September 29, 2021
From early memories of attending the Puerto Rican Day parades while growing up in Philadelphia to her hopes for the future of her two boys, diversity is a crucial part of Nina McLendon’s identity and drive. Below, Nina tells us how she found her way to marketing and Beckman, how her intersectional identity shapes her involvement with D+I initiatives at work, and why she wants to continue her leadership journey at Danaher.
My title is Global Commercial Marketing Manager, which basically means I’m in charge of developing integrated marketing campaigns that drive lead generation for my business portfolio. From building strategic campaigns to digital marketing to working with third-party vendors, I get Beckman Coulter’s name out there, telling people what we do and why they should work with us. We focus on the biotech industry, and our customers work in labs—they’re searching for answers and trying to keep up with their production of vaccines and drugs to help people. We help them get the answers they need.
Beckman has a few different business units; I support the particle business unit. Even though I’m a sole contributor with no direct reports, I work with regional teams around the world to roll out or help manage global campaigns—about four or five a year—which means sometimes I have an 8 p.m. call with the Asia-Pacific region and an early morning call with Europe the next day. So there’s definitely variety, which I enjoy.
One of the best parts, for me, is crafting stories. For example, a recent campaign we ran for our Vi-CELL BLU analyzer centered around the idea that “you can be confident in what you do,” because you don’t have to babysit the machine. You can walk away and do your work. But I like that idea as broader life advice—“be confident in what you do.” The message resonated with customers, and even though the campaign began back in March, the product’s been continuing to sell well. August was actually our best month!
Growing up in Philadelphia, I dreamed of being the first in my family to attend college, specifically Temple University. So I worked hard in community college and transferred over to Temple. I studied communications because I thought I wanted to be a newscaster, but as soon as I got an internship with a local news outlet, I realized I hated being on camera! So instead my first job out of college was in communications for a large maternity retailer. Our department was right next to Marketing, and they were partnering with Heidi Klum when she was pregnant and doing all kinds of cool ads. That’s when I became interested in marketing.
I moved around and went on to various marketing jobs in different industries before landing a role with a company back in Philly that develops water treatment applications. Then, when I had my second child, I decided to take some time off—I had my first child during my junior year of college, and because I was so focused on school, I didn’t get to stay home with him very long. So when my maternity leave with my second son ended, I moved back in with my mom, and about a month after that I was recruited for a position at USP, one of Danaher’s operating companies, or OpCos. I’d been planning to stay home for longer, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. We relocated to Atlanta, and I’ve been with Danaher ever since. It’s been six years this month, and I’ve worked for three different OpCos, including at Beckman for about a year now.
It was definitely intimidating at first—I don’t have a technical bone in my body—but DBS ( Danaher Business System) gave me the tools I needed to succeed; it’s a way of life at Beckman. And since a lot of the marketing tools work interchangeably for different industries, I’m able to use product presentations and have conversations with experts to learn about the business and persona group, so I know who I’m marketing to.
As for mentorship, Danaher is truly unique. Most of the leaders here have an open-door policy: You can literally send them an email and say, “Hey, my name is Nina and I’m with this organization and I really want to pick your brain about this.” They will make the time for you to get on their schedule and have that one-to-one with them. So I’ve received a lot of informal mentoring, and I’m part of a formal mentorship program as well.
I’ve been especially grateful to learn from Black leaders here at Danaher, like Nicole Wormley and Brian Ellis. Having real conversations about the Black experience at Danaher and corporate America has been energizing and fulfilling. Totally invaluable.
My intersectional identity and culture is very important to me. My mother is Puerto Rican and my father African American. Growing up, we would attend the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Philadelphia on the last Sunday of every September—we’d wave our flags and be so proud of our heritage.
I think a big part of why I’ve felt comfortable pivoting to different OpCos, and why I want to stay with Danaher as a whole, is because I feel accepted here with our ARGs. Representation is vital to feeling like you belong. And especially with my intersectionalities—I’m part of LatinX +Friends, Women + Friends, Black + Friends—I appreciate the ability to call out my different experiences and feel like I belong in all aspects of my identity. Celebrating who you are—it feels great.
And D+I isn’t just checking a box at Danaher. The leadership really wants to learn and offer support.
I served for three years on the steering committee for the Black + Friends ARG, first as a contributor, then the communications lead, and finally the vice chair. In those roles, I got to have phone calls, meetings, and drinks with our former leader, Tom Joyce, and current leader, Rainer Blair. They genuinely wanted to know how we were doing, what’s going on, and what we needed.
This experience and acceptance—being able to bring my true, authentic self to work—not only supports me, but also helps me improve our marketing. I don’t second guess myself and say, “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t word it like this,” or “maybe people won’t like a Black person on the front of this brochure.” Instead, I can make sure there’s representation and inclusion. For example, we recently shot a 60-second product video with a vendor. They always use male narrators, but I asked them to use a woman instead to be diverse and switch it up.
I want to work toward management. Some of my informal mentors have suggested sales as a faster trajectory to leadership, but my heart’s in marketing. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish, and I’ve been adamant about what I want in my career. And I know I’m a people leader. Furthermore, we need more people of color in leadership roles. Since I graduated and began working in 2009, I’ve never reported to someone who was African American. So I want to give people an opportunity to experience that. It’s so important to be able to have a leader who looks like you, someone you can relate to a little bit more.
I want this diversity, not only in the working world, but also for personal reasons, for my two precious boys who will grow up to be Black men. I worry as a mother: Will their rights be violated or will they be denied opportunities because of how they look or wear their hair? Without your family, without your people, it’s hard to achieve anything. So I do it for them as well. I hope in a few years I’ll be leading a marketing team and then maybe possibly leading a whole department one day. That’s my trajectory: doing what I love and what I’m really good at. And then also having that representation here at Danaher and unapologetically taking up space.