Oral History Program Elisabeth Diaz-McDonald Interviewed by Angie Burton 8 April 2016 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Elisabeth Diaz-McDonald Interviewed by Angie Burton 8 April 2016 Copyright © 2024 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. 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These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Diaz-McDonald, Elisabeth, an oral history by Angie Burton, 8 April 2016, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Elisabeth Diaz-McDonald, conducted on April 8, 2016, by Angie Burton in Swire Coca-Cola. Elisabeth recounts her experience growing up in an immigrant house and how it shaped her to become the leader she is today. She also talks about her beliefs, experiences and challenges she gained on this path of her life. Also present is the recordist Chad Brooks. ED: Elisabeth Diaz-McDonald. Elisabeth is E L I S A B E T H. And Diaz, D I A Z. Hyphenated McDonald M C D O N A L D. AB: And what do you do? ED: Multicultural marketing manager for Swire Coca-Cola. AB: Okay perfect, so first question, and you can be as detailed as you want, but please start by telling us a little about your backgrounds. As it mentioned, your childhood, teen years, anything that you want to share? ED: So, I'm a daughter of immigrant parents. I learned English between the ages of five and eight years old when I started going to school. I was kind of the nerd kid because once I could read in English, I read voraciously. I read everything I could get my hands on. And I was also a teen mom so by all accounts of statistics, I shouldn't even be here in a leadership position. According to statistics, I should be on welfare and destitute. It's really a pleasure to be able to sit here in front of you and talk to you about my story. Being the daughter of immigrant parents, we were the only Mexican family in the neighborhood. Although I grew up in a neighborhood that had a very Chicano influence, being that they were second, third, fourth generation Hispanics, mostly from Mexico. It's kind of an interesting dichotomy. Through that growing up, one of the things that my parents had taught me was, I really have strong work ethic. My parents had a limited education. My mom went to the sixth grade and my dad went 1 to the fourth grade, so although my mom didn't harp a lot on us, it was really important for me. And I don't know if that had to do more because I was the oldest of the family, there were a lot of expectations of me that were set upon me from a very young age, where I was translating for my parents and helping them in an official business matter, which I think has led up to a lot of why I thrive so much to be in leadership roles. Then through time, because education was important to me, I ended up putting myself working through school, ended up with a double undergraduate and master's degree. AB: That's great. So next question. I'm just going to stick with the questions because that was the set of the class. However, I think it's a perfect segue way. You talk about schooling and everything, but are there any specific experiences that you have outside of what you've already told us that you feel pushed you towards being leadership? even specific stories or experiences? ED: I think that being the oldest of five girls, and coming from a situation where your parents didn't speak English as fluently and struggled with some words, they would put me front and center. Some things that I have memories about are, being seven and eight years old and helping my parents through a discussion that they had while they purchased their first home. I mean what seven or eight years old does that? I remember being a teenager and having my mom ask me to go along with her to doctor's appointments so that she could understand what was being said, which is kind of interesting because at the same time I'm developing my own language skills, so there's terminology that it's being used that I don't understand. My mom gave me my Social Security card at the age of 14 and said, “Here, go find a job.” I had to figure out how to maneuver through that whole aspect. My mom just really gave me this fierce independence of myself that I think has helped me be a fighter and want to lead because I was put in those positions all the time. 2 One of the things that I remember is my mom, when I had my son, I was 17 years old. I said, “Well, I need to get back to school.” And she said, “Why would you do that? There's plenty of other resources that can help you, think about welfare or something like that.” And I remember looking at her and saying, “I don't think that's an option like that doesn't fit well for me. I can't be a good mom if I don't finish school. I need to figure out a way to educate myself. That would be great for the immediate, but that's only going to take care of right now, that's not going to take care of me long term.” Which at the age of 17 or 18 is pretty enlightening to know, that this is what I need to do to accomplish. I think those were some things that led me into that, “Hey I think I want to be a leader” or do something that's got a lot of leadership skills. Not only that but when you're the oldest, you're called bossy. I like to call it leadership. I have good leadership skills when you're the eldest. AB: I like it. I agree. With those experiences, I'm sure, over the years, you developed core values then and are they the same core values that you have now? Or can you share, what your core values are in general? ED: Well, so there's a few core values that I have and when you gave me the questions, I thought about it and it's funny because I feel like I have to reach out to people to help me. I think that I'm very self-aware of myself, but I also need it confirmed by other so I tend to go to my husband quite a bit and say, “Okay, well, how does this look?”, “How would you explain me?” There's a few there that I have, I have a very strong work ethic and I think that comes from growing up in a family with immigrant parents, that’s all they did all their life as they worked. Through that it's always gravitated me toward jobs that aren't very well defined and I've put definition to them, they're kind of a startup mentality and I really thrive under that because it gives me a lot of my own 3 autonomy that I can do whatever I want within guardrails. Which leads into my what my next core values is, integrity. Over time I've built really strong integrity because I've been put in that position where I was trusted as the expert, particularly in what I've done. My entire career has been around multicultural. I started out as Hispanic and now it's multicultural. Who knows what it’ll morph into later on. I've always been trusted as an expert, and when you're given that trust, you have to hold yourself to high moral principles. That's another sign of a leader, somebody who strives to do that. But I'm like everybody else, I'm human. And I know I don't have that perfection, but I'm very self-aware of that and continually try to work towards making sure that I'm holding myself with high integrity, high moral principles and doing the right thing for the organization or also for myself. The community that I've worked in is very small and even though I left marketing numerous years ago, I'm back at it through Coca-Cola. I'm running into people that I met 15 - 20 years ago. It's interesting that holding those moral principles come back at you. I always live with that saying of “Don't burn any bridges.” Because I didn't think I would come back to this and now I am back to it, I'm meeting up with people that I've known for numerous years. It's kind of interesting as to how they how they view you as well. Another one is personal accountability. Because I do have high integrity, I have very high expectations of myself. I am Mexican-American. I wear it proudly. I don't hold back on it. But that's come over time. There was a time, like in my teen when it was like, “What? You want me to say something in Spanish? I'm not going to, I'm not. You don't need to hear me say it.” Funny enough I still read into that as people want to hear me speak Spanish, so one of the other things that I've developed is a sense of humor with it and kind of 4 joke around with it and go, “Okay, do you need me to prove my Hispanicness to you or my Latinness or my Mexicanness? Because I can do that.” But it's also balancing it, “This is who I am, I'm very self-aware of that. I may look slightly different, may not look different at all.” One of the things that I joke around about is I call myself civil because just for the occasion or for the opportunity, so depending on who I'm speaking to my language may change, my space between you and I through our conversation may change. I really try very hard to read the situation, to be able to match that situation. There's that couple of things. AB: That's very good. Tell us about a person who has had tremendous impact on you as a leader and then the follow up about this how person impacted your life in general and specifically to leadership skills. ED: It's interesting you ask about mentors. I've worked very hard not to have a jaded sense of what mentors are because a lot within my community, I haven't had the best success with mentors, and I really feel that mentors come and go. Mentors are there for a place for a time. They're not going to be there forever. It's interesting perception that some may have of as mentors. Some think of them as very positive, some depending on your experience, may not be positive. I think you've got to find the right person for the right time. But I do have one, Elena Lawrence Trujillo. She's been a person in and out of my life for quite a while now. She's actually my sister's mother-in-law, and I've always called her my pseudo mother-in-law because for a very long time I didn't have one. I would just go to her. She was Hispanic, one of the first Hispanic females to actually go to CU law school. She went to CU law school when it wasn't cool to be Latina and go to law school. Not sure how cool it still is or isn’t, but she did that. She actually quit her job. She'd been doing some other things, quit her job to decide to go back to law school, had a baby was a single mom and 5 put herself through school and became an attorney, took the bar. And now she works quite diligently through legal aid to help those that are under served with legal services. She's done that her entire career. I always go to her as a mentor to help me with my checks and balances because many times I'm a party of one. I'm the only Latina. I'm the only female. There may be others, but our experiences are different so I reach out her to her for some support or just to kind of pull me out of a rut. AB: What do you see as the biggest challenge of being a minority leader in northern Utah, which is predominantly white? And what do you do to overcome these challenges? ED: It's an interesting question. Because unless I really sit down and think about it, I think it's fairly easy. There's no challenge that are going to come to many. I don't focus on the fact that I may be minority, and that's where my challenges come from. When I really sit down and think about it, I remember when we first moved out here. I grew up in Colorado so very close to Utah. But not being LDS, you do feel a little bit of that. I look at it from a very positive perspective that this is a very familyoriented environment and really like that about Utah. I also thought, “Wow, not only is there a lack of diversity, but I understand why.” The role of women in leadership or the lack of women in leadership is what I found more interesting up and beyond being a minority. A lot of what I do is explain and try to open up eyes and create awareness as to the growth of the minority population here in Utah. A lot of people reference the Polynesian community, which is quite strong here. But you also have a very strong Hispanic community, not a lot of African-American but they can be found in the area. I try hard not to look at it from a negative perspective. I try to look at “What are our strengths? What are the strengths that as minorities we bring to Utah that can be that can be celebrated?” 6 versus, “Hey, include me, put me in this picture?” Or, “Hey, you're not thinking of me.” I try to figure out what's a great way to include that. Another positive thing besides Utah being very family oriented is that you have a lot of return missionaries who have gone abroad. And through that experiences that those returned missionaries have, they have an appreciation of various cultures and various languages and come back and share that with their families. There's an openness, through that that I don't feel that I'm lacking for not running into people that look like me. If anything, people may not necessarily be aware that there's minorities around just because they don't see it not being malicious, it's just not having an awareness of it. AB: Perfect. What advice would you give to emerging young minority leaders in order to be successful? ED: I thought about this quite a bit and I wrote a couple of things and brought it back. There are many things. But if I were to focus on one, I would say have a sense of humor. One of the things that I have found over time is that a lot of people, not out of intentionally wanting to hurt you or sabotage you, have stereotypes or perceptions already, and that's our point of view. What I think of for myself as a minority is, “How can I change those stereotypes?” or “How can I change those perceptions?” Again, it goes back to that self-awareness that I have is, “How do I come across to people?” and it's beyond what you might see just in your regular surroundings. When someone says something that doesn't fit well, take a deep breath, find out where that comes from, and then with a little bit of patience and some integrity, you too can change those perceptions and those stereotypes of others. A lot of it comes from educating yourself and figuring out where you come from and knowing and understanding that so that you can turn, help and change those perceptions elsewhere. 7 AB: Lastly, are there any other insights that you would want to share that I haven't covered in the previous questions about being a minority leader in Utah? ED: What I would say to everybody is, embracing the changing demographics. I had alluded to that one of the biggest positives in Utah, is having those return missionaries. Those experiences that they had abroad can really help opening eyes and creating that awareness of others here. I try not to dwell on the negativity and think that it's something negative, but it's finding those opportunities because they're there. You just might have to be a bit more creative, have to have a lot of patience, have a sense of humor as to how you might be perceived or not be perceived, and work towards changing some of those perceptions. I equated a lot to this was Denver 20, 25 years ago. Because that's my point of view and that's what I know. The demographics are changing rapidly. If you look at Ogden, it's a majority minority school district, in Salt Lake City, it's 25% Hispanic and it's growing because it's not just people that live in West Valley anymore. They're living in North Salt Lake, South Salt Lake, Sandy, Draper cause everywhere I go, I hear these amazing different languages. And I think that slowly, over time, most people actually appreciate that and love to see that diversity. You're not going to get everybody, but that's okay. Just get the ones that matter. AB: Perfect. Thank you. 8