In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Associate Content Editor Kristina Stidham interviews Kirsten Mitchell, senior program manager, inclusion and diversity at Amazon World Wide Customer Service. This episode was recorded at last month’s IRCE @RetailX conference. Mitchell discusses how her position influences diversity and inclusion (D&I) at Amazon, how D&I improves team performance and collaboration, and why creating a comfortable and safe environment for employees and customers is critical for retail brands. She offers recommendations for other organizations to improve D&I efforts, including hiring and developing current talent, touching on how Amazon looks at the employee life cycle under an “attract, develop, keep and engage framework” across the global organization. Amazon operates a variety of D&I programming for employees each year, including AmazeCon gender diversity conference, which strives to spark conversations, educate people on others’ experiences, and show that the company cares about being supportive and inclusive of everyone. To close, Mitchell shares the leaders in D&I who she admires and looks to for strategy and inspiration, as well as the mentors who have helped her find purpose in the D&I space.

More About Kirsten Mitchell

With 20-plus years of experience in HR, operations management and customer service, Kirsten Mitchell heads inclusion and diversity strategies for Amazon’s World Wide Customer Service organization. Within this role she educates and collaborates with leaders to meet the needs of a globally diverse workforce and customer base, building a workforce of more culturally competent leaders and creating an inclusive work environment striving to mirrors the individuals in the communities we support and work in. Kirsten’s most recent successes include co-chairing 2019 International Women’s Day for Amazon, with over 140 events across six continents focused on celebrating Amazonian women, current women in business, female figures changing the face of history and everyone at Amazon focused on creating gender parity in the workplace and a balance for better, as well as speaking at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE). During the only presentation at the three-day conference with a diversity lens, Kirsten discussed the importance of understanding the multicultural consumer and the impact that can have on internal teams and the business (Digital brands find inclusivity is the ‘right thing’ to do for business results, RetailWire).

“The reason I’m here at Amazon,” Mitchell says, “is to inspire our leaders to create a diverse workforce through learning, engaging and motivating their teams on a global scale.” She’s passionate about helping all employees have the opportunity to “bring their best self to work.” She also strives to create access, opportunities, and a diverse and inclusive work environment for everyone.

Date: July 9, 2019