Aleta Hayes (she/her)

Aleta Hayes is a lecturer at Stanford University in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies, director, and choreographer. Her latest passion is offering Embodied Leadership workshops, which utilize performance techniques to enhance and transform leadership skills within the d.school at Stanford University and beyond.

What’s something that’s on your mind this Black History Month?

When I was growing up, my parents made sure I understood the accomplishments of African-Americans in the United States and the brilliant cultural achievements stretching back to Africa. So what comes to my mind is how important it is for me to pay that forward and to share that rich legacy with students and colleagues alike. My parents gave me this gift sitting around the dinner table, and not just during Black History Month. So right alongside my great education in European classical forms and traditions, I was schooled in Black excellence, and that gave me an unshakeable confidence I can access in any performance arena.

Suezette Yasmin Robotham (she/her)

Suezette Yasmin Robotham is a speaker, educator, connector, coach, and leading “Black Girl in Tech.” She has more than a decade of leadership experience, with expertise in talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion initiatives, leadership development, strategic planning and relationship building across various industry sectors.

Suezette has been tapped as a speaker by a number of organizations across the U.S. and Canada for her thought leadership in authenticity in the workplace and diversity and inclusion. She has been a featured TEDx Speaker (TEDxBeacon Street 2015). Suezette is passionate about the power that can be realized in spaces where vulnerability, empathy and authenticity are encouraged. She is devoted to using her talents to connect others to the people, opportunities and resources that will help them realize their highest potential.

What’s a challenge you’ve faced and how did you get through it?

A quote I live by is: “You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.” — Oprah

In my career, I’ve come to learn that challenges are a valuable nutrient in the fertilizer that helped me bloom professionally. One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is finding my leadership footing in spaces where my style is fundamentally different from that of the people who typically occupy the space.

Before joining Google, I did a great deal of work in the educational sector, working with large urban school districts and education reform organizations like Teach For America, The New Teacher Project and The Achievement Network. As I transitioned into tech, I had to look at myself and ask an important question — Do I adapt or do I help this space evolve? It became evident to me that I was brought here because I had tremendous value to add.

What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of?

I am really proud of myself for traveling the world…BY MYSELF. I think solo travel is, by far, the best thing I have ever given myself permission to do. And I say “permission” because I allow myself to be freely and wholly myself without being held back by fear, worry, doubt or overthinking.

I think that far too often people don’t take the opportunity to see themselves beyond the space they are in or the work that is in front of them. But the options around us are unlimited. I have been blessed to experience new cultures, sights, food, languages, art…even dating…and so much more through my solo adventures to places like Australia, Mexico, Panama, Barbados, France and, most recently, Mauritius.

Lesley-Ann Noel (she/her)

Lesley-Ann is a 2018–2019 Ocean Design Teaching Fellows at the d.school at Stanford University, where she co-teaches a class in which students apply a design lens to address global ocean threats and propose sustainable solutions. She recently completed her PhD in Design at North Carolina State University. Her research focused on design thinking at a rural primary school in Trinidad and Tobago.

Lesley-Ann is a former Fulbright Scholar and also a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. In her professional practice, she draws on the fields of design, anthropology, business and education to create product development and business strategy with stakeholders. Her research practice is guided by an emancipatory philosophy. She focuses on developing design curriculum for non-traditional audiences and promoting the work of designers outside Europe and North America. She has exhibited work at design exhibitions in Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Brazil, Germany, France and the USA. She has presented peer-reviewed papers at design conferences in the Caribbean, the US, the UK and India.

What’s a challenge you’ve faced and how did you get through it?

Over the last few years, my biggest challenge was uprooting my life and moving to North Carolina with my son to pursue a PhD in Design. Work-life balance was hard to manage. Even though I’m well-travelled and have worked in different countries, I had to deal with the culture shock of adapting to a new university culture, a new elementary school culture, a new American work and pop culture. I got through it all by maintaining openness and being flexible. I’ve just uprooted us again by moving to California for a year, and at the end of this year, we’ll be moving again. It’s not as easy as it looks, but I know both me and my son have grown enormously over the last 3–4 years.

What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of?

I finished my PhD in just over three years. It’s not perfect, and it was hard work, but I’m extremely proud that I was able to complete it in the timeframe I set for myself. Before completing the PhD, I got a job as a teaching fellow at Stanford University. I see that as a really significant accomplishment.