Her Story
About Iris
I started my retail career at Target, and now I've come back full circle to Target again. In my previous role at Sophia, I had a global function that required a lot of travel for work. I'm professionally on the advisory board for Emory University for their MBA program and their Master's in Business Analytics (MSBA) program, and I've been on the board for several years now. I'm very passionate about building young talent and developing talent pipelines. I'm very active in collaborating with universities, sponsoring their capstone projects, and getting interns to work with our teams. I share with interns and young professionals that as much as they learn from us, we are learning from them too. We want a fresh perspective on how they look at our programs and how data science works, and how they can keep the team up to speed on new technology and new skills. The leaders I had when I started at Target really helped shape how I lead, their care for people and talent, and how they interact with stakeholders and translate analytics and data into something that business can act on. Those experiences have been super influential on me and have had an impact on how I grow to lead, how I build my team, and how I develop talent.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Iris
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I don't think this is specific to women, but to anyone who's starting new in any industry as a young professional: don't be afraid to offer your opinions and don't be afraid to share your perspective. I share with interns and young professionals who are new on the team or in the industry that as much as they learn from us, we are learning from them too. We want a fresh perspective on how they look at our programs, how they look at how data science works, and how they can keep the team up to speed on new technology and new skills. I think everybody has a seat at the table. Your opinion, even though you're new to the industry, young, early career, your opinion is as important as everybody else at the table. So don't be afraid, be brave and be courageous in asking questions, in getting help, in building your networks. We don't expect everybody to know everything. It's about having the aptitude for continuous learning, being curious, and being on the lookout for new things and thinking about how that could help improve what we do.
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