Lizette Ibarra With Latina Chief | Diversity Executive Search

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in South Florida. It’s time for South Florida Business Radio.

Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of South Florida Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Lizette Ibarra, who is with Latina Chief Diversity Executive Search. Welcome.

Lizette Ibarra: Thank you Lee. I’m happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Latina chief. How are you serving folks?

Lizette Ibarra: Oh, of course. Well, we are an executive search firm. That means that we help organizations finding the talent they need in their leadership roles to be more successful. That’s the way I can sum it up. But we do have a focus on diversity. You know, it’s been proven time and time again that diverse leadership teams are more successful, are more innovative, are more productive. So we make sure that in our processes we cast the net wider and or that our talent pools are, you know, inclusive of, you know, race, gender and so that the client gets the best candidates out there, you know, to do the job, but also bringing diversity of thought to the organization. So that is what we do at Latina. Chief.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Lizette Ibarra: It’s it’s funny, you know, I’ve been involved in talent acquisition in some shape or form ever since I started my professional journey. I’ve been working for 30 plus years. My first 12 years were in corporate. I was born and raised in Mexico, and when I graduated, I started working for Eastman Kodak. When Eastman Kodak was like the Apple of nowadays, and I was in charge of leading the talent acquisition strategies for Mexico and Latin America. And then I worked for another world renowned organization, also in talent acquisition. And then about ten, 12 years in, I became a mom. So I decided to take a career break from corporate because, you know, it was very difficult to to deal with corporate and motherhood. So that’s how I became an entrepreneur. So instead of going back to corporate, I decided to start my own executive search practice. Given all that I knew already about what what organizations were looking for in the talent market, and that’s how I landed in this business. So, so 15 years in, I’m still up and running.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you made that switch from corporate to being an entrepreneur, what led you to lean into this diversity?

Lizette Ibarra: Well, actually, the diversity space I leaned into this four years ago when I started my search company. It wasn’t specific to the diversity space, but what I did do was I hired women to my company that, like me, had to step out of corporate to become moms for 1 or 2 years, and then they weren’t finding a path back to corporate. So that was very personal to me. So I brought a lot of these women to my organization. I taught them the search business, and together we built one of the fastest growing boutique search firms in Mexico. And then I moved to the States 11 years ago. And when I started realizing the powerhouse that Latinos are to the US economy and how underrepresented we are in corporate, that’s where I decided to shift my practice and making sure that corporations understand the power of diverse leadership teams.

Lee Kantor: Now, in the corporations you work with. Do you have a niche or is it kind of industry agnostic?

Lizette Ibarra: It’s industry agnostic, but a lot of we have a focus more on functional roles. We do a lot of searches within the HR, finance and supply chain space. That’s that’s our comfort zone. But in either process that we’re undertaking, we make sure the candidate pool is diverse. That’s what makes us different from a lot of the search firms out there.

Lee Kantor: Now, what does it look like when a client contacts you? What kind of, um, challenges are they facing where it’s it’s a good idea to call Lisette and her team. Okay.

Lizette Ibarra: Yeah. So, um, we are called when the company already conducted the search and they couldn’t find the right candidate for the role. Uh, or either this is a confidential search. Sometimes it happens, like, let’s say the CFO. They have to make changes there, and they you know, this is a critical, sensitive process for the organization. So they need confidentiality in that process. That’s where, you know, companies bring us to the table and also for very specific strategic searches, you know, searches that require a lot of technical expertise or a combination of industry backgrounds, those sort of aspects that are not easily find on LinkedIn or databases. That’s where we are brought to the table. So basically strategic searches, not easy to find candidates that that’s where we come in.

Lee Kantor: Now. Do you have any advice for the candidate. How what could they be doing today that will help them be found by you and your team tomorrow?

Lizette Ibarra: Yeah, that’s that’s a great question. You know, I believe that a lot of the candidates, especially the ones that are being successful out there right now, uh, let’s say you’re working at a corporation for seven, ten, 12 years. You’re successful. You don’t have the need to go to go out there to network. And all of a sudden you lose your job. Right. So networking is key at every point of your career, not only when you’re unemployed or not only when you are seeking your next big role. And that is something that I see a lot of the times, especially with folks that are more seasoned in their career 15, 20 years into their into their professional journey. Um, they want to make a change and they haven’t built a network where they can rely on, you know, building those relationships, uh, like true, honest relationships from the ground up, uh, to, to be able to build these bridges to their next step of their career. And also, I believe a lot of people want to have a more personal touch in, in, in their quest when they’re seeking, um, again, a transition, a new role. Because nowadays everything is, you know, so automatic. With LinkedIn and AI, uh, candidates get very frustrated that they’re not able to speak to a human being. And that’s where we come to the play. You know, as a boutique search firm, what we do is very personal, because even though you you see a resume and you can see, uh, you know, people with similar backgrounds, every story is different and every candidate brings something different to the table. So again, what I would say is network, network, network early on in your career, build meaningful relationships early on.

Lee Kantor: And is there any tactics you would use to build those relationships? Is it as simple as just, you know, getting mentored by somebody or reaching out to a thought leader in your space and building a relationship? Like, how would you go about kind of building and enhancing your network.

Lizette Ibarra: Of course it’s it’s a combination, as you very well are, you know, are you finding mentors is is key to your career, but also getting out there to your community. That’s a great way to connect. Like find something that you’re really passionate about, what inspires you and connecting your community, whether it’s that, like in my case, I’m very connected with the Hispanic community. So I connect to the chambers of commerce. I volunteer for their, uh, for their community work, and I’ve met incredible people along the way, and I’ve made incredible businesses along the way because you’re building the relationship from a from outside of an interest, if you know what I’m saying. And also, um, participating in, in industry conferences, just, you know, getting out there, what is being said? What are the people that are out there in your industry? What is happening? And LinkedIn is also a fantastic tool to network. I believe there’s still this misconception that LinkedIn is to look for a new job, and that is not the case. Um, when you’re on LinkedIn and when you invest 1 or 2 hours a week on LinkedIn, you know, saying, you know what other people in your industry are saying, connecting, commenting, posting, you know, what do you think about the trends in your industry? Those are great ways to connect and to network early on, and also find ways to give back to your community. Networking. It’s not about what you can get, it’s what you can give so that you can receive in return. So it has to be both ways.

Lee Kantor: And that’s great advice for young people, especially, um, when you join an organization or you are part of a trade group, don’t just sign up to be a member. You got to kind of volunteer and you got to you have to do some of the work. You don’t just sign up and then get a result. You have to kind of lean into there and do the work to demonstrate you are a leader.

Lizette Ibarra: Exactly, exactly. Get involved. Get involved. Not only participating, but giving. Always think what you can give to that group, what you can give to the organization. And you know, nowadays a lot of organizations have their ERG groups. So you can find a lot of groups and within your organization to connect. And eventually those people are going to probably leave to other organizations. And you have built that relationship already. So yes, it’s get involved and do not think of networking, of just of receiving, of what you can get in return, but what you can give so that you can eventually collect that relationship.

Lee Kantor: Now, earlier you used the word transitions. That’s also the name of your new book. Can you talk a little bit about the book and what we can learn from it.

Lizette Ibarra: Of course.

Lizette Ibarra: Well, translations is very close to my heart. That’s going to come out in the first quarter of next year. And um, transitions is, you know, during my professional journey as an executive recruiter, I’ve seen so many people go through difficult transitions in their lives, whether that’s, uh, getting a promotion too early and not being able to fulfill their expectations or losing a job, you know, after unexpectedly, you’ve been in a company 15, 18 years and all of a sudden you’re let go or, um, transitioning through motherhood early in your career. You know, those are huge adjustments in every, every person’s life. And they’re not easy to, to go through. So changes changes are external events, situations that happen and often they alter the status quo. While transitions is the internal psychological and emotional process that people go through in response to those changes. So the true power is, you know, when going through a transition is that you can recognize that changes might be outside of your control. You have the ability to shape your transition. And the journey can lead to growth, resilience and a deeper, more authentic version of ourselves. So what is that is what I’m trying to transmit in transitions, but very specific to professional transitions.

Lee Kantor: And to really understand the things you can control and the things that maybe are out of your control.

Lizette Ibarra: Yes.

Lizette Ibarra: Um, yeah. So let’s say, um, you talk about the different scenarios that you can go through.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I’m just trying to, you know, give the reader a sense of what they can take away from reading the book, because transitions are going to happen in everybody’s life, and some things are out of your hands and some things you do have some control over.

Lizette Ibarra: Exactly. So the things that you have the control over is what happens internally to you. And, you know, when people go through transitions, almost inevitably when there are difficult transitions to go through, you think you’re alone and you’re the only person going through that transition. So that is the first realization that you have to be aware of that you’re not the first, you’re not the last, and you’re not the only one. And that’s some sort of a of a reassurance in your life. And then you, you know, during the book and reading through the stories and the anecdotes of that other people have gone through, um, you start to gain some control and some certainty that after that transition you will become a different version of yourself. And oftentimes that version of yourself is going to be a more authentic and more wise version of yourself. So that’s that’s what it’s important to. When you’re going through a transition, you recognize that you’re going to be in a different space but a better space after that transition.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a story maybe that illustrates what it’s like to work with you and your team? Is there a story you can share? Maybe. Maybe, um, share. Don’t name the name of the company, but maybe share what they came to you with, what challenge and how you were able to help them identify the right person and help them kind of get their organization to a new level.

Lizette Ibarra: Of course.

Lizette Ibarra: So very recently we helped this organization in the real estate space. This is a very successful Organization. And but they had this challenge. So all the knowledge of the organization was in individuals. They didn’t have this automated system to transfer that knowledge to the rest of the organization. So every time a new person comes to the organization, they relied on the leadership team to train to do the actual training to these new folks. So they wanted to hire someone that was able to build the to democratize that knowledge and to build and to bring in the technology and the resources to be able to expand that that knowledge throughout the organization. And that was a very challenging search, because this is not a role that you typically find, um, in the market. So we had to search for different skills, different, um, backgrounds in people. Then we were able to find, The company just interviewed two candidates and they said, these people, where did you find these people? Like, this is the combination of expertise that people bring to the table is just fantastic for the role. So that is that is one very recent experience that that we have with one of our clients.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team or even kind of get on the waitlist for the book, what is the website? What is the best way to connect with you in the team?

Lizette Ibarra: Of course you can reach out to me. You can either my company website, which is latina.com, or you can reach out to me on my personal website. It’s lizette.com, and in there our folks can also find resources, free resources to go through their transitions, their career journey. Because as a part of the work that I do, which is recruitment of leadership roles, I become a career strategist. I’ve advised so many people about, you know, when to move and what not to move, how to negotiate. And, um, this transition, this, this knowledge that came through this to becoming a career strategy is available to these, uh, folks for free, uh, on my website. So it’s listed.com. It’s another way to reach out to us. Linkedin. I’m super active on LinkedIn. You can find me there. You can direct me, direct message me on LinkedIn as well.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Lizette Ibarra: Thank you so much, Lee. Thank you for having me and looking forward to staying connected.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on South Florida Business Radio.