Unfinished Business: Victoria Martin’s Lasting Legacy

It is with a heavy heart that I dedicate this Women’s History Month to such a remarkable young woman, a true leader and trail blazer for women and minorities the world lost far too soon. Victoria Martin, a diversity leader at AIG, died unexpectedly on February 26.

My friend, a woman I greatly admired, a difference-maker – she was only 43 years old.

Victoria graduated from the University of Virginia and received her MBA from the University of Miami. She began her corporate career in 1992, in the Management Development Training Program at MBNA America. Promoted several times, she moved into her role as Regional Director of MBNA’s New Jersey office.

A member of the Links, Inc. and a director of the National Women’s Council, I met Victoria at her new job as Chief Diversity Officer at AIG. The company had brought PINK in to help move more women into leadership roles.

Victoria was always open to new ideas and eager to achieve corporate goals to advance women and minorities in the organization. She wasn’t afraid to do what she knew needed to be done.

For her – this was not a job. It was a calling.

You’d see her face light up when we were onto something.

We worked together during an intensive 18 month program PINK created called ITAP (Identify, Track, Advance, Promote), to identify high potential woman who we knew might not be recognized otherwise; women the company didn’t want to lose. One hundred percent of the women we worked with were promoted. Each time one of the ITAP candidates advanced, I could tell Victoria was thrilled and we shared a mutual exhilaration. She even coined it “legacy work.”

She also supported our PINK events that feature top women in business coming to Atlanta for the event in 2010, and helping to kick off PINK’s 2011 Annual Fall Empowerment Event on the dais in NY.

Victoria was going places.

AIG soon promoted her to Senior Director of Diversity for the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific Regions. She was managing global diversity initiatives impacting talent, workplace climate and the marketplace at the world’s second largest insurance empire.

Tasked with developing, collaborating on and implementing sustainable strategies to promote diversity and inclusion; she was the brainpower behind global strategies with local perspective and relevance.

She took me to lunch in mid January at a little café off Park Ave and we talked about her hopes for the future and upcoming trips to Dubai, London and Johannesburg.  She was flying out that same week to check in on diversity efforts there.

She told me that in some countries and cultures it is customary for women to include personal information on their resumes, such as height, weight and number of children — details which can and often do, adversely impact their advancement. We talked about how women increasingly are rising up in Asia in contrast to Latin America where far fewer women are moving into key roles. We talked about what could be done to rectify this. Victoria and I could talk for hours about such things. Her enthusiasm, compassion and genuineness was invigorating – inspiring.

On a personal level, she told me she hoped she would meet someone special and planned to start dating again after a long relationship had ended. She hoped to have a family one day.  And, she had given up gluten so we said “no thanks” to the fresh baguette the waiter brought to our table.

We quoted her in a Little PINK Book story on New Year’s Resolutions for 2013. This was hers’: “I won’t keep rescheduling my ‘me time’ … to read an article or white paper or view a webcast; something to enhance my own personal and professional development that I could never find the time to do. Two hours a week, every week. I can do this!”

She really cared about people and her work. For her it wasn’t about a title or pay. It was about making an impact.

When I heard the news of her death, in an email from AIG’s Diversity Program Manager Ellen Robles, my husband saw my expression and heard my gasp. “You look like someone died,” he said. He thought something had happened to one of our children.

Victoria was dear to me.

My heart goes out to Victoria’s parents, her father, The Hon. Joshua W. Martin III, her mother, Lloyd Overton Mitchell, her sister, Alexis Diane Martin, her many relatives, friends and coworkers who adored her.

Women and minorities, not just at AIG, but everywhere, had an advocate in Victoria.

She was one of the few really good ones. She worked tirelessly to make positive changes at her company so those with merit and desire would be able to thrive, and contribute and advance to their fullest potential regardless of gender, race, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Her work was not finished. She, we, had so much more to do.  I am not alone in my sadness about this huge loss of a very extraordinary woman and spirit. There is a void in the universe. When I cried some more about her passing, I knew I had to write to tell you about Victoria.

She had so many unrealized hopes and dreams — personally and. The world will never be the same, thanks to Victoria Martin.

In lieu of flowers, her family suggests contributions in memory of Victoria L. Martin to the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County, 1709 Park Blvd., Camden, NJ 08103. You may also donate online to http://begreatcamden.wordpress.com/