Celebrating Black History Month: An Interview with Stephanie Payne

In honor of this Black History Month, we spoke with Stephanie Payne, Chief HR Officer, Sodexo, North America. Payne grew up in a largely white suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She was the only Black girl in her high school graduating class. Below, she tells us about the value of her experience at Spelman College – a historically Black institution – and more about what it’s like to be a Black HR leader in this moment.

Interviewer: Where did you grow up? Did you feel that you grew up immersed in Black community? How did community, or lack thereof, shape your identity?

Stephanie Payne: I grew up in Sheffield Village, Ohio – a suburb of Cleveland and a mostly white community. In fact, I didn’t have a Black neighbor until 2006, when I was much older. I grew up going to a white Catholic school, with white neighbors. In high school, I was one of less than twenty Black students and the only Black girl in my graduating class.

But my grandmother lived in a Black community. On the weekends, I’d get to go to my grandma’s house, where I had Black friends, friends I was able to grow up with, and that was one of the main reasons that I chose to apply to Spelman – a historically black college. In retrospect, I think I wanted to know what it would feel like to be immersed in Black community – to not be othered. My aunt had recently moved to Atlanta, and she told me about Spelman. I visited the college, and it ended up being the only school I applied to. I’m glad I got in.

Interviewer: Tell me about your parents. What aspects of their personalities define who you are today?

Stephanie Payne: Growing up, my dad was a long-haul truck driver, and my mom was at home, taking care of us. As we got a little older, my mom went back to school and got her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She started working part time, during periods when my dad was home. I’d say that seeing both of them work so hard definitely shaped the work ethic that I have today.

My mom always said she had everything she needed as a kid, but nothing extra. She wanted to give her kids that “extra.” I’m always open about the fact that mine isn’t a rags-to-riches story: I grew up really middle class; my family traveled; I always had lunch money. I always had everything I needed and stuff I didn’t even realize I wanted or needed. Whenever people tell me that my parents must be so proud of me, I say, sure they are, but this is also what I was supposed to do; I’m not doing anything that my parents didn’t expect of me. I didn’t pull myself up by my bootstraps – they did.

Interviewer: What can you tell me about your experience at Spelman College? What were the benefits of attending an HBCU?

Stephanie Payne: I met my lifelong friends at Spelman. When I think about college, that’s what I think of: my five best friends. We refer to each other as the Fab Five. I just got off the phone with one of them!

The other really important aspect of my experience at Spelman was, of course, the fact that I had never been around so many Black people in my life. And these students came from families like mine – other people who lived a basic, middle-class life, just like me – across the country. Each of the Fab Five, for example, lived someplace else: Chicago, D.C., Minnesota, California and New Orleans.

We would travel to each other’s houses and meet each other’s families – all of that definitely shaped who I am today. It gave me a chance to get comfortable in my own skin. I wasn’t really comfortable in my own skin in high school. The joke was always that I wasn’t “really” Black. But at Spelman, I got to see for myself that there wasn’t just one way to be Black. And I grew a lot more confident in my identity as a Black woman. It gave me a chance to get comfortable with exactly who I am.

Interviewer: What is it like to be a Black HR leader in this moment, having to navigate your own feelings and experience, while also supporting all of Sodexo North America to establish programs, initiatives and other supports that address racial inequities and attract minority talent?

Stephanie Payne: When I think about my childhood, I can say that my struggles were probably molehills to other people. But I’m incredibly aware of Black pain and struggle in our country today; I’m not immune to what’s going on. Sometimes, I truly cannot believe what’s happening in our world. And to be honest, it was always happening – it’s just on video now.

The challenge that I have in this role is having to figure out what I can do – what’s enough for me to do or say – without disenfranchising people in the organization who might not identify with those sentiments. There are 100,000 of us. It’s a really delicate balance to achieve, and it’s a tricky position to navigate. You always end up feeling like you’re not doing enough.

Interviewer: Could you speak about some of the initiatives and programs that Sodexo North America has in place to provide support for minority employees?

Stephanie Payne: I can’t speak highly enough of our minority focused employee business resource groups (EBRGs) at Sodexo. Our EBRGs are there to provide our marginalized employees development, training, comradery, community, education – all of it. We’re continuing to invest everything we can into our EBRGs, and they’re the number one resource I’d suggest for all our minority employees. Beyond that, a truly inclusive culture means holding people, especially leaders, accountable for their behavior. My priority is ensuring that we’re all modeling behavior that contributes to a safe, inclusive culture.

Interviewer: What advice can you offer Black women in corporate America having to juggle their careers and their families? How do you manage to find “rest” amidst all of this?

Stephanie Payne: This might sound cliché, but, sometimes, you just have to decide you’re important enough. People will take every ounce of what you give them – at work and at home. A while back, someone told me that when you’re having a hard time managing your priorities, you’ve got to consider what’s actually going to matter to you in ten years.

I can remember undergoing surgery a few years ago – surgery that required me to out for six weeks – and I was so worried that the downtime was going to knock me off my career track. It’s so important to stress that we want people to rest, to go on vacation, to take the time they need. And I try to model that behavior as much as I can today. Sometimes I feel bad when I have time to rest, but I have to remind myself to prioritize self-care. There’s no magic solution when it comes to prioritizing yourself. You just have to decide that you’re important enough to make the decisions that work best for you.