Virginia Suliman is the Executive Vice President and CIO of Invitation Homes. Prior to joining Invitation Homes, Virginia was Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Hilton Worldwide, where she held a variety of escalating roles across Digital and Technology.

In this episode, Virginia shares a Why Not Now? moment that came after working with Hilton Worldwide for 22 years. She was offered a position with Invitation Homes, and while she initially had no intention of taking the job, she decided to go to the interview. She shares the story of meeting with the CEO and how a Pop-tart led her to say “Why Not Now”?

Virginia and Amy Jo discuss creating culture and building an environment in the workplace where people can feel comfortable to be themselves and let their creativity flow. She looks at her team as a collection of souls and works to understand who they are in order to help fully unlock their potential.

She talks about how she draws from her own personal life experiences to make her a stronger leader. Through connecting with people on a personal level, she’s able to help them find the best fit within their team. She also finds that making that connection can help when having tougher conversations.