That’s what Andrea De Loney learned as a student leader on Grymes Hill — a lesson she applies today as an H.R. professional
Andrea De Loney ’10, a rising professional in the human resources field of diversity, equity and inclusion — D.E.I. — traces the beginning of her career evolution to the leadership role she played in Wagner College’s Nubian Student Union.
A native of Amityville, Long Island, De Loney had several connections to Wagner in her extended family and her church community before it was time to choose a college — but, like many other students, it was the campus visit that convinced her to come to Grymes Hill.
“I actually ended up falling in love with the campus,” she says. “I remember when I came from my visit, I had met a number of people who were part of the Nubian Student Union — today, the Black Student Union — and I was like, ‘Okay, this is really cool. Let’s give it a try!’ ”
It was during De Loney’s junior year at Wagner that the connection between current and past Black students was put to a critical test, when N.S.U. fielded a candidate for Songfest queen. Two incidents of vandalism against N.S.U.’s stage backdrop and candidate promotion flyer created a siege atmosphere among our Black students and their allies across campus, resulting in an investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and a strong show of support from the college administration.
“We needed the support of the alumni community — and, more specifically, the Black alumni community — to make it through that,” De Loney recalls. “They showed up for us. Had they not, who knows what we would have done in that moment of challenge.”
Not only did the Nubian candidate capture the 2009 queen’s crown, but N.S.U.’s Songfest team won first place in the overall competition with a truly amazing stage performance, something to which this writer can attest as one of the festival’s three judges.
After serving as N.S.U. president during her senior year, De Loney took her business degree in marketing and management into the working world.
“When I first graduated, I worked as an adviser for the afterschool program in my home district,” De Loney says. “I didn’t become interested in the staffing field, in human resources, until I joined the Urban League Young Professionals. One of our board members — who is still my mentor today — was a leader over at Adecco Staffing. I started working at a competing company, which led eventually to Northwell Health.”
De Loney spent 6½ years with Northwell, one of the major health care providers in the New York metropolitan area, working in various specialty fields of human resources.
“Eventually, I found myself moving back into a corporate role, and that’s where I transitioned into diversity, equity and inclusion,” she says, “which was interesting because this was pre-George Floyd, before D.E.I. was something that everyone wanted to put on their LinkedIn.”
We asked De Loney, what does D.E.I. actually mean in the workplace?
“It’s about ensuring that you have diverse representation across all levels of leadership as well as all functions within an organization,” she says, “making sure that if there’s a board of directors, there’s diverse leadership so that different experiences are part of those conversations … making sure that when anyone and everyone shows up at work, they really feel that they’re embraced, respected and protected, that they can really shine and be unapologetic about who they are.”
Since January 2022, Andrea De Loney has been the global D.E.I. program manager for Warner Music Group, one of the “big three” record labels (along with Universal and Sony).
“Working in health care, before and during the pandemic, certainly took its toll,” she says. “I was ready for something different, and moving into a global D.E.I. role has been incredible: being able to travel, to learn about different cultures and things that are going on around the globe and work with leaders to implement different programs and opportunities … It’s been really exciting.”
In addition to her professional involvement in the diversity field, De Loney has been active as a volunteer in her community, including the local chapter of the NAACP and the D.E.I. committee of the Amityville school board. Both her professional and her volunteer experience led to her recognition in April by the Suffolk County Legislature, her home county’s governing body, as one of its 2023 Champions of Diversity.
And throughout De Loney’s career development since graduating in 2010, she has been actively involved in alumni initiatives at her alma mater, including the Black Professionals Alliance and the Women’s Professional Network.
“I think it’s important, as an alum, that you give whatever you’re able to the next student generation,” she says. “One of the beautiful things about Wagner is that you build these relationships, and friends become family. I have alumni friends who feel like literal family members — we’ve travelled together, attended weddings together … one of them even married my cousin.
“I’m proud to have Wagner as part of my family today.”
