#117: How a Relocation Opened My Eyes to DEI

Jill James:

This is the Accidental Safety Pro, brought to you by HSI. This episode is recorded June 21st, 2024. My name is Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer, and today my guest is Monique Parker. Monique is Senior Vice President of EHS at Piedmont Lithium. Monique is a certified safety professional and a chemical engineer. She's joining us today from North Carolina. Welcome to the show, Monique.

Monique Parker:

Thank you so much, Jill. I'm very excited to be here today.

Jill James:

Yeah, Monique, I'm so happy to have you here. You and I, our pats ave crossed in the last year doing some presenting with the National Safety Council, and it's so fun to have you here, and I haven't heard your full origin story yet. So how did things start for your accidental journey into this career?

Monique Parker:

I've reach, and as you've already talked to so many people, it is definitely accidental a lot of times. When I was in eighth grade, I decided I wanted to be a chemical engineer because I loved balancing chemical equations.

Jill James:

Oh my gosh.

Monique Parker:

And I was like who would want do that for the rest of their life? So that's where my journey started in chemical engineering. And once I was in that, I learned the connection to environmental and I was like, oh, this makes so much sense to me. One, I had a passion for environmental. I could still use my technical, but I really had no clue about the safety side of things. So I was just looking environmental, couldn't get a job in that when I graduated. So I went into process engineering doing chemical engineering type stuff. And that's when I was introduced to EHS and I was like, this makes sense. One environmental, I could feed that technical beast inside. But then the safety side was really where I got my people connection. I tell everybody, I don't think I'm a typical engineer because the engineers I went to school with didn't really like people. I love, love love interacting with people. So EHS was the perfect blend of me as a person and so I fell in. I had great mentors to help me figure out the safety stuff, and 20 years later, I'm still here loving it.

Jill James:

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. You said you loved balancing equations in eighth grade. Oh my God, that was the hardest thing in the world for me. I think I still get twitchy thinking about it. And I'm also remembering this student, my peers who helped me. I'd sit around my parents' kitchen table. I'm like, I don't understand how to balance these equations. And you loved it.

Monique Parker:

Yeah, I'm a little nerdy.

Jill James:

That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Hey, so I wanted to ask about the connection to the environment from the engineering piece. How does that piece carry over into your career now? Do you still have that passion?

Monique Parker:

I mean, I think the environment side is always going to be a passion. I've learned how to navigate that and connect it to the people, which I think is really the strength of why I still love the profession so much. When you're dealing with environmental stuff, and definitely in the world I'm in with manufacturing or mining, you're always interacting with people and trying to help them understand not only the impact to the environment, but how we're trying to protect it, just as if you're trying to protect people on the safety side. So for me, it was just a natural connection. And I can still, like I said, have that technical feel, but I've learned how to soften it and make it a more personal feel because a lot of times environmental isn't personal. But again, making sure that you figure out that connection and engage with it, I think is the most important piece and again, why I still love this profession so much.

Jill James:

Yeah. So can we back up a little bit? So you finished school and you said you couldn't find a job in your field. What was that first thing you landed on that started your launch?

Monique Parker:

Well, so I worked for Milliken Company in Blacksburg, South Carolina doing process engineering where we dyed and finished polycotton fabric. And so that's my first launch into the real world I'll say. During college, I had internships with Saturn Corporation and always really worked on the engineering side. In my last summer, I was introduced to EHS there, and that's where I was like, okay, this is something that I could do. But at Milliken Company it was all process engineering, and so I didn't stay connected to it. But again, it's really where it taught me and allowed me to be introduced to safety. And that was one of the most impactful things because for the longest, I didn't even really make the connection of safety if having had been a process engineer, working with the people and having to design and modify processes to make sure people were safe, it was a no-brainer to me.

Jill James:

Yeah, and that's what you did at Milliken, that's how you got into it.

Monique Parker:

Yes.

Jill James:

Yeah. Interesting, interesting. So you're designing processes, did you start dipping into ergonomics at that time as well?

Monique Parker:

No, I did not at that time. My first time in ergonomics is when I got my first EHS job and I was working fully in textiles with Hexel where we were weaving fiberglass fabric. And if anybody's been in a weaving mill you know that there are so many ergonomic factors there. And it was like the catalyst of understanding ergonomics for me because you had sometimes different individuals using very small tools, very intricate, and it just gave me terrors of carpal tunnel every time I walked into those rooms. So it was really interesting because again, being introduced to safety in such an environment really gave me a very broad spectrum of a lot of different hazards and risk in one organization.

Jill James:

Yeah, I have never been into a weaving facility, I think, gosh, 30 years in, I think I've seen just about everything, but you just told me I haven't. Yeah, that's interesting. Now I want to see that work. I'm going to have to Google that one. So how long were you there before you moved on?

Monique Parker:

So I was with Hexel in Statesville, North Carolina for about three years before I moved on to another role, which again was a completely different role for me. It was going into food where I had never in my life worked in food. So that was another, whoa, this is big and different. And again, having had a good solid foundation on safety, it allowed me to take that knowledge and skills and transition to a different industry. But again, I learned that safety is, industries don't really change the safety aspects. Obviously the hazards and risk are different, and how you address them may be different, but the risk are very, very present. And so if you have an understanding of how to identify various risk and then adaptable to minimizing, preventing or understanding, and then again, having the relationships with the people that will be willing to talk to you and help and teach you learn the different processes were all critical.

Jill James:

Yeah, agreed with that. I think sometimes early on in people's career, you think that maybe your industry is a snowflake, but really you're right. It's the same applications go regardless of the type of industry. So when you started that second job, did you enter in through the engineering door or were you solidly in EHS at that time?

Monique Parker:

Solid in EHS. So once I left Milliken Company and went to Hexel, I was all EHS from then on.

Jill James:

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. And so boy, food industry. Yeah, very, very different. I mean, can I ask, was it in the meatpacking industry or was it in other food processing?

Monique Parker:

No, it was actually, I worked for Unilever at a location where at that time they made SlimFast. And it was also a time where when I was there we were transitioning and it was the end of the year and we were going into the Oprah effect. And so Oprah was going to talk about SlimFast on her show. And so before everything at work was like, get ready, we're getting ready to have the Oprah effect. We're going to have so many sales and so much is going to be booming, and we just got to get ready. And I was like, is this a real thing? And we talked about it and it was like the Oprah effect where sales did jump for a little bit.

Jill James:

Really?

Monique Parker:

That's funny just to see how all the things work. I mean, I'm looking at things on the safety side, but I learned so much more about the various industries and how celebrities impact those industries.

Jill James:

Oh my gosh, that's so interesting. That's so interesting. I've heard the same thing with people who talk during elections as well, in particular industries and the things that change with that. Oh, that's really interesting. The Oprah effect, I can't say I've heard that one on the show before. So during this time of your career, did you have particular mentors that you were seeking out or how were you learning and growing professionally?

Monique Parker:

Well, as I mentioned, when I first went to Hexel and Statesville, North Carolina, I was introduced to two very strong safety professionals, both who had been in their career for some time. One was our regional person who was basically there with me day one and took me by the hand. And then our corporate director was again, another very knowledgeable person. And both of them, and to this day, I still have conversations with them and we still engage, and I continually thank them for their guidance. And I tell them, without them, I probably wouldn't have the career I have because they laid the foundation. But both Dave Rubin and Don Cross were instrumental in me feeling confident in my safety knowledge and abilities. And then always being a guidepost for me to go to when I found myself in new territory that just didn't make sense or I wasn't clear. I could be vulnerable with them and talk about some of my concerns and gaps because when you're the person that everybody at a facility is coming to, you can't always show that vulnerability.

Jill James:

That's right.

Monique Parker:

And they allowed me to be vulnerable and caring of me to help me get to resolutions. And so I'm very thankful to have that guidance and mentorship throughout my career. And even to this day, both are retired, but we still stay connected.

Jill James:

I love that. I have recently reached out to a very early mentor of mine in my first year of work, and he's also retired. And I just called to thank him out of the blue, and he's like, "Well, this is interesting." And I said, "Yeah, I need to thank you for two things that I've really carried through my career."

Monique Parker:

Yes.

Jill James:

Yeah, it's so important, so important. So what was your next stopping point?

Monique Parker:

So after I left Unilever, I actually went back to Hexel. So when I left Hexel, I left because again, it was a textile industry and they were getting ready to look to sell that facility. And I was really concerned about staying in textiles, who would come in and buy it and what would that look like. And so I left, but Hexel as an organization was more into the aerospace industry, so chemical manufacturing, making acrylonitrile, using acrylonitrile to make carbon fiber, to make airplane parts. So they called me and they said, "Hey, we just created this regional role where you'll be responsible for all of the US or North America, and we'd love for you to apply." So I did and I ended up going back to Hexel in a very different role outside of textiles, but more on the chemical side. And again, that role introduced me to a lot of different things. One, it had me move to Salt Lake City, Utah. So you had this young woman who at the time was also going through a divorce, moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, and it was interesting personally, professionally, culturally, but it definitely really, the job was phenomenal. I loved the role, I loved the experience, I loved the knowledge. I was seeing so many different things. Again, looking at true chemical manufacturing for the first time on the safety side of things. Also looking at presses and molds where we're making parts, which was again, something new and different. And then throwing in the element of being in Salt Lake City, Utah really helped me adapt to external factors that can impact you on the work side. So it was a great experience. I still have friends that live in Salt Lake that I still communicate with. My son learned a passion for snow and mountains and the outdoors to the point where he now attends the Air Force Academy where he gets to see the beautiful mountains all the time. So I mean, I think it was a great opportunity and it was a great experience.

Jill James:

I'm hearing the thread of connection and people. Yeah, talk more about those relationship things. And you mentioned you really learned some things about yourself maybe and building relationships. It sounds like Utah was one of those places, but it started before that. What were you learning about the importance of that for yourself as a professional, but also for the work?

Monique Parker:

Well, I think I will say for the first time in my personal and professional career, being in Salt Lake really opened my eyes to diversity or the lack thereof in certain situations. Many times as I was growing up, I was a lot of times being in engineering, especially chemical engineering, the only female and sometime being the only African American. And I never really thought about it. It never really made a difference to me because I saw myself just being with everybody else doing the same things. But going to Salt Lake City, having a young child and being single, it really opened my eyes to how I needed to navigate not the world, not only for myself, but for my son, and then how that impacted my career. And so I surrounded myself with amazing people there as well. I mentioned when I went into safety, I had great mentors, but when I moved to Salt Lake City, all the stars aligned and I met a phenomenal family who really... It was one of the ladies that worked at the daycare that I put my son in, and she had three sons. She was super supportive. She even became my nanny because at the time I was traveling for work. And so my son just stayed with her for a whole week while I was traveling that week. And she taught me so much about the culture. She taught him so much about true, I call it true care for people regardless of so many other factors. And it really helped me translate a lot of that learning when I was at work because it allowed me to remove some of my own biases and barriers that didn't allow me to connect completely at times. And so I really am thankful for that opportunity because at first I was like Salt Lake City? But looking back on it after being there and living through it, it was a very pivotal part of how I'm a better leader when it comes to safety, how I'm a better person. And so I really, I'm thankful for the opportunity. Like I said, it showed me how diversity can be a positive when sometimes we may look at it as a negative, and especially when it comes to safety, and I connect that to safety. At the end of the day, we sometimes want to put safety in a box and say this is how it works. You really have to look at safety and meet people where they are because not everybody comes to work for an organization with the same background, knowledge, skills, or abilities. And if we try to put everybody in a box and teach them safety or engage with them in the same way, we're going to miss the opportunities. And so now I am very open and looking at that as we roll out programs, as we develop programs, as we communicate programs because we need to meet people where they are and not expect them to be where we want them to be.

Jill James:

Yeah. Can you think of an example of how that was sort of a switch that turned on for you in Salt Lake? I can think of it in my own background. As I'm listening to you, I'm thinking about some of my jobs where the workforce was very diverse and different than what I knew myself. I remember supervisors coming to me and sharing some things like just buy-in. I had farm workers from all these different countries and they said, "Hey, if we could just fly the flags from their home countries at these facilities, it would make them feel like home." A simple thing like that. Or me going from as a Northerner, a Minnesotan into the south and flopping the first time I tried to do some training with a group of people and having an administrative assistant pull me aside and saying, "You've got to do more work building relationships with these people. They don't know you. They don't trust you. You talk too fast and they want you to know their names. Practice memorizing their names," things like that. And so every time I'd show up in that particular place, we had this, it was kind of a game. I'd get all these people together and like, "Hey, northerner, do you know our names?" And then I'd go around the room. And I'd be quizzing myself on the drive there like, am I going to remember all these people? And they love that I could remember their names. It's just like there's so many unique things to learn about human beings and building relationships. So what were some of those ah-ha moments for you in that time?

Monique Parker:

Well, it's funny you say the thing about names, because when I was in that phase of my life and career, I had a memory. I mean, I can't say that my memory is as great as it was then, which was almost 20 years ago, which is scary. But one of the things I prided myself on, so I would go into a facility and for whatever reason, the facilities would like for me to do a training while I was there. And I think it was one, again, just to change the monotony because the normal people that would give training from the safety department at the site, they just like to make it fresh and do something different. And so I was very, very adamant about, as you just noted, knowing people's names. So I would always go around the room and I'd tell everybody to tell me their name. And then the thing that I would do is at the end, I would go back and repeat their names for them. And it was something that I prided myself on because I felt, just as you explained, it was a way to connect. It was a way to build trust. And for me, trust is so critical and important, especially in the safety profession, because if people don't trust you, then they're not going to one, let you know what's going on and help you figure out how to help them. And two, they may not always take what you're saying as something that's valuable for them. And then think about, do we really want to do it or how do we do it, or may not be as willing to do it. That was one of the big things that I've always prided myself on. And again, I'm not as good at it now. I just need to practice more. I guess it's one of those muscles that I hadn't practiced in such a while that it doesn't work as well. But it's still something that I try very hard to always do is ensure that I get names, remember names, and use them as much as possible. But that was one thing that I did when I was in with Hexel and through that phase. One of the other things that was really important for me is when I would go to sites, I had about six or seven in the US at the time, and then I also supported doing environmental audits globally for the company, but I also made sure that I fully immersed myself as much as possible in the local culture. So figuring out what is it that the locals eat, where do they go eat? What do they like to eat? I love food. So anytime I'm going somewhere, there's going to be some food that's local to the area associated with that visit. So it was figuring out their love languages, whether it was food or sports, and being able to have true meaningful conversations when I was doing my tour. So I didn't just going through a plan and trying to figure out all the good and bad, but I would spend time with the people and say, "What are you doing? Tell me about it," And those types of things. And so that for me was really, really important during that phase is to make sure people felt seen and heard and not just, oh, this corporate person's coming in. We got to be on our top behavior. I never wanted that stigma. And so I always tried my very best to engage and support and understand. Again, I use a similar word as I used before, but understand where they were in their career, their journey, what was important to them, and use that as much as possible.

Jill James:

Yeah, I mean, you're really describing inclusivity in how you applied that in your work, for sure. And you just said something else about, and I have forgotten about this in pieces of my career. You said you were part of the corporate environment, the corporate office and I didn't often think about that when I would go and visit sites. Someone else had to tell me that like, "Listen, Jill, you represent the boss, you represent the corporate place." So people are, there's some interpretation when you walk into a place. And I was just going along thinking, well, I'm just Jill's a safety professional. I'm here to help people. That switch had to get turned on for me by someone else to say, you have some gravity when you walk in. Be careful with what you're wielding.

Monique Parker:

Yeah. And I mean, it is something that I think sometimes, because as you just said, we don't always see ourselves that way because we see ourselves as we're here to help. But the reality of it is we don't know what the plant manager or the leadership has told those people in the plant before we get there that makes them maybe think, oh, we have to be different. And I wanted my very best to never, for anyone to never feel like you have to change who you are just because I show up.

Jill James:

That's right.

Monique Parker:

I try to do that in my own stuff. Whether I'm talking with our CEO or the maintenance leader or one of our maintenance techs, they're all people. And so for me, it's making sure that everyone feels as if they are valuable regardless of the position they hold.

Jill James:

Yeah, agreed. Agreed. So what was your next stopping point and how long did you hang out in Salt Lake?

Monique Parker:

Well, I've lived in Salt Lake, physically lived in Salt Lake for one year. And at that point I made a decision. My son was about to start school, and I didn't feel like it was going to be the right environment for a young African-American boy to start school. And so I requested to be relocated to Huntsville Alabama, which is where we had one of our other bigger facilities that we were getting ready to majorly expand. And so I went to Huntsville, still stay with Hexel, still had the role over the U.S. And I was with Hexel in that role for about four years. And then my husband, he came to me very kindly because at that point I was traveling about 75% of the time. He was like, "I think you need to come and hang out at home sometime. So can we look for something where you're not traveling so much?" And our daughter had just graduated high school and our son was getting ready to go into third grade. So I was like, okay, I need to make a transition. I need to really sit down and do what was right for the family. So I looked for another job and I ended up, well, we ended up in Jackson Tennessee working for Owens Corning, and again, another industry. I was doing wet-chop fiber that went into roofing shingles. And so I was in building materials, and it was very interesting. One, we were moving from Huntsville Alabama to Jackson Tennessee, so both still in the south, both what I call smaller cities, but it was a nice transition. We were able to really build a network. I talked about transitioning when I moved to Salt Lake and learning about myself through the differences in the culture. But when we moved to Tennessee, we were able to immerse ourselves in the community, and it was really, really nice. We had a good community around us, had another fabulous job where, again, I still have very good friends and relationships with many people there that I talk to or communicate with through text or whatever on a regular basis. But on the safety side of that job, a very different industry. We're dealing with hot molten glass, we're dealing with hazards that I hadn't been around. And one of the things, and I hadn't mentioned this during our discussion so far, but anytime I was responsible for a location, so not at a more corporate role, but at a location, I like to do the jobs. So any job that was at that location, I wanted to be technically, I could do the work if I needed to. And as long as I was in a non-union facility, that was fine and everybody supported it. In Tennessee, it was non-union. And so I learned how to do the work that everybody was doing. I could work in, not in the weave room, I could work in the tunnels where the glass was coming out of the furnace and we were making it into fiberglass and those types of things. And it gained me a level of respect, not only of the work that people were doing, but the operators also respected the fact that I was in there actually trying to figure out how they did what they did. But it made me ask a lot of questions from a safety side, and we would have good conversations. And it was one of the best times where I felt fully integrated into the culture in the plant, and sometimes it was the employees would see me as their voice to outside, to whether it was our plant manager, to outside leadership, to the point where at one time we were getting ready to implement bunk caps within this tunnel. And so you've got hot molten glass, the room is still cold, but the employees, because they didn't want to wear them, they started taking temperatures of their heads to show me how hot it was underneath these bunk caps. And I was like, oh my gosh. And it was just, they felt comfortable to figure out ways, and they knew that they would pull my strings and get me to be like, "Oh my gosh, that's so hot." And I would do that, but at the same time, I was like, well, we've got to do this, so where's our happy medium? And so it really manifested or enhanced, I'll say how important relationships are for me and especially in a safety role. And I know as a safety professional, we have to be careful because there's some lines that we need to make sure that we maintain in order to be able to support the safety of the employees and the organization and also make sure that we meet the needs of the employees. But it was a very good time because one, I had transitioned from a corporate role traveling all the time. And so this allowed me to really build relationships again on a more hopeful, more intimate level.

Jill James:

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think that's one of those unique things about our profession, for those of us who, like you just said, go alongside employees and at least attempt to try to learn their work and to do their work. And those are some of my best memories as well in my entire career is being alongside someone and saying, "Show me how you do this." I did a lot of that when I worked in the poultry industry. Of course, it makes for great conversations and people say, "Oh, I can't believe you inseminated a Turkey. I can't believe you got a pen with toms and milked them." And yeah, that's what it is. But the people that do that work are excellent at their work. They're excellent at it. It's a point of pride. When I needed to learn a particular piece of the industry, it's like, okay, this is the employee who has the highest yield doing that job. This is the employee that teaches everybody else. And I'm like, "Please teach me," because my goal in those situations was to understand musculoskeletal stresses on the body. And I needed to feel it myself in order to be able to help come up with solutions that could work for them. And then of course, there's some sort of mystery communication system from state to state or location to location where they're like, "Hey, I heard you did this over at that site. Come and do it here too. We want you to understand how it's different here." And it just really enhanced, yes, the relationship, but also the way that I approached mitigating hazard and risk because I experienced it myself.

Monique Parker:

And I mean, I think to me that was one of the bigger things is how can I tell somebody that the way they're doing it is the safest way or it's not safe if I haven't done it? And so I felt like that was important for me just to be able to really have confidence in what I was saying or what declarations I was making for various parts of the organization.

Jill James:

Yeah, and I feel like it was important as a female in our profession to do that as well.

Monique Parker:

Yeah.

Jill James:

Yeah. Talk more about about that.

Monique Parker:

I mean, I think most female safety professionals have sometimes in their career just felt like, oh, I've got to do something a little bit extra because people don't expect me to. When people look at me, they don't think that, oh, she's probably changed a radiator in her car. Although I have, because my grandfather was a mechanic and he made sure that I knew how to change a tire, change oil, do whatever.

Jill James:

That's amazing.

Monique Parker:

And I was also a little bit of a tomboy so anytime he was out there, I wanted to be out there. And so when you look at, a lot of times you look at females, you don't think what all the things they have or can do. And so that was always a point of contention for me to prove that I can do anything anybody else can do. And that was also always in the back of my mind. I'd never thought about why it was so important for me to do jobs until we're talking about this just now. But I think that was why it was more... Yes, it helped me in my profession, but it was also a point to gain respect because I wanted people to know that I'm not the little prissy safety person that is going to sit behind a desk and come out and look at things. But yeah, the woman in our profession, it has definitely been eye-opening one, when I don't know all things, but one, if I don't know, I'm not afraid to say I don't know. That's one thing that I am very adamant about is I'm not a sugarcoat it. I'm not going to make stuff up. I'm going to say, "I don't know. Let me go figure it out," or I'm going to find somebody that can answer the question for me. And for me, at one point early in my career, I was scared to say, I don't know.

Jill James:

Me too.

Monique Parker:

Because I was like, as a woman, if I don't know, oh my gosh, I'm not worthy. But as I matured, I was like, you know what? Nobody knows everything and if they do, then good for them. I'm glad they've had those experience, but that's just not my world. And once I became comfortable in that, it was much easier for me to own it in on what I didn't know and be very confident in what I knew and how I said it and how I presented myself. And to also be confident when I didn't know and make sure that I closed the loop and got the answers that were necessary.

Jill James:

Yeah, absolutely. Same. And it took years. You and I both do public speaking and webinars and things. And when I started doing some of that when it was like, oh, the live Q&A session for the last 10, 15 minutes of a presentation, whether it's an in-person audience or a virtual audience. In the beginning, that was really scary because you were like, am I going to be able to answer these things? And then I just into just what you said. Sometimes my answer is going to be, I don't know that. Sometimes my answer is going to be, I don't know but what I do know is... And yeah, I'll come back. I'll come back. Yeah, I'll come back. Yeah. I think you're talking about how we approach things and being a woman in our field, and the lens that somehow I picked up on early in my career was remembering what my father would say as someone who, he worked in a factory my whole life. And I would hear him come home and talk about the boss, the corporate people, the what do they know? They've never done the job. Those smarty-pants people that went to college, though he didn't say it like that, it was definitely more cutting and unkind. And so I always thought, okay, if I'm speaking with someone, what would my dad accept? What would he accept from me that would resonate maybe with...? That was the lens that I used.

Monique Parker:

I love that because I mean, again, you took an experience and you used it to help you be the better version of yourself. And I think that's what we all should strive for. And as we were just talking, as you were mentioning that story, and before when you were talking about how we speak at conferences and the Q&A after, I think is how can we help others figure out how to be comfortable in the profession? So it's sharing that example of how do you help someone get to the point where when they go home, they can speak positively about you. So if you had went into a facility where your father worked and working how you work, would he have gone home and said, this amazing safety woman came into our facility today, and oh my gosh, it was so inviting? That's how I hear your goal to be when you're going on now, is so that they have a very positive experience versus a negative. And sometimes as safety professionals, we don't always give the best news or give the best solutions that people like as the bunk cap example I've provided. I might have given them the answer they wanted, which is, you don't have to wear those. But at the end of the day, I want people to understand why they have to do something, and I want to make sure that I've looked at all sides of how it can impact them both personally and professionally in what they do. And all of those things are very, very important. And what I learned early in my career is not every safety professional attacks things that way. Some of them go in and be like, I'm safety. I've told you about to do. Go do it regardless. And those are the ones that nobody wants to, those are the safety cops and everybody goes and hides from. But if you can be the safety person that people will run to talk the... And then people I've had say, why does everybody want to come talk to you when you come? And it's not because I have so many intriguing things about me, but I think it's because I actually tried to listen. And even if I can't fix it that time, I come back with, we couldn't, we could or this is where we adapted. And that's what I pride myself on, is trying to figure out that happy medium for everybody, and I love solving problems. It's funny because I was talking to my daughter yesterday and the joke is it's like I always want to fix everything for everybody. And I was like, "Well, that's just what I do. That's what I do personally. That's what I do professionally." But sometimes we can't. And those are the times when you really just have to sit back and listen versus trying to fix.

Jill James:

Yeah, that's right and that's the harder thing.

Monique Parker:

Oh, yes, yes.

Jill James:

Yeah. I mean, you're talking about something that I know that you and I and another friend of ours are going to be speaking about at a conference later this year, and it's these different personas that we develop and take on as we mature or don't mature into our profession. And one of those is safety cop that you just mentioned. And perhaps one that we're going to have to develop and work on for our presentation as we're talking is that deep listener, that listening and what are the gains there and how do you practice that without feeling stressed out? I've got to be the one that provides this answer, but the answer isn't going to necessarily come without that ability to do the deep listening.

Monique Parker:

Yes, yeah, for sure.

Jill James:

Yeah. So Monique, what happened? Are we almost close to the present time in your career or how many...? I mean, you've had a really interesting career in super high hazard industries and so many of them linked in different ways with the chemical industry, your background in chemical engineering for sure. But what happened next?

Monique Parker:

Well, after I left Owens Corning, I asked for permission to go back on the road. And when I say asked my husband and I sat down and talked about it. I really have enjoyed being in this role and being able to be home, but I really would like to go back to more of the corporate role where I have a different impact. And so I started looking for a role and I was able to get a job with Albemarle Corporation within their lithium division. And so at the time it was 2016, lithium was in a stage where people were paying attention to it. It was becoming a bigger commodity in the minerals field and EVs weren't really the big thing yet, but they were coming. And so I never in a million years thought one, I'd be in a mining industry, but definitely not with lithium. So again, another industry. I was responsible globally for about 12 different facilities dealing with lithium in some way form or fashion. And so another industry mining, which I have since being in it for now almost eight years. I have a very much different level of respect and understanding for what that looks like and how it impacts and the necessity that it has for our economy and our world, and then different cultures. I was thrown into a lot more diverse cultures. It is my first engagement going to China or Asia Pacific as a whole. I was engaging in Germany and in South America. And so it again was very, I stayed with my background in the way I had led up until that point, and it really helped me transition into those roles, how to adapt to the environment but already having a respect for different cultures. And also keeping in mind that diversity was very important because it was the role that I had the most diverse geography so therefore the most diverse workforce that I was working with to support. And it allowed me to really blossom. And I will say that's where my connection to DE and I, diversity, equity inclusion really blossomed because although when I moved to Salt Lake, it was the first time it was really prominent for me, but this role made it massively important and big. And looking at the scope of all the things that I supported and it could have an impact on, and especially on the safety front in regards to how we implement policies and procedures in different cultures, how some words that are really important in safety in the U.S. don't mean the same and you can't translate them well. And it was just those types of things that really helped me have a greater respect for the broader different demographics and diversity as a whole.

Jill James:

Yeah, I noticed, I don't know when you noticed it Monique, but I noticed just a couple of years ago that our industry, the EHS industry, or profession I guess, was starting to pay attention to DEI and that it's an integral piece to the work that we do in how we do it. I think it was a couple of conferences ago where I came back to my team and my CEO had said, "Was there a common theme this year?" And I said, "Yeah, it's DEI. That is the thing." And then quizzically kind of looks and goes, Huh." But it makes complete sense. Why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't it be part of our career?

Monique Parker:

I thought about this for some time because I agree. It was like a switch flipped and everything was DE&I, especially in our world. And I was like, but DE and I have been around so long because when we started... In the safety world, a lot of times it's about training, training, training, and we started realizing that people learn in different ways. That was just a nugget of DE and I where we go, "Oh, there's a little bit of difference," but when connected to D and I, we just looked at it as adult learning.

Jill James:

Oh my gosh, that's so true.

Monique Parker:

Adult learning is so different and we need to... Not everybody learns through presentations or videos and this, that, and the other, but that was really DE and I in it's infancy. And so now when we look at D and I, obviously we look at it much broader than just our learning style, but we bring in our experiences. We bring in the difference, especially with having so many generations in the workforce right now for a safety professional with the different generations, with the difference in backgrounds and cultures. It really makes any leadership have to think about it in a different way, but especially for us as safety professionals, because our role is to make sure that we're meeting the needs of everybody. And meeting the needs of everybody, as I mentioned earlier, is so different when you look at the diversity that we come into, because now we have a workforce that's not just always all men. We have a workforce that's not just even women that may be the difference in the... The words are slipping me right now, but we have the differences in all of our body types. And so when we talk about PPE and how well it fits. For a long time, everybody gets the same safety glasses regardless whether they fit or not. Nobody cared. And then I remember going through a phase where I had a little device where I would go measure the gaps of people's safety glasses to make sure they had the right protection, and if they didn't, we had to find it. And I mean, it's just those types of things that diversity has been there, but we just didn't put it in a box or give it a title. I feel like now we're finally giving it a title, and it allows us to really address things more broadly without having to figure things out by ourselves because there's a bigger appetite for having those discussions now.

Jill James:

That is so interesting. And yeah, you're just making me think of several years ago when people would ask me to come and speak on generational differences in the workplace because I had a keen interest in it, and so I studied it. And there's all these layers or the learning styles that you talked about. Oh my gosh, it's all this fabric, and we have a completely... I think DEI maybe gave language to what all of these things that you're talking about that we just absolutely must consider to keep people safe and healthy and feeling cared for. I love it. Where else would you like to go with your...? Okay. So you got into mining, you got into lithium.

Monique Parker:

Yeah, I was with Albemarle for about five, a little bit over five years. And then I joined Piedmont, which is where I am today. I'm still doing Lithium. My role, the reason I came to Piedmont is we were a development company, and so it wasn't that I didn't have a big corporation sitting behind with all the pretty procedures in a little binder that said this is how we do things. Piedmont allowed me to develop our own management systems for safety and environmental, and it's been phenomenal. I came in excited about it. I was like, I get to build my own. And then once I was here, I was terrified. I was like, I've got to build my own, and it's not my own. I say mine like it's something that I own. But it was working with a team to develop our policies and procedures for future operations has been a labor of love for me. I mean, like I said, it's been terrifying because it's like, oh, everybody's looking at us to make this happen. But it's been exhilarating because we're making it happen and we're helping develop the culture of our organization. We're helping to educate and we're in the front of all of these activities because we're not in operation yet. So it's been phenomenal. It's been a great time in my career where I get to really be strategic where for so long it's been more about the doing and getting things done and following the rules. But now being able to be strategic and think about what does this need to look like and how do we make it right for all, and how do we make it meet the needs? We've had such amazing conversations within our team and the organization to be able to deliver the outcome. And as we continue to grow, I'm very excited about what that's going to look like. I'm very excited about how the team will grow with it, how we'll have to adapt, because we're never going to get it right the first time. We just got to get it as good as we can for right now and then make sure that we learn from it. I mean, I could go on and on and ramble about this, but it's a very exciting time for us right now.

Jill James:

Yeah, and you're creating the path.

Monique Parker:

Yeah.

Jill James:

You're definitely creating it and building it as you go, and that is daunting and exhilarating.

Monique Parker:

Most definitely.

Jill James:

That's so awesome. Monique, you mentioned your kids before. How has your profession bled into your parenting or your kids tell you that it has?

Monique Parker:

That's hilarious. So we have three kids and a grandson. Because of my profession, I think of hazards and risk in life in general. So that drives them all crazy because it's like we've got to figure out the best way to do things. And then I always have to solve problems. I have to get to the root cause and the corrective action. So those are the things that drive my husband and my kids absolutely craziest because we have to understand the root cause so we don't get back here again. But that's one thing. But I mean, the thing that I think, and I heard it from them this week actually when everyone was talking for Father's Day, is it's just like the need that I have in order to communicate and bring everything together is something that is part of who I am personally and professionally, where communication is important, relationships are critical. I think that's the thing that's bled into the family the most is the need to make sure that our family is connected and we're communicating, and that we have those right strong relationships so we can have the good and fun conversations and the difficult ones all at the same time.

Jill James:

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. I love it. I love it. As we finish out our time today, Monique, is there anything that you'd like to share with the listeners out there, whether they're maybe just getting started or they've been at this while, or to the women that are listening?

Monique Parker:

I mean, I think my biggest thing, and you and I have had these conversations, but I think the biggest thing is one, encouragement, wanting to continue to encourage other females to get into the profession. Help them understand what it is, how we impact, what we're doing and what that looks like. But also help them understand to be authentic to themselves, that you don't have to, excuse me, you don't have to conform. In one of our last presentations we talked about, a lot of times people are like, you have to think like a man or be like a man, or do things like a man. That's not the world we live in anymore. We are allowed to be authentically ourselves to have our own opinions. And as I said, we also have the ability to be vulnerable and say we don't know, and that's okay. And so I just more females in our profession to feel confident in what they know, and if they don't know, figure out how to get that knowledge and understanding if it's something that they need to know and just be comfortable in their own skin. I mean at the end of the day, as being in the profession for 20 years now, being comfortable in your skin, if I could have been that comfortable when I was early in my career, I don't know where I would be in my career today. So I encourage all women to find that comfort level as early as possible and continue to grow. And find people that will help you do that, whether it's male or female, but find those advocates and those allies for you so that you can have people to bounce things off of and also have that growth that you look and desire for.

Jill James:

Beautiful, beautiful. Monique, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time today.

Monique Parker:

Thank you so much, Jill. I've enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Jill James:

Me too. Me too. And thank you all for spending your time listening today, and more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good. May our employees and those we influence know that our profession cares deeply about human well-being, which is the core of our practice. If you aren't subscribed and want to hear past and future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple Podcast app or any other podcast player you'd like. Or if you'd like to read the transcript and listen, you can do that at hsi.com. We'd love it if you could leave a rating and review us on iTunes. It really helps us connect the show with more and more safety and health professionals like Monique and I. Special thanks to Emily Gould, our podcast producer, and until next time, thanks for listening.