I Choose the Ladder I Choose the Ladder

In this episode, we explore some of the unique challenges Black women face as they climb the corporate ladder. The themes were gathered from hundreds of Black women leaders who have been interviewed for the I Choose the Ladder Podcast.

Whether you're a Black woman leader, ally, or simply interested in the topic, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice for creating more equitable workplaces. Don't miss out on this important conversation!

In this episode of the I Choose the Ladder Podcast you meet Brenda Battle, a leading voice in healthcare and Senior Vice President of Community Health Transformation and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at UChicago Medicine. With over 30 years of experience, Brenda Battle is a trailblazer in healthcare who has worked tirelessly to improve health equity and access for marginalized communities.

Brenda oversees efforts to design UCM’s community-health management strategy, develop and implement coordinated, innovative healthcare solutions to address healthcare disparities, and foster innovation in UCM’s care delivery system by crafting care models that promote diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Brenda leads efforts to integrate the resources and strategies of the UChicago Medicine with the assets and resources of the community to meet the healthcare needs of populations served by the UCM system. Ms. Battle oversees UChicago Medicine’s Urban Health Initiative (UHI) which facilitates and coordinates efforts to address complex health and social needs of residents on the South Side of Chicago by bringing a collaborative, community-based, and participatory problem- solving approach to the health and social needs of UCM’s patients and the broader community; creating greater access to high-quality and culturally competent information, educational programs, financial and healthcare resources that empower community members to live the healthiest lives possible; generating goodwill in the community and the social capital/relationships needed to create new services and programs that improve population health and reduce gaps in the social determinants of health; serving as the bridge to the community to training and research; and serving as the honest broker providing UCM’s community consciousness, enabling the UHI to listen in to the community and communicate back to UCM leadership what the community needs and wants.

Prior to joining the UCM, Brenda was the director of the inaugural Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO, were she oversaw programs to eliminate health disparities, promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Brenda has over 38 years of health care experience, serving as Executive Vice President, Government and Community Affairs for Medical Transportation Management (MTM), Inc., and leading operations in commercial and Medicaid managed care. Brenda has several publications, and has served as national speaker on reducing health care disparities.

In this episode, you meet Jennifer Montague, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer for NiSource, a natural gas and electric utility company servicing 4 million customers under the NIPSCO and Columbia Gas brands. She is responsible for setting direction and managing a leadership team focused on customer experiences in the areas of Customer Care Centers, Customer Insights and Marketing, Billing & Payments and New Business across six states. She joined the company as the Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at NIPSCO in November 2018.

Prior to joining NIPSCO, Jennifer had nearly three decades of customer operations, branding, communications and marketing experience in several roles with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in Chicago and British Petroleum (BP)/Amoco in London (England) and Warrenville, Illinois.

Jennifer currently serves on the board of directors for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, Edgewater Health, Merit School of Music, and Northwest Indiana United Way.

Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics and feminist studies from Stanford University and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Chicago.

Jennifer is based at the NiSource headquarters facility in Merrillville, Indiana.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Keeping your eyes on your own prize
- How to keep from being bitter at work
- Creating connections with people who have different life experiences

As we step into the new year, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO takes you through 12 questions to ask yourself to help clarify your goals for the year.

We are seeing layoffs happening all over corporate America, and if we are being honest, these are some scary times for employees. In this episode, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO, Watchen Nyanue, helps people managers lead their teams through layoffs. We focus on the ones who stay and the impact of the ones who leave.

It's that time of the year again when we start planning for the new year. Of course, we make ambitious plans, but we may need to look at our plans through the right lens.

In this episode, I Choose the Ladder Founder & CEO Watchen Nyanue takes you through how she plans for her upcoming year and helps you use the right data to ensure that next year is your best year yet!