Author
March 3, 2023
As we conclude Black History Month and step into Women’s History Month, we are fortunate to share the story of a remarkable Black woman and leader on our team, our Chief People Officer, Tia Phillips. Read about why she chose Digibee and the exciting work ahead for our People Team.
From my home in Massachusetts, to her home on the other side of the US in California, I got to have a truly enjoyable conversation with this perpetual optimist, Star Trek enthusiast, nature-lover, inspiring leader, diversity champion, and dedicated lacrosse mom. (And, those are just some of the ways to describe our infinitely cool CPO!)
Why Digibee?
There are many reasons that drew Tia to Digibee. For one, she was looking for a new challenge and wanted to be part of building something that could have a real, lasting impact. Tia also loves problem-solving and found the complex challenge that Digibee is working to solve particularly appealing. She was excited to join a team that was passionate about developing innovative solutions to critical business problems. But, the key consideration was wanting to work with an executive team that operates with passion, integrity, and authenticity. Through her interview process, she saw that Digibee’s leadership not only had all these essential qualities, but were also humble, collaborative, open, willing to lean into discomfort, learn from mistakes, and challenge each other in a thoughtful way. That solidified her decision to join in October, and has remained a factor that drives and inspires her work today.
As soon as we started talking I could see that Tia was the epitome of a “people person” and a natural fit for human resources. She brings such a thoughtful approach to every aspect of her role with a genuine desire to create ideal work environments, that made me feel grateful to be working for the same organization.
Life at Digibee
As a start-up, it goes without saying that there’s a lot of work to do to build up the infrastructure and prioritize weeding out what is working and what isn’t. However, Tia believes we are right where we should be at this stage. The People Team is focused on delivering operational excellence through refining consistent experiences for our team globally. They are working on providing exceptional programs for diversity and inclusion, onboarding, professional development, and talent acquisition. They are also working on building a high performance culture to arm management with the right skills to develop and retain talent. But, Tia and her team are up to the challenge, bringing a wealth of enthusiasm and passion to their goal of “defining the best culture for Digibee to retain and sustain top talent.”
Tia kept returning to this point during our conversation, “our most precious resource is our people.” This was clearly a foundational piece of her leadership philosophy. She also noted, “people don’t leave companies, they leave people,” and how integral leadership, management, and valuing people is to retention. These concepts are the cornerstone of her work: valuing and listening to our people, ensuring safe spaces to gather constructive feedback, and allowing those conversations and data to inform decision-making. She’s really excited about implementing this work. Her team is diligently committed to establishing channels for assessing employee engagement, understanding employee values, and utilizing this feedback to develop solutions for Digibee’s People Program.
Tia is an inspiring example of how our personal experiences can shape and empower us professionally. Tia credits her grit and optimism as her most valuable assets. As a woman, a person of color, and throughout her journey to becoming an executive-level leader, Tia has always had to tap into her internal strength and determination, while remaining positive and resourceful. She said, “I always had to do more with less. But, I am that person who always champions a cause… I’m the cheerleader…I rally the troops. I always believe we are going to figure this out – we WILL accomplish this.” She laughed that, “she doesn’t scare easily.” She isn’t claiming the journey is easy, but her grit, coupled with her boundless optimism, drives her to lead with the conviction that whatever needs to be accomplished, can be.
The Future Ahead
Tia has witnessed her share of accomplishments and failures at different companies throughout her career, and she understands exactly what it takes to reach success. She is passionate about Digibee’s potential, believing we have the right ingredients to become a dominant leader in the integration space.
What excites Tia most about Digibee’s future are the capabilities she sees in our people across the organization. By taking the time now to really define our values, align the organization, make the hard (but right) decisions, and strategize how to develop our talent and their career pathways, we are ensuring our future success as both a business and as a workforce. Tia feels we are at that crossroads where our people will be able to see and feel that Digibee is invested in them, and that the companies’ vision of success can align with their own personal vision of success. Tia believes “our people are truly our differentiators. When you invest in people in the right way, they will drive innovation across the organization. That’s how we will outshine competitors.”
“Our people are truly our differentiators. When you invest in people in the right way, they will drive innovation across the organization. That’s how we will outshine competitors.”
Balancing Work & Life at Digibee
I always look forward to the part of the interview where we discuss interests outside of work. Tia did not disappoint me! Tia is passionate about nature and animal-welfare. I simply have to mention Kyle! Kyle is the wild turkey that lives in Tia’s neighborhood who knocks on her door every day for something to eat. (It feels like we need this here: Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Kyle. Kyle who? Kyle be good if you let me in!). Tia has four pets, two dogs and two cats. The dogs are so used to Kyle, they don’t even react to him or chase him anymore. Tia loves to watch things grow, and that includes cultivating a garden which incorporates wild flowers and bushes that encourages butterflies, bees and hummingbirds to visit her yard (along with the turkeys, foxes and coyotes).
Tia is also a self-described “die-hard lacrosse mom” to her college-aged son (pictured right). She enthusiastically supports all his sporting events and has come to love the fast-paced and team-oriented nature of the game.
We landed on common ground as self-proclaimed geeks with a love of science fiction storytelling. She’s also a “Trekkie,” but I assumed she’d insist I mention it’s for Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard era, so I decided to “make it so.”
It’s truly exciting for me to talk to incredible “Digibees” like Tia each month and hear about their different interests and journeys. Keep reading our employee highlights to learn more about this amazing team of people working to bring Digibee’s innovative enterprise integration solution forward in the US and globally, and see for yourself why we have the best team around!
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