Ana Moran’s story is proof that leadership can start anywhere. After immigrating from Colombia as a child, she began her career on the frontlines as a call center agent. Today, she is Chief People Officer for the U.S. Market at Foundever, leading a workforce of more than 150,000 employees.
In this episode, Ana shares how her immigrant experience and frontline beginnings shaped her leadership philosophy. She explains why bravery matters as much as credentials, how organizations can unlock talent by valuing personal journeys, and why frontline roles are essential to creating opportunity at scale.
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[00:00:00] Ana Moran: It starts with being brave, both to put your name out there, but being brave to also explore why you may or may not be ready and being open to that conversation.
[00:00:10] Dave Travers: So what does it really take for your business to attract world-class talent today? I'm Dave Travers, President of ZipRecruiter, and on Talent All Stars, we shine a light on the people and the day-to-day processes behind recruitment and retention at some of the world's most influential businesses. Today's Talent All-Star is Ana Moran, Chief People Officer for the US market at Foundever, a global leader in customer experience. Foundever has more than 150,000 team members across the globe supporting hundreds of leading brands around the clock.
And it’s Ana's responsibility to support their growth, sharpen their skills, and set them up for success. So let's dive into her story from immigrating to the US at the age of five, to starting her career at the front lines, to learning to be brave as she ascended to the C-Suite, Ana Moran. Welcome to Talent All Stars.
[00:01:02] Ana Moran: Thank you. It's so nice to be here with you.
[00:01:04] Dave Travers: So exciting to have you here. Such an amazing personal and professional story. So I would love to start in the beginning of your career, though, because you started on the front lines and before you were a big, glamorous leader of a team and all that stuff. Talk to me about the beginning.
How did you think about, you know, your professional journey and what led you then to be a leader in TA?
[00:01:27] Ana Moran: I began as a call center agent. I mean, at this point, the career goes by fast, 20 years ago, and it was really a job that I had to get convinced to do. So I grew up speaking both English and Spanish, and at this point, this organization was starting their Spanish-speaking line.
So I began to take care of customers, both speaking both languages, and for those of you who have been an immigrant, you may speak Spanish at home. It's very different to speak insurance in that language, but the ability to learn something quickly, adapt to the changing environment, I think, has been the piece that was most formative there.
When you think about incorporations, when you make decisions, it flows all the way to the front line. That frontline has to figure out how to adapt and still how to deliver, and they're the front-facing to your consumer. And so that experience and having the folks that surrounded you in a really strong coaching culture was really formative in the way that I've now.
I think about leading teams. Regardless of the role that I've been in, I have had a vast career, have done operations, have been in compliance work, and now in human resources. And I will tell you the tie that bind to us is how we take care of people. How is it that we're delivering to customers? And so that in and of itself, I am so grateful that that's where I started.
And the way that that has really led into this next stage of the career is that I do believe businesses have a responsibility and job creation and job satisfaction, and how we do that. And so the thought that I get to continue that cycle to somebody else who's out there with a lot of talent, grit, curiosity, resilience, willing to put it all in.
I love that everybody can get a chance, especially in low-barrier organizations, where you can come in and just prove yourself.
[00:03:27] Dave Travers: Yeah, where you can come in and get started. So think about you getting started as a leader. Like, when was the moment when you're like, Hey, I'm doing a good job, but like I could really see myself leading a team. How did that happen?
[00:03:39] Ana Moran: You know, there's always that conversation of like, is leadership learned or do you have a knack for it? Right? And I think there's the elements that different life situations may have put you in different spaces that allow you to practice that. So, that initial transition was a very natural one because if you think about in a call center, you may or may not have support all of the time to answer that question.
You're operating hours 24 /7. There may be a leader, there might be a SNE, there might be a new hire that needs more help. And so what really started to happen was I had a natural desire to help people. And so in that natural desire, when maybe somebody wasn't available, Hey, I can help you with that question.
Hey, I tried this trick and it helped me out. And so there was this natural gravity that started to happen behind followership. And I think as leaders we often forget it's not just about the strategies, but how people choose to follow you. That really matters. And so it became really clear to then, my leaders of saying, Hey, I think we should invest more time with Ana.
I see her potential, and I always tell people, like, the ticket to the game happens before the job is open. And I think that was just a natural place that allowed me to highlight the skills, and because I had the followership and respect of the team.
You were naturally drawn to coaching, and you saw that when you coached, people listened and followed, and other people noticed that too.
And I think that's great for people who are interested in leadership. There's nothing more confidence-inspiring in someone who's looking for someone to promote as a first-time leader to see, like, I'm not just speculating that Ana can do this. I'm watching it happen on the floor right now. It's already happening organically.
So, when along the path did go from being a customer experience call center, delivering direct customer experiences, and then coaching and managing those teams, move toward, hey, maybe HR and maybe the people team is the right path for me. When did that transition occur?
[00:05:45] Ana Moran: Yeah, so. Oftentimes, my career has been led by curiosity. And so, where is it that I can make an impact in order for us to help propel the organization to its next step? And so I'll tell you, the first transition into the employee space was, and this is at my former employer. We were actually measuring what we called our employee value stream internally and externally to see what were the key learnings and places that we could go.
It was still a very much an operational role. And then when I transitioned to Foundever, I began leading what I would call like a compliance group. But in that space, if you think about it at Foundever, our people today serve as our key product, right? The way that they choose to deliver, the way that they go.
And as I transitioned into that work, I realized that our talent acquisition funnel was the key to making this engine work. And there's a lot of things. There's products, there's services, there's the way that we support clients, but if the people are the ones delivering that service. Then that became the entry point for me, and I go back to having that passion behind being.
We'll call it job creators, right? And so in the job creator space, how can I get out there and find that talent, that person who is excited about that next opportunity? And how do I do that really at scale? Because I would say in the past, it was very niche and specific to the work that I was doing. Now all of a sudden, we fuel hundreds of brands, and as a result of fueling those brands, how do I find the right talent for that right customer was really intriguing for me.
And doing it in a scalable and effective way just speaks to my operational background. So that was that first initial transition. And then, as I think about expanding the scope beyond just North America, it then became, well, how do you do this in other parts of the world?
What's the different types of processes that you need to consider? What do different cultures need? And so it was really fueled by trying to help people and help the business, and then figuring out how we could marry those things together, all while fueling my own personal need to be curious and learn. That really was the propelling factor.
[00:08:16] Dave Travers: Yeah, I love that. A lot of things came together there, and now here you are, Chief People Officer of Foundever. 150,000, you know, frontline people taking care of, as you said, hundreds of clients and hundreds of brands and their customers. How do you think now, as the leader of that team, how do you think about where am I looking for Foundever?
You know, sort of culture and fit, and where am I looking for specific brand, you know, this person would be a fit within a particular brand, 'cause you have, you're juggling sort of two different cultures in two different, both for your clients and for your the mothership organization. How do you think about that?
[00:08:56] Ana Moran: Yeah, so my purview is in the US market. So if you think about North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, there are, you know, there are groups that support EA and other functions. But I will tell you that as I think about where Foundever needs, well where we're headed, I'm not needs to head where we're headed, the direction that we're going to.
They're skills that unify us. And so it's not just about being a Foundever employee, right? Like it, there is a knack for wanting to serve customers. There's customer orientation, there's problem solving. And so really thinking about skills as the central point and then understanding where those pockets of skill exist in order to then make the job fit.
One of the items that is a bit of a challenge in our space is that my job is to propel our brands. And so how do we continue to have both a Foundever brand as well as meet the need of a client because we do serve in that space as an extension of, but helping people understand both what the value proposition of being a Foundever employee, as well as being a support and an extension of the brands that we serve.
But for me, it starts with the skills and how is it that we develop the skills, and how is it that we reinforce the skills? Because hiring is the first part of the process. And then how I choose to train and coach you is the rest of it, right? And so you've gotta think about that as an ecosystem.
[00:10:30] Dave Travers: Of course. And hiring people who not just have the skills, but have the trainability to keep learning new skills as they go.
I love that. So now, as the leader of this huge organization, who's recruiting and training and all those things, how do you think about or do you think about your own personal journey? You immigrated from Colombia as a child. You've rose from the very front lines to the very C-suite, top ranks, your own personal journey.
How does that impact how you think about bringing in people through the front door today?
[00:11:01] Ana Moran: Such an interesting question because I think it helps me, oftentimes when I talk to different peers of mine, it's very easy to look for key credentialing that people have to have in order to then make them the right fit for the job.
There are times when it's not just the credentialing, but the experiences that really take shape of how. Someone can show up for your organization. And so I would tell you, when I think about that, we'll say the immigrant journey, right? Like it required adaptability, it required being able to bridge things together in collaboration, and that now fuels me to look at talent, not just, yes, there's certain experiences that you need to have, but the potential piece can be informed both by the professional experiences as well as the personal experiences. And then there's this concept that I really work with my learning and development organizations.
It's people are trainable. Like, what is it that you want them to do, and how are we then effectively showing up in order to help them get there? Versus just saying, okay, this person, it's very easy to dehumanize a human process, which I think is very interesting if we're not careful about it. And so those experiences, I think just bring the humanity to the, for.
[00:12:28] Dave Travers: I think that's so interesting, 'cause there's, of course, all of us feel this drive to be more efficient, use technology better, all those things. And yet we're people, leaders, and on people teams. You're not the chief efficiency officer. How do you balance, so give me, gimme an example of a trade off, or you know, evolution of a process where you're able to balance the constant drive for efficiency and maintaining the humanity as you talked about.
[00:12:54] Ana Moran: We're all in the middle of this technology transformation. Every day we wake up to something new about AI or generative AI, and what's it going to do, and where are the jobs gonna go. The reality is, as people, leaders, we have to adapt to that, like the world is changing, and we need to look for ways that we are going to adopt and make our processes either more efficient or more effective.
I think when you think about the process of journey mapping, you can very clearly begin to see both where you can get process efficiencies as well as human efficiencies. I often talk about with my teams, that at the front line, when somebody comes to interview or is taking time in an application, they may be taking time out of their potential other job to earn money.
So when you flip the script of saying, look, gaining efficiencies and effectiveness is not just for the betterment of the process, it's actually for the betterment of the whole. And I think that's where you can balance that human piece of it. We specifically have Foundever have put in place RPA, we've put in place artificial intelligence with different.
There's a conversational AI that sits on our careers page. We are looking for ways that we automate key pieces inside of our ATS that is not just for the benefit of the organization, that is for the benefit of the candidate. And I think the more you can think about, we can all be in these prosperous cycles of making situations better for both of us, the better.
Do you really wanna spend 25 minutes in finishing your application? No, you don't. Now, do I wanna make sure that it is clear enough where you know what I bring to the table? Yes. And so, how do those questions and how does that process flow work is to me how you are thinking about it. But there's humans at the end of this, both on the staff side as well as the, we'll say the customer side is a way I think about the end user, and then there's your stakeholders.
Like, don't ever forget that. You need to make sure that there's alignment in the person that you're hiring or how you're executing a process. From the HR side, which is a little, you know, we'll move away from the TA side, but on the HR side, the demand that's going into our leaders of the amount of time that they need to do to take with employees.
If I believe coaching is the first, the forefront and the main job of a leader, then it means that I have to enable processes to be as efficient as possible for them to be great at their job. It's not just about the way I wanna do it. You know, in HR there are a lot of rules.
There's compliance, there's things you need to think about. We just need to think about what is it that end experience looks like and not think of efficiency as a trade off efficiency for moving things forward.
[00:15:59] Dave Travers: I think it's so intuitive in other parts of life, you know, dating or showing a house for sale, that a first impression is so important, and yet thinking about the first impression of our next great employees at our organization, the first impression is gonna be how that recruiting process worked from the very beginning.
And so I think bringing the humanity to that, along with using technology intelligently, is a super smart way in that customer orientation is a super smart way of thinking about it. I love that. Okay, so now go back and coach Ana early in her journey, or a leader who's just thinking about starting to make the leadership journey, and saying, I don't want to just be a people team person.
I want to be a people team leader, whether it's in TA or somewhere else. Like, give some advice in the, whether it's timeless or particular for today, given technology, et cetera. Like, what's your best piece of advice for someone who's like, I think I wanna be more than an individual contributor.
[00:16:59] Ana Moran: I would start with be brave. I think at times that little voice inside of our head, you know, we could call it imposter syndrome, et cetera, get in the way of us moving forward. And if, for some reason, you don't feel like you can be brave, explore why. And so there was a moment in time in my career where I thought, surely I'm not sure that I can do that.
In exploring the why, it was because I needed more knowledge. I needed to put myself in specific situations, and as a result of that, I made a plan. But if you are just avoiding and not being brave, quite honestly, there will be no plan. And so without a plan, there's really just hope, which there's a lot of jokes about.
Hope is not a strategy. It's not right, like we need to really think about why, but it starts with being brave, both to put your name out there, but being brave to also explore why you may or may not be ready and being open to that conversation. I had leaders, just fantastic mentors that I've had in my life.
They would be really clear with me and say, I don't think you're ready for that yet. That's not somebody being unhelpful. That's actually somebody saying, let's talk about what is it that we need to do in order to get there. But it takes a lot of emotional intelligence in order to be able to receive that process that, and then you need the gumption to move it forward.
And so I would summarize it as be brave both to hear the truth. Or to put yourself out there.
[00:18:34] Dave Travers: There's so much to that being brave, and I think it sounds universally appealing. All of us want to be brave. If being brave means, you know, walking into a potential mentor's office for the first time or something today, but that feels like a little bit too much, and I haven't figured out what, like, how do you get the snowball rolling downhill? How do you start on the path to bravery?
[00:18:55] Ana Moran: I'll let you know when I figure it out, but I will tell you that there have been really thoughtful items. It starts with one action, and whatever that one action is can begin to instill confidence in you for the long term, right? So if you want to have that mentorship conversation, what is one message going to hurt?
And so the one action of just take the action to do something and move toward that. I think the other part that has helped me is playing out the worst-case scenario. What's the worst case scenario? They don't answer, or you know, they say, not now. And is that something to fault them? And then the last part is.
Don't think you're the only one that has something to gain out of an experience. And so I know for me, I love mentoring. And I love mentoring because I feel like it helps enhance and hone in my own leadership skills of I hadn't thought about that, or maybe I am behaving in a certain way and I'm seeing how it's affecting somebody else.
It's their reflection points that allow that conversation to happen, and so I think a lot of times. Mentees, just see this leader who's got a certain title or is always, I mean, calendars are hectic, but they're hectic for everybody, that they're a burden. And quite honestly, you are not thinking of the upside for that other person because you're holding yourself back.
So, I think walking through those thought processes has been really helpful for me. When I think about being brave is take an action. Don't forget that that other person has something to gain out of that element. And then what's the worst case that can happen? Like, typically they're not things I tell my children often.
I'm like, but did you die? If you didn't, then it's probably okay. You know? Yeah, totally. Um,
[00:20:58] Dave Travers: Oh, I love that. So, the thing through the worst case scenario is actually super helpful because it allows you to reframe the question from, am I brave enough to do this right now? To like, how brave am I willing to be today?
Let's think through what the worst-case scenarios are, and which worst-case scenario can I live with? Am I gonna send an email saying, do you have 15 minutes? Am I just gonna walk into the person's office, or am I gonna present them with like, I heard you talking about this projec,t and here's how I think about it.
Do you have two minutes to gimme some feedback? And I think those require different levels of maybe bravery and, but I love what you say about, think about it from the other person, because it's so intuitive when you see a person who's so busy in a big job, who's already busy mentoring a bunch of other people, you think, oh, they're not.
They don't have time for me, but that's a person who's self-selected into mentoring. A lot of people, they're getting a lot out of it clearly. And so, you know, finding the organic way to raise your hand and say, I'd love to be a mentee too, is a really great tip.
And my job is to foster talent. It would be selfish of me not to want to go find where all of these diamonds in the rough are, or where people are making incredible contributions. Like anything to facilitate that conversation I am for.
[00:22:11] Dave Travers: I'm gonna ask you to be brave. Now, we always end these episodes by doing a rapid fire section where we pretend that the CEO of Foundever, you know, comes up next to you in the elevator or making a cup of coffee in the kitchen and says, Hey Ana, I've been thinking about something.
You are the expert at interviewing people. You're the people person. I spend a ton of my time interviewing. Give me your one best tip to coach me to be a better interviewer.
[00:22:40] Ana Moran: As the leader hold the responsibility to making that being a safe place. In order to be able to bring out the skills and capabilities of the person that you're interviewing.
So, to me, how is it that you're beginning that conversation, and do you know whether you're being effective or not? That is, for me, it all starts with the safe place of being able to make that a good environment, and that responsibility lies on you. It's very easy to say that responsibility lies on the in interviewer, but that just means that you're not taking your job seriously.
[00:23:14] Dave Travers: I love that. So help me create that safety from the beginning. Because I think like when the HR person says it's your responsibility as a leader to make the interview a safe place, like it feel, it can feel like, oh, HR is coming down on me. I gotta adhere to policy law, political correctness, or whatever.
But really the safe, the person who feels safe is the one who feels free to let their best self come through and therefore create a ton of value for the company. So how do I create that safety and set that tone in an interview?
[00:23:47] Ana Moran: It would be really easy to give you a generic answer, but I think that answer lies in the leader.
And so I would ask you, where is it that you felt you had created that space, and how did you do it? Because my path may be different than yours, and that's okay, because genuineness is where the skill lies. If I'm being genuine to myself and making it a safe conversation, it means that I tend to be a person who always thinks about smiling with my eyes.
I don't know how to teach that, but that's a thing. Like, there's an eye contact in a way that you think about the smile that is Ana, I could tell that to somebody else, and they're like, so I would just say. Think about the places that you've already done that. Well, how did you do that? I can ask you more questions to help you, but that's gonna be a personal journey for you to figure that out.
[00:24:42] Dave Travers: Ana, it is so clear why you're a talent all-star. Thanks so much for joining us today.
[00:24:47] Ana Moran: Yeah, it was such a pleasure. Have a great one.
[00:24:53] Dave Travers: That's Ana Moran, Chief People Officer for the US market at Foundever. We'll drop her LinkedIn profile in the episode description. And just a reminder, you can also catch the video version of these conversations on YouTube on the official ZipRecruiter channel. If you've got feedback for us or ideas for future episodes, send us an email talentallstars@ziprecruiter.com. I'm Dave Travers. Thanks for listening to Talent All-Stars. We'll see you next week.