Jackie Martin didn't set out to lead inclusion and impact work, but looking back, the thread was there the whole time.

Today, as Toast's Global Head of Inclusion & Impact, Jackie has spent the past several years turning that thread into a global strategy. We sat down with Jackie to talk about her path, what she's noticed about Toast's culture, and where she's focused next.

Can you share a little bit about your background?

I have a pretty unique — and definitely non-linear — background. I have undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and biochemistry from the University of Michigan, but the funny thing is, I never actually dreamed of becoming an engineer.

Growing up, I was really into music and musical theater. But at the time, theater, Broadway, and the music industry weren’t exactly known for their diversity. So I came up with what I thought was the perfect plan: if I couldn’t see myself on the stage, why not be behind the scenes? I was going to become a female music engineer — think Quincy Jones or Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. (Yes, this plan was heavily influenced by the success of the Jackson family.)

I got into some amazing music schools, including Berklee College of Music in Boston, but they were incredibly expensive, which made pursuing that path difficult. Then, almost at the last minute, I applied to the University of Michigan — partly to spite my brother, who loved Michigan but hadn’t gotten in. Sibling rivalry can be a powerful motivator!

Because I applied so late and hadn’t auditioned for the music school, I ended up in engineering with a full-ride scholarship from 3M. My plan was still to audition for the music school once I got there and double major in music engineering. But engineering had other plans for my time! Eventually, I chose my majors based on the subjects I had loved most in high school: chemistry and biology.

During the summers, I interned at 3M and quickly learned something very important about myself: I did not want to be a chemical engineer. Naturally, I graduated and became one anyway!

I took a somewhat unconventional engineering role at General Mills, where I spent a few years working in quality and helping make Honey Nut Cheerios — which, believe it or not, is what brought me to Atlanta. As a first-generation college student, I simply hadn't known how many different degrees, career paths, and possibilities were out there. Once I entered the workforce, my eyes really opened. I became fascinated by the business side of things, so I went back to school, earned my MBA in marketing, and spent a little over a decade as a marketer working on major brands like Kleenex and Scott.

That chapter of my career opened my eyes, too. I could see all of these incredible opportunities, especially in a diverse city like Atlanta, but I also noticed that the rooms I was sitting in often didn’t reflect that diversity. Like many people who are passionate about this work, I started doing it “off the side of my desk.” I volunteered with employee resource groups, focused on inclusive marketing, represented the company at conferences, and found more and more ways to get involved. Over time, what started as something I cared about outside of my day job became the work I was most passionate about.

Eventually, I decided it shouldn’t just be something done off the side of someone’s desk. Over several years, I built the business case for a dedicated role and, with the support of a president who had become a sponsor and champion of mine, became the company’s first-ever diversity and inclusion leader for its B2B sector. That was in 2012, and I haven’t looked back since.

Were there personal factors that also led you to this type of work?

Absolutely. I spent my early years in the city of Milwaukee, where I grew up surrounded primarily by people that looked like me and had similar lived experiences. When I was in third grade, my family moved to the suburbs, maybe 15 minutes north, and suddenly the tables were completely turned.

I was one of very few people in my classes who looked like me or shared experiences similar to mine. It was a culture shock, especially at such a young age. As I moved into those formative middle school years, I often didn’t feel like I belonged. And, honestly, that sucked.

But those experiences also shaped me. They gave me a natural sense of empathy for people who find themselves outside of the “norm” in a particular environment — people who walk into a room and immediately realize they’re different. I experienced that feeling again while pursuing my engineering degree, where I was often one of few, if not the only person, in the room who looked like me or came from a background like mine.

As I moved through my professional career, I encountered versions of that experience over and over again. There were so many situations where I found myself blazing trails, educating and advocating, or even helping my own leaders understand what it would take to create an environment where everyone had an equitable opportunity to succeed.

At some point, that just became part of who I was. I didn’t even realize for a long time that diversity, equity, and inclusion was something you could actually have a job doing. At the same time, I became increasingly passionate about social impact and giving back. During my time at Kimberly-Clark, my role expanded to include a number of community-focused initiatives that I had the opportunity to build from scratch. I loved seeing what was possible when you leveraged the resources and influence of a corporation to make a meaningful difference in the community.

That became deeply personal for me in 2010, when my mom passed away from pancreatic cancer. My family and I eventually co-founded a nonprofit in her honor. I had never done anything like that before, but finding a way to give back and create something meaningful in her memory became incredibly important to me. Her passing was also a major turning point in how I thought about my own life and career. Up until then, I had been on this trajectory of climbing the corporate ladder, building a career, being a successful businesswoman — all of the things I thought I was supposed to be doing. But I wasn’t satisfied. I wasn’t particularly happy. And I was very burnt out.

Losing my mom at such a young age forced me to ask myself some much bigger questions: Who are you, really? Why are you here? What legacy and impact do you want to have before you leave this place? I did a lot of introspection during that time. And when I really thought about what gave me energy, what mattered to me, and where I felt like I was making a difference, I kept coming back to the same thing: the diversity and inclusion and community work I had been doing off the side of my desk. I realized that maybe the work I had been treating as something “extra” was actually the work I was meant to be doing.

Thank you for sharing the heart behind why you do the work that you do. What specifically drew you to Toast?
Someone in my network who I really admired had reached out to me about a role at Toast. As a marketer, the fact that the brand is so powerful within the industry stood out to me. Being a leader in the market — and being able to leverage that for good — is what really attracted me to the opportunity. As I completed the interview process and met more and more people, I was sold on the culture based on how open, transparent, and honest the people are. From day one, that has shown to be true. It’s very unique, and I’m happy to be in an environment where people really do care about each other.

What are you and your team focused on right now?

The primary priority is partnering with leaders and our People & Places Team peers on ensuring Toast is a great place to work for all. How do we uncover the world’s greatest talent and ensure our spaces enable everyone to thrive? How do we reflect the diversity of our customer base, while understanding the range of experiences within it? 

Since joining Toast, I've traveled to many different offices — San Francisco, Omaha, Boston, Dublin, Bangalore, and Chennai. That's what opened my eyes to the need for a second priority around a more “glocal” (global in strategy, local in execution)  inclusion & impact strategy. There are local and cultural nuances that exist both around the world and in different offices within the same country. Omaha is very different from Boston, just like Chennai is very different from Bangalore. There's an opportunity to have more of a “glocal” approach to the work, as opposed to setting global strategy and just assuming that it's going to make sense everywhere.  Employee networks and Toast.org local community chapters have expanded and gained representation in multiple new sites and regions since I began this position, which has helped build trust & bring people together but there’s much more to do!

Then the third piece is, with AI now, how do we ensure that the human is always in the lead, and that allyship evolves in this new age of AI? That's a new priority that we've got our eye on.

The common thread is talent is everywhere - how can we help foster equal access to opportunities within and beyond our four walls?

What stands out to you about Toast's culture?

I find people here to be super authentic, nice, and transparent. That's unique in a culture. Especially working in this space, it’s exciting to see people really embrace serving others. We see this a lot through our Toast.org work — it's woven into the fabric of who we are and embedded in the company's mission. Are there opportunities? Of course there are. Could we be doing more? Of course we could. But it's never really a question of why we should prioritize inclusion and impact efforts, and so I truly value that, and feel like that's a huge privilege. These principles are literally backed into Toast’s mission and I love it!