Gemma Lionello and Fanya Chandler Joined NRF to Discuss Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Nordstrom

Executive vice president and general merchandise manager Gemma Lionello, and senior vice president Fanya Chandler, participated in a conversation at the National Retail Federation‘s 2021 Retail Converge event. Moderating the conversation was Fayetteville Road founding partner, Jessica Couch, as Gemma and Fanya shared insight into Nordstrom’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging. See highlights from their conversation below.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p7RkPDjwTg

Our agency, Fayetteville Road, has had the pleasure of working with Nordstrom for the inclusive beauty initiative. What steps has Nordstrom taken towards diversity, inclusion and belonging—how are you supporting your employees and customers?

Fanya Chandler 

Our focus at Nordstrom has always been around the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers. Although we have been on this journey for quite some time, it was crucial to lean into the moment we were in, in terms of the civil unrest, and create space for people to share and learn.…

I thought I knew a lot and just listening and providing space for our teams to share their experiences, whether it was at work or outside of work, was incredibly meaningful. We provided employee resource groups to ensure we are showing up in the right way.

Our listening sessions are about understanding what our employees are feeling. It’s also a time for our leadership teams to share their experiences and being vulnerable.

When I had the opportunity to host a listening session, I shared things that I’d never really shared before—that opened an opportunity for people to relate to each other in different ways.

We’ve also set measurable goals for ourselves and created an action council to help develop, implement and measure programs to get us towards our goals. Tell me about Nordstrom’s diversity, inclusion and belonging goals along with your four pillars—how did you decide to focus on those areas?…

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Gemma Lionello and Fanya Chandler Joined NRF to Discuss Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Nordstrom

Executive vice president and general merchandise manager Gemma Lionello, and senior vice president Fanya Chandler, participated in a conversation at the National Retail Federation‘s 2021 Retail

Our agency, Fayetteville Road, has had the pleasure of working with Nordstrom for the inclusive beauty initiative. What steps has Nordstrom taken towards diversity, inclusion and belonging—how are you supporting your employees and customers?

Unlock the rest of this story

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