Feicia Mayo, VP HR and Head of Diversity at Tesla was sought out by co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, after working 19 years in Silicon Valley.
Mayo earned a B.A. in political science from North Carolina State University, her journey as a human resources professional spans over two decades with executive HR roles at PwC, Oracle, and Juniper Networks.
In an interview with Business Enterprise, Felicia Mayo opened up about her journey as a business leader and how she’s approaching her new role at Tesla.
“Once you see diversity as an add-on or a program, you fail. And that definitely is something that I’ve always tried to stay clear of, making sure that I am seeing not just seen as this diversity and belonging or inclusive leader that I’m seen as a business leader.”
“Allowing Tesla employees, regardless of their demographic, to feel like they belonged to the staff, is the mission of the company, and the strategy of the future of the company is monument. And ultimately means allowing them to bring their whole selves to work every day and feeling like they belong in the workforce.”
Mayo’s advice, “I have to be balanced to make just and fair decisions every day. It’s really meditation; being grounded with my friends; staying grounded with my team here; my family most importantly; and being able to share some of the unfiltered fun times with them, and really going hard in those areas that keeps me on my game.”
Mayo’s advice for others to stay on top of their game, is to remain open to new possibilities.
In 2017 several former black employees filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming they suffered constant, often daily racial discrimination and harassment, and the company did little to nothing to stop the behavior.
Mayo says people within their workforce belong to the mission of contributing to the future of the world; and Tesla takes training its workforce from the top down seriously.
We love seeing a powerful black woman about her business, leading by example.
