VP Equinix, America Sales East
“If you truly want to be mentored and you want to have a career, you’ve got to be open to criticism.”
What qualities make for a good mentor?
One of the strongest qualities is the willingness to learn as well. When I mentor, I probably get as much out of the mentoring relationship as I’m putting in or as the person I’m mentoring is expecting me to give them. You have to be open minded. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself in the space of your mentee. To understand what their journey is, because in many cases, their journey is going to be different than the journey that I had coming into corporate America. So while I can impart a lot of wisdom, it’s changing.
I can also learn a lot from the mentors I have and I mentees I have, and I think that you have to humble yourself to be a mentor, and not go into it thinking that you know everything and you’re going to be that person that can impart the answers to everything, but be open to really living through a human experience.
The challenges that people have because of different generations in the work space. How does mentoring help bridge the gap in all of this?
It evolves and changes depending on where you are in your mentoring journey with someone. I haven’t been teased that I’ve had for a number of years from when they came into the business when they were college hires. To me, departing my job at AT&T and moving into the job with Equinix, I’ve still kept them along the way and I think that the person that you have when they’re coming in the door and they’re a new hire and they’re just trying to understand the company and the business and the culture of the company, you can really be an influence and a helpmate in that process.
As a mentor, you have to be willing to have those hard conversations in order to help. You’re meant to grow and for you to grow is how you’ve learned to mature. So I always think it’s a two-way street. That’s why I say that there are times when you have to humble yourself. Right? But also those times when you have to be willing to have those hard conversations that can sometimes make or break a mentorship relationship if you have it built up trust. But between yourself and the person that you’re mentoring. I believe it’s a journey and it doesn’t always look the same for every person or at every point in their journey.
[Pamela’s mentor] I had a great mentor, Andrea Moss, and I remember they had put me in a leadership development program at AT&T and she was one of the speakers, and she was talking and she was just so interesting. And the topic she was talking about was something that I was trying to get better at and I went out of the blue, then emailed her and said, hey, would you consider having coffee with me? I really was interested and would like to explore it a little more, one-on-one. She immediately said yes, and met me in the cafeteria and then she invited me to her team meeting so that I could listen in and meet her direct support team. I didn’t know she had any job opportunities. But I wanted to know about how she was thinking about going and building an organization that supported Canada and Latin America. After that meeting, I said you’ve probably already thought about this, but coming out of your meeting, these were just some of the things that I thought about that would help you kick this off quicker, but just wanted to throw this out there. She wrote back and said some of my ideas they thought about, but one they hadn’t thought about and would really love to hear more. ‘Why don’t you come to my team meeting next week?’ And I went back and she started mentoring me, and I didn’t even realize she was a mentor.
She started to really invest in me. And then when there came an opportunity that she could create a director job in her organization, she built it around my skill set and basically built a director job for me after mentoring me for 6 to 7 months. And I think that those are the things that people don’t realize when you’re in, when you talk about mentoring and what an active mentoring relationship is, what a mentee can do.
It’s really about being a student of their business, being a student of the business overall in the journey. So that you can have those conversations and be able to contribute even when you think it’s a small thing and you’re just commenting on something and you don’t, you’re not necessarily looking for that next step into another job, but being able to show the value.
The knock on Gen Z is that they’re not receptive to following instructions, and being held accountable.Do you believe that constructive criticism is a virtual means of mentoring, and teaching as well?
If you truly want to be mentored and you want to have a career, you’ve got to be open to criticism. Sometimes you have to say you didn’t do that well, not everybody gets a ribbon. We have to do it in a very supportive way, but you have to have the hard conversations: this is how you can get better. This is how you can learn more. Balance it in a way that gives them hope that they can achieve that. They’re going to grow exponentially, too. And I think that that’s the balance we have to have. I think we’ve been in a stage where we’ve almost made it a kind of generation war. I do think that we have to be held accountable. We can’t always say everything that you’re doing is fabulous. Folks are never going to grow from that. There is a way of positioning it and putting it in front of them.
So and that’s what a mentor is like, that’s what drives you and makes you want to go and do that for the next person, that you can really see that you’re making an impact in people’s careers. But trust it. It means that you’re going to have honest, transparent conversations that include the good, the bad, and the challenging.
What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I think the best piece of advice I was ever given is to state what you want. I think a lot of times, especially as women and as minority groups, we think that as long as I’m working hard, keep my head down, and deliver a great product that it’s automatically going to move you to the next level or your boss is going to nominate you for a promotion. It’s really important that you speak it into existence and you talk to your mentors in a safe space and say, this is what I really see for me as my next phase of my journey. Can you help me or give me ideas on how I go and pursue this? Or what skills do I need to get there? But you have to speak it. Never assume that people just know what you want. I think that you have to be very intentional in stating what you want and what your expectations for yourself are in your career.
What would you tell your 15-year-old self today?
Not to waste your time trying to be an eye surgeon. I went to college initially. Pre-Med. And I wanted to be an ophthalmologist. And then I took chemistry and I realized it probably wasn’t for me. And switched my major to journalism the next year. That’s probably what I would tell my 15-year-old self: you don’t have to know what you want to be when you grow up right now.
Who do you admire the most and why?
My father. I’m really fortunate to still have my father with me. He just turned 91 on May 31st. My father went into the Air Force as a 17-year-old kid from Newark, New Jersey. You can imagine what he’s seen and come through in America as a black man. And my dad has three degrees from some of the top schools like Purdue and Southern Illinois. So I always thought I was competing. He got his GED while he was in the service, traveled all over the world. Grew in the ranks and then had different careers when he came out of the Air Force, but always made me feel he didn’t raise me and my brothers to have different ambitions.
As the only girl in the family he made me feel like I could do anything and have any type of career. Just like my brother, which was a very unique thing in the 70s and 80s. So I never felt like there was anything I couldn’t do, which as a girl, as a woman, I feel it’s very empowering. And I know that I’ve worked with many women who don’t have that same story. So I feel very fortunate. And I feel like every day I have to continue to make him proud and to advance my career.
What’s your biggest fear in life?
The loss of my father, which I know is unrealistic. But that’s my biggest fear because I would lose my confidence and my cheerleader. And then I think about the world today, and given that I’m in the tech business, I think that we have to take on a real responsibility for how we’re using advanced technology and advanced AI and generative AI to make sure that we’re still fostering creativity and learning from people day-to-day. I’m not sure how we find that balance and want to put it out there, but I think it’s a great tool [AI]. I just feel we need to figure out how to use it responsibly and that it’s not replacing the importance of human intervention.
What’s one of your unbreakable rules in life?
Transparency. I need people to be transparent, in conversations and in relationships, with the knowledge that we may not always agree, but we can take time to understand where each person is at. Or I don’t believe they are being transparent with me, but I’m willing and ready to walk through fires for you. And again, may not always agree, but I need you to be transparent with me and honest and trustworthy. So I think that’s my non-negotiable.
What’s the definition of a perfect day for you?
A perfect day for me to get up at 4 a.m. and spend two hours in the gym. That’s my happy place. And that’s where I relieve a lot of tension and stress. And it gives me the ability to be clearer for the rest of the day. So that’s every day I’m in the gym or doing something to move. Then I think it’s being with the people that I love and having meaningful interactions with them, whether it’s the people I love at work or it’s the people I love that are my family and friends. Outside of work. That’s my perfect day. It’s not always about accomplishing something or being successful at something, but knowing that what I’m doing each day is intentional.