Fania Washington is a curious, open, and flowing leader at Paramount Global

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The reason isn’t always the most important thing. When Fania Washington was considering law school after graduating from NYU. What convinced her to go is, frankly, adorable.

“My understanding of law school at the time was that I would be reading a lot,” the current senior vice president (SVP) of employment law at Paramount Global remembers. “I like to read a lot. It’s kind of my superpower. So I figured I would enjoy it.”

It was probably the last easy decision Washington would make in law, but it would lay the groundwork for the last twenty-seven years, the bulk of which has been at what is currently known as Paramount Global, previously ViacomCBS and Viacom. The names may have changed, but Washington is an institution, having begun her career in-house in 2004, the year Facebook launched and George W. Bush was in the White House.

Washington remembers the exact moment when she knew she was destined for employment law. Straight out of law school, the young lawyer would spend seven positive years at the firm Winston & Strawn. Early on, her practice was split between litigation and employment law. One Friday, an assignment came in late. She would need to spend the weekend conducting a fifty-state survey of insurance allocation for multiple policies.

“That very painful weekend was enough to tell me that I was meant to be an employment lawyer,” Washington says, laughing. “I was asked to join the employment team full-time, and I never looked back. It was a great fit for me in terms of my desire to help people, and that idea of fairness and how it applies to your ability to make a life and living for yourself.”

More than twenty years in entertainment, especially in employment law, is no small feat. Washington says what has kept her at the same organization for so long is its constantly shifting nature, and that whenever she has the potential to feel bored, something new always pops up.

What Washington is most proud of is becoming a respected business partner, someone the rest of the business is eager to have in the room, and someone they believe they can partner with to achieve their goals.

“When I was at a law firm, I remember someone saying that going in-house was so different, because you have to understand what the business is trying to accomplish. My role from the employment law perspective is to facilitate that while advising about and managing risk, and that takes time to get good at,” she says.

Fortunately, Washington says her own growth was aided by great mentors. She has had many over the years, and they helped her recognize something about herself that had the potential to negatively impact her own eventual leadership.

“People like to brag about being perfectionists, and I used to be one of them,” the SVP says, laughing again. “Honestly, I think perfectionists probably make poor leaders. If you let that kind of mentality drive you, I think you may be more suited to being a great individual contributor, where you have control over every aspect of your work. That’s just not what being a leader is. I had to learn to let others do their best work by being themselves, and sometimes that means working in a way that wouldn’t be your first inclination to work.”

What helped Washington overcome that perfectionism?

For years, if you needed someone to work late, Washington’s hand would be up. If you needed someone to come in early, that was her too. But when she became responsible for another life on the planet, suddenly the role of work in her life changed dramatically.

“Joining the employment team full-time was a great fit for me in terms of my desire to help people, and that idea of fairness and how it applies to your ability to make a life and living for yourself.”

Fania Washington

Washington learned she had to work differently and more efficiently; everything couldn’t be exclusively based around work anymore. She also saw what it meant to have grace extended to her, and how she could pass that grace on to others.

That learning hasn’t ended. Washington says she continues to put more focus on how she can be the best version of herself: open, curious, understanding, and welcoming new challenges. She may be twenty-seven years in, but the same reason she went to law school is what continues to make her a great attorney and leader: she’s always open to evolving.

“I think all of these things flow into each other,” Washington says. “Being a great mom flows into being a great lawyer, that flows into being a great business partner, and that flows into being a good person. At least, I hope so.”

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