NEW YORK– “My private journey has taught me that the best present we may give to others is to present of ourselves. And that is why my doing exactly that- every time and nevertheless I can- has develop into my life’s major mission.”
So says Jamaican Philanthropist and Human Sources Government, Audrey Tomlinson.
In a profession spanning over twenty 5 years, Tomlinson has efficiently ascended the company ladder to her present function as Vice President of Human Sources and Common Companies at Nippon Life Insurance coverage Firm Of America, whereas discovering the mandatory life steadiness to proceed her enduring dedication to group service and people much less lucky.
Work Life Steadiness
Audrey Tomlinson | Photograph Credit score: Ian Buddington
“As I rose all through the company ranks, so to talk, discovering that steadiness was very tough with household, work duties, enterprise journey and group actions,” she remembers. “Nonetheless, after the traumatic modifications led to by COVID, my priorities have shifted and I’m way more intentional in regards to the issues that are most necessary.”
A lot of the credit score for this she says goes to her husband Trevor Tomlinson, Director of Data Expertise at Kids’s Studying Middle in Connecticut. Based on Tomlinson, “He’s closely concerned in varied instructional and philanthropic actions inside the Jamaican diaspora in New York, and he’s my inspiration in being intentional about making a distinction within the lives of others.”
But regardless of the couple’s shared ardour for service, Tomlinson has been typically hesitant about figuring out herself as a philanthropist as a result of notion she believes that many others have of the phrase, and which may function a deterrent for them to step up and do their half.
“Like many others, there was a time after I felt that ‘Philanthropy’ connoted giant financial contributions from extraordinarily rich people or entities,” she remembers, “And so I actually didn’t consider myself in that gentle. However over time I’ve develop into extra comfy with the time period as a result of the reality is that whether or not it’s cash, assets, skilled experience or simply your time being given, the phrase nonetheless applies. So my message is that you simply don’t need to be rich to be impactful. You would have two {dollars} in your checking account and nonetheless make a monumental distinction since you gave of your self in another capability. That is coming from somebody who began doing this in my childhood, when my time was actually all I needed to provide.”
Life’s Mantra
Born to Dr Artnel Henry and Merle Henry, Tomlinson was the eldest of three siblings. From an early age, she remembers her dad and mom sharing with their kids their lifelong perception that “To whom a lot is given, a lot is predicted,” and says that “They have been at all times actively engaged in serving to others they usually inspired my brothers and me to do the identical. I noticed them take younger folks into our residence, typically for months and even years at a time, and provides them a chance to complete faculty or to discover a job.”
Whereas nonetheless attending Stella Maris Preparatory Faculty in Kingston, her mom inspired the younger Audrey to volunteer within the Jamaica Grownup Literacy Program (JAMAL) after faculty a couple of times per week. She helped adults with studying and writing in order that they might discover employment or have been capable of cross their driver’s license take a look at, and even now she remembers “How good it felt to know that I made a optimistic distinction in somebody’s life.”
Profession Pursuit
She would go on to pursue her additional training at Immaculate Conception Excessive Faculty after which the College of The West Indies the place she obtained her Bachelor Of Science Diploma in Botany and Zoology, totally desiring to pursue a profession within the medical area. Her resolution to fully alter her educational path to the realm of Human Sources would end in a outstanding symbiosis between her future skilled and philanthropic paths.
Audrey Tomlinson PhD commencement portrait from Capella College. | Photograph courtesy of Tomlinson household archives.
“I elected to pursue a Grasp’s in Enterprise Administration (MBA) in Human Sources Administration at Tempo College in New York, and in a while a PhD in Human Sources Administration at Capella College in Minneapolis,” she says. “As soon as I began working within the area as an HR skilled after my MBA, I realized to hear, to empathize and to adapt to several types of folks. I got here to grasp that life is unpredictable and that the majority instances the one resolution you can also make is how to answer the playing cards you’ve gotten been dealt inside the second. Figuring out this and having the ability to share it helps me to attach with people and make a optimistic impression in my job and in my philanthropic endeavors additionally. I had maybe subconsciously chosen a career which enhanced each my potential to stroll in another person’s sneakers, in addition to my dedication to maintain making an attempt to make the lives of others higher.”
Neighborhood Service
Subsequently, Tomlinson has sponsored kids in Haiti, Senegal and different African nations by means of the ChildFund and World Imaginative and prescient Worldwide organizations for practically three a long time. She serves on the board of the Immaculate Conception High School Alumnae Association New York Chapter, which endeavors to boost funds to help the college’s varied initiatives, together with the Robotics Program, educational scholarships, its laboratories and different services.
Along with mentoring a number of younger professionals, she can be a board member of the Yonkers based mostly Greyston Basis which helps inclusive employment and open hiring (the follow of hiring people with none overview of their prior private or skilled lives or misdemeanors), thereby empowering potential staff to beat obstacles to employment.
Mentorship Program
She is most pleased with the mentoring programme which she spearheaded at her church, Ridgeway Alliance Church, during which she introduced collectively younger folks and extra skilled people to share the journey of life collectively. The programme included reverse mentoring which Tomlinson describes as “A reciprocal relationship during which a youthful, much less skilled individual acts as a mentor to an older, extra skilled particular person. That is my candy spot. I like to interact with youthful individuals and put them involved with older, extra seasoned professionals and see each events profit from views offered by the opposite.”
Tomlinson can be a preferred and in-demand emcee and host for a lot of fundraisers and Jamaican group occasions. This sudden new curiosity started after she volunteered to help her Immaculate Alumnae Affiliation by being emcee for his or her annual dinner dance fundraiser a number of years in the past and incomes rave opinions which shortly unfold all through the group.
Finally, she want to open her personal consulting and training enterprise, leveraging her years in HR throughout varied industries in order that she may also help folks to “Navigate life, handle their careers and really feel assured in making sensible selections.”
Having discovered that her personal philanthropic endeavors have given her rewards past measure, her recommendation to anybody who needs to positively impression the lives of others is threefold, however easy.
“Deal with others the best way you’ll need to be handled. Attempt to put your self in another person’s sneakers. And at last, it’s not about pondering much less of your self, however relatively it’s about pondering of your self much less. As a result of the reality is that all of us want every other- by no means extra so than in the present day.”
