Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.
It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.
In this episode, Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest, Tiffany Lomax, the director of Campus Recreation and Wellness Promotion at North Carolina Central University.
Lomax’s start in the industry happened before she even knew it and continued because of her desire to study abroad in South Korea.
Soon, she found herself in the world of campus recreation, specifically in marketing at George Washington University. From there, the rest is history!
However, during her time in campus rec Lomax has found herself in a profession where often people see a Black woman first before the rec professional part.
She shares on facing microaggressions like comments made in reference to her coming from an HBCU to challenges like taking on a director role at a predominantly white institution in a predominantly white community in Maine.
She gets real with some of the tough and painful conversations she’s had with staff and leadership when it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion talks that didn’t go well.
Finally, Lomax speaks on belonging, the weight leaders carry and how she knew she was ready to be a director.
Show Notes from the Conversation with Tiffany Lomax
- How wanting to study abroad in South Korea led Lomax to recreation.
- The horror stories she had heard when it came to applying for jobs.
- What broadened her level of leadership.
- Why her dissertation played a role in her move to Maine and Colby College.
- Lomax shares on the stigma of HBCUs.
- What it was like for Lomax going from an HBCU to a predominantly white institution.
- Her answer to the question, “How did you know you were ready to be a director?”
- Living in predominantly white Maine as a Black woman.
- Lomax on belonging and Black professionals in the industry.
- The tough virtual convo that Lomax was part of in her first two weeks at Colby College.
- Why staff reaching out on that conversation caused her pain versus comfort.
- How Lomax brought the facts and hardships of that conversation to other leaders. Also, how she processed through choosing to take that risk.
- Where “Talks with Tiffany” came from.
- The weights carried by leaders and by people of color.
- What lies ahead for Lomax.
