When Ericka Hyson started her career in IT staffing over 23 years ago, she was astounded by the lack of women within both her company and the IT staffing ecosystem as a whole. Today, as president of WorkN and member of the ASA Women’s Leadership Council, Hyson is committed to helping advance women in technology and leadership. She says her personal motto has always been “Who can I bring up with me?” And it is this philosophy that guides her day in and day out.
This year, Hyson pursued a new endeavor, joining forces with 14 other women in her “Lady Leaders Book Club” to co-author the book Together We Rise, which was released on International Women’s Day. In the book, each woman shares personal turning points, struggles and victories in a male-dominated industry with the hope to inspire and advance the next generation of future leaders in the industry. “I’m hearing feedback from people that my story is resonating with them. I personally feel extremely proud of that,” Hyson reflects.
Throughout her career, Hyson often has been the only woman in the room — and she is determined to change that. Her advice for fellow leaders: “It starts at the top. The responsibility to cultivate healthy, diverse, inclusive cultures, and to create more seats at the table, starts with executive leadership teams,” Hyson says. At WorkN, Hyson champions diverse hiring practices and promotes diversity and inclusion practices internally, insisting on diverse representation of talent for every open position. Additionally, Hyson has served as a mentor through the ASA’s Mentor Match program for four years, encouraging and assisting women to be proactive about asking for raises and seeking out career advancement opportunities.
It has been a banner year for Hyson, but she is only getting started. “I don’t think in my first 10 years of my career I used my voice well. I feel like right now is the time to use it,” she says. Her influential DE&I work is not simply in her job description, she says, but in her DNA.
2023 DE&I Influencers List