March is Women’s History Month, and the theme this year is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”
To celebrate the stories of women in the learning and development field and multiple education spaces, we reached out to internal and external partners and thought leaders to talk to them about their professional lives and the stories that have inspired them.
At ansrsource, we believe in the power of storytelling to educate, connect, and enrich people’s lives. We are grateful to the women who chose to share their stories with us. We hope you enjoy learning about the women we spoke with as much as we loved speaking with them.
Happy Women’s History Month!
Rachel Walter, Director of Learning and Development at Hilti
What is your favorite part about working in L&D?
My favorite part of working in L&D is knowing that I am both making a difference for the company as well as providing people the opportunity for growth and development.
Who is a woman you looked up to as a child?
My mother. She grew up very poor during the Depression and put herself through college with help from working class parents and went on to manage special needs and social activist programs to bring others out of poverty. She was not able to manage being an executive and a parent well, but she was open to then encouraging my father’s participation as an active parent. This modeled co-parenting, balance, and vulnerability. By following her dreams, she was happier and a better role model.
What is your favorite kid’s book?
Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! It lets kids dream, reminds teenagers the world is ahead of them, and helps adults realize every day is a new opportunity.
If you could pick one book to expose your community to, what would it be?
We Are So Much More by Aster Angagaw. This book has 19 amazing women sharing their stories and perspectives. It looks at seven themes that will resonate with many women and highlights the differences in choices made by women for male readers.
About Rachel Walter:
Engaging people into change journeys while developing and empowering people is Rachel Walter’s passion as a director of learning and development at Hilti. She enjoys solving puzzles, seeing patterns in the data, and estimating what effect those patterns will have on the organization’s success.
About ansrsource:
ansrsource designs, develops, and delivers customized learning experiences with speed, scale, and sophistication. We provide learning consulting, design, and delivery services using our full-time team of hundreds of passionate global experts. We serve millions of learners using all major learning methodologies and technologies. Almost 20 years of experience working with the most compelling ideas in digital education has resulted in an unrivaled team, methodology, and process.
