Episode 04, Season 01 - Yale College Voices Transcription

Emerging, Thriving, and Leading with Grace: Marisa Figueira's Yale Journey

00;00;00;09 - 00;00;29;27
Darice
Hello, everyone. Welcome to our episode of Yale College Voices. And today I'm excited to introduce you to Marissa Figueira, who is a dedicated professional and plays a critical role here at Yale University. So Marissa's journey began at Yale in 2007, and over the years, she's had some remarkable contributions to the university's growth and development. Marissa has a background in h.r.

00;00;30;04 - 00;01;08;26
Darice
And a strong commitment to fostering positive employee relations. She has continually demonstrated her expertise and leadership in this area. So in 2022, marissa was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort of the emerge leadership program, which I also just recently wrapped up. Emerge is a presidential initiative designed to retain staff and develop leaders throughout the campus. And Marissa is also are executive sponsor of our Yale College DEIB Advisory Committee.

00;01;08;29 - 00;01;51;13
Darice
And then in 2023, So this year, Marissa achieved another significant milestone. When you became part of Yale College as director of operations, where you coordinate operational efforts across the college. So Marissa's responsibilities extend to the residential colleges as well as other departments, Student Affairs and Engagement. Marissa plays a crucial role in the college's main interface with hospitality, facilities and other university wide operational functions.

00;01;51;15 - 00;02;17;24
Darice
So Marissa's commitment to excellence and her ability to lead and manage teams is it's been evident throughout her career. Her educational background includes degrees from Rutgers University and also University of New Haven. She also has held various roles in H.R. at Yale, including diversity coordinator in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. So I'm so happy to have you here today.

00;02;17;27 - 00;02;49;03
Darice
Marissa, you know, we've worked so recently in our work with the the DEIB Advisory Committee. So, I'm just so happy to have you here and happy to meet you. And we've had a chance to chat a little bit and get to know you. So I'd love to hear more about your journey. And you know what your journey was like in terms of your career before you joined Yale and then once you joined Yale until your current position today.

00;02;49;05 - 00;03;31;00
Marisa
Yeah, thank you for having me Darice. My journey before Yale feels like, I mean I've been here for over 15 years. Feels like my professional identity is sort of very closely sort of related and shaped by the university. So before Yale, so I did college. So I was at Rutgers Newark and really sort of started a lot of my professional career there, either as a college student or my sort of first official job was also at an institute, an academic institute that was part of Rutgers that had a very academic name, which was the still is the institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the modern experience.

00;03;31;00 - 00;04;24;07
Marisa
So a mouthful, but it was an amazing place. When I started college, I still am just highly curious, interested in everything, every job. I find everyone's roles really amazing. But I had a high interest in some sort of community work, in social justice work. I did a lot of internships in New York and various places and in New Jersey, and then I started working with the Institute on Ethnicity Culture in the modern experience as one of my internships that then led to a job and in that place, we were doing a lot of community educational work around civic justice and information and education on civic justice, including a lot of sort of

00;04;24;07 - 00;05;00;06
Marisa
now historical figures and really critical points in history and doing large lecture series and just really great programing. And I loved it deeply. My then boyfriend. So when I was in college, um, my then boyfriend told me that he was joining the Navy and I walked out of the coffee shop that we were in. And then at some point I'm not sure when, we sort of made up and I left Rutgers to then go to South Carolina.

00;05;00;06 - 00;05;22;11
Marisa
So he was stationed in South Carolina. So a bit of honor. I'm sure my parents think of him. We eloped. We moved to South Carolina. We lived in a naval base in South Carolina, which was a world that could not be more foreign from anything, just from the military experience. To living in the South. I had traveled quite a bit in high school, but I had not.

00;05;22;11 - 00;05;48;25
Marisa
Sort of. Living in a place is very different right? And when I moved to South Carolina, I had to really think about a job. I was 22, didn't drive and needed to make some quick life adjustments. And I looked for nonprofit work because I was certainly deeply connected to wanting to do that. But there really isn't a nonprofit culture in the South that there was an in the New York New Jersey area.

00;05;48;25 - 00;06;12;05
Marisa
So I did find a career fair and I walked up to the person that became my boss and said that he really should hire me to be an assistant, a human resources assistant. And this was for an orphanage in South Carolina, which was one of the few nonprofits. I had already sent them my resume, but I didn't hear back.

00;06;12;08 - 00;06;44;20
Marisa
And so I walked up to Toni and I said, I'm not sure why you haven't called me. You really should hire me for this job. And he told me my salary was too high because the salaries in the South were very different. And I was like, Oh, that's very negotiable. Let's talk. And that really is when I started my h.r career and while it wasn't really sort of the social justice work that I really had kind of like envisioned, it really was about like community work in a differently defined community.

00;06;44;20 - 00;07;05;24
Marisa
So like the employer and sort of that workforce as a community. And I loved it. I also thought that at the time that we would move around quite a bit, um, as a result of my husband's job. And I was like, Oh, I guess it's hard to find nonprofit work, but could I do H.R.? Because wherever we move, somebody needs to get hired and fired right?

00;07;05;26 - 00;07;33;14
Marisa
And so it went from just like, kind of really high concept dreams about sort of social justice work to then being sort of more of a more thoughtful approach to a professional career. So my husband was stationed in Connecticut, and as we were moving to Connecticut, I new Yale as a university, and I knew universities employed people because I had worked at Rutgers.

00;07;33;14 - 00;07;59;24
Marisa
So that really was the only employer I knew in Connecticut. And I started applying for jobs even before we moved because I was like, That's the only reference point I had. And they did. So I started then we moved in August of 2007 and I started at Yale in December of 2007 as an assistant in human resources employee relations.

00;08;01;05 - 00;08;24;05
Darice
Wow. That's an awesome journey. So I'm I'm curious about your experience. Like you said before, coming to Yale and working in a nonprofit and being interested in social justice and, you know, you mentioned your experience with was it culture and modern experience?

00;08;24;08 - 00;08;25;22
Marisa
That's good. Yeah.

00;08;25;24 - 00;08;40;22
Darice
Okay. And yes, I'm curious what drew you to that area. You know, when you started your college years, What drove you into that?

00;08;40;25 - 00;09;00;26
Marisa
So I think probably well, I mean, we're all sort of shaped by so many different things. I moved to the US when I was ten and I moved from a very small village in Portugal to Newark, New Jersey. And those two worlds just could not have been more different and really great ways and some sort of less great ways.

00;09;00;26 - 00;09;33;21
Marisa
But I mean, very different, really. Like a small village cannot be understated. It was a very small village. And I think as a kid, which is, I think common in most kids, there's always like a sense of like, is that fair? Is that fair? So I certainly was always a very vocal child in that even my so I have a large family or I mean, I only have one sister, but sort of my parents come from a very large family, so a lot of cousins.

00;09;33;24 - 00;09;38;01
Marisa
And even when I lived in Portugal, I remember my I was my grandpa's favorite.

00;09;39;18 - 00;10;07;07
Marisa
You know, maybe some debate. But I think it's very true. And my grandpa would have some of us sit in the dining. So like, for like larger but usually like religious holidays, like Easter and they're sort of like the adults table and the kids table. And neither of these were fancy tables, but certainly, like, he would always like ask me to go to the adults table and there were sort of cousins my age who there just was a different relationship with.

00;10;07;09 - 00;10;34;28
Marisa
For a variety of reasons. And I remember being like, if they can't sit at the table, then I'm going to sit in the kitchen with them. Also, they are way more fun than all the old people. But even then, I was always sort of like assessing sort of how people directly and indirectly sort of like valued others, like, including like in my own family dynamic, and I come from a very traditional family from, um, thoughts around women and etc..

00;10;34;28 - 00;11;05;14
Marisa
So for a very sort of traditional ways. So there was always that. But even when I moved to the US, I mean not fifth grade, but even in seventh grade and eighth grade, there is, there were some very visible, distinct ways in which students were treated. We were a school of all immigrant kids in some capacity from, well, all capacities like I don't think any most of us would not have been U.S. born.

00;11;05;16 - 00;11;28;03
Marisa
But you were either from a variety of places, from Africa, from Central, South America, Caribbean, Europe. But everyone there was a huge mix of kids, but it was very, very clear in the way in which kids were treated based on sort of skin color and behavior. So kids that talked a little bit more were sort of treated differently than quiet kids.

00;11;28;03 - 00;12;01;23
Marisa
There were sort of there are sort of presumptions made around sort of like skin tone. And I would say tone in part because few were white, but there were still within like a very clear division when you looked at the way in which we were all sort of ranked in classes and how those classes were treated. And I have like very strong feelings about that treatment, about sort of like those observations and then even ways in which we we were not the schools mostly now are uniformed, even public schools.

00;12;01;23 - 00;12;25;03
Marisa
We were not a uniform public school. But how then we were sort of told to dress for particular occasions, which I had huge issues with. So I wasn't really sort of forming these ideas, but I had a lot of issues, thoughts and pushback around like how we ought to be treated or not. And then in high school, I mean, I can imagine, like as a teenager, obviously.

00;12;25;05 - 00;12;25;25
Darice
Yeah.

00;12;25;28 - 00;12;29;14
Darice
So all the things that come along with being a teenager. Yes.

00;12;29;14 - 00;12;50;15
Marisa
But like that was sort of like that turned up to high. There was even basic things I remember chanting in Title nine in high school without actually knowing what and then learning what it was. Right. In part because like our soccer uniforms were literally the uniforms from the boys team from the year before. And so we didn't have like our names in the back.

00;12;50;15 - 00;13;03;11
Marisa
But Joe would have like, you know, he'd just sort of write your name, like on a tag on it was literally there, like old dirty unicycle.

00;13;03;00 - 00;13;05;15
Marisa
The year before. And you know.

00;13;05;18 - 00;13;07;03
Darice
Thy were huge on us.

00;13;08;04 - 00;13;13;06
Marisa
And we would all chant like I was a freshman and I was like, what is this title nine? Right, Right. Yeah.

00;13;09;09 - 00;13;11;14
Darice
But you were protesting, right? Already and without knowing what it is.

00;13;11;14 - 00;13;34;01
Marisa
Yeah, Yeah. It was high engagement, little knowledge. And then in high school I was also a high school debater. That was really sort of my biggest activity. And I spent a lot of time doing that. And while there is sort of a lot to be said about sort of the public school system that I was in, there was this amazing grant to the city of Newark for high school debate.

00;13;34;01 - 00;14;14;22
Marisa
So there had been preceding debate teams, not even in my high school actually at another high school that were led by former Yale alum, I guess, from a yellow alum. And so it was he was one of the debate teachers at the other high school. So I really kind of like had a lot of traction. And I joined the debate team and it was the way in which we were able to sort of gain exposure like academically, whereas who was absent really in the classroom and just kind of get in structure and knowledge and we got to go travel the U.S. for debate tournaments for free, which we would never have been able to

00;14;14;22 - 00;14;46;03
Marisa
afford. But it was really a great opportunity to think more academically and in sort of also be exposed like that. We would come Yale three times in high school, three different years for like the debate tournament. So that was sort of my knowledge of the campus. But then that sort of really kind of like emboldened me and all my high school rhetoric around and the sense of like justice and and wanting to do some work. Yeah.

00;14;46;06 - 00;14;50;11
Darice
That's amazing. See, I had no idea. I didn't know all these things about you that's awesome.

00;14;50;11 - 00;14;59;21
Marisa
Oh, but you could tell that I was very annoying in high school. Most people get that from afar. Yeah. My parents were like, Got it ok thank you.

00;14;59;21 - 00;15;22;14
Darice
Yeah that's great, though. That's awesome. How, you know, based on your experience in high school, you know it's interesting hearing your story because those are, you know, between, let's say 15 to 24, those are the years that you really for, you know form.

00;15;24;00 - 00;15;50;19
Darice
Who you are. You know you could become pretty much who you are at the core. Right. And then of course, we grow into adults and things change. But our experience is when we're coming up shape us. Right? So, I'm curious when you take that experience and then as as I mentioned earlier, you were part of the first cohort of the Emerge leadership program and I was also part of the second cohort.

00;15;50;22 - 00;15;56;22
Darice
And one of the discussion that that my cohort had revolved around.

00;15;58;01 - 00;16;19;09
Darice
You know, our core core values, how we were brought up and, you know, those experiences early, early on in childhood going into high school and college, um, for you, how, how did those experiences influence your approach to leadership and your current role here at the college?

00;16;19;12 - 00;16;51;04
Marisa
Um, I think that like grace, like as a manager, as an employee, as a colleague, I think that grace is really, really important. Um, I mean there is respect and sort of all of these other values, but growing up and sort of just understanding like perhaps people are not coming, I mean, people are coming from their perspective and their sort of grace is sort of a space to be created.

00;16;51;06 - 00;17;13;15
Marisa
To even if you don't have the time or capacity to understand that, you will at least pause before you react. And while the fairness and treatment or sort of like at my sort of very core things that I'll that I always feel very deeply about, kind of the just that that sort of is a value onto itself.

00;17;13;15 - 00;17;39;12
Marisa
If it doesn't come, then with the understanding of the situation at hand. Um, and kind of creating that space and giving that space and grace comes like as a value that I hope to extend, to extend because it's one that I deeply need. Right? Right. I'm just like, yeah, it's, I'm just trying here, And that is like on from parenting.

00;17;39;12 - 00;18;01;04
Marisa
To all my cooking, right? I'm like just trying, you know, does it me some minimum standard in some ways. And sometimes that's kind of what we need. But it's really that I something that I feel that I need and that I've been given. Thankfully so much that I hope to be able to extend to others.

00;18;01;06 - 00;18;21;23
Darice
That's great. And, and I think that's important. Um, like you said, we're all not going to be perfect at everything that we do and juggling all of these things that you just mentioned, you know, like trying to be a good parent, trying to be a good employee and, you know, being a good leader and all of these things and.

00;18;21;26 - 00;18;22;23
Marisa
The great podcast host.

00;18;22;24 - 00;18;24;20
Darice
I'm trying.

00;18;24;20 - 00;18;26;21
Marisa
You're trying. You're doing. Yeah.

00;18;26;21 - 00;18;39;16
Darice
Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, yeah. And it's it's almost like we're we can be harder on ourselves and we don't allow that grace for ourselves. Right. But.

00;18;40;21 - 00;18;46;04
Darice
You know, it's a thing that you constantly have to remind yourself of. You have to give yourself grace.

00;18;46;04 - 00;18;47;07
Marisa
And that's true Yeah.

00;18;47;07 - 00;19;26;04
Darice
And then, you know, also be able to do that for others. So I'm curious in terms of your, uh, role with the DEIB Committee, because we had a conversation too just about, you know, it's like I'm trying, right? And, you know, stepping into a new role and a committee where, you know, that was already formed, um, and, you know, it's almost like being the new kid at school because it's a committee that was established and people have already sort of built relationships and things like that.

00;19;26;06 - 00;20;17;19
Darice
Um, and then you're, you know, coming into a new committee with, uh, you know, some uncertainty in terms of, okay, how do I, you know, just how do I, how do I fit into this role and what, what can you do to contribute to the, um, the goals of the committee. And so I'm, I'm curious or if you'd like to share how do you think you'll take your, your early experiences and like you said, fighting, you know, fighting for, for justice and wanting to give folks grace, Um, your early childhood experiences like even your, your, uh, experience on the debating team and all of those things, How do you think you'll tie that into,

00;20;17;21 - 00;20;28;09
Darice
um, your, uh, experience on the committee or, you know, how, how you'll contribute to the committee as well?

00;20;28;12 - 00;20;57;17
Marisa
Um, time will tell. I think that the committee, I mean, it's no different than coming into a new role. Especially at Yale, where, like, we're just so deeply relational. And it's one of the things that I really love about Yale. Um, and that's great. But also that, until you have the relationships, it could feel a little bit isolating.

00;20;57;17 - 00;21;19;27
Marisa
You can feel I could feel a little bit as an outsider until you're sort of on the inside. So there's there's nothing like strong this sort of feeling like the bond of being within that period of time, of that shift. And that's me as much as it is really anyone else. And often I actually think it's me and sort of in my own head and some of my my own insecurities.

00;21;19;29 - 00;21;45;09
Marisa
But the the I have a role in the committee, other members have a role in the committee. But is certainly one where there is a lot of like mutual interest and mutual passion, um, that we're trying to like understand like really what is each one's role and value and sort of like what can somebody bring to the table and sort of strengths and interests but they don't inherently conflict.

00;21;45;09 - 00;22;09;00
Marisa
I don't, we're not fighting. No, we're not fighting against a different mission and vision for the group. And that I think that that sort of like inherently, even without explicitly describing that, I think everyone's sort of wanting to move in the same direction, which is huge. I mean, that think about like a project team. Sometimes you are just rowing in very different directions.

00;22;09;02 - 00;22;28;07
Marisa
So it's trying to especially where there are, here there was existing committee committee members. So understanding, learning, sort of seeing why you kind of like I sort of like observe. I'm trying to figure out like it's like a sort of like jumping rope. You kind of want to sort of see.

00;22;28;10 - 00;22;29;06
Darice
But, I don't wanna dive in.

00;22;29;07 - 00;22;58;04
Marisa
Yeah. I don't want to sort of like come in to sort of like my role is not to dictate anything, is to be a committee member sort of value there. And then also trying to see like where I can provide then in sort of my role as the executive sponsors. Mm hmm. Yes, as the executive sponsor, like then, what are the expectations from the committee to me that I could engage with university or YCDO leadership and then sort of like leverage that and sort of like defining that jointly as as a group also.

00;22;58;04 - 00;23;26;00
Darice
So yeah, that's great. And I think that that's like you said, it's important to remember we're all working on the same, you know, goal or initiatives, right? The end result is what we're really trying to get at and, and Yeah, and we're happy to have you as our executive sponsor because, um, you know, you sort of need that person to, to clear the obstacles.

00;23;26;00 - 00;23;26;08
Marisa
Yeah.

00;23;26;14 - 00;23;36;17
Darice
You know once, once we've sort of defined all of our, um, action items for the coming year, then it's like, okay, now we need. you knwo clear the way.

00;23;36;20 - 00;23;37;11
Marisa
Yeah.

00;23;37;13 - 00;24;04;28
Darice
And, yeah. And that's critical because we can't if we don't have that support, then we probably wouldn't get as much, you know, wouldn't make as much progress as we'd like. So, yeah, It's awesome to have you. Um, I'm wondering about your, um, you know, going back to your background in h.R. And you're employee relations.

00;24;05;00 - 00;24;32;19
Darice
Do you have, does anything stand out in your mind like a particular, um, you know, moment or, you know, a pivotal moment where you felt that, um, you know, it just changed your perspective in terms of wanting to continue this as a career. And then also, um, you know, what, made you, uh, how did you get to director of operations at Yale College?

00;24;32;19 - 00;24;38;29
Darice
What brought you into Yale College from your previous role?

00;24;39;02 - 00;25;03;00
Marisa
Um, I feel like there's been a lot of really, really amazing, like, personal and professional, um, kind of like, markers in my 15 years, which have been, like, up to now in h.r. But it really has been a very special place for me. I've you know, I was not I was already married, but I was not a mother.

00;25;03;00 - 00;25;36;08
Marisa
I you know, so it's like a community that, like, in many ways helped me be a better mother. I didn't grow up with a tooth fairy. Yeah, yeah. And I remember going to my colleagues and being like, What do we do? I know what it is, but like, do we like how much money? So all of these things that, like, they're just it's a community of colleagues and friends and that also sort of transfers to a lot of sort of professionally doing, a lot of checking in and getting a lot of support and having just amazing managers and leaders.

00;25;36;08 - 00;26;06;14
Marisa
Um, certainly I'm like do I name them do not, um, but I will I would say that there's been a lot of amazing mentors and leaders, including like I had Karen Wu years ago Andre Tourillion, Geraldine Sullivan have been really critical parts from an h.r. Structure of my professional career. Um, one I have sort of two stories to share, and I think I'm going to share this one.

00;26;06;16 - 00;26;10;02
Marisa
I think it's going to land possibly differently.

00;26;10;02 - 00;26;10;21
Darice
Okay.

00;26;10;24 - 00;26;36;25
Marisa
We'll sort of see how I just feel like I have a very different take on this story. Which is so when I started at Yale in 2007, so December 2007, it was a really rough transition, really rough transition to the university. Okay. And that's I mean, I was just all the things. Yeah, yeah. Just nameless, nameless things.

00;26;36;28 - 00;27;12;00
Marisa
And I had my probation extended, which sort of the other inverses, I could have failed my probation. And I sort of shared this, but it always feels like sort of this big thing. But I mean, this is like sort of like the grace and the opportunity. And that was it was really important that that was done. I ended up it was just sort of rough, but it was a great opportunity that allowed me to then sort of like continue a career that's now been sort of like 15 years.

00;27;12;00 - 00;27;34;11
Marisa
And that was tough and important and sort of all the things. And it's sort of like one of those sort of like failures that like sort of, I don't know. And it was I don't know how that sort of sounds, but to me it's like part of my story. I mean, I fallen on my face so many times.

00;27;34;12 - 00;27;46;00
Marisa
Like, I don't I it doesn't like that those are not the components that I have a hard time ever sharing. But I always feel like people are like, that's awkward. It isn't. It just it's like and I think part of.

00;27;46;02 - 00;28;19;08
Darice
Yeah, and I, I've always felt that, you know, whether it's with my colleagues or leaders here at Yale or anywhere being able to admit what you know, where you misstepped or admitting a failure, but also where you, you know, how you've grown from it or whatever you've learned from it. I that to me, gains more respect, you know, because not many folks were comfortable with admitting.

00;28;19;10 - 00;28;42;05
Marisa
Oh, I have. Yeah. So if ever you have a lot of time. There's no shortage. But I think that's like the the reality for a lot I mean yeah I don't think that many of us are like needing to have probations extended. That is very much sort of like part of my story but just there is better times and then there's worse times, right?

00;28;42;05 - 00;29;13;13
Marisa
And to me it was also like the I then was in many roles were sort of from the when I then became an h.R. Generalist and even as an assistant and a director in sort of other h.r. Capacity I was having a lot of conversations about people that were about their job security ultimately. And there was a pretty clear lens as to like how that feels and or how or how, like those difficult conversations feel, right?

00;29;13;13 - 00;29;35;06
Marisa
Because you're sort of like you're often just on the other side of it. But so that's kind of like sort of my personal story, one that I share actually recently with my son is I sort of sat in and sort of worked with I don't think I thought maybe, you know, I don't think at the time she was my boss, but she had previously been my boss Andre Tourillion.

00;29;35;09 - 00;30;11;29
Marisa
And I was sort of like supporting her sort of on the sidelines on an investigation that she was working on. And it was difficult. It was hard. And as is often the case, sort of the employee comes into a lot of these conversations defensive because job security and they're sort of uncertain of outcomes. And through the meetings that I was a part of watching an employee go from defensiveness to transparency, you know, even if that transpire in some ways is like hoping that that would then have better outcomes.

00;30;11;29 - 00;30;46;12
Marisa
But but creating a space as somebody will then share the information that you need professionally to make an assessment and communicating to the employee a decision that was not in their interest at all and doing that with such humanity. And the person commented on that to her and said that they disagree, etc.. Um, but how much they appreciated the way in which they were treated in that conversation.

00;30;46;12 - 00;31;22;23
Marisa
And, when you're giving good news, yeah, it's one thing, right? When you are asking somebody to share information that they otherwise were keeping for a long period of time and then that sharing that information didn't yield. It sort of yielded an ending of employment for the person. But them feeling like they were treated well in that process is it's not as easy to do as it might seem.

00;31;22;23 - 00;31;51;00
Marisa
I think that we all kind of want to hope that we're the person that like no matter what. But that is there was a there's always like a something to learn from the person from their perspective, but also then sort of to watch how you can in our sort of h.r terms investigate. Mm mm. Get sort of to the bottom of information and make the right institutional decision and still have the person feel that they were treated humanely.

00;31;51;01 - 00;31;51;23
Darice
Right.

00;31;51;25 - 00;32;16;11
Marisa
Um, when it's something that critical and I'm trying to think why I was, I was sort of sharing this with my son because I think that he was sort of sharing some kind of like you just, you kind of never know or like, the importance of just always wanting somebody like wanting to treat somebody with like, a level of respect, like there's no binaries, like we're not all good and all bad.

00;32;16;11 - 00;32;32;07
Marisa
And a lot of tough decisions have to be made. But you could make a tough decision and without having to disregard somebody's humanity in the process and I knew that. I hope that I did that. But I learned so much from watching it being done.

00;32;32;07 - 00;33;00;05
Darice
Yeah, right. Oh, that's a that's an amazing story. Yes. Yeah. I mean, it's obviously a situation that isn't comfortable for the person on the receiving end and for that person to come out of that experience and still be able to say that, you know, still be able to say something positive about an overall negative experience.

00;33;00;08 - 00;33;30;06
Darice
I mean, that's amazing because I think it's important to, like you said, no matter what the situation is to treat people with dignity and respect, because for all you know, you know, and I don't know if you've ever crossed paths with the person ever again, but experiences, people, take experiences with them, and you never know what situation they'll be in later.

00;33;30;11 - 00;33;52;13
Darice
And how they might treat someone else, you know, and what that impact makes on on them. And that's amazing to me because I'll bet you that wherever this person went, that they keep, you know, keep that in mind how you treated them. They keep that in mind in terms of how they treat others or whatever situation.

00;33;52;13 - 00;33;53;21
Darice
They've been.

00;33;53;23 - 00;34;13;15
Marisa
Well, I think that the person could question a lot about the ultimate decision and know how they might feel, but in their own words. A sense of appreciation. For for how you're treating somebody like a lot of us have to make difficult decisions on a daily basis, right? Like, yeah, say no to our children. It's not easy.

00;34;13;15 - 00;34;14;25
Marisa
Yeah.

00;34;14;27 - 00;34;16;09
Darice
They're very persuasive.

00;34;16;11 - 00;34;39;29
Marisa
As managers, right. Like it's in sometimes the easiest thing seems to be to just like, give the person what they want or say no, because you don't want to make them feel bad. But there's ways in which we can communicate important information that's important to them. It's important to you. Um, with how kind of sort of like stripping.

00;34;40;02 - 00;35;08;27
Marisa
Kind of like that. Like, you know, we're all like, you've made a mistake. That's. I mean, sometimes it's not fine. It's like. But you've made you've made a mistake and communicating that doesn't mean that you're not valuable as a human being, right? And sometimes, like, the way in which we communicate some information could seem like we could sort of be thoughtful about how to communicate it clearly, like, Oh, that's uncool, but not that you like are not valued.

00;35;08;27 - 00;35;15;27
Marisa
Like you shouldn't exist on planet earth, right? Because you didn't cross a T, right? There's no like a balance in which you do that.

00;35;15;28 - 00;36;01;12
Darice
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, that's the great story I'm curious about in terms of, you know, going back to the the DEIB Committee and we all you know, we had our meeting recently and we were brainstorming and and I was just curious if you had some ideas about what you envision or what you hope to accomplish, let's say, in the next year, whether as a committee or even just as your contribution to the committee did were there any, you know, for me anyway, there are little sparks of ideas that come to mind that, you know, of course, I'll share with the committee later.

00;36;01;12 - 00;36;18;28
Darice
But I'm curious if you had little sparks of ideas that, you know, just jumped into your head that you'd like to see implemented or at least, you know, we figure out how we can, you know, approach those things. Yeah. In the next year.

00;36;19;01 - 00;37;02;13
Marisa
So when we think about like the pre and the current from the very technical, like the poster like right. Our sort of the planning process and then the, the current charge that we're sort of like engaging. I feel that this sort of aligns best kind of where my mind was, which seems to be a more staff centric approach not I mean, we are an academic institution, we are an employer, we sort of are many things, but to me the kind of belonging work that I think, well, I thought like would be most impactful to the immediate community.

00;37;02;16 - 00;37;42;15
Marisa
And that I think is really where the conversation was last week was like about us as a community of staff and like is the you know, is a cobbler's kid wearing shoes. Right? That we certainly want to continue to impact positively our relationship with students, ensuring that we continue to have a diverse and welcoming student body. But there are sort of in our previous charge, I think sort of included a lot of what we do as an academic institution and as an undergraduate college, which I sort of fully, fully support.

00;37;42;18 - 00;38;05;13
Marisa
I think that the conversation about being focus a little bit more us is also what we need because it's really easy to us putting your professional hats on and not it isn't really easy. And so to try to move that, that's obviously that's not true because it's really, really hard to sort of do our professional jobs and feel like there's an impact there.

00;38;05;16 - 00;38;38;20
Marisa
But I see kind of our universities belonging the initiative as being very internal focus. And I think that the items we last discussed at the meeting are really thinking about our development, our sense of like community within, not just community, right. Sort of with the other sort of populations that we work with. And so to me sort of feels like we are all kind of on that same page and like, Oh, is this also because I'm an h.r. and this is sort of what feels natural.

00;38;38;20 - 00;38;58;17
Marisa
And I think it's a yes, but if felt that I this was not sort of like I wasn't sort of managing up those responses, that this is what we had seen from our surveys. This is we had seen from our meeting and from the community Membership itself Committee membership itself. So I just felt sort of like it aligned.

00;38;58;19 - 00;39;11;23
Marisa
But I think that sort of staff impact and how do we make everyone feel that they are part of the community and have an equal opportunity to the resources of the community is really, really important.

00;39;11;29 - 00;39;42;23
Darice
So I'm wondering if we could talk a little bit more about your, um, you know, your current role as director of operations and has there so you've been in the role since April of this year, May. Um, has there again been, have any experiences sort of stood out for you over the last several months?

00;39;42;23 - 00;40;03;29
Darice
Like have there, is there something that, um, you know, just in terms of coming into this community, I mean, we, we're all here at Yale, but yeah, you know, have little pockets of communities and in different departments and areas. And I was just curious if there's like a memorable moment that stood out for you during your time so far.

00;40;05;08 - 00;40;34;07
Marisa
I will say that I corrected you just to give myself grace. I was like, Oh, it hasn't been that long. I don't know anything yet. Uh, sort of in terms of what has stood out. I came into the role, having been at Yale for a long time, having at one point been the h.r. Generals for Yale college. So, you know, like I think I know some things, and I knew that.

00;40;34;07 - 00;41;00;25
Marisa
I didn't know a lot of things, and I was right. I did not know. I did not know a lot of things, but that is I mean, it's like just the layers on the onions, Right? Peeling and peeling. I mean, to me, that's like. Great and fascinating. Right, Right. It's daunting on a bad day on most days, it's like really great and fascinating, but uh, sort of residential life.

00;41;00;25 - 00;41;31;23
Marisa
So I work very closely, sort of like on residential with our assistant directors of operations and who sort of work in all the 14 colleges and as you mentioned, with our partners and facilities and hospitality and sort of other large sort of service providers to the college. And I knew how much it takes to sort of move the ginormous wheel and rock that like doing all of this work is.

00;41;31;26 - 00;42;00;06
Marisa
But it's wild. It's wild how big and sort of small events, you know, by events, I don't mean like sort of like a party. I mean sort of like big like calendar activities because calendar activities and it's a lot of people, it's a lot of effort and it's astounding and amazing. Um, that like things that on the outside will look sort of like seamless.

00;42;00;06 - 00;42;33;17
Marisa
It's hard to know. I don't know like how students perceive them necessarily at this point, but the level of like passion and engagement that our staff have is so admirable to me. I feel like I've often worked with people that really love their jobs, but like our residential college staff, like all of them will sort of speak about like, you know, you know, the students in a way that is like so deeply connected, like they're so connected to the work that they are doing.

00;42;33;17 - 00;42;54;06
Marisa
And this is really all of our staff in the college. You feel like you're so I was walking around on move-in day and know how I wasn't doing anything. I was walking around. I've seen moving day so many times. Yes. And this year I sort of saw the lead up right? The insane amount of work.

00;42;54;09 - 00;43;20;03
Marisa
But then even the staff and it's just a long day and they've had like a crazy week leading up to it. But you literally, you could see how excited they are for the students to come in and they love it versus It's like quiet in the summer but like that sort of level of like connection to work to me feels like what it felt to work in like a small nonprofit.

00;43;20;03 - 00;43;42;22
Marisa
Of like feeling that like we are here. And I think it's hard for a lot of us. Like we are all here for the mission. Yeah. I've had many jobs across campus, but like, do you feel like how close you feel to that mission? And I think that our staff feel the closest, which makes us because we're at the very core of it.

00;43;42;24 - 00;44;09;14
Marisa
And it feels sort of quite special to sort of like see and watch that from the staff because, you know, like I'm sure all of us or a vast majority of us work because we have to. But that's sort of like find something they could cling on to to get through the bad days and then seeing that being their relationships with our students and with the residents of the college feels very impressive and just inspiring.

00;44;09;15 - 00;44;12;07
Marisa
like, okay, yeah.

00;44;12;09 - 00;44;35;14
Darice
That's awesome. Yes. Yeah. Like you said, it's at the core of what we're here for, right? And you're right, like when I interact with the college staff. Um, it's almost like the, the students are their kids, you know, like that. That's family. Like they, they know, you know, they get to know the students and, you know, work together and all of those things.

00;44;35;14 - 00;44;56;17
Darice
And, you know, that's the beauty of, of why we're here and seeing you know, it's like for example, for me, I'm more of you know, IT is a little more behind the scenes. We we don't interact as much with students but but it's nice to see what we're contributing to.

00;44;56;19 - 00;44;57;22
Marisa
Yeah. It feels tangible.

00;44;57;22 - 00;45;08;28
Darice
Yeah. Like, like what we do does, you know, it matters. And, you know, here's the, you know, the output of what, what we're doing. And yeah, it's so, it's a wonderful feeling.

00;45;08;28 - 00;45;32;20
Marisa
Yeah. And I'll say that it's certainly like the, the staff so of all of the staff that contributes to this and sort of contributes to the direct college experience. A vast majority of them, I don't have a reporting relationship too. So like our administrative staff our deans, but our facilities and custodial staff. So one of the things that I'm most excited about is senior week, not just because this semester.

00;45;32;22 - 00;46;05;15
Marisa
Not because the year will be over, but when I came in last year it was so I started in May, so it was really kind of like everyone's like on that high of all the celebration of the activities pre-commencement in I even when I worked in h.R. With facilities at hospitality I knew of senior week, i knew of senior dinners where our students are giving accolades to and gratitude to all of our staff that they work with, including and I always heard this like, including our custodial staff, including our dining hall staff.

00;46;05;17 - 00;46;26;13
Marisa
And now when I walk around campus like that's that is their community and you sort of I knew that intuitively and when I worked in diversity and inclusion, I worked with someone who was no longer at the university, John Armendariz. He was my director then and we had put together a proposal and jeez this was like ten years ago.

00;46;26;13 - 00;46;30;14
Marisa
It was like pre my son. So maybe 11 years ago.

00;46;30;14 - 00;46;31;01
Darice
Right, right.

00;46;31;08 - 00;47;02;01
Marisa
And it was a proposal to for a professional conference in our sort of pitch was that in order to get sort of results on student diversity and on student community, that our effort needed to be around staff diversity, right? That there's a lot of focus of like how do we diversify student populations? Um, and our pitch, which was not accepted at the conference, was around staff diversity that our students interact more with.

00;47;02;04 - 00;47;33;14
Marisa
And sort of studies show that our students not just walk around there. We have 10,000 staff, right? Right. Yeah. We don't have 10,000 faculty, right? And our students interact more with staff than they do with faculty than they do in some ways with one another. And that's really where they're sort of developing close relationships. And that in order to make the best decisions for that population, the people making the decisions also needed to be diverse.

00;47;33;19 - 00;47;52;06
Marisa
But then so that the students sort of feel a sense of like that community, that they needed to see a diverse staff and so we were not like our pitch was not selected. Maybe I'm still a little you know, I still have feelings about that. I think we were right and ahead of our time. Right? But I sort of see that now.

00;47;52;08 - 00;48;18;22
Marisa
I sort of see that kind of like in action in the impacts. Um, someone was mentioning the other day that a student, a former student, so they worked in one of the colleges, they are now retired that a former student invited them to their 40th birthday party. Which is amazing. Like that is. And so there continues to be this connection, but that's not surprising.

00;48;18;22 - 00;48;39;27
Marisa
Yeah. I mean, this is you are 18, between 17, 18, 19. Away from home. You have good friends, but sort of the adults in the space are also providing explicit and implicit critical services for the students. And you see, like you go into the dining halls like they know everyone's name.

00;48;39;29 - 00;48;40;21
Darice
I know it's so cool.

00;48;40;22 - 00;48;42;16
Marisa
And it's so impressive. I love that.

00;48;42;16 - 00;48;52;03
Darice
Me too. I really do. I'm always amazed. I, I happen to help work on the Yale. It's called Yale Faces.

00;48;52;03 - 00;48;52;14
Marisa
Okay.

00;48;52;18 - 00;49;21;27
Darice
Yeah. And you know, and we, the deans get to know and the head of colleges, heads of college colleges get to know all of the students. And I'm always just amazed that they can do that on top of their normal duties. And you know, figuring out their names and just getting to know them and where they're from and their interests and all these things.

00;49;21;27 - 00;49;39;29
Darice
And that amazes me. I mean, I have trouble remembering names myself, but to imagine for, you know, the amount of energy it would take to get to know a few hundred students and develop relationships with all of these students.

00;49;39;29 - 00;49;58;16
Marisa
ANd a sense of comfort, right? I mean, like often. Yeah, right. I mean, there's all the ways in which they interact. So a lot of students will be Student aids. But it's also like when you need something and where are you going to look for that comfort. Yeah. And that was provided to them. I'm sure that this person was not invited.

00;49;58;16 - 00;50;03;09
Marisa
Somebody's 40th birthday party because they were, you know.

00;50;03;11 - 00;50;04;29
Marissa
Dismissive of them right?

00;50;05;02 - 00;50;07;01
Marisa
Yeah. That's quite a marker.

00;50;07;02 - 00;50;07;12
Darice
Right.

00;50;07;17 - 00;50;08;10
Marisa
For someone.

00;50;08;10 - 00;50;25;19
Darice
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it kind of goes back to what you said earlier, just in terms of how you treat someone. It it has a lasting impact. I mean, for a 40th birthday party, that's I know, you know, 30, what is that like 20 or 30 years later that that person still remembers how you treat them?

00;50;25;20 - 00;50;32;15
Marisa
Like staff will get like announcements about engagement? Yes. I mean, it's to all the milestones

00;50;32;21 - 00;50;35;12
Darice
Right. That's awesome.

00;50;35;14 - 00;50;36;00
Marisa
Yeah.

00;50;36;02 - 00;50;55;03
Darice
And that's an awesome feeling because. And I think that's why I don't really know the statistics about, you know, staff in longevity and in the colleges or anything like that. But I do know that when I came on board to your college in that and so I've been in your college for 12 years.

00;50;55;06 - 00;51;24;05
Darice
But I know the college staff had already had already been working in the colleges for decades for some of them. And then you see why? Because it's, you know, it's just this long term relationship that they develop with students and kind of going. One other point I wanted to come back to that you made is just it's unfortunate that your proposal wasn't wasn't accepted.

00;51;24;05 - 00;51;52;11
Darice
But, you know, it brought up a great point that having a diverse staff is important to students because it kind of links all the way back to that, you know, feeling of belonging when you see people who are like you in various roles, various, you know, modes here on it makes a huge difference in terms of their feeling of belonging here on campus.

00;51;52;11 - 00;52;06;00
Darice
And, you know, I think that's important. And like you said, in terms of our staff development and developing a diverse staff and having different faces all over.

00;52;06;00 - 00;52;23;04
Marisa
Even that sense of like modeling and like professional opportunities right? That we're all looking around and up like we're constantly assessing. I think like at our sort of deep core we're sensing, is this place a threat or is this place not a threat? Right.

00;52;23;06 - 00;52;23;16
Darice
Yes.

00;52;23;17 - 00;52;29;10
Marisa
Yeah, I think we're always doing that. Like the amount of energy. I feel like I should be way thinner. The amount of anything.

00;52;29;10 - 00;52;30;08
Darice
Could only be that easy.

00;52;30;08 - 00;53;00;15
Marisa
Yeah, right. Yeah. If my anxiety maybe. I don't know. But I think we're sort of all of us, we're always assessing that. And some of us more than others, and many more than me at any given time. And how do we kind of create that space? Because me telling somebody that like, oh, I accept everyone, etc., sort of all the platitudes around sort of creating a space are quite different than how I actually kind of engage, right?

00;53;00;15 - 00;53;29;27
Marisa
My behaviors are very different than my claims. And, and it's those behaviors that we're always watching for one another. And that certainly is true for students. Yes. Yes. Um, I'm coming into a role where I'm working sort of broadly in operations closely with the residential colleges. I was not a student in residence and to me it's a 41 year old me is like anxious about 17 year old me coming to a place like this.

00;53;29;27 - 00;53;59;26
Marisa
Right? And I mean, I was anxious, but I was a commuting student. Yeah, but even as we think about, like our population, we're increasing the number of students who are first year college students and the playbook just over a generation. You don't have kind of like a playbook to resources or sort of somebody that even in your own family or your network that is like, Oh, this is how you got this right.

00;53;59;26 - 00;54;11;01
Marisa
So like, a lot of what we're doing is also stepping back and how do we ensure that everybody has the information?  It's there, but you know where it is.

00;54;11;01 - 00;54;11;23
Darice
And who to ask.

00;54;11;26 - 00;54;37;28
Marisa
Write and who to ask and a lot of it is how do we also then sort of support the continued evolving student body that we have. As generations have different needs and different focuses, but certainly like being a first generation college student is very different. And I was going to say has to be, but I was a first generation college student.

00;54;38;00 - 00;55;07;08
Marisa
It just is like you are. You don't always have a network that exists in other places are just like a spoken language around a lot of what happens through college. Gosh, when I think about like my college high school to college process and where my parents were very supportive but very limited in terms of like they were very supportive and they're like, Yes, you should, you could.

00;55;07;11 - 00;55;08;10
Darice
Yeah

00;55;08;11 - 00;55;14;09
Marisa
Yeah, but like, no recently at all about what any of that how the how to.

00;55;14;09 - 00;55;18;05
Darice
How to make the resources right. Yeah yeah yeah.

00;55;18;06 - 00;55;28;28
Marisa
And I mean they also like we're not English there's a lot of factors but then also kind of not knowing the system like about applications and all.

00;55;29;00 - 00;55;31;23
Darice
Like the process and who do I got to.

00;55;31;23 - 00;55;37;20
Marisa
I didn't even know that people did college tours. I thought it was like one of the new wave things like, Oh I.

00;55;37;21 - 00;56;07;19
Darice
When I think back, oh my gosh, when I think back to my my experience and I was a commuting students who and yeah, you know, there were so many things I didn't know and this is a conversation I had with with my other guests this week. I was introverted and shy. I some things I managed to figure out along the way, but I feel like I missed out on so much because I just didn't I was I didn't know who to ask or who to talk to.

00;56;07;22 - 00;56;33;20
Darice
And the way things were structured, if you weren't like sort of an extroverted, you know, loud, you know. Student then no one really paid attention to you and, you know, so there could be all sorts of events and things going on and yeah, if you talked a lot or you, you know, you happen to come by and pester the person in the office frequently they took care of you.

00;56;33;20 - 00;56;53;23
Darice
But if you were really shy there, there really wasn't anything. So, I feel like I, I missed out on so much because I wasn't on campus, you know, I commuted and I just didn't know. I didn't know who to talk to or who to ask. And and I had this very same or similar conversation with my prior guests.

00;56;53;23 - 00;57;30;10
Darice
And in terms of our roles and responsibilities here at Yale College for, you know, not excluding the ones that that are okay with advocating for themselves. Yeah, but, you know, like not forgetting about students who are in that kind of situation and what that must feel like. And you know, whatever we can do to, to help them in that process so that they know what the resources are and know who to ask, you know, questions or where to go.

00;57;30;10 - 00;57;34;18
Darice
And, you know, all of those things. I can I can only imagine how scary it is.

00;57;34;18 - 00;57;59;12
Marisa
Yeah. My husband tells me all the time he's reserved and introverted about how the world really just is is meant for the extroverted. Yes. It's kind of like the right handed, right? Everyday people. Absolutely. Absolutely. Even our son is still like in his fifth grade school. They still have you don't have individual desks. I mean, you have your desk, but

00;57;59;12 - 00;57;59;26
Marisa
Everything is grouped.

00;57;59;26 - 00;58;00;21
Darice
Grouped. Yes.

00;58;00;21 - 00;58;11;02
Marisa
You know, he's like, wow. Yeah. You know, to him, it's my son is not introverted. Actually, the group setting is probably.

00;58;11;05 - 00;58;12;03
Darice
It's good for.

00;58;12;05 - 00;58;28;09
Marisa
The shock thing perhaps. Yes. But I could see that every time we go into the classroom, I can see the pain on my husband's face. They really had to sit in a group, you know, to do his work. He just wants to do his work by himself. But this is I certainly cannot take any credit because I learned of it sort of on the role.

00;58;28;09 - 00;58;36;14
Marisa
But even our Yale camp. So like when the students come in for orientation week, there was a camp for it was called Reserved for Introverted students.

00;58;36;14 - 00;58;55;14
Darice
But I was so happy when I saw that. That's awesome. Yeah, I was like, I wish that that could have been around. You know, when I when I went to school because, uh, that's so important. Because, like I said, you miss out on so much because you're just kind of cool, you know, you start to isolate yourself and you're shy.

00;58;55;16 - 00;59;05;27
Darice
Um, and like I said, you don't know who to ask for various resources or. Or you don't even know what to ask because you don't even know if it exists or not.

00;59;05;29 - 00;59;24;16
Marisa
Right. Yeah. You don't know what, like how to advocate or push. Yeah. Um, so you might not believe this, but I wasn't necessarily shy in college, but it was also where, like, there was, you know, when you sign up for classes, I just signed up for what I liked. I didn't even talk to a counselor.

00;59;24;16 - 00;59;25;02
Darice
Really?

00;59;25;06 - 00;59;42;09
Marisa
Yes. I was really not in high school. Not in college. I was. So I my first two years were amazing. I was doing, like, all high level classes, like small seminars, and it was the best really. And they were like, you know, have to do this.

00;59;42;09 - 00;59;42;20
Darice
And they let you.

00;59;42;20 - 00;59;53;06
Marisa
There was no restrictions. There's no restriction. Oh, like I did my first year in the spring. I did a pre law class, a pre law seminar.

00;59;53;06 - 00;59;53;15
Darice
Oh my.

00;59;53;15 - 01;00;15;14
Marisa
Goodness. So great. Yeah, so, so, so great. We went to D.C., we saw the Supreme Court and it was amazing. Yeah, everyone else was. There were third or fourth years and I was like, that's right i'm cool. So it was I loved it. Yeah. But then, like the rude awakening of you actually have to do things that you don't like, which is although one.

01;00;15;14 - 01;00;16;19
Darice
on one.

01;00;16;20 - 01;00;20;26
Marisa
I was doing that my third year and it was like it so boring. Yeah.

01;00;20;28 - 01;00;21;23
Darice
I can imagine.

01;00;21;28 - 01;00;33;14
Marisa
But I just liked it. So to me it was always like, oh no one said that I couldn't. I was like, good times. Like thinking like, I mean, I also had plenty of more conventional fun in college.

01;00;33;17 - 01;00;34;10
Darice
Yeah, yeah.

01;00;34;13 - 01;00;37;08
Marisa
But I loved these like, classes.

01;00;37;08 - 01;00;37;20
Darice
Yeah.

01;00;37;21 - 01;00;38;18
Marisa
Is the best.

01;00;38;19 - 01;00;39;18
Darice
That's, um.

01;00;39;20 - 01;00;43;13
Marisa
I had to wrap up my year with all the boring stuff, Right.

01;00;43;15 - 01;00;47;15
Darice
Those are the. Oh, man. When I think back to that, I remember those days.

01;00;47;17 - 01;00;48;06
Darice
When.

01;00;48;08 - 01;00;54;09
Darice
You kind of push off, you know, you postpone as long as you can until they say, Oh, no, you have to fulfill this requirement.

01;00;54;09 - 01;00;59;28
Marisa
Yes. So it never kept me from doing the classes that I wanted. But then it would've kept me from graduating.

01;00;59;28 - 01;01;02;16
Darice
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like you have to do it.

01;01;02;20 - 01;01;06;21
Marisa
Like do I really need to do this? And they're like, Yes, why wouldn't you?

01;01;06;22 - 01;01;48;26
Darice
Right, Right. Yeah. But yeah, that's great. Oh, man. Well, Marissa, it has been a pleasure. Um, you know, again, just getting to know you even more. Even beyond our few conversations we had over the summer. Um, so, you know, we're at our, our now, and I'd like to wrap up with a couple of things that, that you mentioned early on and just throughout the whole conversation, you know, giving yourself grace that that has come up, that's been a frequent topic that has come up with my past guests and it's important, right?

01;01;48;26 - 01;02;21;03
Darice
Like we all miss step, right? We all miss step and we figure out what that misstep is or what that missed step may have been and hopefully learn from it. And, you know, I loved your story that you shared early with with your experience here at Yale. And it goes to show you that, you know, people make mistakes or, you know, things happen, but you can always turn turn it back around and turn it into something positive.

01;02;21;06 - 01;02;36;19
Darice
So just wondering if you have anything that you like to you know, a final note that you'd like to share or any ideas that you'd like to share about the podcast or, you know, your time here at Yale College or anything like that, that we could end up.

01;02;36;21 - 01;02;46;09
Marisa
Um, well, I'll say that I, I really appreciate this opportunity. Um, so, perfect setting for me to talk about myself. Thank you.

01;02;46;11 - 01;02;46;24
Darice
And that's the goal.

01;02;46;24 - 01;03;11;24
Marisa
Yeah, but I love this opportunity. And I really now I, as I sort of shared off my waiting, I was waiting for my session before I listened to the other. Did you, as an avid podcast. I'm very excited to listen to to the other recordings that you have. I just didn't, you know, want to feel less than when I showed up to the mic.

01;03;11;26 - 01;03;34;02
Marisa
But I think that this is great and sort of around what I think our DEIB committee is looking to do, which is how do we know each other better? How do we understand each other better, especially in a place like Yale where it's relationship driven? Um, and which I think is fine and good. I don't mean that as sort of a pejorative.

01;03;34;02 - 01;03;51;25
Marisa
I think that, like, you know, we need the relationships. And I think that a lot of us sort of we just sort of want to be on the right side of those relationships feeling understood and heard. And I think that a lot of that goes to understanding your colleagues. So you're providing a perfect vehicle for that. And I really appreciate it.

01;03;51;27 - 01;03;59;16
Marisa
And I don't know that I have any wisdom to sort of that actually was to wrap. Yeah, yeah. This was great.

01;03;59;21 - 01;04;20;12
Darice
That was great. And yes, absolutely that was the the goal, you know, of trying to create this podcast and even going back to that whole, you know, introverted student And like I said, I'm still kind of introverted. So this is this is stepping outside of my comfort zone.

01;04;20;12 - 01;04;41;02
Marisa
But you also did it in a very smart way, which is like from a controlling way, right? Right. Where like your ask, I find that this is you knowing yourself and knowing how to push right in a in a way that you're creating something new and valuable. Is I think you are very smart. Like this was great for us and I think great for you.

01;04;41;02 - 01;04;45;23
Marisa
But I think that it was a very smart way of thinking about your strengths versus. Yeah.

01;04;45;26 - 01;05;16;25
Darice
It's, it's helped me in different ways just in terms of my professional development, but also just in terms of my relationships with my colleagues and folks that I've I've interviewed so far on the podcast. Um, you know, it's, I always try to remember that daily, you know, no matter what my interactions may be. And some, you know, sometimes these interactions can be, you know, they're positive or negative or not, you know, medium, you know, somewhere in the middle.

01;05;16;28 - 01;05;39;14
Darice
Um, you just never you don't know everyone's background until you have a chance to have a conversation with them. You don't know what they could be going through, you know, on a daily basis. And, you know, I try to remember that and give grace, like you said, to to folks, because you know, we probably see more of each other than we do our own families.

01;05;39;14 - 01;06;16;16
Darice
So we kind of, you know, we need some sort of relationship in a positive way to do what we do. And and and we're, you know, here for the students. So, um, so yeah, I'm going to end on that note. Again, just being able to create a safe space so that people can come here and share things about themselves and feel comfortable enough to share things that, you know, maybe some folks would hesitate to share whatever their, you know, stumbles may have been along the way.

01;06;16;16 - 01;06;36;12
Darice
But, I appreciate that you were willing to share that with me today because that tells me a lot more about you and that was the goal here. Right. So thank you so much. Again, 'm looking forward to getting to know you even more during our work on the on the committee.

01;06;36;12 - 01;06;40;09
Marisa
I love our residential college dining halls. They're a great place.

01;06;40;09 - 01;06;41;04
Darice
Yes.

01;06;41;06 - 01;06;52;02
Marisa
To eat and talk and get to know one another. Yeah. Two of our residential colleges have great coffee shops. Run coffee shops. Had a great cortado at Silliman yesterday.

01;06;52;03 - 01;06;52;21
Darice
Did you?

01;06;52;22 - 01;06;53;14
Marisa
Yes.

01;06;53;16 - 01;06;56;08
Darice
I'll have to stop by. I haven't been there in a while.

01;06;56;11 - 01;06;58;07
Marisa
Yeah, have you been to acorn?

01;06;58;10 - 01;07;07;04
Darice
I've been to acorn. And what's the other one? The bean? No, I haven't been there. Interesting. Do they have a clover?

01;07;07;06 - 01;07;08;03
Darice
I'm kidding.

01;07;08;06 - 01;07;13;15
Darice
So I oversee. For those who don't know, I oversee clover for the colleges.

01;07;13;17 - 01;07;21;08
Marisa
When you said clover I thought like logo. Oh, yeah. Colleges have, like, their animal. Right? Right. And I was like, Oh, I think I know the one place that does that know.

01;07;21;15 - 01;07;44;22
Darice
Okay. Yes, yes, you do know. Yeah, I have to stop in. And I when I first saw the acorn, I was like, this is, you know, again, thinking back to my 18 year old self, I was like, This is so cool. I would have loved to be involved with just building something like this. And, you know, and that makes me happy because it's like, okay, I contributed to that in some way.

01;07;44;22 - 01;07;51;00
Darice
So yeah, I have to, I have to stop. I wish I was just a little closer to my office.

01;07;51;03 - 01;07;51;27
Marisa
Not so far.

01;07;52;00 - 01;07;56;05
Darice
I know, but in the moment, as you know, when you're running around with kids in the morning.

01;07;56;08 - 01;07;59;15
Marisa
Oh, yes. I'm not sure they would be open that early.

01;07;59;15 - 01;08;03;21
Darice
Oh, really? Oh, right, because it's run by students, right?

01;08;03;24 - 01;08;15;11
Marisa
Oh yeah. I will say that maybe we can make us like a common goal. Yeah. I don't know if you're interested in this the college tease. I always want to go to more of those.

01;08;15;12 - 01;08;16;05
Darice
I would love to.

01;08;16;05 - 01;08;17;14
Marisa
At 15 years I've been saying this.

01;08;17;14 - 01;08;20;07
Darice
Yes, I've been saying that, too.

01;08;20;07 - 01;08;24;00
Marisa
Yes. So let's get at least one together this academic year.

01;08;24;00 - 01;08;47;21
Darice
Absolutely. Yes, I would love to. Yes. Let me know. I'm in count me in. Okay. That's awesome. So, again, thank you so much, Marissa. As you know, we've posted the we're posting the episodes on the Yale College site, but we're also now available on Spotify, Apple and SoundCloud. So make sure you follow us and also on Instagram.

01;08;47;23 - 01;09;09;12
Darice
So yes, follow, please follow. Likes all that great stuff. Yeah, follow like share. Yeah. And again, thank you so, so much. You know, I really appreciate getting to know you more. And you know, again, this has been great for me because I love getting to know people and, you know, my extended family here at Yale. So.

01;09;09;15 - 01;09;11;28
Marisa
Yeah. Thank you.