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If you want to see what true commitment to equity looks like, you might have to look in the mirror. Lululemon is an organization where more than 70 percent of employees, senior leaders, and people leaders are women. Its board of directors is more than 50 percent women.
In 2021, lululemon launched its People Networks (employee resource groups), which now includes eleven communities for minority or underrepresented groups. The company’s IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and action) initiatives continue to focus on creating systemic change across the globe.
Stacia Jones (VP, global head of IDEA, employee relations, and employment policy and compliance) and Susy Mendoza (VP and deputy general counsel for compliance, technology, and legal operations) are crucial contributors, advocates, and members of lululemon’s IDEA efforts, People Networks, and Women Of programs. Their mission is to make a profound impact on the professional journeys of all its members and to address the bias and discrimination that women, particularly women of color, face in the workplace.
A brief scroll through Jones’s LinkedIn profile reveals the breadth of these efforts, which include countless meetings, trainings, and celebrations for employees worldwide. The smiles and connections are real and the organization’s unwavering equity and inclusion efforts—despite a cultural and legislative environment that has clashed hard with organizations trying to change the state of the world—are a beacon to the rest of the fashion, retail, and business world.
Jones began her piece “lululemon: Centering People and Planet on our Impact Journey” for Savoy with the following:
“Corporations bear a significant responsibility to scale solutions to systemic issues that limit us all, across an evolving spectrum of social and environmental concerns. An elevated approach is required to address the complexities of today’s challenges, balancing a broad scope of environmental, social, and governance investments, alongside growing the bottom line.”
But Jones is also aware of the challenges.
“In 2022 and 2023, the positions most likely to have layoffs were D&I roles,” the IDEA head explains. “There are a lot of amazing folks who don’t have jobs anymore. Countless women of color were let go, including women in CEO positions, and the legislative environment hasn’t done enough to help matters. But here, at lululemon, we continue to double down.”
Consider the Women Of program. At present, more than 200 women have gone through the leadership training. Mendoza remembers when she heard about the new group for the first time.
“I was immediately excited for the people inside the organization who I knew would find it inspiring,” the DGC says. “I knew so many people who would want to participate, ask tough questions, commiserate, and share real experiences.”
“I knew so many people who would want to participate [in the Women Of ERG], ask tough questions, commiserate, and share real experiences.”
Susy Mendoza
As one of the group’s leaders, Mendoza has seen firsthand how meaningful the group has been for its members. The group has welcomed them in and affirmed their experiences and ambitions. She has also personally found the experience rewarding, given her passion for encouraging women in STEM.
“Women of color in STEM are a minority within a minority,” Mendoza says. “I knew I should take on the role so I could be a voice for other women of color.”
Jones says groups like Women Of are critical to helping women understand that the way things have been doesn’t need—and in many cases shouldn’t be—the way forward.
“What women, and particularly women of color, have found is that the ‘traditional’ set of tools people in the workplace use to advance their careers haven’t worked for us,” Jones explains. “We do not have to go about business in the same way business has been done in the past, like mowing others down in our wake, to climb. It’s important for women to get into our professions, find our confidence, and not compare ourselves to others” with significant intergenerational advantages. “We must know that we can be enough just the way we are.”
Jones was the first college graduate in her family. Mendoza is a first-generation American and was the first woman in her family to earn a college degree. By getting where they are, they are examples for millions of women, demonstrating what kind of a world we can create through connection, education, and empowerment.
Jones has helmed legal and DEI positions at Microsoft and Abercrombie & Fitch, and she spent eight years in private practice. She’s also a current affiliate instructor at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. DEI is just one part of Jones’s wide purview. At present, she leads global compliance, employment policies, employee relations, and workplace investigations. She believes these roles and expanded opportunities offer her more chances to embed the work of IDEA even deeper in the company.
“We must know that we can be enough just the way we are.”
Stacia Marie Jones
For Jones, the impact she hopes to make at lululemon is directly transferable to what’s happening at home.
“I think about my daughter, who is in her last year of high school,” the lawyer says. “I see a lot of myself in her. I want to send this confident, bold woman off to college next year.”
Prior to coming to lululemon, Mendoza spent nine years at Nordstrom as a corporate generalist, then moved on to operations and business roles at Washington Vinters and REI. She returned to the law with marketing technology company TUNE, as corporate counsel tasked with developing their B2B privacy program and enterprise contract management for the marketing technology company. The lawyer continues to operate at the intersection of law and retail while acting as a valued business partner, currently leading lululemon’s global compliance and privacy, legal operations and technology functions. And when she’s able, she and her husband are likely planning a new trip abroad down to the last detail.
As lululemon continues on its well-defined mission to create change, the external pressures, while staggering, aren’t the only story. You have to consider the lives and journeys of everyone who has found a home within the organization—and how the sharing of those stories is reverberating across the industry. Women like Jones and Mendoza are creating advocates and empowering individuals with every conversation and training session.
Equity seems possible when an organization is willing to put its money where its mouth is and to source leaders willing to build the change.
“Among the things we admire the most about Susy and Stacia is their dedication to diversity, inclusion, and innovation. We are proud of everything their team does to create a more thoughtful environment with varied perspectives.”
–Stefanie Fogel, Partner
