In this month’s episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with BOLD member, Jessie Hwang, TYK2 medical scientist. Jessie is responsible for supporting the team and implementing the U.S. medical strategy for Bristol Myers Squibb product program launches in psoriasis and dermatology. Jessie also serves on the BOLD Leadership team, most currently as co-chair of the inaugural virtual program for Black History Month 2021. Jessie is a proud Spelman College alum and obtained her PharmD at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. 

 

Jessie shares her career journey, passion about diversity in clinical trials and explains how she identified and uses her superpowers to fuel her passion for breaking down barriers to healthcare access in diverse populations.

 

Jessie speaks on the importance of learning and leveraging feedback even when it is not so great and paying it forward by passing on the information to others. She advises when choosing a company for a career that it is important to look at the company’s culture and discern if your voice will be heard to ensure the right fit. For Jessie, Bristol Myers Squibb was the right fit. She stated, “I chose BMS because BMS also chose me.”

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with BOLD member, Thalia Mingo, who is also the PBRG lead, Bristol Myers Network of Women. Thalia shared her 20-year career journey at Bristol Myers Squibb, which included opportunities in sales, marketing commercialization and a tour of duty in Switzerland.  As the new lead for B-NOW, Thalia is a champion for gender equity and is shaping B-NOW strategy and execution to enable all women an opportunity to develop, advance and be supported throughout their career journey at Bristol Myers Squibb.   

Thalia accredits all experiences, whether they were successful or had some failures and learnings, and the support from mentors and sponsors for propelling her to where she is today.  She would love to get to a place and a time when we not having to have talk about underrepresented ethnic groups or gender as it relates to the workplace.  Rather, it would be great to talk about people and their contributions overall and any dimensions of diversity that makes us unique and authentic becomes more natural. 

This episode is presented by special guest host Terris Moss.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Monique Phillips, PBRG lead, Black Organization for Leadership Development.  

Joining as new lead for BOLD, Monique highlights BOLD’s Black History Month activities including keynote speaker Hill Harper, the focus on mental and physical health and wellness, and her gratitude of efforts from all the BOLD volunteers for making the Black History Month celebration a success.  

As a recovering chemist, Monique shares the importance of asking “why” to get to root of problems and to viable solutions.  “Asking the question 'why’ helps solve most questions because we understand what is going wrong and what is going well, and you can fix that,” she explains.

As a BOLD Innovator, Monique expresses the importance of being optimistic and persistent.  After receiving many “Noes,” Monique’s persistence lead to a “Yes” to an opportunity to shadow a medical doctor during her training. She explained that sometimes we must be flexible and broaden our thinking on what is an acceptable “Yes.”  Finally, Monique explains the importance on betting on yourself and not being afraid to fail.  

In this special episode, we have the pleasure of speaking to BMS’ first BOLD PBRG lead Adrienne Gonzalez, senior corporate counsel in U.S. Law and Compliance and former lead Shamika Williams, senior director, Strategy and Marketing - HBCU Initiative. Discussed were some of the benefits, successes and challenges each have had in taking on the BOLD PBRG leadership role. Both Adrienne and Shamika shared how the role helped define their next career move. They also provided insight into what the next BOLD PRBG leader would need to help ensure success in the role, including the willingness to put themselves in unfamiliar waters and being comfortable with being uncomfortable, a desire for servant leadership, empathy for issues in the Black community and a passion around BOLD’s purpose.  

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Tony Rodriguez, Associate Director, GPS PMO Process & Governance. Tony is an accomplished, result focused, global enterprise certified program management professional, who is currently responsible for delivery of several critical Bristol Myers Squibb initiatives supporting global supply chain, global engineering and facilities and cell therapy. Tony has a BA in computer information systems from Branch College and an executive master’s degree in technology management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

 

Tony shares the importance of connecting the dots. Growing up in the Bronx, New York, he realizes it took a village to get him where he is today. He serves as a conduit for several Bristol Myers Squibb PBRGs to work together on common visions impacting multiple communities, such as health disparities and supporting future STEM talent and leaders. He believes it is important to nurture, support and provide examples to students considering a career in STEM, so they realize with hard work, a career in STEM is within their reach.  

 

As an ally and BOLD innovator, Tony expresses the importance of seeing the big picture of the problem to be solved, recognizing strength in diverse perspectives, as key to connecting the dots. Tony explains connecting the dots entails building relationships with people, allowing people to be their authentic self, learning about other backgrounds and allowing yourself to be challenged in a good way by others who may think differently than you. By building these relationships, when you have problems you are not able to solve, you can call on your connections to find someone who may know the answer.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Kwame Sarpong, Business Insights & Analytics Rotational Development Program Associate.  Kwame is currently responsible for evaluating business processes, identifying needs and developing strategies to maximize opportunities for cardiovascular drugs to help patients on a global scale.   

 

Kwame discussed the importance of broadening the availability of medications across the world to developing countries. As a Guinea citizen, Kwame is passionate about being part of the solution for bringing affordable healthcare and drugs to the western part of Africa and eventually all of Africa. He is driven to be a part of solutions which aid developing countries in need of affordable drugs.   

 

Kwame attributes BOLD for providing an opportunity for professional development. He continually pays it forward by providing mentorship to others on how to navigate their career path. Kwame advises others to not be afraid to put yourself out there to network and to be uncomfortable by taking on roles you have never done before.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Toni Brock, Vice President, Corporate Analytics and Transparency and lead for Business Insights & Analytics Diversity and Inclusion initiative. Toni will be discussing how her perseverance helps her to achieve professional goals. She discusses the importance of making tough somewhat risky decisions to gain more skill sets and propel your career to what you are trying to achieve. Toni also goes on to explain the importance of not putting limits on yourself and taking full accountability for your development by seeking out opportunities for growth, such as stretch assignments. She learned how to use her failures as an opportunity to learn and grow and her voice to encourage inclusion. Toni attributed her determination for being a problem solver of issues where there was not a current solution to be the conduit to getting where she is today.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Amadou Diarra, Senior Vice President of Global Policies and Government Affairs. Amadou attributes his career success to being mobile and taking advantage of opportunities to work around the world in a variety of roles. He explains that being mobile takes the willingness to explore, understand and be open to others and other cultures. Working in another country, you must realize that you cannot expect to recreate the U.S. environment there.  One should embrace a cultural difference in an exchange for your own.  Amadou also advises when considering other roles, to network with individuals who are in the role or have done the role in the past to get a sense of what the role is about. Be intentional and take ownership to identify if the role is a fit in your development plan and really something you want to do.  

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Atiba Page, Manager of Talent Acquisition, Diversity Recruitment. Atiba is a magnetic and energetic diversity and inclusion leader that enjoys collaborations with her peers and community leaders to create healthy disruptions. Currently, Atiba is developing and facilitating innovative diversity and inclusion programs across the Bristol Myers Squibb enterprise. 

 

Diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, Atiba delivers a message of the importance of recognizing that even when someone may be going through something detrimental, like cancer, they can still contribute, have energy and desire to impact their community. In Atiba’s case, her community includes new friends and family undergoing cancer therapies where she brings a positive message of hope and not giving up.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Gregg Jewett, Senior Director, Development & Commercial Alliances, and co-lead of Professional Development for BOLD. Greg will be discussing the importance of developing yourself and the next generation of workers, the importance of a growth mindset and how being a disc jockey in college lead him to changing his major to communications, getting him to where he is today.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Kyna Gooden, Executive Director, Hematology and CAR-T Worldwide Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) - US Market. She will be discussing the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to the black community, being comfortable in bringing your true self to work and how she turned her passion for helping patients to a great career at BMS.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Yvette Lincoln, Director of Process and Innovation within the Forecasting and Strategic Planning group of our Business Insights and Analytics (BIA) department. She also sits on the BOLD Leadership team as the Engagement lead as well as the lead for our 2021 companywide Juneteenth celebration. She will be discussing her journey to BMS, the importance of planning our Juneteenth celebration and lastly, the power of overcoming your fears.

This is the first episode of Bristol Myers Squibb’s Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD) podcast series BOLD Innovators. This is an open conversation with BOLD community members and allies throughout BMS that are true leaders in and out of the office who stand with our mission to foster an inclusive environment that values the contributions of Black employees equally with others. In this episode we had the pleasure of speaking with the global lead of BOLD, Shamika Williams. She will be talking about her first job, the importance of family and why a person should be a part of the BOLD family.