Meet Vanessa Joy

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa Joy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
In 2006, I found myself thrown into a role as the head of a manufacturing company with absolutely ZERO clue how to run a business.

The crew was not thrilled with the idea of having someone who was half the age of many of them in charge. My predecessor had left things a complete mess, and employee turnover was incredibly high due to nonexistent morale.

I quickly realized that while I may not know much, my crew knew a LOT. I worked with everyone individually to listen to them, learn what they did, and use THEIR advice to improve processes in the company and make people much more excited to show up to work.

That role tossed new problems at me daily. A new website was needed, so I taught myself how to build one in Dreamweaver with CSS code. The inventory system was nonexistent, so I built a detailed assemblies inventory program from scratch in Sage Accounting.

Churn was extremely high, so I focused on creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace, along with increasing pay.

Equipment would fail, but I found the contacts and strategies to get us up and running quickly.

I’ve learned to thrive on ambiguity and expect the unexpected. That came in handy when I came out as transgender, as I was able to adapt to the struggles we face daily, due to being self trained to be flexible.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Currently, I am the Executive Producer and lead host of the Transcending Humanity podcast.

We just started our second year, with the first year being focused primarily on the Transgender experience, from bathrooms to legislation to parenting to surgeries and everything in between.

The pod now is focused on Leftist/Liberal issues in general. We aim to continue to bring hope and awareness to people, with a broader audience than a transgender focus had.

Personally, I came out as transgender in October of 2021, and have been job hunting for most of that time as well. I found out very quickly that searching for a career while trans is NOT an easy task. Conscious and subconscious bias has stymied my efforts greatly.

I love building a positive environment for the people around me. Despite being AuDHD, I love finding ways to improve business processes and create substantive change within organizations. People need to know they are valued and heard. I know that the happiness of the people in organizations is directly related to the long term success of everyone involved.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. My ability to thrive on ambiguity. When I took over as the head of a small business, I had ZERO knowledge of how to lead. I was pretty fresh out of college, and my only jobs had been pretty mundane ones where I reported to one boss or another. The position required me to learn new skills on the fly, adapt to constantly changing circumstances and be a respected leader.

2. Leadership. I never set out to be a leader, I just tend to find myself in that position. I’m an introvert by nature, and pretty sure I’m autistic (screening coming soon, but my self-assessed RADS-R is 172… sooooooo…) I have found that listening to and learning from people is how to succeed as a leader. A wise leader knows that they don’t (and cannot) know everything, and counts on those that they lead to pool knowledge for success.

3. Chaotic Neutrality. I don’t consider myself good, nor evil. I do what needs to be done to achieve my goals. I tend to be unpredictable and can be rather impulsive. My methods, however, work.

My advice to folx is to be themselves. Don’t let others sway you. You know your own strengths and weaknesses, and you should embrace both. As I said, no one can know or do everything; you must learn to adapt and cooperate for the greater good.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
My current challenge is finding a career. My background in management is pretty expansive, but I’m also limited in knowledge of the newest tech in HR. I learn quickly, but I have found it to be an obstacle in my search.

My experience is hands-on. I know so much, but finding companies willing to take someone like me on has been difficult. I can bring progressive change to an organization, with my grassroots approach to things.

I’m over two years and at least 2,000 resumes into my career search. I’m constantly learning more about the market, pushing to network as much as I can, and finding roles in which I can excel. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been hard, and hope has been hard to come by at times. But, I continue to persevere.

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Vanessa Joy

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