Hello to all of you that are joining. My name is Amy and I'll be leading the discussion today with our three amazing and dynamic panelists.I wanna hear from each of them now so they can give you a little bit of background on who they are and what their journey at Toyota has been. So Emily, if we can start with you, if you can just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about

you. Sure. Thank you so much, Amy. Uh My name is Emily Gaetan. I've been with Toyota nearly 10 years at this point, either as an external consultant or a team member. I currently serve as our senior manager of Digital Strategy and I'm super excited to be here speaking with all of you today.

Great. Thank you very much, Emily. Ok. We'll move on to Jasmine. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about

you? Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh My name is Jasmine Trent. I've been with the company 13 years. Uh and I'm currently a product manager on the it side. I'm excited to be here

as well. Ok, Jasmine. Thank you so much. And Kelly, let's round out things with you.

Sure. Um My name is Kelly Thornberg. I'm a manager in our talent acquisition team and I've been with Toyota for 13 days, so I'm definitely a newbie in the group. Uh, but I'm what's called a boomerang hire. So I was with the organization about four years ago as they made the journey from Torrance to Plano and, uh, took a couple roles outside of Toyota and, uh, returned, like I said, just a short time ago. So, um I lead a team of recruiters and sorcerers and uh we, we handle everything from a talent acquisition perspective

and I think that's gonna be an interesting perspective being that boomerang hire. So thank you so much, Kelly for joining us. I wanna get right into the discussion and Emily, I wanna start with you. I'd love to hear more about your personal journey where you started and where are you today?

Great. Thank you, Amy. So my journey has been a very interesting one in that I actually started over on the business side prior to moving to it. I spent uh probably about half of my career in marketing and advertising, working on the publisher and agency side. But interestingly enough, because I loved problems solving. I always found myself in very um technical roles within that space. Um And very quickly discovered my passion for, for strategy and marketing technology and had an opportunity to actually move into it um officially about 10 years ago.

Um And it's been really wonderful because I've been able to work on a lot of really interesting cutting edge spaces like digital analytics, identity resolution getting to interface very closely with our business as well as our technologists. Um And it's, it's been a really wonderful journey.

Uh So Toyota has been a great place to work. It really fosters and supports uh career aspirations and really wants to grow our technology team um into the best, highest performing technologist we can be. So it's been a great journey,

very good. And I would say being a expert problem solver makes you a very desirable hire. So, so good. All right, we're gonna move on to you, Jasmine. I wanna hear from you a little bit about how would you describe Toyota's culture?

Yes. In order to understand the culture, we need to understand Toyota's philosophy and the mission and vision and see how that's rooted into our culture. And two of the foundational pillars with Toyota are continuous improvement, which we label it as internally as Ken and something that various books that have been written of Toyota touch upon and, and for an example, like, you know what, when we're building, whether it be any product or service, it's not about, you know, doing our best but making it better and continuously evolving that um and the second one is respect for people and, and I've seen this uh ingrained in our DNA just how collaborative we are when we're working in a team setting and just the resources Toyota provides for our everyday life.

And I feel like these values are just always constant and remain constant and which provide kind of like strong foundation for uh for Toyota to continue to produce happiness for all, which is our overarching mission and kind of like our North Star just to make sure that Toyota drives that culture forward.

And, and, you know, it's, it's a Testament the 13 years I've worked with Toyota, obviously, it's, it's a great company to work in and uh really do take care

of its employees.

Well, said, Jasmine, thank you. Well, 13 years over the 13 days, Kelly, the next question is for you, what makes a great candidate or team member?

Definitely. So I'll take the candidate part. Um So when we speak with candidates, I'm, I'm always interested to hear uh you know, obviously about their functional experience, their, their knowledge, uh their educational background. Uh But I would say also equally as important, what motivates them and what they're looking for in their professional journey. Um And I'm looking for ties between what they're expressing to me as far as learning agility, heavy partnering, heavy collaboration um room to grow with where I know that that resides here within Toyota and the business units that we're recruiting for. Um And so, you know, just, I, I think when it comes to, you know, being your best uh in an interview situation, certainly doing research on the company, um looking at uh things in the newsroom, understanding. Um as much as you can, some of those, you know, the values that we hold here at Toyota and being able to display those in an interview situation. Um Certainly along with your, your functional knowledge and experience that, you know, that passion for that role, that learning agility and innovation that you bring um will come through in the interview uh for sure, and make a, a very positive impression with those that you're meeting with.

Um as far as what makes a great team member, well, obviously being a candidate, then hopefully we'll, we'll, you will be able to cross the bridge and become a team member uh at the right time. And I think that those uh just like Jasmine said, the respect for others, um which is always about um uh a lot of collaboration and understanding that everyone has a, a contribution to the conversation and to, you know, the, the successful outcome of a project or initiative is very important.

Um being an active listener um partnering. Um Yeah, I just, I think I, I, in fact, prior to this joining this call, I was on a different call with somebody and we were both trying to problem solve um in both of our groups and teams. And uh we arrived, I think at a really great solution because we both came, came into it with um positive intent and some data and analytics uh to drive the discussion. So, um that's very much a part of uh a lot of our day in and day out interactions.

OK. Thank you, Kelly Emily, we're gonna head back over to you. I'd like to learn more about what uh Toyota's approach is to remote work. Uh and what your work situation is. Are you at the office? Are you at home or are you doing a little bit of both?

Yeah, thank you, Amy. Um So it's, it's a really interesting time obviously given where we are towards the end of the pandemic. Um And just listening and reading about what other employers are doing in the marketplace. Um We are taking a cautious approach and really trying to identify by a functional area. What makes the most sense um in terms of who really needs to be present on site versus not and really looking at opportunities for hybrid work as well. Uh For me personally, uh as, as with most people, I worked remote for the last two years during the pandemic. And when I applied for this uh role that I've been in for about two months now, it's actually a 100% remote role. But what's very interesting is that I enjoy collaborating with people so much in person that I have found myself on campus more in the last couple of weeks with my team. Um even though that's not necessarily the requirement. So I think that going forward and looking at how employers handle this and being open to remote work, um, and hybrid, I think, and also being open to um, the employee's situation uh will be really critical and, you know, I'm really fortunate that Toyota is looking at the hybrid model as seriously as we are.

Um Because I think that adds a lot of value and, and attraction for candidates looking for. Um you know, the best employee to work for.

I would agree. Thank you, Emily very much, Jasmine, moving on to you. I'd like to continue on why Toyota is a great place to work. We, we're hearing a lot of reasons why but why for women?

Good question. And um it's because women have a seat at the table here and, you know, right now, our, our current cio is female. Uh There's various executive roles that are filled with females across enterprise. Um Additionally, Toyota provides an annual global annual conference for uh North American women uh and they select and nominate within various job levels and it's an opportunity to network um share different insights um and you know, learn different uh learn about different experiences.

Um And it's over like 900 attendees and last two years have been remote and I joined last year. Great experience. Also Toyota internally what some might see it as employee um resources or groups. We have an internal uh women's group, uh women influencing and impacting Toyota.

Uh They provide different workshops, events um also uh uh speaker events as well and volunteering opportunities. So, besides the fact that there's an array of female leaders and uh FEMA and these uh led groups um that support these groups, uh there's also our male colleagues that are very supportive across different job levels as well that are advocates for us as well. And from a family perspective, I have a little one and uh you know, work life balance is something Toyota advocates for. And we've seen it with the pandemic. Twitter has learned that working remotely is successful and with that, it has helped us us uh uh females with families and also has uh definitely shown how Twitter has a family first mental mentality.

So definitely very important points. Jasmine. Thank you, Kelly. I want to talk more about your personal journey where you started and where you are now. I know that uh like you said, you're a boomerang. So you were part of Toyota from Torrance to Plano, took other opportunities, came back. Now here, 13 days walk us through what, what that looks like for you.

Sure, absolutely happy to Amy. So um you know, being in talent acquisition and you hear that uh a major uh global brand is, is moving uh from one coast to the to about middle, middle of the country. You definitely want to be part of that as an experience. Um And so I was very fortunate to be part of that move. I was with Toyota for about 3.5 years. And um I led a lot of the recruiting for groups where they didn't have a population of employees that was moving quite as high as other, other places. So I did a lot of external recruiting. Um It was in our financial services group. And so I supported our Treasury team, our Business intelligence team, our risk team and um building the, the data science function here at, at Toyota Financial. Um And so that was really gratifying for me, I got a chance to obviously um engage with a lot of candidates and a lot of senior leaders here and really develop um Toyota's presence in the North Dallas area. Um And so I did that obviously for, for quite a while, uh the move to had taken place, every populations were stable. Um I had an opportunity uh you know, externally that, that I took um but remained in touch with a lot of people at Toyota. Um And then eventually kind of moved my experience into overseeing um recruiting for a technology um S A uh provider. And so I, uh again, I think I had always kind of found my home at Toyota and those relationships were still very active and viable.

Um And so when I had the chance to return, um I knew it's uh it would be a good professional step for me. And um and so I'm back and now, you know, I'm bringing that technology experience um that people leadership experience and, and uh helping Toyota not with necessarily a geographic move right now, but actually kind of um pivoting into to more of our stem recruiting roles and developing a, a stem recruiting team to assist with the hiring needs that we have.

Ok. Very good. Thank you for illustrating that for us, Kelly. And I'm gonna go back over to you Emily. What type of mentoring and support have you received at Toyota? We're hearing a lot about it. Um In just a few minutes, we've been on this conversation but expand how it has been for you personally.

Excellent. Thank you. Uh One thing that's really great about how Toyota approaches mentoring is there's actually a formal mentoring program that Toyota holds, including a platform where you can go and identify somebody within the company that you admire or respect or have a strong positive relationship with that.

You can actually initiate a mentor, a formal mentoring relationship using this application, which is really handy. Um And has had a lot of success. I have identified some of my mentors and established mentoring relationships that way. But there's also um one thing that I personally have found um as another, another way to engage people with whom you'd like to get to know better in a professional capacity is just approach them, send them an email and say, I admire the work that you're doing here. I feel like I can learn from your leadership style the way you communicate um often than not, the person will be very flattered and happy to take them under your uh under their wing to provide you with some guidance. The other thing I've found that has been really helpful for me and, you know, a huge honor as well is um I was dealing with kind of a, a challenging work situation um on a project and really had to step into kind of a leadership position to help move this issue forward. Um And the business owner took notice and actually sent a note to my leadership to ask if she could sponsor me. Um And for many people uh who are or are not aware, there's a big difference in terms of how a sponsor and a mentor can help you. And if you're interested in learning more about that process, um and how you might engage someone or be approached uh for somebody who's interested in sponsoring you to help further your and advance your career.

There's a great book um that I highly recommend called Forget a sponsor or Forget a Mentor, find a sponsor. And it, it's a great resource.

I love that. I've often heard a mentor opens the door for you and a sponsor walks you through it. Is that right?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Very good. Ok. I want to stay on this conversation. I think a lot of people attending are interested um in this. So, Jasmine, let's continue with you. I wanna know about, you know, what mentoring and support you've received.

Yes. And just like to piggyback what Emily had mentioned. Uh I currently have three mentors on site and then I have one sponsor and like Emily mentioned, we, we have just understanding that the key difference, right? Uh I, like you were saying, Amy, you know, uh uh a sponsor is that advocate that will be a cheerleader behind closed doors for you. And they have been def you know, very helpful in my trajectory in Toyota uh from a support aspect, Toyota assist with uh a reimbursement um tuition support uh for higher education. I've leveraged that for my master's in UT in 2019. They also have allocated uh training funds that we can leverage on an annual basis that we can, you know, whether it be a course you wanna take a certification, you know, that going back to continuous improvement, right? Always getting better and sharpening that tool set. So I've leveraged that as well. Um And it's something that uh we definitely, you know, uh support um with whether it be anyone that reports up to us, any resource, it's just, it's always key and very, very leverage, good to leverage. And I've also done a nano degree with them that for them to pay for that in uh data sciences. So it's been very supportive and hopeful.

Very good, Kelly. I want to give you an opportunity to comment and chime in because I know you're nodding your head over there and listening to these testimonies. So, can you comment here?

Um Yeah, so what I can say again, I'm, I'm 13 days fresh. Uh so that I don't have um participation in the mentorship programs that Emily and Jasmine are mentioning, but I'm very familiar with them from my past time here. And um it's definitely throughout the organization, there's not only very active what we call employee resource groups, er GS to get involved and form those relationships that may not exist in your own, you know, business group, right? And so that's how we reach out and meet other women and other people in the business. Uh because we may not, you know, interact with them, we may interact with, let's say 10 or 15 people all the time, but it's really awesome to meet somebody um in a different, a different bu through the, er GS, through the employee resource groups. And um and like Jasmine said, and Emily, the, the mentorship programs are there and I think there's formal ones and then I also noticed informal ones that exist as well. So, um you know, internal mobility is a big part of Toyota, you've heard from Emily and Jasmine, they've been here many, many years.

And so to keep and retain uh our talent, you know, internal mobility and these types of programs are, are very relevant and very, very real here at Toyota.

Very real. OK. Thank you for that comment, Kelly. Um Emily, I would really like to know why you are excited to work at Toyota. What makes you excited to go to work every day?

That's a really great question. Um You know, it's interesting when I first started as an external consultant uh at Toyota back when we were in California. One thing that really stood out to me was how happy the people the employees were. Um you know, in the office, just the, the demeanor, the conduct, the energy. Um and I really admired that it seems like people were just generally really happy to be um part of the Toyota team and, and it makes perfect sense, right? Because Toyota is, uh you know, one of our primary tenants aside from respect for people, which is, you know, something I so very strongly believe in but happiness, happiness for all, you know, what a what a great um sort of North Star to aspire to, to make people happy. So when I had the opportunity to convert as an employee and move to Texas, um you know, it, it was, it was a no brainer for me, um just being able to work uh you know, with best in class technology, um you know, integrations working with just some of the smartest minds um you know, I could possibly collaborate with has been just something that really um invigorates me and it, it, every day there is a new challenge to think through um or a new team to reach out to, to try to pick their brains and leverage their, you know, experience and um and knowledge.

So, uh you know, working at a company with the uh you with size and scale like Toyota, there's just no shortage of opportunity um from a learning and growth perspective. And as somebody who really values that, um you know, there the it's just unlimited resources for a technology professional to um you know, add more to the company, but also to their personal career trajectory as well,

unlimited resources, happiness for all it sounds like Toyota's culture is what you're describing, which is why so many people like you relocated and so many people like yourself, Emily stay. Yeah. OK. Jasmine, let's move on to you. I kind of want to keep on the same thing. What excites you about your future at Toyota?

Um I'll dive into technology. I think it was in 2018 when Akio Toyota said, you know, let's not see ourselves as just an automotive company. Let's we are gonna be a mobility company. Let's not be just, you know, our competitors be other O Ems, let's let's let it be Google and the apples of the world. And that excited me like what's coming up next and and now, so now they've indicated, you know, being software first company and, and seeing, you know, as we see more and more, you know, going from hardware to software and understanding how it's pivotal in, you know, the navigation of a vehicle, the entertainment system of a vehicle.

Thomas driving, you know, that opens so many doors so that the technology piece is what excites me and what we're uh the, the lineage on that as well.

Ok. Very good. Jasmine. Um Kelly, I wanna kinda start wrapping things up with you and I want all of you kind of to give your final thoughts if there's key points that you haven't touched upon about your day to day, um or things you wanna expand upon, maybe something that someone else said in the panel today, give us your final thoughts.

Sure. Absolutely. So, um so again, I, I love being here and, and talking with all of you. Um I think the things that resonate with me uh would be that Toyota is a place that you can come and you can grow. Uh you can stay, you can take on new challenges, move internally. Um But also work, life balance is key, right? Um You can do all of that and also be able to um you know, have time outside of the workplace for, for pursuits and passions. Um It's, it is a place that very much um values and appreciates a diverse workforce. Um And it's very much a place that um really empowers their employees to um to explore and, and, uh, you know, kind of stretch their limits within the organization. Um And so for me, that's, that's a great value proposition.

OK. Thank you, Kelly Jasmine. Same to you. Um touch upon anything. Maybe you've heard the other panelists say something that you would like to share with those who are listening, maybe we didn't touch upon as well.

Uh I think everybody touched upon them that, you know, to is a great place to work in and, you know, it supports you whether, you know, your family and other uh interest that you might have, whether being a, you know, whether it be um internal uh business partnering group, that's not my opportunity.

I mean, there's various uh that you can be involved. Uh like Kelly had mentioned a after hours as well, but it's just how Toyota takes care of their employees and just the resources that have they, they have available. I think it's, again, it's something I know a company people should be looking at.

Awesome. Great. How old is your little one, Jasmine? Two years old, two years old. OK. Is he or she in the house right now? Oh, no, I was gonna say maybe we'll get a surprise appearance but that, that tends to happen on these conversations. Well, thank you so much, Jasmine and um Emily, same to you to close this out. Give us. Um Anything that you want to touch upon a personal experience, your story, you'd like to share or expanding upon what we're already learning about.

I think the team has made a lot of really excellent points. Um The one thing I would like to, I think close with is given that we're, you know, women working in technology is just the opportunity for innovation and the things that Toyota is working on um in the technology space, not just uh you know, within our cars, but in the digital space in the analytic space, um there is just so many opportunities for technologists with what we're doing in cyber and architecture.

So um for anyone who's looking to grow or learn dance within the technology space, um you don't necessarily have to look at traditional tech companies for that. You can often think about brands with who you have a high affinity for a positive sentiment about. Um and start to look at those companies to see. Oh, wow, what are, what is their it company do or what is, what are their it divisions doing? And I can definitely tell you that the, the things we're working on at toy, it's a really exciting time. The, the time we are in um is really a transformative time and it'll be really exciting to see what we do in the future as a company. And then I think also as team members

and for those who might have joined late Emily, you mentioned a book that you were very happy about. Um And that you wanted to share with maybe those who are participating today, it had to do with sponsorship versus mentorship. Can you give that explanation one more time?

Absolutely. And somebody actually posted the link in the chat, but it's forget a mentor finder. Um I do wanna want to copy out the title. Mentors are extremely valuable. So definitely don't discount or discredit. Uh you know, the uh the, the benefits that they can bring to your professional network and relationships. But again, if you have an opportunity to pursue a relationship with a sponsor to help push you a little bit forward and, and help you uh propel yourself professionally even more.

Uh I highly advocate for it.

Ok, wonderful ladies. Thank you so much for lending your talents and time today. I hope it was time well spent for everyone who's participated in this session. And uh we look forward to hearing from you all more in the future and 13 days in, I can't wait for next year once you're a year in 13 days and we'll see what your journey's been like at Toyota Kelly.

Thanks everybody. All

right. Have a great day guys and thank you for your afternoon. Bye

bye.