Cultivator Profile: Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling
Meet Victoria
Victoria Liu has been a Cultivator since day one…literally. In May 2019, she started at Indeed (the employment platform) where she joined two Inclusion Resource Groups (IRGs) on her very first day of onboarding. Her initial goal was simply to meet new people and get to know the company she was a part of. Ultimately, her work with IRGs (particularly Asian Network and Women at Indeed) shaped her experience and growth at the company where she spent the last 4 years, most recently as Deputy Chief of Staff.
As an IRG member in 2019, Victoria quickly volunteered to take on more responsibility, becoming the local Education lead for Asian Network and local Events Lead for Women at Indeed’s New York City chapters in 2020. Starting in 2021, when the company implemented a rule that only allowed for each person to only hold one IRG leadership role at a time, she made the choice to prioritize Asian Network and took on the role of Regional Events Lead. Her dedication and strategic mind were quickly apparent as the IRG Program Manager promoted her to the Co-Chair eight months into the role. Over the next year and a half, she took on escalating leadership responsibilities as her career at Indeed continued to evolve. Like many Cultivators, she found that IRG work ignited her passions and helped her to grow in meaningful ways while making a positive impact on company culture.
Fast forward to today: Victoria is a seasoned IRG leader with experience across multiple IRG functions, a clear point of view on how companies can best support Asian employees in their workplaces, and a track record of successful IRG development. And she’s just getting started. Recently impacted by the layoffs at Indeed, I met with Victoria to talk about what made her IRG experience so successful and what she’s hoping to do next.
The Challenge
The challenges faced by those involved in IRGs are complex because systemic oppression is complex and does not lend itself to simple solutions. In her time as a leader for Asian Network, Victoria and her team of 20 focused on three key issues impacting Asian people at Indeed and beyond:
Model Minority Myth: The model minority myth promotes the untruth that Asian Americans are no longer impacted by racial discrimination and bias, and have universally achieved success through education and hard work. Because of this, Victoria notes that Asian employees were not being included in Indeed diversity initiatives due to perceived professional success. For example, the Inclusive Interview Rule (IIR) at Indeed states that in the final round of interviews, you must have at least one non-male identifying (NMI) and one underrepresented racial/ethnic minority (URM) candidate. However, only certain Asian minorities (i.e. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) counted towards the URM quota as Asians as a whole are not considered underrepresented minorities in the tech workplace.
Bamboo Ceiling: Victoria says, “The Asian community, in particular, is often seen as passive, good at following instructions, as worker bees…as a result when you look at corporate leadership teams, rarely do you see Asian C-suite executives especially representation of Asian women at more senior levels.” Even at Indeed, there is only one Asian male at the C-suite level. Because of this, Asian Network focused on elevating more Asian talent from their membership into leadership roles.
Asians Are A Monolith: Victoria notes that she wanted to use her privilege as an East Asian person to be an ally to other groups in the Asian community that tend to be overlooked in diversity efforts. The Asian diaspora is massive and oftentimes, the first thing that comes to mind are East Asian and Indian experiences. However, this neglects key groups such as SE Asians, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, and even parts of Russia.
The Idea
To tackle these complex issues, Victoria and Asian Network used a multi-pronged approach to educate colleagues and expand opportunities. While it would be impossible to list all of the amazing work they undertook in one blog post, here are some examples:
Share The Asian American Experience: Asian Network created opportunities for members to share their experiences more broadly across the company. Victoria modeled this in her talk on Empathy and Business Vision with Indeed’s CEO. They also hosted Asian Monologues in partnership with their sister company, Glassdoor, as a creative outlet for the community to submit/perform poetry and music. When there were hate crimes and tragedies that impacted Asians, they would hold Safe Spaces for people to grieve and share their experiences.
Passport through Asia: For AAPI Heritage Month in 2022, Asian Network created Passport through Asia themed events as a chance to explore diverse Asian cultures and countries. Prioritizing lesser-known countries and regions of Asia, they worked with caterers to feature food from various regions each week. They had members create a slide deck of “Passport Pages,” featuring history, music, and cultural facts from their countries.
Create Leadership Opportunities Within the IRG Structure: Victoria took leadership seriously and saw her role as Co-Chair, where she most recently led the Strategic arm of the organization, as a chance to prioritize professional development. In this position, she oversaw two site leads per zone (West, Central, and East) and the Regional Community Engagement, Allyship, Development, and iRewards leads - roughly 10 leadership roles. Victoria is a big believer of promoting internally and has successfully coached many leaders under her to quickly move up the ranks (in the same way others took a leap of faith with her through mentorship). She effectively built rapport with her leaders through 1:1 conversations about existing abilities and passions, as well as where they wanted to grow. She used these conversations to develop stretch assignments. For example, if a leader wanted to grow in public speaking, she might task them with leading an event.
The Outcome
As a result of these initiatives and more, Asian Network at Indeed more than doubled in size under Victoria’s leadership (growing to over 900 members). While they had some challenges in collecting data due to the evolving hybrid nature of work, they were able to provide leadership opportunities within the IRG itself to diverse candidates under the Asian diaspora, modeling inclusive leadership for the broader Indeed organization. This also supported Asian teammates in developing and displaying their leadership capabilities, hopefully setting them up for exec-level opportunities in the future.
These outcomes reflect positive turns in the larger culture. Victoria remembers that growing up, she rarely saw Asian experiences depicted in a realistic way in the media. She is proud of how far things have come with animated films like Raya and the Last Dragon and Turning Red (a Pixar project involving Cultivator Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Jessica Heidt!), and blockbusters like Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi, Minari, and Everything Everywhere All At Once.
For Victoria personally, her work with IRGs allowed her to appreciate her own evolving identity. When she was diagnosed with ADHD and Anxiety during the pandemic, it made her more thoughtful about invisible identities and increasing access for those with both visible + invisible disabilities. It also further impressed upon her the importance of intersectionality through the lens of her own identity as a woman of color with ADHD and Anxiety.
Victoria’s Advice for Senior Leaders
Be Aware of the Toll IRG Work Takes: While Victoria is passionate about supporting her peers in the workplace, she does note that often in moments of violence or tragedy, IRG leads who are themselves most impacted by the events must be the ones to lead education and communications. This can lead to burnout if it’s not recognized and adequately supported. Be mindful of what you're asking individuals in affected groups to do and take responsibility for your own education.
Tangibly Support Your IRG Leads: Victoria notes that involvement in IRGs is often unfairly compensated and not appropriately represented in performance reviews. A challenge she often faced was working with managers who view her IRG work more as a club or extracurricular, rather than a valid use of work time. If you’re in a leadership role, consider ways you can support IRG Leads in being recognized for the important work they do.
Encourage Your Team Members to Participate: IRGs can increase workplace belonging, leading to tangible increases in creativity, innovation, and productivity. If you manage direct reports, explicitly encouraging them to get involved can help them feel supported.
Victoria’s Advice for Fellow Cultivators
Support Your Community Through the Good & Bad: As a leader of Asian Network at Indeed, Victoria supported her community through moments of tragedy and trauma, like the rise in violence against Asian Americans during the COVID pandemic. She says “For an IRG to be successful, you can’t just be there in the good times, you have to face the challenges and traumas.” After all, community means you’re in it together.
Remember to Celebrate the Wins: To build resilience for hard times, it’s important to recognize the wins when they come. From their Asian American Heritage Month events (Lunar New Year, Diwali), to pop culture moments like Simu Liu becoming Marvel’s first Asian superhero and the groundbreaking award season of Everything Everywhere All At Once, Asian Network made sure to celebrate together.
Do Your Own Personal Work: Reflecting on her experience as a first-generation immigrant (an experience this writer shares), Victoria encourages all of us to examine our own identities while being thoughtful about how the identities of others impact their lived experiences at work and beyond.
How to Support Victoria
In light of recent layoffs, Victoria is seeking new opportunities.
Functions: Chief of Staff, Product Strategy, Diversity/Inclusion/Belonging (DI&B), Event Planning, Program Manager, Consulting
Industries: Tech, Skin/Hair Beauty Products & Services, Hospitality/Travel, Fitness/Wellness, Food & Beverage
If you are hiring or have leads for Victoria, please reach out to her via email: vicliu326@gmail.com