Melanie Boyce Shares Her Journey in Corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pt. I
In this article, Melanie's insight proves helpful for students out there in Diversity and Analytics.
By Norrell Edwards — July 19, 2023
This is the second interview in this series where I talk with friends of mine about their career trajectories. Interviews generally cover an overview of the individual's current position, their reflections on how their college experiences prepared them (or didn't!) for their current position and other career related advice. I hope Melanie's insight proves helpful for students out there in Diversity and Analytics.
Melanie Boyce is currently manager of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging on the Data & Governance Team at Capital One. Melanie received her Bachelors of Arts from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in New York City followed by a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom (U.K.).
An overview of Melanie's career trajectory: Melanie graduated from college in 2013 then worked two years at a law firm. After working at the firm Melanie went back to school for her Master's degree. After completing her Master's, she spent a year working at Cambridge University in the U.K. When returning to the U.S, Melanie spent about 1.5 years unemployed before finally landing a job in diversity at media giant NBCUniversal. Melanie spent four years at NBC before transitioning to her current position.
Translating Education to the Workplace
Dr. Norrell Edwards:
From both degrees you received, did you imagine that you'd head in this trajectory? From what you were doing in school to what you're doing now.Melanie:
I always knew I was extremely passionate about diversity, particularly in the arts. That's where my research interests lay. So, what I based my honors thesis on. My thesis was on the lack of diversity in NYC Ballet companies, particularly in regard to Black dancers. At that time, I didn't know I could turn that into a career.M:
My basis for my studies in college (Sociology and Geography) wasn't so much about what job I was going to get, but what I was interested in. Those interests were very intersectional. I think if I had graduated now, I would have been really primed for all the diversity jobs popping up everywhere. In 2013 the field just didn't exist yet.N:
What about your Master's? Let's talk more about how that plays into your career trajectory.M:
I was at a law firm for two years because at one point I had thought I wanted to do law. I eventually decided I wanted to continue the studies I started in undergrad. It would turn out Oxford had a more quantitative Sociology department. I had done a lot of qualitative research in undergrad like interviews, literature reviews, focus groups...things of that nature. Thankfully Oxford paired me with a wonderful advisor that was really encouraging and ready to help me make a quantitative project.M:
I was able to still have a project focused on that arts, but with a quantitative angle. Now my research question was: did dancers of color sell more ticket seats at the Royal Ballet? Was there more audience engagement? Through that project I got to collaborate with a few members of the Royal Ballet administration and get them to entrust me with their data. I considered a number of variables for thinking about diversity, like the number of dance performances and what time the performances were. It was a really different way of thinking about diversity. It really spoke to the focus of the diversity industry now — is there a business case for diversity? Spoiler: the answer was YES; they're selling more tickets!M:
During 2020, a lot of folks were re-evaluating their priorities. So, through vacancies I was able to learn other sides of diversity. One of those sides was regulatory reporting. Every company, if you have over 100 employees, has to report to the government. I gained skills learning how to tailor data sets to the government's standards, learning how to speak to lawyers, working across HR, compliance, and risk departments to get the answers and submissions and answers on time. Ultimately that led me to this position at Capital One in Data and Governance, focusing on government and regulatory reporting. That's how my studies really primed me for this era of my life I'm in.M:
This career transition is allowing me to diversify this new space. A bank's needs are very different from a media company's needs. It was a career step up for me and a brand-new industry. Capital One considers itself a tech bank. Now I'm in the compliance side and my perspective is really valued because I come from a non-banking background. I suggest ways for us to combine processes, and so it's refreshing for me as well as the company.Engaging Community Stakeholders
M:
Once I got the job at NBC, I was looking at trends in the workforce and how NBC was doing across the years, and looking at how particular businesses were doing compared to the company at large. I was comparing the film group or the television group or sports group to the company. All of that was a learning opportunity.M:
During my time at NBC, I learned how to engage with ERG's. ERGs are Employee Resources Groups. At Capital One they're called BRG or Business Resource Groups. They're essentially the work-world parallel of student unions. You can have a resource group based on any kind of identity from race and religion to parenthood, etc.N:
That's really interesting. I was very minimally involved with student groups on campus, but more and more I can see how experience managing and interacting with them in college can turn into work experience.M:
Yea, I learned a lot about ERGs while at NBC. I learned how to engage with them and plan. I worked with a lot of people in talent and production, learning the challenges of that group, especially because their data isn't centralized. They're typically contract workers so they aren't required to hand over data to a centralized system. So, it was like how do we navigate that?M:
You don't think about systems when you're first entering the work-world, but it's such an important question. Is there a central place for me to gain all the knowledge I need to do this job? Or do I really need to rely on asking people and figuring out who knows what. If it's the latter, that's a task in itself, separate from the job.Major Takeaways
Melanie was able to translate her major school projects—both her undergraduate thesis and graduate thesis as the foundation of her work. It is important to imagine the projects you do, and the research questions you answer in college as valuable products to leverage on your career trajectory. While Melanie had not planned for her career to follow this trajectory, she was still able to create a trajectory encompassing her passions and interests.
Norrell Edwards
Norrell Edwards is a scholar, educator, and communications consultant for non-profit organizations. Her employment experience and research interests place her work at the nexus of global Black identity, cultural memory, and social justice. Norrell graduated with a BA in English Literature from Hunter’s College followed by a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in 20th and 21st Century Black Diaspora Literature.
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