DREAMS FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Featuring Betzy Valdez, President, Hispanic Women of Weld County

Betzy Valdez is a Dreamer, literally and figuratively.  As the daughter of Mexican migrants who came to the United States many years ago, she was raised under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). But Betzy’s has dreams that are bigger than her status under DACA.  Betzy dreams of empowerment for the community and especially for those facing challenges.

Betzy and her family experienced many challenges over the years.  Not only did they endure the ordeal of coming to America – making the difficult trip to El Norte, but they faced many financial and social obstacles in their time in the United States, particularly when she was a child.  Those experiences shaped not only her experiences but also her capacities to strive and overcome difficulties.

Betzy used the example of her parents and her own dreams to do more and be more in America.  She studied and worked – despite the fear of potentially not being able to do either.  She attended community college and developed professional experiences as a Spanish interpreter and later as a social media manager. 

She furthered those experiences, by establishing Empowered Leader and organization that would help leaders find their purpose and capacities to lead.   In 2021 she became President of the Hispanic Women of Weld County.  In that role, she has provided many services and opportunities to support community members in need.

In each of her roles, Betzy has gained valuable experiences and offered significant opportunities to others to also reach for and achieve their dreams.  She demonstrates that each person has the ability to become something more than a label or something beyond a context – to become empowered leaders. 

BEING HUMAN IN WORK & LIFE

Featuring Erica Keswin, Author/Speaker/Consultant

In the workplace and other contexts, people often leave behind the “human” element of themselves and others.  But Erica Keswin is working to encourage more people to bring their human to work.  She provides a range of approaches to help make stronger and deeper human connections in work and life.

Erica is a workplace strategist. For 20 years, she worked as a consultant, speaker, writer and professional dot-connector, supporting some of the leading companies and iconic brands.  She has presented worships for groups such as the American Red Cross, IBM, NY Times, and Banfield Pet Hospitals.  Erica highlights how relationships are the most powerful driver of success for individuals and companies striving to attract and retain talent and loyal customers.

Erica’s book Bring Your Human to Work: Ten Sure-Fire Ways to Design a Workplace That is Good for People, Great for Business, and Just Might Change the World, became a Wall Street Journal bestseller in its first week. It serves as a powerful guide to a workplace that honors relationships and puts people first. Her second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic, and also made the Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and USA Today best seller lists.

Erica’s passion for the human connection in work and life began with her own family and experiences.  She was raised in Connecticut and encouraged by her father and mother to try new things. She was captain of her high school gymnastics team and studied abroad both in high school and college. 

Erica earned a political science degree at the University of Vermont and later interned at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.  While in DC, she made a connection that led to an opportunity to work with the consulting firm of Booz Allen & Hamilton.  She soon was working in Houston at NASA helping design requirements for the space station. 

Later she also earned an MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern, where she worked with two firms devoted to developing business leadership.  In 2011, Keswin teamed up with MIT Professor Sherry Turkle to research the impact of technology on relationships in the workplace for Turkle’s 2015 book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

In her work experiences and research, Erica noticed that as technology became more pervasive, there was a shift in how people connected at work. Employees were engaging less with one another and as those numbers decreased, turnover increased.  Inspired by firefighters' abilities to build community around a shared meal of spaghetti & meatballs, Erica launched in Fall 2016 The Spaghetti Project. That platform shares the science and stories of connection at work.

Erica’s insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Huffington Post, O Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Mogul, and Conscious Company.  For her extensive coaching work, Erica was named one of Marshall Goldsmith’s Top 100 Coaches in 2020, as well as one of Business Insider’s most innovative coaches of 2020

And as a wife and mother, she applies many of the principles of the human touch to supporting and raising her family. 

G.L.O.B.A.L. was pleased to feature Erica at our 4th Annual Women Empowering Women: Justice & Leadership Forum in March 2021.