International Women’s Day is Monday, March 8, and we will be celebrating accomplished Ford women throughout the month of March with a special series of conversations on @FordOnline.    

A Conversation with Angela Henderson

What is your role at Ford?
I am Ford’s Racial Equity Leader. 

What’s the most valuable experience that shaped your career?
I’ve had two extremely valuable experiences that I believe really impacted my career greatly. The first was the opportunity for international service (ISE) work in several countries. I spent six months in Mexico on travel status followed by nine months in Germany. Then about a year later, I had the opportunity to be an ISE in Brazil for three years. Those experiences exposed me to a lot of cultural differences, challenged my assumptions about countries, people and food and allowed me the opportunity to challenge others’ perceptions of Americans and black women especially. I remember having some very impactful conversations about what people thought they knew about Americans and what I thought I knew about Germans, etc. Those were some of the most transparent and life-changing conversations I’ve ever had.

The other valuable experience that shaped my career was leading the Supplier Diversity team at Ford.  This role truly helped me to gain an enterprise view of the company and practice advocating for others in a more impactful way. Up until then, my view was primarily Product Development, Manufacturing and Purchasing. I soon began to expand my network and high-level knowledge of so many more interesting areas and work within the company as I connected them with diverse suppliers. I started doing more personal research on diversity and inclusion and connecting with ERGs that I didn’t think I would be able to relate to before. It definitely amplified my humility and awareness in ways that I will carry with me forever.

If you were able to go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self? 
Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Wear your curly hair without feeling like you have to sacrifice your blackness for what others label professionalism. You will be most successful when you are your authentic self.

What do you think is the key to achieving work/life balance? 
I really don’t know if I believe there is such a thing as work/life balance anymore.  The future of work and homelife are now so blended due to COVID and our forever-changed working conditions. I would say that one of the things that helps me, is making time to do the things that I need to do to support my family, myself and my career by scheduling time for all of it! A straight eight-hour day may not be feasible on some days. I may have to sprinkle in times during the day for supporting my family or myself and then pick up the balance of my workday in the evening. The key is finding what works for you.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
It would be to open the eyes, minds and hearts of all people so that we could end racism, amplify humanity and live in harmony.

The theme of 2021 International Women’s Day is “Choose to Challenge.”  How will you help forge a gender-equal world? 
I will help to forge a gender-equal world by helping other women see their full potential and leveraging my voice to amplify those who are not being heard or seen, especially the un-tapped women of different races/ethnicities and abilities. I choose to challenge when people say, we “don’t have a pipeline” - because we most certainly do.