Joan Benavidez-Sallee

I am a lot of things. I’m a wife, a sister, a daughter, a fur mom, a soon to be a 15 year veteran with Foundever. I’m a Leadership Development Manager, I’m a best friend. At the end of the day I am unapologetic about who I am, who I choose to accept in my life, who I respect and how I expect that to happen professionally and personally. This is one of things I love most about my Foundever journey.

I would not be this individual who has the capability to be visible, to create an environment of inclusion, to lead a Workplace group for LGBTQIA+ employees, to watch things come to fruition that really push us towards what it really means to be diverse, inclusive and equitable without my work life.

I started out in a brick and mortar location I have been an Agent, a Receptionist, a Recruiter, a Site Learning Manager, a Learning Specialist. I drove a shuttle van. I started working from home a few years into my career. Heck, I even quit for a minute and came back. Now I’ve been a Leadership Development Manager for over 6 years.

One of the things I love most about my experience with Foundever is, with the exception of 1 trip, I’ve been travelling for the company since 2007 and have never had to camouflage and hide who I am, because I knew I would be in one of our call centers and amongst my tribe. I was going to be in a safe place with people who understood, as an organization that, even if something happened out in the community, while I was on site and I was working I was safe.

How many people of our Community can say that’s true?

How many people get the opportunity to be on a platform like this and share their experience? How many get to learn and grow and help others and create safe spaces? That’s hard to come by.

The amount of individuals that I have met as new hires, as mentors, as new leaders, as individuals really discovering who they are as human beings and figuring out how and when and where they want to grow within our organization….and to be able to contribute to their journeys… THAT is why I get up every day, that’s why I log in. It is why I do what I do and why I love where I work. That’s my Foundever Story and I’m sticking to it!

United States