Influential Woman · Entertainment Sports

Cheyenne Inman

Director of People & Culture, Utah Jazz

Salt Lake City, UT

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Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration Degree Utah State University Degree May 2020 Degree Master's of Human Resources Degree Utah State University (online professional program) Cert SHRM Member Member Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Her Story

About Cheyenne

As Director of People and Culture, my main responsibilities revolve around performance management, employee relations, compensation, and general HR support - it's kind of all over the place. I work for a centralized HR department that supports Delta Center, Utah Jazz, Utah Mammoth, and all the entities that fall into that, including the pro basketball and hockey teams in Utah as well as the arena. The organization I work for is really exciting because they're very committed to sports and entertainment and growing here in Utah. I'm excited to grow with the organization and as we continue to grow and take on more employees, I want to continue to touch all the different areas of HR and really be the best partner with all of our entities and departments to give them the best HR support possible. I've been fortunate to work in an environment where, even though pro sports is more male-dominated, especially on the player operations side with coaches, trainers, and staff, on the business side we have a lot of women in leadership roles. My department right now is all women, and I've really never felt like the male leadership has been disrespectful or dismissive at all.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Cheyenne

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think really trying to take on as much responsibility as I could, even if it didn't fall directly in line with my job description. Even when I was a recruiter, I was looking for ways to try and learn about the different areas of HR, and I continued to let my boss know that I'm willing to take on more, I'm willing to do more. Anything that you want to show me how to do, anything that you want me to take on, I'll take on. A couple years ago, I took on our Culture of Inclusion Committee, and I lead out on that now, and that was just something that the person who was previously leading out on it had left, and I volunteered to take it on. So definitely always continuing to learn and be open to learning, I think, is the biggest thing. And not limiting yourself. Having a really good attitude also, because if you complain about your work a lot, then people aren't typically going to give you more work. We have a few values here, and one of them is one team, and I think that really embodies my approach.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

It can be difficult at times to build credibility when you're first stepping into just the professional workplace in general. Every interaction that you have with leaders in the organization, with different departments, with your manager, it's really important that people trust you. So do everything that you can to be trustworthy by meeting deadlines, and especially in HR and our line of work, keeping confidential information confidential. Just make sure that you're making good impressions, and the way that you talk, even to your coworkers, affects the way that people perceive you, so just make sure that you're always showing good character. I think it's really important that you advocate for yourself, and that you make your presence known, and that you voice your opinions. I think that's important everywhere.

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