated people in the early eighties, well, late seventies, early.
[00:05:03] LaToya Davis: That is huge. Like, and she's like,
[00:05:05] LaToya Davis: I could do that job. Which a lot of people pushed back and
[00:05:09] LaToya Davis: There was a movement and they then had, based on like laws like me, and you know very well
[00:05:14] LaToya Davis: said, you can't not hire these women. You have to train them like you train other people. They don't have any less skills than
[00:05:21] LaToya Davis: men, but that was the perception.
[00:05:22] LaToya Davis: Those, they created those jobs for men. So my mom, again, trailblazer and a lot of that kind of plays into my story because she's one of the few women. That break into this kinda labor union environment in a time where that was not very normal. So now my dad being in there was very normal,
[00:05:38] LaToya Davis: but I grew up in this family and in the inner city, to be honest.
[00:05:41] LaToya Davis: Like,
[00:05:42] LaToya Davis: if you have one of those good jobs, but East Chicago, Gary, that northwest Indiana area was very like underprivileged. There wasn't a lot of industry, there wasn't a lot of people that came from educated parents. And so those were the, the standouts. And so, you know, we were considered like the rich family.
[00:05:58] LaToya Davis: And I'm like, not like families that had people that worked in the mill, right.
[00:06:02] LaToya Davis: but so again, I feel like in a lot of senses that came from a place of privilege. But my parents came from a very different background and this was kind of like their big break to like break generational of like people that come from like poverty.
[00:06:16] LaToya Davis: So this is a, you know, a big thing and. One of the things that was very clear to me is my mother's like, you know, it wasn't that no one was getting educated, it was just very rare. Like it wasn't an expectation when she was growing up, nobody talked to her about it. But as she kind of worked her way through over years, again, she ended up being there for 36 years. By the time that I'm like school age, she's moving into more supervisory roles.
[00:06:40] LaToya Davis: The people that were in those management roles and things like that, that she aspired to, were all like engineers, people that went to Purdue. Now the story starts to come together
[00:06:49] LaToya Davis: and she was really interested in like their stories and like, how did they get there?
[00:06:55] LaToya Davis: Because again, this is not something she was ever taught. Like, you know, she's got people that are like, she's like, in her mind, they're like babies, but they're coming in and they're making all this money. And like,
[00:07:03] LaToya Davis: how did, how did you know to do these things? And she had curiosity and she learned a lot of stuff and she poured that in.
[00:07:10] LaToya Davis: People would talk to her about financial advisors. She gets, she's like, okay, I'm gonna go out and get a financial advisor and see what that does. again, I'm a kid during this time, but in,
[00:07:19] LaToya Davis: she shared a lot of this with me, but saw a woman who came from a family who knew nothing about this in our community. This was, these are things that were never talked about, but she took all of the resources around her and figured out how to make that part of her reality and build that
[00:07:35] LaToya Davis: for the next generation. So for me, I laugh at people sometimes and say, I don't ever remember going to college. It wasn't like, you should consider going to college.
[00:07:44] LaToya Davis: Like, we never talked about anything else. Like, from that point, my mom is like,
[00:07:47] LaToya Davis: you need to go to college tours. Like, she's like, sign you were gonna sign me up for stuff at Purdue Calume. so that I could get all of the, all any type of development program that they would have. And she, these people I work with, like we're sending our kids to this camp and she's like, I'm, I'm sending my daughter to that camp.
[00:08:02] LaToya Davis: but I do remember like the other, my friends and stuff like that, that maybe didn't have parents or a mom that was absorbing all this stuff and trying to replicate it, they would be like, where are you going? Whatcha doing? Like, how do you even know that that's a thing?
[00:08:13] LaToya Davis: Like, so I'm immensely grateful because
[00:08:16] LaToya Davis: I feel like in an environment where this was very unusual at that time and given the circumstances, the fact that I was awarded so many opportunities, a lot of that I fully attribute to the work that she did. And the fact that she believed enough in what she could pour into me,
[00:08:33] LaToya Davis: that got me to what was like those opportunities and, and taking advantage of that knowledge really paid off for me immensely.
[00:08:40] Ami Graves: thank you, mama, because she really set the, the tone and paved the way for, for you. But, but also while she did all of that, you, intrinsically inside of you have, you know, a desire to grow your skills and, be a professional, you know, HR executive and, you know, I think that some people that have those opportunities laid in front of them, don't pick 'em up and roll with 'em like you did.
[00:09:06] Ami Graves: So it's, it's a combination, right? Your mom laid the path and gave you all the tools, but you have to be the one to grab onto them and go,
[00:09:14] LaToya Davis: it was great. I mean, there was part of me that says a hundred percent. Like I think about that, like, sometimes I look back and was like, you know, how did, why me and I, you know, think about people that I was, you know, hanging out with my little girl crew that I had growing up, why didn't we all end up at the same exact spot?
[00:09:29] LaToya Davis: Not that anyone is better, but we all took different paths.
[00:09:32] LaToya Davis: I do believe that like it was because there was something that was inside of me that said, this is where I wanna go now to one of your questions. Let me be clear.
[00:09:42] LaToya Davis: My path that I had in my head had nothing to do with corporate America, had nothing to do with HR.
[00:09:46] LaToya Davis: because she was dead set on me being an engineer. And she, I think she thought like, again, like she's following a very, like, she's basically following a protocol of like, how do I make my daughter one of these people that is making like
[00:09:56] LaToya Davis: six figures in the
[00:09:58] LaToya Davis: eighties and I don't want anything to do with that. I don't like math, I don't like, I don't like science. Like, in my mind I was like, what I'm going to do is I'm gonna be Oprah. This was my full on
[00:10:08] LaToya Davis: life path. Like,
[00:10:09] LaToya Davis: so I love to write, I love public speaking. And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do something related to that.
[00:10:15] Ami Graves: were you young, like, like a teenager when you were like, that's me, I'm, I'm gonna be the next Oprah. Yeah.
[00:10:20] Ami Graves: Okay.
[00:10:20] LaToya Davis: like, I mean, I grew up in a church as well. And
[00:10:22] LaToya Davis: so look, if they, like we have church announcements in the black church, which is like a big situation. And Black Baptist Church, if you've not been to one, I will
[00:10:29] LaToya Davis: take you to one. It's a thing. It's different now that the churches have changed.
[00:10:32] LaToya Davis: Growing how that started. They asked me to do church announcements once and I was like, listen, I could do this all day. This is great.
[00:10:40] LaToya Davis: Gimme
[00:10:40] Ami Graves: pay well, right?
[00:10:42] LaToya Davis: like, and I was young. I mean I was probably like seven, eight years old and I was okay.
[00:10:48] LaToya Davis: That's so cute. And then I just like, well, like any opportunity, anytime you guys want somebody to speak in front of other people, like I'm all here for it.
[00:10:54] LaToya Davis: Like
[00:10:55] LaToya Davis: and then just as a hobby, I always enjoy writing and poetry and stuff like that.
[00:10:59] LaToya Davis: So I was very much like that kind of like right brain type of person growing up. And again, none of that lined up with an engineering future. She didn't quite
[00:11:09] LaToya Davis: see that at the time,
[00:11:12] Ami Graves: what was your first job as a, did you work as a teenager?
[00:11:14] LaToya Davis: I did have a job though. I started working when I was 14. I was also a cheerleader. I was in several academic clubs. I
[00:11:22] LaToya Davis: I was the only child, was super boring when I wasn't, at school and I was a nerd
[00:11:27] Ami Graves: and LaToya, your mom was, she didn't play
[00:11:31] Ami Graves: people would be like, oh my God, we get a report class and they'd be like, oh my God, I got like a D or C. I was like, oh my gosh, you should probably like, run away. Like, this is crazy. And it'd be okay. Like, it was unacceptable. Like
[00:11:42] Ami Graves: Right.
[00:11:43] LaToya Davis: you did get A's and B's, that was an issue.
[00:11:45] LaToya Davis: Like we could discuss why you may have gotten a C, but anything below that, she was like, I didn't even, like, she'd be like, I don't even think, like if those grades get printed, like you should like look for another place to live. Like, I believe that in my heart, I know in real, like as an adult, she probably kicked me out,
[00:12:00] LaToya Davis: she had extremely high expectations
[00:12:03] Ami Graves: Yeah.
[00:12:04] LaToya Davis: was always super high. I was a straight A and B student all
[00:12:07] LaToya Davis: the time. I was in honors classes,
[00:12:09] LaToya Davis: I was doing a lot of activities and things
[00:12:11] LaToya Davis: like that.and again, outside of school I was doing like other academic programs that she could find for, for me
[00:12:17] LaToya Davis: as well. So as much as I didn't like math, science, I actually didn't do that bad because they kept putting me in honors classes,
[00:12:23] LaToya Davis: even though it was like, I just don't love it.
[00:12:25] LaToya Davis: Like, I'm not excited to go to physics or anything like that. But I did.
[00:12:29] LaToya Davis: so my first job was I worked at the public library, which was like a dream for somebody who likes to read and write. Like, this is, this is great. my my grandmother, my father's mother, her entire career, she worked in the public library, so, which there was like a couple, it was close to the elementary school because she worked there in like the AB department at that time.
[00:12:51] LaToya Davis: They were like checking out like I think like, uh, video cassettes and stuff like that.
[00:12:56] LaToya Davis: the power of networking,
[00:12:58] LaToya Davis: when I was old enough to work, they would hire people. All I did was put up the books that people brought back in
[00:13:03] LaToya Davis: from that. I did this a couple hours after school, like three or four days a week.
[00:13:08] LaToya Davis: It was awesome, It would take me about 17 minutes to do that,
[00:13:12] LaToya Davis: spent the other hour and a half sitting in the shelves reading books.
[00:13:16] Ami Graves: Yep. That's a getting paid.
[00:13:18] LaToya Davis: I worked from 14 until I went on maternity leave with my, with my oldest son. On nonstop. I had never not been employed.
[00:13:30] LaToya Davis: But I took an actual break from working and I thought I was gonna lose my mind. But,
[00:13:34] LaToya Davis: but after KJ was born is when I actually took like the first,and at that point I was 30 and I was like, I,
[00:13:40] LaToya Davis: I literally have no idea what to do with myself.
[00:13:42] LaToya Davis: I have not been, not working in some form or fashion since I was 14 years old.
[00:13:46] Ami Graves: yeah. I think that's telling, because to me what that says is you enjoy work. I think sometimes work is looked at like, oh, it's this horrible thing. I gotta go to work. I'm sure it is that way for a lot of people that don't enjoy what they're doing, but
[00:14:02] Ami Graves: I, I love to work too. I, I love it.
[00:14:04] Ami Graves: I feel a little bit of my self worth, which I hear often that men get a lot of their self worth through work, but I think, you know, high performing women actually do as well.
[00:14:13] LaToya Davis: and again, I think definitely looking back my mom, I think that she got further in her career, like she liked what she was doing 'cause she got into like management roles and did all these things.
[00:14:21] LaToya Davis: But she was a hard worker. Her work ethic was strong, but I don't know if she loved it. And I think
[00:14:25] LaToya Davis: a lot of women. They were in jobs that they had to do, or jobs that were allowed, they were allowed to do
[00:14:30] LaToya Davis: And then interns in a new generation where you are starting to go into careers about things that you actually like.
[00:14:36] LaToya Davis: So I think we have more opportunities and I've always felt like that. Like
[00:14:39] LaToya Davis: had jobs that I didn't like.
[00:14:41] LaToya Davis: I've had lots of days where I'm just like, okay, maybe I don't like working,
[00:14:45] LaToya Davis: And every time I even consider it, like I said, I tried it once before, it's so much of a part of who I am that I can't imagine that. So I think that like now, again, similar to probably what men felt like we have more options and you can kind of work in the way that you wanna work, that
[00:15:01] LaToya Davis: probably creates a stronger connection to like actually liking to work.
[00:15:05] Ami Graves: completely agree with that. So let's talk about your journey into, to Purdue. I mean, it seems like Purdue was kinda lined up for you. Thank you, mom. We appreciate that. Was Purdue the only school you applied to? Like that was the school you wanted to go to? Okay. Talk to me about that.
[00:15:19] LaToya Davis: me and
[00:15:19] LaToya Davis: my mom had very different perspectives on things. Like she had a clear plan. also had like a five year plan, probably starting at like 12 or 13, which is probably would be validated by most of my childhood friends. 'cause I was that kid.
[00:15:32] LaToya Davis: fun story. So I only applied to HBCUs, all historically black college and universities.
[00:15:39] LaToya Davis: I grew up watching a different world as a sitcom, and it completely shaped
[00:15:43] LaToya Davis: my perception of what college was supposed to be like.
[00:15:46] LaToya Davis: It was not what was happening in a different world. I was like, no,
[00:15:49] LaToya Davis: So I'm gonna go to Howard
[00:15:51] LaToya Davis: or Clark Atlanta. I had a whole list, none of them included Purdue. My mom, like we're working on college application. She fills out the application for Purdue, mirroring what I'm doing on these other, 'cause I was like, I don't even want to go there. But yeah, go for it. Like you do that.
[00:16:04] LaToya Davis: I applied to probably five or six HBCUs and then. I-E-P-U-I and Purdue, Purdue was the least favorable on that list for me. How did I end up there?
[00:16:15] LaToya Davis: because your mama has the foresight to
[00:16:17] LaToya Davis: teenagers don't make decisions and by themselves.
[00:16:20] LaToya Davis: So I got accepted into every school I applied to. That was not the problem. The reality that was then and exists now, and probably there's even more challenges if we think about today's times, is that I was an outof state student. I still was coming from a, an environment of single mom, right?
[00:16:35] LaToya Davis: Like it is not like I had generational wealth.
[00:16:37] LaToya Davis: way that HBCUs are subsidized, like in
[00:16:40] LaToya Davis: most cases, even for the smaller ones, it was gonna cost us more for me to go to one of those schools than it would for Purdue. At Purdue. I'm an in-state high academic record
[00:16:52] LaToya Davis: student and. I was a minority. there was grants, but you had to stay in the state. You had to do like, so all, when the money kinda lined up, it was like, it just doesn't make sense.
[00:17:01] LaToya Davis: I was devastated 'cause I was like this literal, like I had a plan, like, this doesn't make any sense. I don't even wanna go in here.
[00:17:06] LaToya Davis: She's like, go for a year. If you really don't like it, I'm going to start making a savings plan to help bridge the gap so that you can go to the HBCU, like the one that I went really wanted to go to to, to Howard at
[00:17:21] LaToya Davis: that time. that was the agreement and I was like, okay, cool. I can get through the first year, like, makes
[00:17:25] LaToya Davis: sense, then I'll be good. But before I came home from Labor Day, I was like, I'm probably never gonna leave. Like I didn't even wanna come back for that. Like I was already,
[00:17:34] LaToya Davis: I found my friends there. Like it
[00:17:36] LaToya Davis: was a great community. I was having a great experience. It was definitely much better than I what I expected. And I had some really shocking cultural moments of pur. But none that, like, I, I fell in love with the, with the school. and so obviously I stayed there and then I went back again. So look, look at Purdue was like my jam now, like,
[00:17:53] LaToya Davis: of course. But like at the time, I wasn't quite quick and screaming, but it was definitely not what I, what I thought I would be doing, where I would be
[00:18:00] LaToya Davis: going,
[00:18:01] Ami Graves: the early two thousands we worked together at Rolls Royce. how many years had you been out of school at that point in time
[00:18:08] LaToya Davis: one,
[00:18:09] Ami Graves: it was my first real corporate job. I, again, worked my whole career in college. I worked in a leasing office they were doing like,college student housing where you would like be like four people in an apartment. But you'd have like, like, you live in an apartment, it's kinda like a dorm.
[00:18:24] LaToya Davis: You shared a kitchen in living room. You,
[00:18:26] LaToya Davis: they were building these left and right at Purdue when I got there and they were hiring college students to work in the leasing office.
[00:18:31] LaToya Davis: And it was awesome. Like it was a great college job. and when I graduated, the economy was not awesome. Like it was also not what I expected. I thought I'd go to college and I could just get whatever job that I wanted no matter what. I mean,
[00:18:43] LaToya Davis: again, I was a communications major. 'cause again, I'm still like my goal to be Oprah
[00:18:48] LaToya Davis: it was just not happening. Like liberal, basically liberal arts major, like, not that.
[00:18:52] LaToya Davis: But then I had started taking some classes in like organizational development and things like that. I had like multiple minors. 'cause I was just like. Intellectually curious. People are taking wine making as elective. I'm taking like human resource management.
[00:19:07] LaToya Davis: I like says a lot about me. I know, but I made the most of those four years I was there. I didn't have a business degree. I didn't have an HR degree, but I was like, I'm probably not gonna get here. And then while I kind of, I continue to work for this leasing company, they have properties in Indianapolis, I ended up moving there. That's how I ended up in Indianapolis. And so I'm still looking for like a job. Like I, like these were jobs that did not require college degree. It was basically like a bridge from my college job. 'cause I
[00:19:31] LaToya Davis: haven't found a real job. then I applied to a job at a staffing agency. Like I'll try that.
[00:19:39] LaToya Davis: Like it looked like I met the basic requirements. They called me. I
[00:19:42] LaToya Davis: got the job. I did not love it.
[00:19:44] LaToya Davis: Um, it was like a, basically a sales job.
[00:19:47] Ami Graves: Uh, sure. That's, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:49] LaToya Davis: like, okay, well that was my first like real like kind of job, but it was a very small like boutique local staffing company. then I was doing part of that. If you ever work in a staffing company, you have to make these like sales calls. So like
[00:20:04] LaToya Davis: HR people or whoever answers the phone for you really? And basically ask them, can you, can you help them with your staffing needs? Right.
[00:20:11] LaToya Davis: Like that's, that's the whole point. And I made a call like to me, grace of God, the call was the person that was leading HR, your this name will resonate with you.
[00:20:21] LaToya Davis: She
[00:20:21] LaToya Davis: went to Purdue she knew one of my good friends her name's Monica she,
[00:20:27] Ami Graves: Oh, Monica, I do.
[00:20:29] LaToya Davis: so she was like, and so she's like, oh, I remember these days. I started off in a staff age. She worked for like a deco or something, and she was
[00:20:36] Ami Graves: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:37] LaToya Davis: I came here. She was like, have you thought about corporate recruiting?
[00:20:40] LaToya Davis: And I was like, yes, do you have jobs like that? She was like, actually, we're about to hire like four recruiting coordinators, a great
[00:20:45] Ami Graves: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:46] LaToya Davis: me, Amy,
[00:20:48] Ami Graves: Yep.
[00:20:48] LaToya Davis: we come in, we're interviewing for these jobs. And that's how I
[00:20:51] Ami Graves: Yes.
[00:20:51] LaToya Davis: So Monica really like, she's like, send me your resume.
[00:20:54] LaToya Davis: Forget this, you know, staffing conversation. Send me your resume, I'm gonna put you in. And then that's how I ended up at Rolls Royce. So
[00:21:00] Ami Graves: You know, a staffing, a staffing agency, I feel like you're either a really good like salesperson and you love it, and you do it for like your whole career, or, you know, it truly is kind of a jumping off point for so many people that wanna get into HR.
[00:21:15] Ami Graves: I've also seen people who wanna get into HR and start the staffing.
[00:21:18] Ami Graves: Um, they'll start somewhere where it's, you know, commission based and they'll see that money and then it's hard for them to transition out of like a sales account executive type role into HR because they've gotten used to this, you know, base plus commission. And let's just be honest, when you're starting in an HR role, the entry level, the dollars are not what they are in like a
[00:21:38] LaToya Davis: you're making commission,
[00:21:39] Ami Graves:
[00:21:39] LaToya Davis: you know, again, I remember when I was interviewing at that same age, a hundred percent, that's what they were selling.
[00:21:43] Ami Graves: Mm-hmm.
[00:21:44] LaToya Davis: here's what you're gonna make like, as like a starting, you know, kind of like hourly rate.
[00:21:47] LaToya Davis: They played hourly, but here's your earning potential,
[00:21:50] LaToya Davis: like if you get clients and you, place people in certain roles. And so I was like, oh, I, I can do that, right?
[00:21:57] LaToya Davis: And I felt like I could have, you never know where your path is gonna take you. And again, I still had lots of friends and then as. As my career in HR Blossom. You're right, like a hundred percent. Like I knew so many people that started and spent a lot more time in, different agencies or starting on that side of like, whether it was like, that kind of roles or executive search,
[00:22:16] LaToya Davis: and make that transition.
[00:22:17] LaToya Davis: Um,
[00:22:17] Ami Graves: Roy, I think I left Rolls Royce a little bit before you.
[00:22:20] Ami Graves: Um, yeah. And, and then you ended up moving on as well. Tell me about the transition to, to, was it j and j where you went next
[00:22:27] LaToya Davis: so when I
[00:22:27] LaToya Davis: left Rolls Royce, it was the first reduction in force. Uh, you know that.
[00:22:32] Ami Graves: 2008 I remember.
[00:22:34] LaToya Davis: like it wasn't great when I graduated, and then it kind of like got a little bit better and then things were wrapped up.
[00:22:39] LaToya Davis: And then with the, the big economic, you know, after the housing crisis and all that, like it
[00:22:44] LaToya Davis: again, immensely grateful for the experience.
[00:22:47] LaToya Davis: I still live by a lot of the things that I learned at Rolls Royce more than any. Like, and I have now worked at like five other places,
[00:22:55] LaToya Davis: it built my foundational knowledge of like corporate HR.
[00:22:58] LaToya Davis: but at the same time, like I was definitely like not the most valuable player and now as
[00:23:03] LaToya Davis: a senior HR leader who has to make these kind of decisions, I
[00:23:06] LaToya Davis: get it Um, was it on my, you know, kind of bingo card to get laid off at like 24? No.
[00:23:14] Ami Graves: that was not a part of your five year plan. LaToya.
[00:23:17] LaToya Davis: But you know what? Everything worked out. So I did. I bumped around a little bit. I went into another, like I went work for a financial services company when you left and when I was, I was doing more, remember I was doing more like university recruiting, which I
[00:23:28] LaToya Davis: loved that.
[00:23:29] LaToya Davis: I learned so much.
[00:23:30] LaToya Davis: that kind of kinda became my brand for a while. So I was doing that. I went to work for this company. They were trying to build up university recruiting and that, like in a consulting way, I re realized very quickly, consulting models are not my jam
[00:23:44] LaToya Davis: 'cause it's very hierarchical.
[00:23:45] LaToya Davis: And it was just, it's a lot. They, they weren't to work like 15 hours a day. It was a lot going on in there. And then they actually end up laying off the entire recruiting department like six months after I got there. I did not like it, but I was not in a position to put a job, but
[00:23:59] LaToya Davis: they gave me severance package. So I was like, okay, so maybe like direct hire's not the way to go. So I actually started applying to like, and going to like agencies, like back twice, but like as a candidate, like, I'm like, well, maybe if I could, if at least I know it's a two or three month contract, at least I can do that. and then I ended up at Roche,
[00:24:17] LaToya Davis: this is my faraway into healthcare for the first time. Loved that.
[00:24:21] LaToya Davis: I actually got recruited from someone like a recruiting event, and they were like, oh, we're about to hire a whole bunch of recruiters at a company called Ingers Star ran, which is the parent company to like train and some
[00:24:31] LaToya Davis: other
[00:24:31] LaToya Davis: like, industrial products.
[00:24:33] LaToya Davis: And so, I ended up going there and, I spent the next four years that this is like also the end of my recruiting career.
[00:24:39] LaToya Davis: It was great. I learned a lot. I went from. University to professional recruiting. I did some executive recruiting. and fast forward, this is a pivotal kind of, to me, inflection point in my story.
[00:24:48] LaToya Davis: There was a VP there and I find, like, I hope that someday she could, she sees something like this. 'cause I want her to know how much of an impact she had on me. She was such a great mentor and I was like, I wanna be a HR business partner. And she's like, that's awesome, LaToya. I totally think you could do it. 'cause I, she was like, here's what I wanna tell you. In reality, you're not gonna be competitive. And I was like, I was very sad 'cause I was just like, nobody had ever told me I couldn't do anything.
[00:25:16] LaToya Davis: And I was like,
[00:25:17] LaToya Davis: I feel like I can. Like why are you saying that? She's like, you could do it.
[00:25:20] LaToya Davis: She was like, here's what you're gonna be up against. She was like, the industry is changing in HR. that role, which we'll use a HR Generalist is really focused on partnering with the business and you need a strong business acumen. And she's like. You don't have a business background.
[00:25:35] LaToya Davis: you're not that close to the business now and you don't have a business background.
[00:25:38] LaToya Davis: She's like, that is something that is in your control. And this was her advice. She said, you are in control of those things. If that's what you wanna do, then focus on getting those things. And she said, if I
[00:25:48] LaToya Davis: was you, I would start by getting an MBA.
[00:25:51] LaToya Davis: And I took that. I ended up finding out I was pregnant with my oldest son. Not too long after that, I went on maternity leave. I came back. It was hard. and then this is the first time that I really did not feel happy at work.
[00:26:03] LaToya Davis: I'm starting to rethink my life plan
[00:26:06] LaToya Davis: at this point. I'm married, I have a a baby. I'm like, I'm not like I'm leaving. I'm drop my baby off at daycare and a job I don't really love anymore. 'cause this isn't what I wanna do.
[00:26:15] LaToya Davis: So I made the decision with my husband at the time that I was gonna quit. he had just finished college. We decided that it was, we would, we could work it out, made the plans. I, for the first time, this is spring, I am unemployed, but at that,
[00:26:30] LaToya Davis: at lockstep, I am not actively studying for,
[00:26:34] LaToya Davis: GMATs, yeah. Mm
[00:26:35] LaToya Davis: So I can go to grad school
[00:26:36] LaToya Davis: and I don't even get an MBA.
[00:26:37] LaToya Davis: Mm-hmm. And that's how I ended up back at Purdue again. Purdue not my first choice in this round either. I looked at Duke, I went to do an executive, or like a professional,
[00:26:46] LaToya Davis: MBA. These are super popular, Dan, because I said I have a, I have a little baby, right? Like I can't go to school like full time.
[00:26:52] LaToya Davis: And then Purdue shows up again. It's like, huh, we have like scholarships for people. You're an alumni. Like all these things,
[00:26:58] LaToya Davis: which we're, they get off their weekend MBA, programs. And that's why I ended up, going back to Purdue did an executive MBA program, which gave me a lot of flexibility. It was hybrid, some of it you did
[00:27:10] LaToya Davis: kind of with your teen self-paced.
[00:27:12] LaToya Davis: And then we did these like onsite residencies, like every six weeks. And it was great. It was a great experience for me. I loved it. It was an 18 month program, so it was very accelerated, but you would spend like days in classes. It was a lot,
[00:27:26] LaToya Davis: but it was a game changer for me. It changed the way I thought it changed how I interacted with people. I was only the only person in my cohort that was. Even remotely interested in HR.
[00:27:38] LaToya Davis: I was the HR person on every project team for that reason though,
[00:27:41] LaToya Davis: I was like all these other people, finance people, like people that were working in finance, people that were like operations leaders, procurement, like all these things that I, again, I'm not interacted with them in my roles.
[00:27:50] LaToya Davis: I knew what these were from being a recruiter, but I had never really understood how it all worked together.
[00:27:55] LaToya Davis: p and l statements and all these things that never came into my kind of purview. And,
[00:28:00] LaToya Davis: it was probably one of the hardest things I did, but it taught me so much. And during my first year of VIN school, I started applying for internships and the doors that started flying open were insane for HR opportunities. Johnson and Johnson was one of 'em.
[00:28:13] LaToya Davis: And I did an internship there. I fell in love within the first like 15 minutes that I walked through those doors, and I spent
[00:28:20] LaToya Davis: the next years there.
[00:28:22] Ami Graves: Now, when you started there, were you doing an an apprenticeship kind of internship, like rotational program at j and j? Is that how you started there?
[00:28:30] LaToya Davis: still have an RLDP program, which is an HR rotational program. And at the time it was heavily focused on people that actually were career changers. So it
[00:28:41] LaToya Davis: was like, I think the minimum requirements was like seven years of corporate were experience. But all of the people in my, and there were cohorts and it was a two year rotational program. Everyone had other work experience. 'cause you had to, none of it was really like hr. There was me and one other person in my group that came from a recruiting background and a
[00:28:57] LaToya Davis: similar story. He actually went to Purdue too, ironically. It was very,
[00:29:01] LaToya Davis: I ironic. Um,and then everybody else was from like finance, a lot of education, people that were making career changes, people that were coming from operations and then decided that they wanted to do HR.
[00:29:11] LaToya Davis: And so you would rotate through. These different ones. So you did a year as a, as an HR business partner, and then you did two other, what we call like corporate function
[00:29:20] LaToya Davis: rotation. So like I did total rewards
[00:29:23] LaToya Davis: Some
[00:29:23] LaToya Davis: people did, you know, different parts like learning and development or performance
[00:29:27] LaToya Davis: management, talent acquisition,
[00:29:29] LaToya Davis: all you would rotate through through all of that.
[00:29:32] LaToya Davis: And one of the things that, that j and j is, immensely good at is developing talent. you do the program and it is like the premier programs is endorsed by the entire HR executive committee, get a lot of exposure, programs won lots of awards. It was, it was awesome. You get a lot of visibility after that. You're kind of also managed through this kind of like hypo. Train from that point on. So it just ended up being like a, for me, like a 10 year rotation program.
[00:29:58] LaToya Davis: I had more experiences in the 10 years that 10 years of my career than I did in the entire first 10 years of my career.
[00:30:06] Ami Graves: I think it's important too, LaToya to point out, for people that are listening and thinking, okay, wow, 11 roles in 10 years, I'm lucky enough to know LaToya. So I've, I've been around for this journey. There were a lot of those roles were, it wasn't like you were like, I'm bored in this role.
[00:30:21] Ami Graves: I need a new role. They were coming to you and saying, I want LaToya on my team. And so all, all you had to do was be you and you know, you were a high performer. we've already talked about how love to work. And we get a little bit of our identity through work.
[00:30:35] Ami Graves: and so when that happens and you, you are a high performing employee, you do get shoulder tapped. And so a lot of that was them saying, LaToya, I've got a project, or LaToya, I've got an opening, or, or, and you've had this too. create a role.
[00:30:49] Ami Graves: all of the above. Yeah.
[00:30:50] LaToya Davis: and again, you know me and so it's like, I say this from a place of like humbleness for sure. Like I did, I got tapped a lot for parole. There
[00:30:57] LaToya Davis: were times where I was like, I wanna do this job for like, another year.
[00:31:00] LaToya Davis: Like
[00:31:00] LaToya Davis: you know, I coach people when I mentored, I had a lot of mentors along the way. As I continued to move up in j and j, like, I would always tell people the job, the ones that I did, I remember that I, that I would resist the most were the ones that, that, that were developed me the most too.
[00:31:14] LaToya Davis: like, I could have learned this earlier in my life from my mom and that journey, but like, it's like, oh, you can have all these plans, but like there are other people that are outside of your frame that maybe see like, hey, you need to be doing this 'cause it's gonna bring, bring you an experience that maybe you don't really realize is going to really impact you.
[00:31:30] LaToya Davis: Meanwhile, I'm looking at this bright shiny roll over here and it's like, oh my God, it looks like they're having so much fun on the sales team. Like they take trips like twice a year, like. I wanna do that job. And they're like, no, no, no. LaToya, let's, we're gonna put you over here in
[00:31:42] LaToya Davis: supply chain. I'm like, no trips in supply chain.
[00:31:45] LaToya Davis: Why am I going go
[00:31:47] Ami Graves: Is, yeah. Is, is there a A supply chain trip to Mexico?
[00:31:51] LaToya Davis: Um, then I realized you, I go to supply chain and learn or where, you know, in these pivots. And I realized like understanding how, like, at j and j and a lot of companies, right? Like 60% of what makes this company run is the supply chain organization.
[00:32:06] LaToya Davis: And so it was amazing, like to have that
[00:32:09] LaToya Davis: experience and, and understand like, how do we make our products? Like what are the things that you run into when you have unions? What are the complexities of that? Like, what happens when. And especially in a highly regulated world like j and j lived in and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and you
[00:32:25] LaToya Davis: know, consumer healthcare where you're heavily regulated, the, the FDA shows up and doesn't audit and things don't go
[00:32:30] LaToya Davis: well, what does that mean for
[00:32:31] LaToya Davis: the rest of the company?
[00:32:32] LaToya Davis: So I learned so much in every role, but that's just one example of where I remember being like, please don't make me do that job. Like, I don't like anything about all the plants that I was responsible for. Were in like weird places that I never have been. Like middle like plants are not usually like in the middle of a big city.
[00:32:48] LaToya Davis: Right? So it would be like
[00:32:49] LaToya Davis: middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, like middle of nowhere, like Oklahoma. Like I don't wanna go to any of these places.
[00:32:55] Ami Graves: All right.
[00:32:57] LaToya Davis: not the sales trip that the, the top performers in sales get to Mexico,
[00:33:01] Ami Graves: That's right.
[00:33:02] LaToya Davis: I learned a lot. So, that became a, a big part of like, my kinda story and how I coach people to say, like, trust the process.
[00:33:10] LaToya Davis: Like
[00:33:10] LaToya Davis: a lot of times when the people around you that are coaching you and you've trusted them to be part of your, kind of like, what I call like your board of
[00:33:17] LaToya Davis: directors, you need to trust that kind of guidance or follow your own gut, but also sometimes you just can't see what's in front of you 'cause you've never been there.
[00:33:25] LaToya Davis: Like, and be open to exploring something that maybe you didn't think was exactly what you wanted to do.
[00:33:30] Ami Graves: I love that. And that's the crux of this whole show is explaining and telling the stories. Because I think sometimes, you know, we do think if you're, if you study this in college, this is your path. If you, you know, learn this trade at a young age, then that's what you're gonna do for the rest of your life.
[00:33:45] Ami Graves: And so many successful careers are built on the pivots, you know, and, and the failures that you have before you have success. So I think that's such an important part of, the journey of work, which is again, why we're even here talking today. So, yeah. I have a couple like fun questions that I just wanna dig into with you before we, uh, wrap.
[00:34:05] Ami Graves: But let's talk about where you're at now. You made a transition in the last year, after 10, 11 years with j and j, a very successful career there. I don't know how you do this. She not you, and you've done it multiple times. She left Indianapolis.
[00:34:20] Ami Graves: Moves to New Jersey. Doesn't know anybody there, starts a career. Her, her and the family moved there. Now, in the last year, you've moved from New Jersey across the country to Dallas, Texas, and have a really wonderful new career with Kimberly-Clark, where you've, you're leading an ex executive HR role there, which is really exciting.
[00:34:39] Ami Graves: So how has it been for the first year and, uh, a little different than j and j.
[00:34:43] LaToya Davis: it's different. And you know, I was counting with je it was like, how many cities have we lived in?
[00:34:48] LaToya Davis: let count. So I've lived in 10, he's lived in eight and he's
[00:34:53] LaToya Davis: it is definitely been a journey. And, and again, remember I didn't move out of the state of Indiana until I was 30. So this has been
[00:35:00] LaToya Davis: like that. Like I did the, I spent my thirties basically moving from state to
[00:35:04] LaToya Davis: state. Like to the extent where people would be like, I don't know, and where you actually live. But I like, just tell me when you're like, gonna be in my area, right?
[00:35:11] Ami Graves: that's exactly right.
[00:35:12] LaToya Davis: It was great.
[00:35:13] LaToya Davis: this move was different. This again, didn't have my bank. I would tell you during the pandemic times, I, all of these life plans, like a different LaToya emerges where
[00:35:22] LaToya Davis: it's like, look, you can't, you cannot predict it.
[00:35:26] LaToya Davis: And I had a lot of like, I would say a lot of yellow flags along the way, but like this journey where like, I think I could tell myself everything that's gonna happen in my life, I should have known that. But it really hit home for me during that time. And, you know, a lot of us had times of reflection and lots of life changes during that time.
[00:35:41] LaToya Davis: But this is big for me. And the biggest thing for me was, so I had two more kids. So I have twin boys in addition to my oldest that I've dropped multiple times.
[00:35:51] LaToya Davis: and late. They were born literally the week before Christmas, 2018, and then a lot of life changes happened in 2019. It was a tough year going from one
[00:35:59] LaToya Davis: to three, and then also realizing, oh my gosh, like it was easy to pick up and move. When we left Indiana with just one kid, we put 'em in a baby carrier, we carried 'em around.
[00:36:09] LaToya Davis: We took that, we took that stroller everywhere. Like we, he was with us wherever, having three kids and having two babies at the same
[00:36:16] LaToya Davis: time. We were in a very different spot and we had no family around,
[00:36:20] LaToya Davis: and it was already a struggle just to get through that, like, and then we weren't even in a drivable distance.
[00:36:24] LaToya Davis: People supported us. Like for anybody to hear it says tons of support where we could find it, but a lot, it was hard. Like, I mean, we
[00:36:31] LaToya Davis: lived all the way on the East Coast and most of our family was in the Midwest. It was tough. So we kind of got to a point where I was like, I don't know that I can raise three kids without the family.
[00:36:39] LaToya Davis: This is not how I grew up. You think about where my story started, I don't know that I can do this like,
[00:36:44] LaToya Davis: so. Right around the time, we're like, we probably need to consider moving back to the Midwest. And then there's a global pandemic.
[00:36:52] LaToya Davis: So then it's like, okay, now it's even worse. Nobody could get to us. We can't hardly get outta here.
[00:36:57] LaToya Davis: It was,
[00:36:57] LaToya Davis: but it was like as soon as we could get out, now all plans lead to, we have to go somewhere where it is. And the reason that we ended up in Dallas was actually bizarre. So as we were thinking about moving, a lot of people were having similar life plans, but a lot of our friends and family were moving to Dallas.
[00:37:13] LaToya Davis: And we were like, what is, like I, I lived in Austin for a while and I was like, I've been to Dallas. It's really big, but it's like, yeah, like it's just not a lot of stuff there. What are you gonna like, there's jobs and there's all this building and it's the
[00:37:24] LaToya Davis: fastest, fastest growing. And I was like, really?
[00:37:26] LaToya Davis: So doing research. then around 2022, of those many people that were just invited, invited me down and, uh, to spend, long weekend there. And I fell in love and I was like, oh my God, this is great. I felt a sense of community,
[00:37:39] LaToya Davis: had so many people that I know I knew and the DFW is huge, but it feels a lot smaller. Um, and I knew, I was like, I have to do it 'cause I was very unhappy, like locational and then like, dealing with the family situations. And so I decided that, like
[00:37:54] LaToya Davis: in my head, I come outta that trip and I was like, I'm moving to Dallas 'cause I don't know how I'm gonna get there or what we're gonna do. Um, that, and I was also in the process of, uh, you know, doing a return back to office with j this, I was like, okay, well that's contradictory to this,
[00:38:07] LaToya Davis: So fast forward, it was really, it was probably one of the hardest decisions I made because I knew what I wanted in my heart. I wanted to be in Dallas. It was the rank hand. I did not wanna leave j and j and we had zero jobs that I could do
[00:38:19] LaToya Davis: and so I remember I making the choice and then walking, talking to my leader at the time and saying, I have made the decision that we're, me and my family were gonna relocate to Dallas, which was intended to be a resignation.
[00:38:31] LaToya Davis: they were like, do you really want to leave the company? We value you. Maybe we can figure something out.
[00:38:36] LaToya Davis: And after all the things that I did like this, really, to this day, I'm so grateful and they made a lot of accommodations to try to make this work.
[00:38:44] LaToya Davis: I went back and forth from New Jersey to Texas. I moved. It was really hard.
[00:38:48] LaToya Davis: but it wasn't because they did, like the company tried and I realized it wasn't fair to them. It wasn't fair to my kids.
[00:38:54] LaToya Davis: I was here.
[00:38:55] LaToya Davis: I was exhausted.all the things, the reasons I wanted to move here were like not really happening. so I made the decision that it was time for me to look for something outside of j and j. And the power of networking led me to Kimberly-Clark because one of my former j and j colleagues
[00:39:08] LaToya Davis: was leading, uh, she's now my boss, and, uh, HR and I was talking to her about that challenge and lots of other things.
[00:39:15] LaToya Davis: We were just kind of networking. And she said, if you decide that you wanna leave j and I think that I have a role that I could find for you here because it would be great to have you here.
[00:39:25] LaToya Davis: So again, and I just to be clear, I had not worked with her in probably 6, 6, 7 years. and that's how I ended up with Kimberly-Clark. You know, it, it was familiar in many ways because it's a similar culture
[00:39:37] LaToya Davis: and, um, very family oriented in the Midwest company and, uh, feels very Midwestern because a lot of Midwest values, was consumer products. So I, I, you know, I had that experience from my
[00:39:47] LaToya Davis: time at j and j. I'm in good company.
[00:39:50] LaToya Davis: There's a lot of j and j alumni there from the consumer space. but then it's also was an opportunity for me to take everything that I learned and built at j and j because look some of the best and the brightest. Um, I say that, you know, from the rooftops in
[00:40:03] LaToya Davis: the HR industry from, from j and j, and I learned so much from every leader, every team member that I had there.
[00:40:10] LaToya Davis: Kimberly-Clark is in a different place in that journey. It's a smaller company
[00:40:13] LaToya Davis: with a great brand, and and then they were starting in a transformation. And like all the things that I felt like I learned, I feel like it led me to this p because I've been through a lot of this already
[00:40:23] LaToya Davis: for a lot of people. Ac this is new. And so now I'm in a position where I can help lead through this transformation that the organization is
[00:40:31] LaToya Davis: building.and it's been great. Like, so it's been challenging at times. 'cause again, I'm j and J's a big, massive
[00:40:37] LaToya Davis: engine in a lot of resources that I'm used to.
[00:40:40] LaToya Davis: we're still building that at, at kc so you realize how privileged you are to come from a company that size that has like a massive amount of resources.
[00:40:48] LaToya Davis: But it's also great to be a part of building something new. and really kind of like taking everything that I've learned over my 22 year career, but definitely that last decade
[00:40:57] LaToya Davis: and, and apply it and be able to add value. I've only, I've been there for less than a year and I feel like I've already been able to contribute to so many different major things and make an impact.
[00:41:06] Ami Graves: They're so lucky to have you. They really are. I mean, not, not just because of the, the technical skill, but again, this just really speaks to the importance of, you know, mentorship and, and you mentioned this earlier and in fact my very first guest, Raphael mentioned it as well. It's having that personal board of, directors and just how important that concept, I think is so critical.
[00:41:25] Ami Graves: If, you know, people take anything away from, today's conversation, I hope this is one of the nuggets they take away. It's just the importance of that because it's because of that personal board of directors that you had, that you had so many people shoulder tapping you and saying, come work on my project or come work on my team, or that same, you know, I think situation that says, when you go in to give your resignation, they say, no, don't leave.
[00:41:48] Ami Graves: We'll figure something out. And then that leads to the next role at Kimberly-Clark where somebody you worked with six or seven years ago says, oh, if you really are, you know, thinking about leaving, you know. Let me know, we might have something here for you. I think all of those things happened as a result of you having the right relationships, the right connections, building relationships with people, not burning bridges, and building out that, that personal, you know, board of directors for yourself.
[00:42:13] Ami Graves: So that's beautiful and I think a great lesson.
[00:42:16] LaToya Davis: Yeah. And you, you've been a part of that board along this journey too, so,
[00:42:20] LaToya Davis: forgetting advice, connecting the dots, using our networks to, to build on things and, and I think it's so important. Like, I cannot stress that enough. Like I, I tell people, like people will be like, oh, how do I get my resume to the top of the pond?
[00:42:34] LaToya Davis: I was like, work your network.
[00:42:35] LaToya Davis: you know, thousands of people in the, in the, in the job market,
[00:42:39] LaToya Davis: it doesn't mean you're not the right fit for the role, but that's not how most people get jobs. Like, that's just the reality of it. So, you know, always keeping those relationships and the, the importance of relationships is so important.
[00:42:51] LaToya Davis: Not even just for opportunities for jobs. Like, it obviously helps in those spaces, but even just to get things done, like I used to tell people on my teams, like a lot time, I was like, I rarely actually know the answer, but I know who might know the answer. Like, that's how I am successful. because
[00:43:05] LaToya Davis: oh, Amy's really good at this. I need to, if I need to talk to somebody in the technology field, I gotta do
[00:43:10] LaToya Davis: this. You know?
[00:43:11] LaToya Davis: And even internally, like, and then sometimes when I'm like, Hey, I know that typically this, that takes like five days to get this done, but let me tell you what's happening.
[00:43:19] LaToya Davis: Can you get this done for me to, and then you pay it forward.
[00:43:21] LaToya Davis: Because there's time when I have to do that for people. And that's how you, you know, manage through these like life. And I think when people figure that out like that, that's like, it's like people are like, what's the secret sauce?
[00:43:31] LaToya Davis: And I'm like, it's not really a secret. Like
[00:43:33] LaToya Davis: it's just, this is how it works. Like you have to leverage your network, build strong relationships and pay it forward. Like it's an important cycle to be, to be a part of.
[00:43:43] Ami Graves: Yep. Completely agree with that. That's great. wrap it up with a couple of quick questions.
[00:43:48] Ami Graves: So, I'm gonna ask a quick, serious question and then, quick rapid fire questions. So, this question I think is wonderful 'cause it actually goes back to what you talked about in the very beginning. What do you hope work feels like for the next generation, especially for black women working moms and those that are finding their voice?
[00:44:06] LaToya Davis: the things that we have fought for and the people, generations, again, like where I started like fought for, I it is so. Unbelievable for them to even fathom that we have to have some of these conversations and, and, and this movement because it is so different from their reality.
[00:44:22] LaToya Davis: That is really my hope. Like I want to see future generations know, like not be in a world where like, there are not glass ceilings that can prohibit you just because of your gender, your race, and you're not having that conversation to say like, I
[00:44:35] LaToya Davis: have to work twice as hard to get the same pay or opportunities and things like that. Because it's so far from their reality and we're not there yet. Like there's a lot of
[00:44:44] LaToya Davis: us continue to fight the good fight and
[00:44:46] LaToya Davis: there's a lot of forces working against us. But I still have a lot of hope that we will continue to build on all the work in the foundation that has been set to really get to a place of equity.
[00:44:57] LaToya Davis: cause I don't really think, like equality to me is not a real thing, but I really believe in equity and I think it's, I think it's very feasible. And I think for anyone that's out there that's discouraged, that it's not achievable because of some of the current dynamics, I'd say keep fighting the good fight.
[00:45:11] LaToya Davis: It is possible. Things have happened that I, again, our ancestors would've never imagined we would get here 'cause they're people that came before us. They didn't give up when things got hard
[00:45:20] Ami Graves: Yeah. That's great advice, Latoya, especially in the, the climate we're in right now. So thank you for that, that wisdom. Okay, fill in the blank right now. I define freedom as
[00:45:31] LaToya Davis: being able to. Be my authentic self without having to be apologetic about it.
[00:45:38] LaToya Davis: I remember people say, you know, people like, well, Jay-Z started this with saying like, 40 was the new 30. Like, no, seriously, like I get it now. Like
[00:45:45] LaToya Davis: It is a pha in your life where you, I have never felt more secure in who I am and how I feel about certain things. I am not looking for a bandwagon of approval.
[00:45:57] LaToya Davis: I am always gonna be kind respectful to people, but I respectfully am okay if you disagree with my perspective and I'm, and I'm good with
[00:46:05] LaToya Davis: that 'cause this is what's true to me and my authentic self. And again, maybe for some people it come sooner, but it definitely is something that I fully embraced in my forties and I love it here.
[00:46:15] LaToya Davis: That's all I can say. So that is
[00:46:16] LaToya Davis: freedom for me.
[00:46:18] Ami Graves: I completely agree with that. What, I don't know what it is either about our forties, but, forties is the new 30. I don't even care if it is or isn't it? I, I love it as well. So I'm with you on that. All right. last question. What's your off switch?
[00:46:33] Ami Graves: What's the ritual? Your favorite food, a book you read, a guilty pleasure, a playlist, et, et cetera?
[00:46:38] LaToya Davis: Yeah, it's probably like a combination of,
[00:46:41] LaToya Davis: of some of those things. Like I'm like a, like a person who loves high intensity workouts, but I cannot workout independently. And so this is like, this is how I disconnect. I like when I go to, like, I go to like a bootcamp and they tell me everything to do.
[00:46:55] LaToya Davis: They got all the stations set up for 45 minutes. I don't have to make a decision. Except for the fact that I gotta show up and then I gotta
[00:47:02] LaToya Davis: finish it. and then if I start doing something that's not aligned with the process, they're like, you need to get back on track. I love that I'm in this office or my,
[00:47:10] LaToya Davis: my office building or with my kids making decisions all day.
[00:47:14] LaToya Davis: And I love the fact
[00:47:15] LaToya Davis: that I can kind of like do something that's good for my, myself as a person, like my health and my wellbeing, but also to completely disconnect and not have to be the one that has to make the decisions
[00:47:25] Ami Graves: I love that. I love that. And, and you know, this is not related, but I'm just gonna say it anyways, since you brought this up. a piece of advice I got from you, I don't even know if I, if I know if I ever told you this, but, um, you gave this piece of advice to me years ago. met for dinner at a PF Chang's in Indianapolis.
[00:47:41] Ami Graves: Uh, Keystone at the crossing, you had lost like 50 some pounds. I come in there,
[00:47:46] LaToya Davis: yeah.
[00:47:46] Ami Graves: my girl's looking hot as hell, and I'm like, oh my gosh, tell me your secret and all the things. And you said to me, like you said today, not a secret. then you said, Amy, the most important thing that I've learned in this journey to losing 50 pounds is to just forgive myself if I, you know, don't do what I think I need to do that day because.
[00:48:08] Ami Graves: So many times we'll say, oh man, I, I messed that up. I shouldn't have done that. And then you just, that negative self-talk takes over and you just give it up and you're like, well, you know, I don't wanna cuss too much on this podcast, but you kind of say, but you kind of say, fuck it. Right?
[00:48:24] Ami Graves: I ate two cupcakes.
[00:48:25] Ami Graves: Just forget about it. I'm outta here.
[00:48:27] Ami Graves: Yeah. And you said to me, just get up the next day. Give yourself some grace and keep it moving. And I, and I never forgot that because I think you can apply that to so many things in life, right? I mean, it was, it was applicable to me in that moment, in that journey.
[00:48:41] Ami Graves: But I think that's great advice for, you know, really anything we're trying to really accomplish, right? So thank you for that.
[00:48:48] LaToya Davis: People are always like, like different podcasts for a different day. But people are always like, oh, how do you do it? You've got three boys.
[00:48:54] LaToya Davis: Like,
[00:48:54] LaToya Davis: I don't know how you do it. And like, there's, and I was like, first of all, like what I always
[00:48:58] LaToya Davis: tell people it's like, again, I'm very authentic about my, my journey and my story, the good and the bad.
[00:49:03] LaToya Davis: It's like,
[00:49:03] LaToya Davis: I do not have it all figured out. But what I will say, and I think that has helped me, and it's kind of aligned in what you said it is, like, you gotta give yourself grace. Like there are days that like, I'm like, listen, kids. I am really not feeling it. Is cereal an option for dinner?
[00:49:17] LaToya Davis: absolutely.
[00:49:18] LaToya Davis: Let's do that. and this is for moms, dads, like whatever your story is, like it's okay to not be like every day. You're not gonna be on a hundred percent. Like
[00:49:27] LaToya Davis: back to what you said, I really believe that like maybe today we're eating cereal. And I'm gonna try to throw some vegetables in tomorrow, make it a better day balance. Like,
[00:49:34] LaToya Davis: I'm not gonna get there every day. And that's okay. And I, and I'm also trying to teach that to my, to my kids to say it is okay to not always be a hundred percent. Like I, I grew up being an overachiever.
[00:49:44] LaToya Davis: Um, and I still am, let me be clear,
[00:49:46] LaToya Davis: I have a good friend, he hears this. He will say, he actually has a great podcast too. And he was like, 80 is gravy. And I was like, listen, if I could get a t-shirt and a hat with that on it, that's right. Like 80% is good enough. I'm not trying to get to a hundred most days.
[00:49:57] LaToya Davis: Like that
[00:49:58] LaToya Davis: is, that is sometimes good enough. Is good enough. And especially
[00:50:02] LaToya Davis: if you need to give yourself that grace.
[00:50:04] Ami Graves: will wear the shirt that says 80 and gravy with a coffee cup that says World's Okay. As mom. I think that's, uh, that's our, our, our next fashion statement. So, Latoya, thank you so much.
[00:50:13] Ami Graves: You've been such a joy, such a good friend over all these years, and I love your story and experience. You, you might not be Oprah, but you are an amazing. HR leader, friend, mom, all the things. I just think so highly of you, and I'm so thankful that you joined me, on this podcast as we're trying to, you know, I think show the world that it's okay to take a pivot.
[00:50:36] Ami Graves: It's okay to mess up, and there's a lot of options and careers out there that you can do. You don't have to be the next, you know, leader of Amazon to have a successful, happy, uh, fulfilled work life. Right.
[00:50:50] Ami Graves: So,
[00:50:50] LaToya Davis: I thank you for having me. This has been awesome.
[00:50:53] LaToya Davis: if you need to do a reverse version of this, I would be happy to do this for you 'cause you have an amazing story and journey and I'm always inspired by all of the things that you put into action and all the
[00:51:02] Ami Graves: Oh, thank you.
[00:51:03] LaToya Davis: that you and your whole family has.
[00:51:05] LaToya Davis: So you inspiring stories. So put in a plug in to do an Amy focused version of this,
[00:51:11] Ami Graves: All right.
[00:51:11] LaToya Davis: podcast. Had a great story for us to hear too.
[00:51:14] Ami Graves: I think we'll do it. It's a, it's a fut future episode.
[00:51:17] Ami Graves: you'll lead it. That sounds great.
[00:51:19] LaToya Davis: Happy to do it. It'd be my pleasure.
[00:51:22] Ami Graves: All right, LaToya. Thank you so much. Take care.
[00:51:24] Ami Graves: Thanks for tuning in to The People of Work. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow along and share it with someone who loved these stories too. Do you or someone you know have a unique job or an inspiring work journey? I love to hear about it. You can find me on Instagram @thepeopleofwork, or visit thepeopleofwork.com, and if you're navigating a career transition or just.
[00:51:47] Ami Graves: Need support in your work life. I'm here for that too. From personal coaching to leadership and HR consulting, I'd love to help head to The Peopleof Work.com to learn more and get in touch. Until next time, thanks for being a part of The People of Work.