Jean Craciun, Founder of the Diversity Center of Seattle and Diversity Consultant
Jean is the Founder of the Diversity Center of Seattle and Principal Consultant at Jeannie Ianelli Craciun Consulting. Jean has deep experience in corporate inclusion and diversity training, focus group design and execution, political consulting, and mentoring entrepreneurs who are women, PoC, and LGBTQIA+. She’s passionate about helping others take decisive action to facilitate greater works in their life by employing DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) in their daily practice and at every level.
Q: Why do you choose to spend your time mentoring others?
A: After finishing college, I followed my English teacher, who had become a Congresswoman, to Washington DC. The job I took was a very low-paying internship, so I decided to look for a second job. I remember going to over a hundred interviews thinking I'm going to take my chances with the women, but the women I interviewed with were very disappointing and not very nice. And you know, I never got that second job, I ended up doing several other things and then moving to California for a research job. It was so disappointing. That's a big reason why I mentor because I don't want young women to feel like we, as older women, are not bringing them along and supporting them. I actually had some women say, “Why should I help you?” Nobody helped me. That's what I want to change.
Q: What do you personally gain from mentoring?
A: Personally, I find it rewarding to lift others up and shake up the system that's not helping the people that we're supposed to help. I give mentees a very well-rounded sense of what's possible. Because I think the thing that's missing sometimes is all the starts and stops and the failures. So, I give them ideas and I help them be realistic. I encourage my mentees to have a lot going on, a lot of irons in the fire, not all your eggs in one basket.
Q: To what do you attribute your success?
A: My goal is to be happy, successful and to understand what matters to me. And what matters to me is flexibility. Doing things when I can do them, when I'm ready to do them, and when I can put my heart, my soul, into that task. The diversity work I do is hard and takes a lot of energy. I conduct personal interviews with employees and then I write up executive summaries to share with leadership. I summarize the points of what the people have said to me, they tell me what's going on. And I am their voice back at the company leaders. Some of the company leaders can't handle it at first. I wrote a report for one company two months ago and they've been hiding. Finally, I heard from someone this week and they are doing a lot of little things. They heard me.
It's my job and I love it. I love telling people what they're not seeing, what they're not doing, what they think they're doing, why it's not working. I love that I’m totally disruptive. Being their voice brings me a lot of satisfaction. I love qualitative research, which is very open-ended and exploratory, and listening to people. And then thinking about what did they say? What was their point? What is the theme? It's that accumulation of all those years of that work, I can get to it pretty quickly, I just get right through it. It doesn't take much for me to just lay it out, and it's hard for them to hear. But you know then all of a sudden there's a client who gets it and commits to change.
Q: What does good mentoring look like to you?
A: To meet each person where they are and guide them to the next step. That's it. I don't come with an agenda. I have no idea what they're going to tell me. In my mind I'm thinking, how could I get them to the next step? The next step they're showing me, they're speaking of, they're shy about, they're dabbling in, and I help to try to get them over that hurdle of the next step. Sometimes it’s just giving them back to themselves. I help them see who they are and it’s a beautiful thing. That’s it!!
Q: Why do you choose to mentor with Ceresa?
A: When I heard about Ceresa, I was like, this is perfect. You inspire and support through mentorship, this is just what we need in our society. It’s very purposeful and very effective for companies that are sincere about diversifying leadership. It's a great organization with a great purpose and mission.
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.