Liza Wisner
Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curation Specialist
Corpus Christi, Texas
While Liza Wisner joined OpenSesame in the middle of a global pandemic, she hit the ground running as a trusted advisor to customers and colleagues. Because her role is new, she prioritizes constant growth and learning — Liza is paving a new path and putting her stamp on the future of education. “The best solutions happen when people are included, and they feel they belong,” she said. This powerhouse of a human shares her inspired approach to life, work, technology, and connection.
Briefly describe your role:
I see myself as an elearning advisor for our customers and publishers. My role on the Curation team is to grow and promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) across our company, partners, and customers through digital media and online training.
How has your OpenSesame team maintained a sense of community through the pandemic era?
We have capitalized on using technology. Our IT team is fantastic. I joined OpenSesame during COVID, but there’s so much engagement. I’ve always loved and appreciated the power of technology, but my integration into the OpenSesame team has been amazing without physical interaction. I have daily standups with my team. There’s an option of daily yoga, daily meditation, and an app that syncs you up with a coffee buddy. The power of technology is the power of how we’ve been able to accelerate my work.
What is the Best ProDev you’ve taken?
What is OKR? Objectives and Key Results Management guru Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets managed.” I love results-oriented work, and this is ingrained in OpenSesame. We are a results-oriented culture. The entire process for onboarding at OpenSesame is terrific. Education is ingrained into everything we’re doing, and it is measured for maximum impact.
What advice would you give to new OpenSesame Hires?
Just be yourself. Don’t feel like you’re holding back. Trust the process. There’s so much foundational onboarding that is streamlined. Plug-in and enjoy the ride! Be the best version of yourself when you show up. You were hired because you were our number one pick.
What has been the best part of your role?
I am working cross-functionally with several departments at OpenSesame. No day is the same. My projects are always shifting to meet our goals with a primary objective of curating and managing a portfolio of elearning courses and publishers across the globe focused on building diverse and inclusive workforces.
How has your career grown since starting at the company?
I came in as a trusted advisor with my talents and strengths. I was hired into a unique role — the first customer-facing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion role at OpenSesame. My work is both external to support the customer and internal to support our team. I have the best manager. She knows the OpenSesame workplace culture so well, so she’ll hear what I’m telling her and say, “Okay, Liza, what do you need to get this done?” I have all these ideas, and I am empowered. I’ve been able to accelerate my growth fast because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything alone. The best solutions happen when people are included. Before I even joined OpenSesame, I felt like I belonged. We’re launching new tools for our customers to gauge how diverse, equitable and inclusive their organization is. We are here to support the customer, and the more I succeed in that, the more my career is growing! It’s perfect!
Do you have a favorite book?
My favorite book: Is Atomic Habits, by James Clear. It’s all about maximizing your impact and maximizing your time. This book has changed my life in so many different ways. He distills the essence of success into what he calls the “atomic” structure. He shows how TINY, 1% atomically little incremental improvements add up to mighty results. What can you get done in a day, an hour, a minute? That’s the mission of my whole life.
What is your favorite course in the OpenSesame catalog?
I love SunShower Learning’s Inclusion in Action: 9 Skills for Communicating & Collaborating Across Differences. I like this course because the skills you learn can be easily integrated into any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training curriculum or, they can be used as foundational guidelines for DEI and general HR initiatives.
Where do you get your energy, or what do you enjoy?
I live through a lens of seeing life in these five modules: eat, move, sleep, be present, breathe. I don’t believe in focusing solely on time management to get work done; I believe in energy management. If you manage your energy, then you accelerate your impact, and time takes care of itself. After my first son was born, I realized I wanted to empower him to live to his fullest potential, so I founded a non-profit called PowerUp.org. It’s a place where students can gain foundational life skills that they may not necessarily learn in school: eating well, moving well, respecting technology, using sleep as a superpower, and so much more. My mission in life is to ensure all individuals — especially those at risk of being left behind — have the resources and opportunities to live healthy, productive lives. I guess you can say that is what powers me up!
What is your favorite TED course?
My Identity is a Superpower — Not an Obstacle, by America Ferrera. Aside from being an amazing and engaging talk, she says, “Who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to see ourselves, how to think about our own value, how to dream about our futures.”