-: So my name's Melanie Munoz, and I'm the Director
of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Crate and Barrel.
So that means a lot of things.
It's the people side, it's the customer side,
and it's our commitment to creating an inclusive
organization that helps us meet our vision and mission
of helping our customers inspire home with purpose.
It's really a strategic role.
So you're thinking of how are we operating
and living to our values internally,
and how does potentially your consumer or customer
experience that when they walk
into one of your establishments.
And so, literally my day-to-day could be anywhere
from, you know, what training and education
are we providing to our employees so they can show up
inclusively and our diverse employees can be successful
within our organization.
But it can also be partnering with one of our collaborators
or influencers, like celebrity partnerships as well
to see, okay, who do we need to partner with
in order for our customers to see themselves
in the designs and in our product?
So one of my biggest responsibilities is
we have a commitment in partnership to specifically,
it's called the 15% pledge to work with black designers,
vendors, and also to make sure that we're representative
of our communities.
And so part of my role is more in the HR function
where we're really looking at the people and processes
side of things and making sure, again, with representation,
do we have representation in our organization?
Can people thrive within our organization?
And what kind of environment are we creating?
And then the other side is really looking at
how are we showing up in the marketplace?
Is diversity and inclusion in equity?
Do all people have access to a Crate and Barrel?
So you do travel because, you know, any organization
has like a home base or a headquarters,
Covid has changed a lot.
So we do travel to our different locations
and to conferences and things like that
to be able to like really be a face for the brand.
But also, you know, we do pop-ups in the stores
and distribution centers,
because if we're not with our employees or associates
and really making sure that we hear their voices
and they know who we are as well, there's a disconnect.
So there does require some travel,
but it's mostly a nine to five job,
unless you know there's some special opportunities
or events and things like that.