Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
What is your name and title?
Phylicia Jones, Sr. Director, Talent & Organization Development at PagerDuty.
Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.
At PagerDuty, my role is to rethink, invest, and develop systems, people, and processes to help employees experience career making moments. I work to elevate the employee experience for everyone. While my title is Sr. Director, Talent Development, I care deeply about people doing the hard work that moves them forward.
How did you get here? Please share any quick stories from past work experiences.
I contribute a lot of my career journey to being a Girl Scout growing up, and playing team sports. These two pivotal experiences showed and taught me how to win and lose, how to be selfless, how to generate energy and pass it to someone else, how to be on a team, how to play on a team, and how to work as a team. It exposed me to what leadership looked like for women. When I look at my career moments assisting students as an Academic Center Supervisor at UC Berkeley, being a Human Capital consultant at Deloitte Consulting, and building talent programs at Veeva & PagerDuty, my team and the clients/customers I served taught me how to make my career about solving problems and caring about the people you are solving problems for.
In your opinion, what’s the #1 decision or move you’ve made that has helped advance your career?
When I was in undergrad at UC Berkeley, I applied to the Haas Business School and got accepted. What changed my trajectory was deciding to decline the offer and switch my major to American Studies – following my passion. The heart I put into my thesis helped me land the job at Deloitte in their Human Capital Practice. From this, I knew what it felt like to follow my passion vs. following the status quo and being unapologetic about it. It is very important to me that my career always ignite a fire in me – to make an impact and a difference in my mind and heart. If it doesn’t, I shouldn’t be doing it.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned this past year?
“If you want a seat at the table, bring a folding chair; and if you don’t want to use your voice, move away from the table.” I share this idea of a “table” as a metaphor to describe taking risks by using my voice (saying what no one else will). Especially, when I may not look like everyone else in the room. Just because that may be the case does not mean I don’t belong in the room.
Early in my career, I would be afraid to speak up in the rooms I found myself in. Not today. The past year, I found myself in many “Zoom rooms”. I had to consciously remind myself that I was meant to be there. Since we can’t physically occupy spaces right now, using my voice in ways to call people in, admit my mistakes, or seek to understand is how I’ve been able to connect with others to move forward together – even when we are physically separated.
What’s the number one challenge you face as a woman in your industry?
I am a Black woman in tech teaching others how to be leaders. I did not have my first exposure to Black educators/teachers until I was in college. So being in tech with my job, I know that I might be someone’s first Black teacher ever in their life. I always think about that each time I stand on a stage – either entering the front of a classroom or leading a virtual session.
This is why I believe Black women make history every day. Resiliency is something we learn and need to have from a very early age as we face challenges everyday in comparison to our non-Black counterparts. Every day is a challenge, but I am always ready for it.
Do you have any mentors? What does mentorship mean to you?
Of course! Today, my 3 mentors are my first manager when I was a summer intern, the first CFO I worked for, and my manager who gave me my first Talent Development gig. These three mentors are people who know me and have taught me that mentorship is a bond that includes brutally honest truth telling. The mentoring relationship includes an unspoken agreement between two people who challenge your thinking, so that you can always become a better version of yourself.
What advice do you have for women who are just starting their career?
Grow your character everyday, and don’t chase titles. Find the work that fuels your energy and let your focus flow towards that. That will build your character and legacy more than a title. If you don’t, someone will easily tell you who you are supposed to be. If you want to have a career that means something, don’t waste your time pretending to do something you don’t love. Find the work you care about that serves a cause bigger than you. Then, do the work that advances that cause for the long-game vs. the short term.
What is one thing companies can do, big or small, to help create an environment that advances women into leadership positions?
Pay attention to it, and set goals and metrics around it. Companies need to hold people accountable to think about it and create a system to advance women. The companies who are leading the way are not just striving and measuring it. They are thinking of ways to advance women who represent URP/BIPOC and promoting women into roles not traditionally held by them.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish in the next year?
I don’t necessarily look to accomplish something tangible each year, I just try to become a better version of myself. This year is about discovery, and expanding my impact and thinking. I have committed, using my PagerDuty volunteer time (VTO), to give back and deliver a leadership development experience for a non-profit management team at Beyond Emancipation over the course of 8 weeks in my Oakland community. I am also participating as a Founding Fellow for On Deck Course Creators to help find new and transformative ways to build impactful learning courses. Finally, I am involved in Dialogue’s 6 month Collective on the Future of Work. I am hoping these three investments will both inspire me and help me discover what my next career moment should be.
Is there a cause that is particularly close to you? If so, why this cause and how did you get involved?
In 2011, I lost my oldest sister to Lupus. This unexpected moment of loss changed how I view and see life. In 2012, my family and I started Team JMJ (Jervonya Monique Jones) to honor her legacy. Each year, we kickoff fundraising in May (Lupus Awareness Month) and walk for the San Francisco Chapter in October for the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) in her memory. Over the past 9 years (going on 10), we have been one of the top teams and raised over $100,000 to help fund research working to find a cure for Lupus.
When did your company join Pledge 1%? What does your impact program mean to you?
PagerDuty joined Pledge 1% in September 2017, which was shortly before I joined the company. To me, this program reinforces that in tech we have the privilege and means to create societal change and address the gaps in education, equality, equity, and the economy. It also helps keep these issues top of mind as I not only try to improve the work that I do, but think of ways my knowledge and experience can impact the world and community around me. It’s the Girl Scout in me that instilled this “volunteer for life” mentality. PagerDuty gives me the time and space to leave this earth better for the next generation.
What do you like to do outside of the office? Any interesting (or unique) habits or interests?
I am a fitness enthusiast and enjoy my Bar Method and Ride Oakland Spin Communities, which are both women owned and operated businesses in Oakland helping other women strengthen their bodies through movement. I have been an active member for over 7+ years and this is what I do before and after my work day. I also pride myself on being a good cook, Auntie, and reader. I support the arts by seeing local plays and musicals (I can’t wait for them to come back). When I travel, you can usually find me on a food tour or taking a cooking class.
Are you reading/listening to anything interesting at the moment? Please share your most recent favorite book or podcast!
I love listening to and reading books, that’s my mind-jam! I am currently reading Adam Grant’s Think Again for work and for my book club we are reading Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams.
What’s been the one (or two!) things that have helped you navigate this past year? Any tips or tricks to dealing with remote work?
Protect your time and your team’s time by setting, communicating, and agreeing to boundaries. Make it okay to subtract vs. add to people experience or life by constantly iterating and experimenting with simple changes and simplified processes.
