Women at Walmart and Sam’s Club bring their skills and strength to every part of our business. Let’s meet some of the women fueling our growth!
Celebrating women during the month of March feels pretty natural to us. After all, women are critical to our growth and success. Store managers, truck drivers, technicians, cashiers, and directors — women at Walmart and Sam’s Club bring their skills and strength to every part of our business.
Moving Us Forward
Maintenance techs like Kirstee Kruse and repair techs like Gabby Hernandez know a thing or two about keeping things running smoothly. Both of these can-do women found a way to the hands-on careers that they love.
Kirstee always loved engines and trucks. She grew up around them, inheriting her passion from her dad — a mechanic and truck driver. So when the opportunity arose to enroll in a diesel technician program, she didn’t let a 120-mile daily commute stop her! Today, she tends to Walmart’s private fleet in the garage at DC 6709 and is working toward an Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Master Certification.
Gabby shares that she’s “always been a do-it-myself person.” She jumped at the chance to start technician training because tech roles provided a better schedule for her family and greater opportunity for growth.
Others, like Liz Cardenas, took part in the Associate-to-Technician program and are excited to dive into what was once thought of as a male-dominated field. “When I first started with Walmart, I was told that there’s no glass ceiling,” Liz says. “It’s true! The sky is the limit. You can become anything within Walmart, and they support you. They give you the resources you need.”
Making Each Day Brighter
No matter their role, the women of Walmart and Sam’s know what it means to put heart into their work.
Just ask Renee Wynn, who loves her job at Walmart because it gives her a chance to connect with people. “In this world, people are going through so much,” Renee says. “It's just good to support people, encourage them and lift them up when they're feeling down. It’s a pleasure to know that I can help and inspire people.”
Help and inspire is exactly what Renee did one day at her register. A shopper she’d never seen before came through her line. When Renee asked the customer how her day was going, the customer replied that it wasn’t going too well. She had lost her home in a fire.
“I was talking to her and encouraging her. I let her know that I was here for her if she ever needed anything, and I'll have her in my prayers.”
For Renee, the interaction didn’t feel unusual. To the customer, the interaction meant the world. The shopper later wrote to CEO Doug McMillon, explaining what a difference Renee’s kindness had made in her day.
Encouraging others is an integral part of Quiana Rowe’s philosophy too. Quiana started a part-time role at Walmart in 2007. Now a Complex Market Manager in New Orleans, this single mom of five keeps the harder times in mind and never forgets to pay it forward.
“I believe in paying it forward. I believe in looking at that next associate and telling them, ‘Where you are right now is not where you’re always going to be. Don’t give up.’
“I don't gauge my success off of money, or how much I can make or how many promotions I get. I gauge my success: Are people promoting underneath me? Are people growing underneath me? Am I helping to change lives for the better and pay forward what was given to me?” Quiana shares.
Leading Us Into the Future
You don’t have to look hard to find leaders at Walmart and Sam’s Club who are women (we see you Kath McLay, CEO, Walmart International!). All it takes is a stroll through a store or club to see great leaders doing what they do best every day.
Consider Crystal Smith who relies on her superpower as a leader at Walmart: team building. And it makes sense. Crystal was, after all, a star basketball player for the University of Iowa (go Hawkeyes!). She now works at Walmart Store 426 in The Colony, Texas, and was recently promoted to Stocking 2 Team Lead.
Crystal’s manager, Sharon Taylor, says all the coaches in the building rely on Crystal. “She’s a why person,” she explains. “She’ll ask ‘why’ so she can understand how it’s going to help the store and help the team succeed. It’s not that she likes to win, but that she likes to win as a team. She wants to make sure we’re all successful.”
For Oriana Fantasia-Rodriguez, growing your career is all about dreaming and pushing. She reflects on her own path to manager, saying “I wasn't sure that I was ready to be a store manager. You will never know everything or feel 100% ready. So, just put your heart and mind into the challenge and learn along the way. Dream big! There is never the ‘right time.’”
Women at Walmart are “making the impossible possible,” as Oriana likes to say. “Women have so many opportunities at Walmart. We have amazing support and so many leaders to look up to. The sky is the limit!” she adds.
Talk to the associates around you, and you’ll hear the same message: With leaders, mentors and fix-it-yourself-ers like these ladies powering us, there truly is no limit to what we can do!
