Introducing Government IT Resource Manager, Tyler Estrada. Tyler started his ALKU career in January 2019 and has recently been introduces as one of ALKU’s newest DE&I Council members! He will represent ALKU’s revenue pillar. We are so excited to see the new perspectives and ideas that Tyler will bring to the DE&I Council.
Below, you will find a few responses from Tyler regarding his perspective and motivation. Congratulations, Tyler!
Who is your biggest mentor and why?
My biggest mentor is my father because of all the challenges he has had to overcome in his life. He didn’t grow up in a very good area and worked incredibly hard to get to where he is today and set up a great life for his family. I try to replicate this in each step I take to grow my career.
What new initiatives do you hope to bring to the DE&I Council?
I hope to find new and creative ways to encourage involvement from all 3 of our pillars (especially revenue employees which I know firsthand can find difficulty in adding involvement into our day to day). Additionally, I hope to have a part in adding a new Employee Resource Group for any ALKU employees to join!
What has motivated you to get involved in being an advocate for change on the DE&I Council?
One of the big motivators for me to be an advocate for change through the DE&I council started with joining the Unity Employee Resource Group back in the fall of 2020. I’ve struggled for a while with minority stress but never knew how to place what the feeling was. I’m very lucky to be white passing but have struggled for a long time to feel like I deserve to say that I belong to a minority group. Unity has helped me not only to have pride in being half Mexican, but also has provided me with a group of people at ALKU that I can relate to and face other stressors that other coworkers may not understand. That sense of belonging has been so amazing for me. I want everyone who works at ALKU to have access to groups that can do the same for them as well as providing equal opportunities for anyone interested in pursuing a career at ALKU. As well as having access to the same life changing opportunities that so many of us here have had since starting to work here.
What are you doing every day make sure everyone at ALKU is aware of our DE&I goals and initiatives?
One thing that I have done consistently since joining both Unity and State of Mind is encourage employees in all pillars of the company to join ERGs that may provide that safe space and sense of belonging with other members of the ALKrew. I especially recommend them to new hires and during any CRD events that I get to attend. You can always hear me talking about our DE&I efforts several times per event. I also have encouraged interns, new hires, and even tenured employees at ALKU to replicate pieces of what we all learned in our DE&I training even with things that seem small such as asking the pronunciation of our candidates/consultant’s names to build better professional relationships with them.