Archive for category: Diversity & inclusion
Approximately an hour later, the tow truck driver arrived and very loudly announced that he can’t tow my SUV because it’s four-wheel drive, chastising me that this was information he needed in order to bring the right tow truck. I politely shared with him that I had told AAA that the SUV had both two wheel drive and four wheel drive and that the optional four wheel drive was currently disengaged.
He proceeded to less politely respond that he was unwilling to take the risk in towing the car and that I was going to have to call AAA and request a new tow truck. I did not want to stand on the Walt Whitman bridge for another hour, so I called my dad and explained the situation. He asked me to pass the phone to the tow truck driver and after a short exchange, the driver handed back the phone, walked away and started hooking up my SUV to the tow truck. My relief was quicky replaced with anger when I asked my dad what he said to the tow truck driver. To my surprise, he had shared the exact same information as I did.
Somewhere on the drive from the Walt Whitman bridge to the car dealership, while in the front seat of a tow truck, I realized that a man’s words would be viewed more credible than mine. It stung, a lot! What I also remember is that my dad never once assumed that I had not given the correct information, he trusted me and my acumen. He was an ally long before I knew what it meant to be an ally.
As I think back, there were other micro moments where I probably should have seen differences, but it wasn’t happening to me, so I wasn’t as tuned in. I should have been.
I noticed it again the first week of graduate school, sitting in the classroom and looking around the room where there were significantly more men than women. My career to that point had centered around staffing and recruiting, an industry where women generally outnumber men. So, although I knew that less women went to business school, it was still striking to see that in person in the classroom. That same year I gained another niece and realized that I wanted her to have a different experience. As she got older, I learned more about the “pink aisle” and suddenly the “fun” aunt role came with a bit more responsibility. I bought her books and toys with strong female characters and wanted to be sure she knew that she could do and be anything.
Two summers ago, my niece called me and wanted to plan a day trip to New York City. I immediately began to see how I could work in a short stop at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to see Fearless Girl. To get to the city, we took the ferry across the bay, passing the Statue of Liberty on the way to Battery Park. We spent a few minutes talking about the symbolism. Together, we read Emma Lazrus’ poem, The New Colossus, and I reinforced with my niece how important it is to be inclusive and welcoming. We mused at just how many women must have traveled these waters on their way to greater opportunity. Later that day, as we arrived outside the NYSE and waited to see Fearless Girl, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of a future full of possibilities I see for both my young niece and women everywhere. It will be a day that I remember forever.
As we celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day and I reflect on my NYC experience with my niece, I’m reminded how grateful I am to work for a firm that is focused on inclusion and belonging. The theme, #ChoosetoChallenge, struck a chord with me, as it is about being a much more active and vocal ally. As a proud aunt, I choose to challenge for my nieces so they can fearlessly pursue their dreams and feel valued for their voices. As a leader, I choose to challenge to ensure that I am elevating my crew members’ voices and accomplishments and commit to calling out bias when I see it. Collectively, we each can have a profound impact on creating a more inclusive world. Why do you “ChooseToChallenge”?
-Tamara T.
Tell us a bit about your family and/or extended family (even non-blood related)? What is that dynamic like?
I have a large, blended family. My mother and father both remarried when I was relatively young, so in total I have five siblings (two brothers and three sisters). I am technically the oldest sister. My mother, stepfather and youngest sister live in Philadelphia, whereas my father, stepmother and four other siblings reside in Southern California, where I was born and lived for ten years. The dynamic was a bit awkward when I was younger as I only spent summers and one major holiday with most of my siblings. There is also a thirteen-year age gap between me and my youngest sister. However, I’ve always felt fortunate that I have bonus family. – Alexis J.
What values are emphasized in your family? Which did you carry into adulthood? Which didn’t you, and why?
Honesty and respect for each other and ourselves, but especially our elders. I grew up in the Christian faith and so there was always a level of spirituality and religion that guided the activities I participated in and even my outlook on life. All these identified values have carried into my adult life because they resonate with the person I want to be in this world. I come to my work and other relationships with a level of honesty and care that was instilled in me by not only my parents, but my grandparents. I was even fortunate enough to have a relationship with some of my great grandparents. I cherish those memories and relationships most because they connect me to the history of my family and how we navigated in this world when others were not always so accepting and open to our people. – Alexis J
What is your favorite family memory or tradition?
My favorite family traditions are usually surrounded around holidays and food. When I was young and still lived in California, my paternal grandmother hosted Christmas. After attending a Christmas Eve church service, a few of my cousins and I always spent the night at Grandma’s house. I remember the smell of the house from her cooking some not so savory delicacies to the sweet smell of her homemade German Chocolate cake, and of course getting to lick the spoon that had left over cake batter on it. My cousins and I would try to stay up all night and even slept in our sleeping bags around the Christmas tree. – Alexis J.
Is there anything else unique or special you’d like to share about your family?
I am not sure if this is unique, but having four parents means that in my case, I also have many aunts and uncles (sixteen to be exact). I was not even able to count all of my first cousins, but it is somewhere around forty-five. Additionally, my stepmother is from Nigeria. So while I am very proud of my Black American culture, I am able to experience Nigerian culture by way of my step mother as well. – Alexis J.
Here are some of the tips they shared:
You’re not alone in this. What I learned fairly early on was that despite what I was seeing on Pinterest and Instagram, this is not going to be the moment when I become the best ever version of myself – not as a wife, mother, a friend, etc. I made all of these plans – set up a fancy home school in the living room, build a family command center complete with a whiteboard, and finally make those meal plans – but literally none of this is happening, and it’s ok. You know why? There’s a pandemic. It’s hard out here. They make it look so easy on Instagram, but that’s just not my life. I had to set a better standard for myself.
— Tiffany
In my home, we practice “I need a minute” moments. Everyone from adults to children can call a time-out and take a breather…alone. To collect themselves, to go to a quiet space, to play alone – whatever they need – and we all have learned to respect that time each of us needs. Even my four year old has learned what it means “to need a minute.”
— Rashanda
Don’t compare yourself to others. Comparison often leads to discontentment at the best of times – but now it can be even worse. Live your own story and know that your best is good enough. Your children’s mental health and happiness is more important than doing that extra piece of work. Focus on achieving the key things, like numeracy and literacy, and don’t stress about the rest. Accept that perfection is impossible and learn to let go.
— Liz
I’d offer the guidance to just be kind to yourself and try to stick to a routine. It’s not possible to be a full-time parent/teacher and full-time worker and be 100% at both at all times. What I’ve found that works for me is to try to keep the kids on a schedule. We get up and eat breakfast at the same time we normally would, start and end school around the same time, etc. And, I block chunks of time early in the day before meetings, at lunch, or where I can to help them with homework and to engage with them. On weekends, I try to spend as much time as possible with them and be present. It’s hard to juggle it all, and every day isn’t a good day, but we’re all doing our best during this time.
— Theresa
For those without children, the group discussed how they could support those trying to work from home with small children amid the pandemic. Tips shared include checking in with their employees with children, providing flexibility to get work done at the time and in a way that worked for their schedule, and showing empathy during this difficult time.
Theresa shared, “I feel fortunate to work for a company that has offered a lot of flexibility and benefits to allow me to still achieve my personal goals and to be there for my family.”
Further, Rashanda chimed in, “We’re all struggling to figure out what this new normal means. I think there’s an opportunity in this situation for us all to show empathy to each other, whether we are parents or not.”
Interested in reading more from the WILS Managing it All series? Click here for the first installment.
I approached VBPN and HOLA in 2019 with the idea of hosting an event together after discussing the idea with our Diversity and Inclusion team. I worked closely with the CRG talent attraction leads, Dionne M. from VBPN and Lynnette D. from HOLA. Both women were a pleasure to partner with, and I enjoyed getting to know them on a more personal level during our many thirty-minute checkpoints.
March 18th was set to be the first event across the sites, but as COVID-19 became more prominent in our communities, Vanguard quickly shifted to a work from home environment. We had over 170+ crew registered for the event, and I was determined to not let them down. Just two months later, we reorganized the event to a virtual environment, with even more sign-ups than the first time!
The event brought forth dozens of questions submitted by attendees and candid responses from the PAS panelists. I was so appreciative of the transparent answers which addressed minorities in the industry and demystifying bias in the advisor role. Additional topics of discussion included a day in the life of an advisor, the skills and experience necessary to become an advisor, and the Certified Financial Planner certificate process. Attendees provided positive feedback on the event, expressing, “I enjoyed hearing about the experiences of crew members in PAS as well as what Vanguard is looking for in new advisors. Also, I enjoyed hearing members of the CRGs speak to the importance of creating more diversityat Vanguard.”
The most rewarding part of this experience was the parity created between VBPN, HOLA, and PAS crew. With recent events across country, we can recognize the biases and injustice that still exists. During this event, we created a space for crew to bring their authentic selves and be equally represented at Vanguard, a true testament that our organization is focused on creating a diverse and inclusive environment – something that has felt distant in present-day society. PAS is committed to strengthening our partnerships with the crew resource groups at Vanguard and I look forward to similar events in the months to come.
-Janae F.
And my goodness, I have learnt a lot. I moved into Human Resources in 2018 to take up my current job as Learning and Development Manager for Europe in the U.K. and, in this role, I get to dive a lot deeper into the world of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). I’ve since helped to set up a group dedicated to mental health awareness, which has proven to be very timely, given where we are today. Additionally, I also chair our European Diversity and Inclusion Council, which helps to ensure all of our work on this topic is consistent.
It’s been a steep learning curve for me. But although I have picked up many new skills and D&I terminology, what I have really found is something I knew all along: that the world is a much better place if we are curious to learn about others and respectful of each other’s differences. That’s a mantra that I hope I have passed on to my children as well as those that I lead, both formally and informally.
Thinking about today’s unique circumstances, inclusion has never been more important. Often, it’s the small things that count. I’m fortunate to have a comfortable house and a lovely family to help me through lockdown, but I always try to remember that others may not be so lucky. So I’ve made a point of reaching out to people that I miss from the office who may be struggling. It only takes a few minutes to have a quick video exchange and it can brighten my day and, hopefully, theirs.
It’s also been an honour to be part of the team that has re-shaped Vanguard’s course for crew, Your Role in Inclusion, for a virtual world. It’s a great example of how combining different perspectives can create a better outcome.
By the time this is published, I will have facilitated the first pilot session alongside my friend Cathy, who is the chair of OPEN Europe and has put such a lot of positive energy into our D&I work in Europe. She deserves a lot of credit for role-modelling inclusion in her daily work.
I often muse that, with London being one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, D&I is a different challenge here compared with the U.S. The past couple of months have brought out the best in the UK population, but they have also reminded us that there is still tension lurking below the surface. We all have further to go on our D&I journey, and I’m looking forward to taking the next steps as I continue to work with our employee resource groups in Europe to roll out the global Your Role in Inclusion virtual sessions more broadly.
—James B.
While I was nervous to facilitate an event with so many coworkers eager for advice (wifi don’t fail me now!), supporting WILS members is very important to me as a program lead for Vanguard’s retail division. I also know how challenging the shift to work from home has been for many, myself included.
Since mid-March, my husband and I have both been working from home. During the day, we barricade ourselves in our shared workspace – a spare bedroom in the attic. We feel very lucky that we have assistance during the day with our two-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, who get the run of the rest of the house. At first, my children hated us being home without having access to us all day. Now that we have a loose routine, we all look forward to lunch together and I can check in on them throughout the day without triggering a meltdown. I shared with the virtual panel attendees that it has been much harder for me to focus now that life isn’t “compartmentalized” into work and home. As I’m sitting in virtual meetings, I might be thinking about the laundry piling up. As I’m eating dinner with my family, I might be tempted to send a few work emails. The way that I’ve combatted the distraction is by taking a little extra time in the morning to do the house chores worrying me and making really strong to-do lists for the workday so that I know what I need to accomplish before I leave “the attic.”
Amber also talked to the panelists about the importance of “preserving the morning commute” and taking that time to get active or do something for yourself. This really resonated for me. When I begin my day by going for a long walk with the dog, I’m just much more grounded. I also find that I’m more productive if I get out of the sweatpants and put on a blouse and jeans at a minimum. It boosts my confidence, makes me feel like I am dressed for my day, and separates the week from the weekend.
Laura had great advice for those who are trying to maintain and deepen team connection remotely during this very challenging time. She emphasized how critical communication is when working from home, and shared that she supports her teams by encouraging cross-sharing about the frustrations, challenges and concerns everyone is facing.
Speaking with the panelists personally following the event, here is what they had to share:
Amber C: As I talked with Laura, Danielle, and our WILS members, the power of community became clear – particularly during a time like this. It might feel like we are all facing different challenges, from caring for young children while working, to worrying about family members on the front lines, to professionally advocating for ourselves in a virtual working environment. But there are members of our tribe who are dealing with similar issues. Sharing best practices, ideas, and stories with each other and creating a safe space to be vulnerable makes us all stronger, healthier, and more productive. The WILS network matters now more than ever; we can learn so much from one another.
Laura S.: The opportunity to connect with my female and male colleagues across Vanguard who are facing many of the same issues was special. It’s a reassuring feeling that we have each other’s back during these times, and that we’ll all emerge stronger and more convicted in our passion for investors as a result of this.
I’m looking forward to this two part series expanding in the future as we all support one another during this unprecedented time!
—Danielle C.
Stay tuned for a recap on the second panel focused specifically on parents managing small children and work from the home. It features Theresa Westwood, a department head in Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services, Tiffany Haley, Principal and Senior Human Resources Business Partner, Rashanda Perryman, Program Officer of Vanguard Community Stewardship, and Liz Waldron, Head of Digital and Marketing in Europe.
For as long as I can remember, receiving quality education has been a priority in my household. I spent countless hours at my parents’ dining room table working on homework. Even now, my mom regularly tries to convince my 4-year-old son to work on spelling games at the same table. I feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to work with the West Philadelphia Action for Early Learning (AFEL) to help instill this imperative into the children of that community. The organization has two main goals: kindergarten readiness and reading on grade level by the third grade. My colleagues and I were able to support these goals by preparing resource bags for use in classrooms and reading to some of the children from local schools. Beyond the crew that were able to attend, crew from across Vanguard donated over 250 books to help children build their home libraries.
The specific group that supported AFEL is the Vanguard Black Professional Network (VBPN), which is committed to increasing engagement of black crew members and supporting the increased representation of black crew in leadership positions. Having the opportunity to serve with aligned crew in a community that may produce the future of Vanguard leadership was truly a humbling experience.
— Josh C.
VBPN sponsored two MLK Days of Service events in North Carolina at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Classroom Central. Second Harvest is responsible for supplying food throughout a 19-county region of North and South Carolina through a network of over 700 emergency pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and programs for low-income children and seniors. Crew members took time out of their Saturday to help inspect and sort donated food items for distribution to those partner agencies. Classroom Central equips students in need by collecting and distributing free school supplies to their teachers. Eleven Vanguard crew members assisted the organization by die cutting shapes and organizing the overflow of school supplies in the warehouse.
— Ebony B. and Sabrina B.
As a North Caroline VBPN site lead, giving back is extremely important to me. It’s such a rewarding and humbling experience. I’ve been with Vanguard for 21 years and our commitment to our community has never wavered. It is an amazing differentiator, and providing Days of Service so crew can work together to help others is so empowering. As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History Month, this resonates with me even more. His commitment to service and helping others was powerful and a major driver in the movement. To be able to not only serve, but honor him and his sacrifice, is humbling. To me, this is what our purpose is about; loving and helping others, and extending your hand to pull others up. That is what service is really about.
— Kenya H.
I am a helper by nature and have enjoyed volunteering for many organizations and causes since childhood. I recently had the opportunity to coordinate an MLK Days of Service volunteer event on behalf of VBPN at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). FMSC is a non-profit organization that assists in providing rice, soy, dried vegetables, and vitamins and minerals to needy children locally and internationally. Through donations and the efforts of volunteers, FMSC is able to ensure the food is packaged and expedited to hungry kids. On the day of our volunteer event, I was immediately impressed with the FMSC staff. We were warmly greeted and provided with instructions to prepare us for the day.
I appreciated that the FMSC staff emphasized a hygienic environment to ensure the children were not exposed to germs, and we watched a video that included detailed instructions for each food prep station. The staff kept the event light by teaching us fun chants to say when each prep station was able to completely fill a box with food packages. The staff shared with the volunteers that it costs $88.00 to feed one needy child, ALL year! As a parent of two teenagers, that resonated with me. On average, it costs my family more than $88.00 per week in meals. During our volunteer session, we were able to fill 192 boxes with food packages, which will feed 113 children in Thailand and provide 41,472 meals!
When I volunteer, I feel that I benefit from the experience in so many ways. I get to share in the experience with fellow crew and members in our community that also volunteer their time. Volunteering helps me appreciate how fortunate we are and reminds me that by simply providing our time, we are making an impact. A thank you note I once received after donating my time included an impactful quote that sums up my volunteer journey:
“Help one another. There’s no time like the present
and no present like your time.” —James Durst
— Veronica A.
When thinking about where you want to launch or continue your career, you can be assured that at Vanguard, an emphasis is placed on professional development. Combined, we have been at Vanguard for nearly twenty years. During our tenure, we have both received support in various ways to help further advance our skill set. There is one development opportunity that we pursued, however, that stands out from all the rest. Through the Women’s Initiative for Leadership Success (WILS), one of our five Crew Resource Groups, we applied and were selected to participate in an advanced leadership development program for women. In addition to collaborating with female talent from across the enterprise and having a dedicated leadership coach consultant, the program presented us with several frameworks and tools that prepared us to handle a number of scenarios that we could potentially face throughout our careers. Examples include shaping the way we make decisions, preparing and executing courageous conversations with crew, reframing the dialogue of our inner critic, and recognizing unconscious biases.
The experience couldn’t have come at a better time in our professions. Elisha had just started a new managerial position and Kelly, who had always been an individual contributor, aspired to obtain a formal leadership role. Although we support different business areas in unique fields, we are both women within male-dominated industries. We were both successful within our careers at this point and were excited to learn ways in which we could enhance our skills and achieve professional goals going forward. We also quickly realized during the program that what got us here would not get us there, with there being where we envisioned our careers going and how we saw ourselves reaching our full potential. This specific program changed our perspectives on what that means and gave us the resources to clearly define who we are and what we stand for.
Identifying the direction we wanted to steer our careers, in addition to using learnings centered on how to plan and execute courageous conversations, continue to stand out as key takeaways from the program. We had the chance to practice these exchanges, and the more we practiced, the more we realized how impactful it was when developing others. Moreover, taking on courageous conversations is so imperative to improving a challenging situation, and we are now better equipped to handle them. Lastly, we received helpful reminders that something as simple as making the invisible, visible, can be a powerful mind shift that will lead you to a more successful outcome.
The advanced leadership development program for women has provided us with more than either of us expected. We are more prepared and confident in navigating our careers for having taken part in this initiative. Again, this is just one example of the many development opportunities offered at Vanguard.
Kelly joined Vanguard directly out of college in 2007 and has been working in the Investment Management Group for the past three years. Kelly graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Elisha has been at Vanguard since 2012. She launched her career as a developer and shortly after moved into a technical lead role. Following these experiences, she transitioned to a project management position that gave her the opportunity to be a technical relationship manager for a large 401(k) client and now as a delivery manager, supporting cross-divisional capabilities and relationships for Vanguard Advice for Institutional. Prior to joining Vanguard, Elisha worked at various startups and financial companies also within the engineering and technology capacity for four years.
Vanguard believes that being a global leader also means being a local leader. Through volunteer Investment Committees, The Vanguard Group Foundation is making grants in the regions around the world that we call home. The Vanguard Gives Back Hometown Grants Program is charged with funding pressing, local human services needs and working with nonprofit partners that contribute to the vibrancy of the community. The program is fueled by crew volunteers who commit two years of service dedicated to learning about the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and the local community landscape.
In this blog, we asked three Vanguard leaders to write about their experiences in serving as site leads for the Hometown Grants Program. The combined efforts of these leaders and their teams have placed $2.3 million into local organizations over their two-year commitment. Here is what Amanda M. from Arizona, Ed F. from North Carolina, and Steve H. from Pennsylvania, had to say:
Vanguard has long had a culture around community that you are no stranger to, what drew you into this particular opportunity with Hometown Grants?
Ed: Hometown Grants enabled me to take my passion for impacting our local community to a much deeper, grass-roots level. Having previously been involved in Vanguard Gives Back initiatives in Charlotte, including leading our workplace giving campaign and our volunteer efforts, Hometown Grants provided an opportunity to start-up a hyper-local focused program from scratch, which is pretty cool. While we were provided with some loose guardrails and guidelines, we were also given a significant amount of autonomy to figure out the best strategy that would have meaningful impact in the Charlotte community.
Steve: In 2012, I had the honor of serving as the lead for the crew fall charitable giving campaign. Not only did that experience tap into my longstanding passion for service, it opened my eyes to the incredible impact Vanguard can have in the community. I was very excited about the Hometown Grants program because it was yet another way to harness the energy and passion of Vanguard crew to make a meaningful difference in our communities, but I was also intrigued by the entrepreneurial nature of this new venture.
What skills have you developed through your participation in this initiative and how have you applied these skills both inside and outside of the office?
Amanda: Debating which organization to fund can be a sensitive and emotional topic. My peers and I all have preferences on which charitable cause is the most important and those often differ from the priorities of others. Plus, when you find so many organizations doing great work, it can be hard to reduce the list to a manageable few. Learning how to listen with empathy and understanding was critical to ensure each team member was heard and team health remained strong. Outside of work, it has given me a platform to talk to my kids about philanthropy. Now, when we debrief our day at the dinner table, I am talking to them about organizations I went to visit or work that is being done in the community. It’s been rewarding to talk to them about the importance of giving back and about some of the neat initiatives that are happening in our neighborhood.
Ed: Most importantly, I gained a deeper understanding of the Charlotte community and the critical issues our city is facing. Upward mobility remains a challenge even as Charlotte continues to have one of the highest rates of highly educated new residents moving to our city. I have met and learned from some very influential non-profit partners who provide critical services in our community often with few resources or limited budgets. I am looking forward to continuing my work post-Hometown Grants, whether it be through volunteerism or board involvement. Hometown Grants also enabled me to hone my leadership and finance skills as we have conducted research, reviewed non-profit financials and tax-filings, and conducted on-site visits to select the non-profit agencies we partner with.
What has been the biggest takeaway in serving as a site lead for the program?
Amanda: There is always a need for more work to be done in the community than there are hours in the day to support or dollars to fund. It is not hard to find an important cause that will improve our community. The hard part is prioritizing which organizations to focus on. It took a lot of time to research, really get to know these teams and the impact they are trying to make. Then ultimately determining where we could have the biggest impact. And there is no “right” answer. It is only part science, the rest is art.
Steve: In the past two years, the work of the Hometown Grants team exposed us to countless organizations that are making an incredible difference in communities. There are so many worthy, effective, innovative charitable organizations out there doing great work, we could have funded many more groups than we were able to. But I believe our team did a tremendous job of honing in on the key organizations that both had amazing impact and could best benefit from the dollars we had. The most rewarding parts of the job were when we heard the profound gratitude from these groups for our contributions, and the excitement they expressed about how they were going to put the money to work. You feel the very tangible benefit of all the hard work the committee put in.
More careers blogs about Vanguard in the community
Why you should raise your hand for that volunteer opportunity at work
Vanguard has an inspiring mission to help investors of all types, and I’ve been happy to be a part of it for more than ten years. I have also found Vanguard to be a place that values employees with families of all types. I experienced this during the adoption of two of my children. Adopting a child can be a challenging and very expensive process —agency fees, social worker costs, legal and government requirements, and many other things add up. We benefited greatly from Vanguard’s Adoption Assistance Program, which reimbursed a significant part of these costs. Additionally, the Parental Leave benefit provides six weeks of paid leave for all parents, including adoptive parents, which was incredibly helpful to not only finalize the adoption, but also for us to be able to spend time together at home as a new family. Me and my new daughter
I have used Vanguard’s Adoption Assistance Program twice. My wife and I had adopted our oldest daughter as a baby when I first joined Vanguard, and we also had a biological son, but felt we had room in our family for one more.
We knew there were some children who were older or had special needs and were still waiting to have a family of their own. Last year, we adopted our seven-year-old daughter from China.
She didn’t speak English at the time of her adoption, but the orphanage caretakers told us through translators how happy she was to hear the news: “…she looks so excited, she keeps saying, I have a mom and dad!” Can you imagine being seven, without a mom and dad, then finding out you do have a family, and they are coming to take you home?
We spent two weeks in China and took our older two children, then 10 and 11, along with us to meet our daughter and bring her home. Our new “mèimei” (younger sister) was shy at first, but quickly showed that she had a size 10 personality in a size 7 body. I can still picture her marching through the busy city of Guangzhou cheerily calling out to hotel staff, “Nǐhǎo!” (hello) with her family struggling to keep up with her. Spotting a moth on a window, she shouts to her new family, “Jiě
jie! Guò lái! Nǐ kàn!” (Sister, come here, look!)
The process was challenging, requiring a lot of trust and faith from her, us, and others, that somehow it will all work out right. In many ways, we pursue things in life that are difficult, and they often end up being worth the effort more than anything else. This is one of them.
First meeting her
During my leave and return, I also experienced an incredible demonstration of support from my work colleagues and management team who were happy along with me and had so many words of encouragement and ensured a supportive and flexible environment as I took time away to go bring our daughter home.
I appreciate that Vanguard values employees holistically and recognizes families can be formed in various ways, not only in traditional ones. By supporting adoptive parents through the Adoption Assistance Program and Parental Leave Policy, Vanguard makes it possible for more people to choose adoption. For the crew members who have room in their hearts and homes to be a family to a child who needs one, I hope they will use Vanguard’s benefits and any other resources to adopt.
-Perry B.
If you enjoyed this post, check out more from our #LifeatVanguard Blog. And if you’re ready for a more rewarding, engaging, meaningful career, search our opportunities at www.vanguardjobs.com.