Traci Wilk, a mindset toward activating change for success
Traci Wilk recently joined The Learning Experience as senior vice president, people, in Deerfield Beach. Last year the national educational childcare franchise business opened dozens of new locations. Wilk comes from clothier rag & bone, in New York City, where she was chief people officer. Working with employees to develop professionally and advance in their careers has also helped Wilk grow through leadership roles in human resources. Her past jobs include senior director of human resources with Coach Inc., director of partner resources at Starbucks Coffee Co., and several other early-career HR positions.
Why I’m a good fit for the job: I’m passionate about building workplaces where vision and values blend into the ideal employee experience.
How I got from then to now: Upon graduation from college I moved to New York City and began my Masters program in Counseling Psychology at Fordham University. My goal at the time was to become a psychologist. I took a job at dELiA*s during their startup phase as their first ‘HR’ manager. I wasn’t familiar with human resources as a career, other than an administrative or regulatory function within a company. It was an amazing first job where I fully realized my passion for developing organizations and people.
On the job
What I do: My role is to be a leader who can visualize, implement, and lead a scalable, long-term people team strategy; to ensure all employees have the tools and resources they need to be successful and build their careers.
The scope of my role includes: Strategic HR planning; talent acquisition; people/career development; organizational design; change leadership; employee communications; complex employee relations; diversity/inclusion initiatives; talent management/planning; learning & development; total rewards initiatives; HR technology optimization Industry wisdom: There is a major difference between a leader that “deals well with change” and one that “activates change,” and it directly correlates to career mobility and success.
On the side
Reading: “Mindset,” by Carol Dweck.