Andrena M.’s Post

What an honor to be recognized and affirmed in this way. Thanks Ryan Hibbert https://lnkd.in/gWnFkpWC

RIP DADDY Today my daddy went to be with the Lord. There are truly no words. My daddy was my hero, my mentor, my first love. I am grateful God sent me to Jamaica in November. I asked God to heal him or take him so he would not suffer. He answered my prayer. Now I have a guardian angel so devil you better watch out. Friends just watch God work. The message I want to leave with all of you is “be kind”. I can’t say this enough. We never really know what people are going through…please just be kind. Most times it costs us nothing.

Today I want to talk about the currency of the kingdom of heaven. I’ve been meditating in Matthew 7:21-23 and Matthew 25: 31-40. This is what I’ve learnt and understood. Happy Sunday.

Sometimes in the midst of the storm it’s easy to feel like God is absent or maybe he failed us. Before coming to Seattle, I visited Jamaica land of my birth for a few days. It was an impromptu visit, a conviction of the Holy Spirit which I thought was borne out of some adverse circumstances that required my attention back home. Little did I know that my dad would become critically ill within a few weeks. I can’t travel to Jamaica now that my dad is sick as I am way too ill from treatment and the journey too far. I think about the brief time spent with him and how grateful I am I had those moments. God never fails. If we remain obedient to his voice and stay attuned to the Holy Spirt he will lead us where no man can. Happy Lent!

Some days all I have is my faith. Being alone in Seattle fighting for my life is no walk in the park. Some days I just want someone to pour my coffee as my nails hurt so badly. Cancer treatment is hard but being alone is harder. Trials will always come and have been coming. Were it not for my king, were it not for my saviour Jesus Christ I don’t know how I would make it through. The past few weeks have been insanely difficult for myriad reasons, including the layoff. I keep thinking, “was I really such a big liability to Wayfair that they would do this to me at this time”. I keep thinking about the people behind the decisions, the people who had the kindest things to say to me, to encourage me and wonder “was any of it real”. I’ve had to come to a place of forgiveness through acceptance - acceptance that this was always business. My leaders never really cared. I pray that this is not received as cynicism or bitterness as my sincere desire is to bring about positive changes; my advice to everyone is as follows: 👉🏼 work is not your family, your colleagues are in most cases not your friends. 👉🏼 work to live, not live to work - it’s all transactional, an exchange for goods and services. Do not sacrifice family and relationships for work. 👉🏼 be kind and thoughtful - your decisions can literally be life and death. 👉🏼 get as much personal insurance as you can; work insurance ends when your job ends ( in most cases) 👉🏼 get as much insurance as you can while you are young and healthy - pre existing conditions are a real thing and insurance companies don’t play. God bless all of you!

Let’s give him all the glory!

Hello, were you terminated from Wayfair before, during or after you went on disability, sick, paternity or maternity leave? Please Let me know so we can bring visibility to this problem. You can remain anonymous but let’s help to bring visibility to this problem together. Let’s not be afraid. Let’s make it better for someone else!!!!

Has North America lost its mind (or heart) in employment practices? My colleagues in Europe have been treated with far more respect than their North American counterparts with these layoffs. Layoffs were communicated via meetings with their managers, access was not immediately cut off etc. I was on my way to chemo when I was laid off so I could not focus on sending goodbye messages to my team members. Then just like that I was ex-communicated …seriously though did we become criminals overnight? Who do we really hurt with these inhumane practices? Is it the employee who has been terminated or is it your brand? What about the people left behind, employees might smile to your face to self preserve, but what do they really think of their leaders and company culture? So perhaps it’s not law or common law as in Europe (not sure which) to treat people with basic, human decency but maybe good sense can simply prevail. Is that so hard? I was one of four on my team (I think) - can’t imagine that was too onerous for a director to have conversations. The attached pic is a pic of a jamboard my colleagues had prepared for me when I went off on disability in September. This was not a lofty gesture but one which meant the world to me, with snippets from my favourite book - The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse. What this gesture told me was that my colleagues didn’t just know me as SPM they knew me as a person. My favourite quote from that book is: “What do you want to be when you grow up? Kind, said the boy.” This is the real #wayfair. I wish Niraj Shah would let that beauty permeate all levels and spheres of the organization. We get it, difficult decisions are required but they can be handled with care and decency. We have a choice, we can choose to be #kind

Please share…I want to raise as much awareness as possible before…