Jennie Easterbrook
“I think there are varying degrees of humanness in the business world. But I really do try to center on the people.”
Jennie Easterbrook is a Managing Director at Accenture Song and a passionate advocate and volunteer around girls education and women-led entrepreneurial initiatives. She served on the NYC Board of Girls Leadership and is currently a Board Member and Global Advisor to the Women's Alliance for Knowledge Exchange. Over the past 6 years, Jennie has been as active advisor for Peru, the U.S., Nepal, and Cambodia.
Over your career, you have served as a bridge between nonprofits and the private sector. What's a little trick of the trade translating and communicating between those two worlds?
I'm fortunate in that I used to sit on a board for Girls Leadership, which focuses on girls' education through community, equity, growth, and play. It's a wonderful organization and my first Board experience.
Also, I've been on the Board for almost two years now for another nonprofit called Women's Alliance for Knowledge Exchange (WAKE). What's beautiful about WAKE is that it takes women who are in data and tech and brings them together with local entrepreneurs to help the entrepreneurs with their most pressing issues.
Most of the time it's in marketing or technology data. But what we do is we form these working groups, I call them mini SWAT teams, that immediately try solving a problem. I enjoy that it's fast and focused on the work.
I've found the passion in what I do for a living, and translated that into a nonprofit world. To do it for good by helping these local entrepreneurs.
What do you like most about your association with WAKE?
I've done work in the U.S., but I've made three international trips. Peru, Nepal, and I just came back from Cambodia in February. I've been able to build an incredible network of women globally within the data and tech space.
Many of the women are from Google, Salesforce, or LinkedIn, and we come together in a very fast fashion. It's a mix of business and experiencing cultural events together. There's nothing like bringing 20 women together, right? Everything starts to explode in terms of ideas and interactions.
My favorite thing at these gatherings is waking up and having breakfast with someone new every morning. Because there are no airs. No titles or ego. You sit down and genuinely get to know people. It often leads to profound conversations about health, relationships, and life.
Focusing on what matters to people helping the organizations is the satisfaction that comes from doing quick but quality work.
I come out of those trips really energized and inspired, so I try to go every two years. I have my sights on my next trip to Africa which will either be Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, or Morocco.
Has the language you use for WAKE and other nonprofits influenced your language in your day job for Accenture Song?
What I find refreshing about WAKE is that there's a global level of authenticity that crosses borders. And I would hope, if my colleagues were to describe me, they would say that I try to interact with people authentically. That's where I see parallels.
WAKE is a global organization of women, and I can bring that into Accenture Song. What I learn from each of those cultures are just super interesting stories to share with people. About six women from Accenture have gone on these trips as a result of my experience.
So you start to see it cascading out in unexpected ways, influencing others to do something, and that makes me happy.
What's a business buzzword or phrase that needs to go away?
So, so many. When presenters show a slide on the screen with a lot of text, they'll say, "I won't drain the slide." In other words, I put a huge amount of information on this slide, but I'll only review the highlights. Why place all this heavy content on a page in the first place? Often, they'll drain it anyway and read the whole thing word for word!
Another phrase in reference to a call or a virtual meeting is, "I'm going to drop." I usually say I'm going to hop versus drop. Like I'm hopping from one thing to another. I like to place in the positive spin on words and how we communicate.
What is your superpower at work?
It sounds odd, but I try to be very human. I think there are varying degrees of humanness in the business world. But I really do try to center on the people. I have a passion for our rising talent, so whatever I can do, there's not a week that goes by that I will talk to one of our analysts, consultants, or managers and try to give them advice. Listen to them. Talk to them.
I would love to be able to do more of that in my career in terms of giving back to our people. Over the past few years, I've become more balanced in ensuring that work does not necessarily come in place of really important things.
I used to make time for "important" meetings after hours versus, say, watching my son pitch in a baseball game. There are so many meetings that I have learned to prioritize and balance where I need to be. I would think, "Oh my God, I missed a memorable moment because I prioritized this over that." I've become more balanced over the past few years in that manner and making sure that I don't let the personal life moments slip by.
Please give us a new or recent magazine, writer, or book recommendation.
I love magazines, because I come from the publishing world, and recently I unsubscribed from everything except for Afar. How they do their editorial, imagery, tidbits, and tips feels spot on as a personalized recommendation just for me.
And it's not always focused on some exotic locale. A recent issue mentioned a hotel and breakfast place in South Philly called the YOWIE Hotel and Shop and WIM cafe. Based on their recommendation, I just popped into this place the last time I was in the city and it was truly a fantastic eatery, shop and hotel all in one.
I always take Afar when I travel by plane and need a few minutes of adventure reading. It's good to have ready access to inspiration when you have moments to yourself.
