Her Story
About Courtney
Courtney Carpineti serves as Global Employee and Community Manager at Schaeffler Automotive in Virginia. In this role, she coordinates the organization's full global ERG program, ensuring governance, structure, and resources for six global communities while supporting event coordination, stakeholder engagement, membership growth, and leader development across a workforce of approximately 100,000 employees. With close to 20 years of experience in HR and four years focused on DE&I, Carpineti began her career in staffing performing recruiting and onboarding duties before moving into account management, where she serviced 40 to 50 manufacturing clients, including Continental Automotive. This led to a formal HR position at Continental, where she launched the company's first global diversity council at a manufacturing facility and began leading ERGs. She transitioned into her current position managing the complete ERG program following a corporate merger. Carpineti holds a bachelor's degree in business and previously affiliated with the Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion, and Advancement (CADIA), where she contributed to an inclusive culture recognized with several industry awards and received an individual award for systemic change. She attributes her success to her ability to connect with people and build rapport and trust, a skill honed through early work as a bartender and server, and she values kindness, integrity, character, and trust in both her professional and personal life.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Courtney
01What do you attribute your success to?
My ability to connect with people has driven all of my success. I have an ability to connect with people easily and build rapport and trust with them. That's really the key to any relationship. Especially with what I'm doing now, 90% of the people that I work with daily I've never even met before, but I feel like we have very close and sometimes very deep relationships. I started out as a bartender and server, and clearly you learn how to connect with people in those types of roles. That's probably the primary thread throughout my career that's allowed me to be successful.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Be true to yourself and be authentic. Don't feel like you have to conform. Bring your full self to work. It takes so much more energy trying to hide or conform to different things. A mentor really encouraged that with me, and it lent to some of the confidence that I've built over the last years.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't let fear lead you. Have courage. Don't undersell yourself, and know your worth. Have the confidence to know that you belong in every room, and there's space for you there. Even when sometimes it might feel that there's not. It can be scary, but push forward despite barriers, believe in yourself, and just have that confidence. If you gotta bring your own chair to the table, pull it up.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge for sure is the current administration and an ever-changing landscape for DE&I topics. Rolling out this program for a new company and trying to understand what the culture of the new company will look like and working to adapt what we're doing to that culture. The current climate impacts everything. People are becoming more comfortable being open that they're against certain topics and being very brash about it, which can trickle into the workplace. How do we create a space where everybody's voices are heard but also try to educate and bring some new perspectives? Some days it feels like you're just banging your head against a wall.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Kindness, integrity, your character, and trust are most important to me.
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