Wow, I sincerely never thought I would be making one of these posts, but after 6 + years of Day-1s with #Amazon, today is my last day. The photo at the bottom (detailed pic ID below) shows me holding my employee badge, where you can compare me on my first and last day.
It’s been an incredible journey since I joined Amazon in 2017. Before joining Amazon, I was on the tenure track at the University of Arizona. Leaving #academia was a such a big and scary step, but I've never really looked back.
I was hired as a #Diversity, #Equity, and #Inclusion (DEI) scientist supporting the Digital Entertainment and Worldwide Advertising businesses. I conducted cutting-edge research to senior leadership that moved the needle in several Amazon-wide DEI goals, and worked with other Amazonians during the exciting (sometimes painful) move from #peopleanalytics to people #science
Later I worked in an #HRscience org that supported Worldwide Operations, and got to learn about employee experience in fulfillment centers, sort centers, brick-and-mortar stores, grocery, delivery, and more. An even greater challenge was ramping up to be an Amazon #peoplemanager, which is a steep learning curve!
Finally, I have had the deeply rewarding experience to lead a team of economists, research scientists, and data scientists in a Central HR science org. Here, we launched a new way to #survey Amazonians, piloted various #employeebenefits that could improve employees lives, and evaluated programs to improve manager skills.
There have been personal highlights as well! I got married during my time at Amazon, had my first child, bought my first house, and came out as transgender. But without question my biggest personal highlight was getting to work alongside my younger sister, Susan Jacobs, PhD. , who is also a research scientist at Amazon. Keep an eye out for her (she is much smarter than I am)!
In my time at Amazon, I have experienced many challenges, celebrated huge wins, experienced great loss, and made some of the most fulfilling connections I could ever hope for. I will miss the people here more than anything else.
You may be asking "And what's next?"
One of the things I will be doing after leaving Amazon is diving deeper into my work as a transformative grief worker. In the beginning of 2023 I started building my own practice as a #death, #divorce, and #abortion #doula. I have felt called to explore this in a more focused way in 2024. If you’re interested in hearing more about my journey, feel free to reach out!
As for the next company I am moving to, well, stay tuned, because I start Monday 😎
Picture ID: me in a jean jacket, black hoodie, and glasses, smiling. I'm holding up my Amazon ID badge, which has an orange border around it (badge color moves from blue to orange after 5 years of tenure). The badge shows a picture of my face on my first day at Amazon: no glasses, with my head half-shaved. Still the same silly smile 😉
WHS(Safety) Manager-Amazon India || Ex Adani Group || Ex-TVS Group || Ex-Ruchi Soya ||
4wCongratulations and keep raising the bar high on safety ABID HUSSAIN CHOWDHURY