Meet Tiffany Payne, Vice President of Community Impact for the West Division
Tiffany Payne draws on her personal passion for service to lead Comcast’s community impact efforts across the West Division. From Minneapolis to Houston and all the way to the West Coast, she helps Comcast cultivate partnerships with organizations to impact our communities for good.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we sat down with Tiffany to hear what inspires her and how she champions her female peers and employees into new opportunities.
Which of Comcast’s company values resonate with you most?
I spent the early part of my career working with various community nonprofits and while I loved that work, I really wanted to work for a company that values serving the community – and that’s the value I appreciate most about Comcast – Community Impact. We are able to impact our communities through not only cash and in-kind resources but also through our people resources. Our employees are able to volunteer with a variety of organizations, serve on boards, give back through our employee giving campaign and pursue impactful projects across New Mexico. Comcast is great at finding out what’s important to each local community and supporting those efforts.
What causes are you most passionate about?
I’m passionate about helping women succeed and doing what I can to help people in bridging the opportunity divide. I had the opportunity to lead Comcast’s public relations, internal communications and community impact efforts for New Mexico and Arizona many years ago and it was the most impactful growth opportunity of my career. During my tenure, I served on the board of directors for United Way of Central New Mexico and was deeply engaged with the Women in Philanthropy affinity group.
While in that role, I was also selected to participate in Leadership Albuquerque through the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. During one piece of the program, our team partnered with local agencies to create a resource day for people experiencing homelessness, and we arranged for it to take place on Comcast Cares Day. It was an incredible experience.
How do you mentor, encourage and champion your female peers and employees, as well as women in your professional network?
I’ve been fortunate to have incredible mentors who helped advise me as I advanced in my career and whose influence has had a positive ripple effect in my life and beyond. Once I knew the impact of a great mentor, I was inspired to give back and create my own ripple effect.
When I was working on my Master’s degree at the University of Denver, I chose to design my capstone project around leadership development and the impact of mentoring for women as they advance in their careers within the cable and telecommunications industry. From my work, I determined that incorporating various leadership development tools, such as mentoring, communicating, taking risks, exposure in leadership activities and succession planning transforms a person’s leadership development through enhanced leadership skills; increased ability to leverage skills to enhance career opportunities; increased network of contacts within the industry; greater confidence in personal effectiveness; and shared knowledge and experiences.
I am currently working with a couple of mentees individually, and I see the coaching of my broader team as one of the most rewarding parts of my job. I get to know people personally first – learn more about their life journey, their areas of passion, what they value most. We collaborate on the work they want to do and set goals, which we revisit during our connection times. In this way, I actively work to create opportunities for the next generation of female leaders to grow and succeed.
Where might we find you when you’re not at work?
As passionate as I am about community impact work, I get equally excited about traveling and seeing the world. I love marveling at cultures and landscapes, getting to know local people and soaking in new sights. My husband and I are traveling to Vietnam and Cambodia for our next adventure.
