Diana Fryc's Journey was About Breaking the Mold

Diana Fryc's journey with Seattle University began when her child enrolled as an undergraduate student.

Driven by her desire to foster a community while advancing her career, Fryc actively sought a local MBA program. It was during a casual picnic that a Seattle University professor recommended the Leadership Executive MBA program to her. Her decision was further solidified when she discovered the program's alignment with her personal values.

Reflecting on her choice, Fryc says, “Seattle University, as a Jesuit school, has foundational components based on environmental and social justice … Everything that we're learning is not just being great, successful leaders, but also leaders that leave a positive impact or encourage change, and that to me is part of my DNA.”

Despite residing within walking distance of a competitor's institution, Fryc chose to enroll in SU’s LEMBA program.

Rising Above Challenges

Raised by immigrants from Central Europe, Fryc faced the expectation of adhering to traditional gender roles. Fryc recalls, “Unfortunately for my parents, their oldest daughter ended up being a hardcore American. I was born with a ‘You are not going to tell me what I'm going to do or what I'm not going to do’ attitude.”

While working full-time in an actuarial department, Fryc attended university night classes to become a computer programmer. Her journey was marked by perseverance and ingenuity.

In the pre-internet era of the 1990s, Fryc encountered challenges that demanded creative solutions. From laboriously capturing microfiche images of insurance applications to manually performing calculations when computer systems failed, Fryc demonstrated her resourcefulness.

After being told by the company’s internal IT team that it would be technically impossible to have different computer systems talk to each other, Fryc took on the challenge of figuring out a way. Eventually, she developed a computer program that allowed all the different tech platforms to talk to each other. That development drastically streamlined the quarterly calculation process turning a several-week manual task into a two-hour automated task. This innovation win for the actuarial department came at a cost.

Fryc reflects, “After we ran the program for two quarters without errors, my boss said, ‘Congratulations! You've automated yourself out of a job.’ When the marketing department heard what I had accomplished they came calling. ‘Hey, we understand you're looking for a job.’”

Exposed to marketing and copywriting during this time, Fryc’s trajectory shifted towards a creative path, including design firms and advertising agencies. Eventually, she became a partner of Retail Voodoo, a company that provides branding, marketing and design services for brands in the food, wellness, beverage and fitness industries.

Forging a New Path

Fryc, a self-taught business leader, recognized a gap in her skill set when navigating certain business conversations. Despite her background in advertising, copywriting and marketing, she felt her vocabulary was falling short of engaging effectively in these discussions. Fryc reflects, “I felt I was missing the vocabulary of this audience. My quirkiness of using my own language was ‘cute’, but I think I was losing the opportunity to close business.”

While Fryc’s network recognized her as a knowledgeable leader, she felt the need to deepen her expertise. She explains, “Most of them said ‘Fryc, you don't need an MBA. You already know how to do this.’ But I didn't. I wasn't comfortable in my own skin.”

Fortunately, the Leadership Executive MBA program embraces individuality, allowing Fryc to maintain her quirks while developing her professional capabilities. “One of the brilliant things about this MBA program is the leadership component that is on the front end. It focuses on anchoring down on your authenticity and translating those functional components that we learn later in the program and owning them as our own, so that we don't all come out as MBA ‘robots’.”

Through the program, Fryc came to recognize the value of her diverse experiences. She shares, “When you are in your 40s and 50s, you have a lot of track record. You have a lot of business traction. You've seen all you've gone through, all the wars and all the wins. You've seen the trenches. You can see landmines far away because you've got that visibility, and so you know how to do things.”

Don’t be Afraid of People

Since graduating in 2023, Fryc has continued to experience 'aha' moments in her life that directly correlate with lessons learned in the Leadership Executive MBA program. “I’ll be having a conversation with somebody and all of a sudden, something comes up from either a class or specific conversation. Suddenly it's like, ‘Oh, things are coming together.'”

Operating Retail Voodoo with her business partner since 2006, Fryc attributes much of her success to the strength of her core network. Her outgoing personality plays a significant role in this.

Fryc shares, “I’m not afraid of people. When I don't know how to accomplish something, I like to have a network to reach out to. I am intuitively a network and community builder for my own social life, and I'm an extra-vert.”

Fryc's social networks serve as invaluable resources for gathering insights and advice. She explains, “I have so many interests. I have various social groups, too. So if I have an issue, I have different places to go to get different opinions.”

Many of those friendships have stemmed from the Leadership Executive MBA program, “I know a lot of people who, when they need help or want advice, don't know where to go, because they don't have those networks put into place. [Being in the LEMBA program], I have seen lots of people reach out for help and develop close relationships.”

Championing Diversity

Today, Fryc is a loyal advocate for diversity in business, her passion spurred by the noticeable decline in diverse leadership within the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

She shares, “The categories we specialize in saw a lot more visibility of women of color in the women's space, than we do now. Around 2017, things started to shift, and we started to see Silicon Valley tech investors and major CPG brands buy these promising growth companies and then subsequently bring in the OGs, which were predominantly upper-middle-class Caucasian men. It quickly changed the dynamic.”

In response to this reverse representation, Fryc launched the Gooder Podcast in 2020. “The concept of the podcast is to elevate women and encourage the diversification of our industry by just normalizing and elevating their overlooked expertise.”

Fryc emphasizes, “My job with this podcast is to elevate and celebrate the diversity of women. For me, diversity is not just about people of color and religion, but also LGBTQ+, immigrants, people from the military, people with disabilities, and the formerly incarcerated.”

Drawing from these varied identities and perspectives, Fryc brings a fresh outlook to the industry. Her focus lies in promoting visibility for a healthy lifestyle that caters to a broader audience.

She advises, “Explore beyond your interests. In the world that we live in right now, where the opportunity to explore is great, it's important to understand people and ideas that live outside your bubble. So if you're not into country, go listen to country music every once in a while. If you don't like vegetarian food, have some vegetarian dishes.”

As she continues to navigate the evolving consumer goods industry, Fryc serves as an inspiration to all who dare to challenge norms, champion diversity and pursue their passions with unwavering determination.