In this “Power of Us” series, we are highlighting our new PVH U Ambassadors.
PVH U Ambassadors drive continuous learning and unearth the unique knowledge of our associates. Through a passionate, creative, and inquisitive mindset, they foster connections across the business. They are committed to building the next generation of leaders, who ask powerful questions and embrace personal and professional evolution. PVH U Ambassadors lead the way through learning. They are our #LearningLeaders.
In this edition, we interviewed Teal DePaola, Ecommerce Buyer at Tommy Hilfiger, Staci-Jo Heron, Sales Associate at Tommy Hilfiger and Deepak Kadadi, Senior Manager, Human Resources at PVH.
Please describe your role in PVH.
Teal: In my role as an Ecommerce Buyer, I get to manage and oversee the entire life cycle of a product. Besides this role, I have been nominated as a Business Power User to help test and deploy our new SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing) internal system launch. The process of learning how PVH associates work in their daily roles, sharing with them what is needed from a buyer’s perspective and coming together to make one final successful system launch has been enlightening!
Staci-Jo: As a Sales Associate for Tommy Hilfiger, I help customers find clothing, shoes, and accessories that help them express themselves through fashion. When I am not busy helping customers, I am merchandising, assisting my team with other daily tasks that help our store run smoothly, and representing our store on PVH Insider, our associate engagement app.
Deepak: In my role as a Senior HR Manager at PVH, I have managed to attain a fast-paced Global Operation Centre (GOC) scale and handled all different areas of human resources in collaboration with our global partners. In the last 2 years, GOC has out-grown itself by almost 4 times (i.e from 28 to 100 plus associates). Moreover, from being predominantly Technology and Process Group (TPG) support, GOC is now assisting and hiring for 10+ business units.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
Teal: I was a competitive dancer for 15 years. I had auditioned against 300 other dancers to become a Knicks City Dancer, and after almost a full week of ‘bootcamp’ I successfully made the team at 18 years old. I was selected to do NBA Nation Tours as a Knicks City Dancer in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin in China, London in England and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Traveling around the world truly does change your perspective on life and better you as a person.
Staci-Jo: This might be on the weirder side, but I can touch my tongue to my nose!
Deepak: Here is a fun fact and an unknown fact about me:
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I would love to write a book about myself and my unheard achievements.
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If I were to teach any subject, it would be Politics. I would like to pursue it as a career too.
What does being a PVH U ambassador mean to you?
Teal: Being a PVH U Ambassador holds great value to me, as I already take pride and passion in working for PVH as an associate. This means the opportunity to spread positivity and experiences globally to those that are seeking advice or interesting tips and tricks to bettering their daily roles. Being a PVH U Ambassador is about being curious, learning from others and sharing the wealth of embracing great development processes and opportunities.
Staci-Jo: Being a PVH U Ambassador means becoming more and more confident in using my voice and my creativity for the things that matter to me because, imposter syndrome is real! You really have to put your foot down and recognize that you are awesome! That is what I had to do and I still have to do on a daily basis so I can become better each day and show the world all the amazing talents and skills I have to offer.
Deepak: PVH Ambassadors stand to gain valuable skills and experience that they may not be getting in their day job. This makes them worth more to employers. As an ambassador, I am apt at communication and have a great ability to network.
What is your favorite PVH U course or badge? Tell us why!
Teal: My favorite PVH U course was the Pivot Table Excel course. This absolutely blew me away! I truly believe that any role can utilize this course as it fuels the innovative capability to put together values and data in an organized and professional fashion. Within this course you learn how to format data as a table, create a Pivot Table, and then how to manipulate your data to display it in the format that best represents what you are looking to analyze and share. Highly recommend!
Staci-Jo: While I am still new to the digital badges that PVH offers, I am really excited about completing the one on Inclusive Leadership. In a time like this, it is so important that we allow others to see themselves in our leadership by how we represent and promote opportunities for diverse groups.
Deepak: My favorite are the courses in the Inclusion & Diversity Champion (Level 1) badge. I&D in basic language is more than policies, programs, or head count. With the Inclusion & Diversity courses, one develops the skills to overcome natural roadblocks of embracing diversity, identify various behaviors that can be unique to individuals and to remove bias from overall decision-making.