Ada-Renee Johnson, Global Head of Hiring, Equity, and Strategy in Recruiting at Google
Ada-Renee is the Global Head of Hiring Equity & Strategy supporting Google Recruiting. She is responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of an inclusive culture; creating and delivering equitable and inclusive strategies for change while building the capability of Google’s senior leaders at scale. Previously Ada served Google in a wide range of people-focused roles: Employee Relations Partner, Senior Diversity Business Partner, Staffing Manager, Head of Diversity Pipeline - Tech, and a Human Resources Business Partner on the Technical Infrastructure HR team where she provided consultative guidance on people operations strategies to North America and Latin America Datacenter leadership. Ada is passionate about helping black women navigate a successful career in corporate America.
Q: Why do you choose to spend your time mentoring others?
A: I choose to mentor others because it helps me reflect and remember where I came from; that I didn't get here by myself. I firmly believe that I am here on the backs of the people who mentored me, advocated for me, stood in the gaps for me, and I find it my responsibility to give back. But I also find it very self-fulfilling and rewarding.
Mentoring others allows me to demonstrate to my children the importance of giving back and how there is no one way to give back. You use your talents, skills, and abilities to give back in meaningful and nurturing ways to those you are giving back to and yourself.
Q: What do you personally gain from mentoring?
A: When I have an opportunity to mentor and speak to individuals going through similar situations as me, I gain self-assurance. The feedback that I give as a mentor is also feedback that I need to hear myself. So, it is a constant reminder that as a person, I am always evolving.
Q: To what do you attribute your success?
A: As a black woman in corporate America, there is an assumption that I'm a first-generation college student. I am a third-generation college student. So, I'll start with my grandparents, who both had degrees. My grandmother worked for Addison-Wesley, and she was responsible for the math problems in my math book. Both my grandmother and mother were in education, so there is a desire for constant knowledge that comes from the women in my family. But my stick-to-it-ness and my structure come from the men in my family. My grandfather was in the military. My dad is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, but he also has his dental practice, specializing in children. He's the specialist in the Missouri area that handles special needs. He has taken his desire to help to a whole other level, and I get that from him.
Then there's my husband, who has pushed my career further than his own so that we could be in the position we're in right now. Every move that we've made has been due to my career progression. And he's been right there to push and say, "Well, you got to do it. Don't worry about it. You got to do it." My children also constantly ask me why. Why this or what about that? And it’s a constant reminder of the journey I’m on. And finally, there have been key leaders from a work perspective, who when I found them, I couldn't let go of them.
Q: How has mentoring impacted your own journey?
A: There are different levels of mentorship. In my perspective, I think some senior leaders mentor you because they’ve had experience in the space. You also have family mentors because they know you as a person. I value those just as much as I value the senior leaders, but I also value the peer mentors. And those are the people who have gone through the trenches with you, can identify your blind spots, and will call out what you previously shared with them.
When I think about someone who impacted my journey, I would have to say a young woman named Rosalyn Smith. We worked together years ago and shared an office wall. She was a strict HR generalist, and I was a strict recruiter. She came to me because she wanted to know the shift and the overall makeup of who we were hiring. She said: "I got to learn what you're doing,” then asked me, “Do you want to learn what I'm doing?" I felt that what she was doing over there was not my cup of tea, but we sat down and agreed that once a quarter, we would swap for one month to fully entrench ourselves in each other's work and understand what we're doing.
When we would swap, we would always give each other the next case for the month. Here's what I need for you to solve with fresh eyes. And that's how we pushed each other, and we grew, and we were able to leverage those learnings. From a mentoring perspective, she was my peer mentor because she saw the value of breathing new life into my work and professional career. And I saw the value in doing the same for her. 15 years later, she is fully into talent management, and I'm in employee relations! We constantly check in and talk to each other because our peer mentoring pushed us to experience the differences in this large umbrella of HR.
Q: What does good mentoring look like to you?
A: It looks like letting people know they’re not in this alone and they have it inside of themselves, but they have to pull it out. You can’t always rely on other people to pull it out, but you can tell other people what you need from them.
When I was a volleyball coach, I had a player who was very much coddled by her family and could do no wrong. But she had the most potential on the team. I needed her to step up and be more vocal. I’ll spare you the details, but I had to keep her on the bench during one game due to some choices she had made. She could not believe it; she was my starter. In that moment, she learned that it’s about consistency.
And then she was running track. Her track coach was having a problem getting out of her what they needed. Her mom said, "Call Coach Ada." I showed up at the track, and I walked over to her and said, I understand that you don't want to do something. And she says, "I don't want to run the 400." I said, okay, so you will run the 400, I'll be at the finish line, and you will win. If you do not win, you'll run another 400. She was like, "Coach Ada!" And I said, “I know your potential. If I have to be there to push you at the end, then that's what it's going to take.” And she did win.
In life, we're faced with obstacles that we have made up our minds, but we can overcome them when we apply ourselves. She had every tool necessary to win. And a lot of times at work, we have every tool necessary to win – and often, we have to dig deeper and find the inner strength to push through. We also have to rely on others.
Q: What advice would you give to someone interested in mentoring?
A: My role as a mentor is to listen and challenge the thought processes. My role as a mentor is to connect the individual that I'm working with to my network. My role as a mentor is also to check in constantly.
Someone should think about this as an opportunity to have a conversation with yourself because nobody's one concern, nobody's one question, nobody's one desire or need for guidance is something that you haven't had or will have. Mentoring is an opportunity to talk to yourself, to your current self, to your younger self, or to the self that you're building for tomorrow.
And know that you don't have to have all the answers. A lot of people look at mentors as the go-to guide, and that's not it. We are a tour guide; we’ll guide you on your journey.
Q: Why do you choose to mentor with Ceresa?
A: I love the structure of the program, the Ceresa platform, and the intentionality around the matching process. The program is very concise and not heavy lifting, and I liked that it was a dual responsibility on not just me, the mentor, but also the mentee. It’s amazing to participate in a global platform with access to individuals that I would never have had an opportunity to meet, all from the comfort of my own home!
Mentorship: integral to the Ceresa whole-person approach
At Ceresa, mentorship is an integral part of our leadership development process. The mentor-mentee relationship is a key component in providing the structure, and at the same time fluidity, necessary to facilitate pointed leadership and career growth for both the participant and the mentor.