50 Leading Women: Tatsumi Paredes

In honor and celebration of our Women’s Division‘s 50th Anniversary, we will be spotlighting 50 Leading Women making an impact, raising their voice, and leading the next generation of women in the workforce and Plano community.

Introducing, Tatsumi Paredes, Senior Manager – Diversity and Inclusion for Toyota. Tatsumi Paredes is people leader who is an expert in shaping and influencing corporate culture. Her background includes over 25 years of experience in the automotive industry within marketing, communications, branding, sales, strategy, dealer relations, human resources and diversity and inclusion. She is passionate about creating a safe space where people can be their authentic selves, unlocking their full potential to make an impact every day.

1. Describe your leadership style and how you lead others.

I am a servant leader. I encourage my team to develop a future vision that is better than today and outcomes they want to see as a result of their work.  Then I help them develop a strategy to turn their vision into reality.  I truly believe we can do amazing things together!

2. How can women develop their leadership skills in the workforce?

I have found much success in having an accountability partner. An accountability partner is a person you trust who will make sure you are accountable for a goal you identify for yourself. Upon receiving feedback that I was minimizing my own thoughts and contributions I made it a point to practice speaking with more confidence. First on my list was working on voice inflections. After every meeting where my accountability partner was also in attendance, I asked her to give me feedback. What did she observe that demonstrated more confidence? Anything I should stop doing? Any other suggestions of how I might present myself differently in the future? These conversations only took 5 to 10 minutes…but made an impact that lasted much longer. So pick one skill you want to work on – find an accountability partner – and keep working on it. There is so much value in helping each other learn and grow.

3. What are the most important decisions you make as a leader?

The most important decision I make as a leader every day is choosing how I show up. I am a leader whose highest priority is to create a safe space for team members to bring their full selves to work. I try my best to walk the walk by being vulnerable and practicing inclusive leader behaviors.

 4. What has been one of your biggest joys as a leader?

Mentoring is an important aspect of Toyota culture. In every mentoring relationship I ask my mentee to identify a goal that they want to achieve. It became clear to me that I had experiences and insights that I could draw upon as well as some instances where I was not able to give advice – but I always knew someone else in my vast network who had the expertise my mentee needed. Then it hit me! I was going to leverage diversity of thoughts to help my mentees.

Within days I formed a virtual group mentoring experiment where nobody else knew who was in the group and everyone was expected to share their advice to help each participant achieve their goal. One by one the mentees were able to achieve their goal via this expanded network and I was so proud to help them along their journey. Within 2 years all mentees achieved their goals!  My best days involve helping others turn their impossible ideas into reality.

5. What strategies could be used to promote inclusion in the workplace?

Diversity of thought is absolutely critical to developing the best solutions that meet the needs of our customers. I make it a habit to practice inclusion by inviting quieter people to the conversation…inviting them to share their thoughts with the team.  It is my intention that each person feels that their contributions are highly valued.

6. What advice would you give your 25-year-old self?

Embrace the twists and turns that life presents you. Take the risks because it means someone believes in your and your potential.

7. What advice can you give to the next generation of female leaders?

Aim high and aspire to achieve your wildest dreams. Think about how you can help others and your organization as a leader.  The higher you go the less it is about your own personal success and more about what you can do as a leader to uplift and elevate others to truly created shared impact.

8. Who inspired you and why?

Mrs. Sakurai – my third grade teacher. Mrs. Love – my fifth grade teacher.  Mrs. Andrews my high school Spanish teacher.  All three of these amazing women always made me feel like I was the most important person in the room.  They encouraged me to think big about the future.  They always asked how I was doing and gave me the help I needed to keep getting better and better.  And their best gift was the gift of positivity.  These leaders have inspired me to always stay positive and believe in others.

9. What do you want to be remembered for? 

I’d like to be remembered as a leader who helped people accomplish things they never thought they could do.