Shantell Thomas
Diversity & Inclusion HR Partner
Lenovo - a company dedicated to intelligent transformation through building devices that create smarter technology for all.
I ensure our critical processes and behaviors are inclusive so our diverse organizations thrive and when they do, I help them tell their stories so it can be embedded in other parts of the business.
I love creating scalable programs that delivers a sense of belonging germane to every human/employee.
Consulting with organizational leaders on their strategy for embedding D&I practices into their organization. From HR to sales to marketing to interns! My conversations allow us to brainstorm about ways to insert practices that will net the outcome we’re hoping to achieve - inside out.
I’ve had the benefit of being a technology marketer for over twenty years who very recently, became interested in Diversity & Inclusion work after pursuing a side hustle as a conference speaker. Event managers began asking me to incorporate my story/struggle around being a super-minority in technology. Once I started telling my story from that angle, I realized there was definitely a narrative but it needed to be complemented with study. So I began by finding a mentor, reading, then pursuing a certification. Then when opportunity struck, I was prepared! I am now a few months into a career in HR as a Diversity & Inclusion HR Partner. Both roles have afforded me the comfort of being surrounded by women because Marketing and HR roles are 64% women.
I hope my future continues to include work that allows me to create a sense of belonging in all the spaces I inhabit. In small ways like switching around seating charts to large impacts like redesigning the ways we hire to retire employees in workplaces.
My favorite things to do is read and sleep - I do one to get to the other! So boring but I am a bit of an extrovert who enjoys solitude so the things I love to do, draw me into quiet so I can think. Oh and I can spend a Saturday afternoon, without hesitation, watching sappy love stories on Hallmark.
"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time. Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Supreme Court Justice