Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing Anya Soto, Founder of Culture Crafters™.
As a professional certified leadership coach, instructional designer and facilitator, Anya is committed to helping organizations craft people-positive and human centric cultures. She designs and facilitates trainings around diversity and inclusion, emotional intelligence, leadership development, business agility and runs offsite leadership retreats for executive teams.
Hi Anya, Great to have you with us today! Please tell us about what it is that you do.
Hi, I’m the founder and one of the lead facilitators for Culture Crafters™. We’re a diverse supplier of online Diversity and Inclusion training, Bias training, as well as New Management training, and I am proud to say that we are changing the corporate landscape and helping organizations make their work environment more Human, more Inclusive, and more Collaborative.
Please tell us more about your journey.
My journey started over ten years ago when I took my first coaching course through the Coaches Training Institute and became obsessed with the capacity to have such a big positive impact on so many people. I then followed it up with the 10-month immersive Co-Active Leadership Program and, since then, have not stopped growing leaders in their management skills.
Please tell us about your company, Culture Crafters™.
I received my Professional Certified Coach Certification from the International Coaching Federation after coaching executives and leaders for over 500 hours, and it allowed me to really understand what creates a toxic versus healthy culture- the People Leaders.
“Your culture is a collection of individual behaviors, and it must be intentionally and strategically crafted.”
People leave because of bad managers, and people stay because of good Managers.
So, I asked some of my colleagues and some of the top experts in the industry to join me in creating a women-led, minority-driven, and LGBT+ Inclusive training company to help organizations build a more inclusive culture by training their People Leaders.
Culture Crafters has seen tremendous changes helping companies to overcome silo mentality and teaching leaders to navigate conflicts effectively and proactively, all while creating a more trusting work environment required for innovation and collaboration.
What I love about working with this group of women is that we all have our own personal experiences as coaches, all with our own diverse talent set, that understand the struggles that minorities face. We did not read it in books- we lived it, and now we are committed to changing the corporate culture to be human-centered where teams love working together and creating new innovations!
What are the strategies that helped you become successful in your journey?
What allowed me to be successful is practicing my coaching skills and really listening to my clients. Understanding their challenges and noticing that so many leaders were promoted based on individual contributions and results, but they really struggled to lead their teams. These were issues in the past and in today’s world- it’s still an issue. Particularly now, amid the pandemic, where building relationships has become even more challenging and creating trust on your team is so crucial.
Any message for our readers.
My advice for the audience is to not give up on their People Leaders. If their workplace has a toxic environment- it is possible to shift and change it by training their managers. If their values are not aligned with where the company is going, it is ok to leave. There are so many other companies that truly care about their employees and will approach DEI Initiatives centered around people, not tasks and numbers.
Diversity is counted. Inclusion is felt!
Fantastic! So tell us, how can people find out more about you?
If you are the owner of a company or a manager that is just not sure where to start with consciously crafting your culture- reach out to us. We will put a personalized plan together that will best fit all your cultural needs!
You can visit our website and Instagram @culturecraftersus. You can also connect with us via Linkedin.
Thank you so much, Anya, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!