Meet Heather Younger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Younger.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Heather. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My “WHY” is that I felt undervalued, unheard and unimportant when I was a child. I am the product of an interracial and interfaith home. My mother was from an Orthodox Jewish home and my father was a non-practicing Christian and African American. My mother’s parents were not happy about this. I was never included in family functions and I was hidden from family and community friends. I was often voiceless, although I walked around pretending everything was fine.

My mother’s mom pushed me to go to law school. I held a very naive subconscious belief that my attending law school would elevate me in the eyes of my family.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have had plenty of obstacles personally, but I have had them professionally as well. I realized early on that I needed to speak clearly and confidently. I needed to use the power I gained from becoming an educated person to begin to chart my own course. To this day, my strengths of empathy, relatability, and communication come from my own struggle to belong inside my own family. I have represented clients in court. I have advocated for customers and employees alike. This is because I was gifted to empathize with, relate to and communicate with others. Often employees do not feel heard. They feel undervalued and undermined just like I did. I now use my gifts to highlight the disconnect to organizational leaders. I communicate an authentic employee voice to those who can make change happen.

Please tell us about your work.
At Customer Fanatix, we help uncover actionable insights that drive deep cultural improvements, advancing decreased employee turnover, increased leadership effectiveness, and improved business results. We fulfill the organization’s mission through inspiring keynote speeches, leadership development training, coaching and facilitation, employee focus group moderation, and consulting with organizations all over the world on strategies to improve employee engagement.

In fact, our mission and values are what I am most proud of. Our mission is to transform employee experience by transforming leadership behaviors and connecting leaders to the teams that they lead. I think our company values set us apart. Our values include:
• Listen first, speak second.
• Treat everyone like they are important because they are.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Seek to lead despite your title.
• Help others get what they want.
• Employees first, customers too!
• Assume the best intentions.
• There is no better way to get there than with a team.
• Smile! It takes less energy than a frown does.

What sets us apart from most companies besides our values is our focus on helping organizational leaders and their employees dig deep to find their truth. It is through that truth that they gain clarity on cultural and organizational initiatives.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your business? Listening to our clients so we can help them to change the course of their employees’ experience.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
It was my recent TEDx experience this past Mother’s Day. I worked really hard to craft my story about transforming adversity into opportunity so it would resonate with each member of the audience. Now my goal is to have 1 million viewers within a year. This will enable me to truly inspire 1 million people.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My grandmother, Ruth Gross, countless friends, my mother, children, and my husband.

Contact Info:

• Address: 18555 E. Smoky Hill Rd. #1481 Centennial, CO 80015
• Website: https://customerfanatix.com
• Phone: (720) 295-1194
• Email: info@customerfanatix.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/customerfanatix
• Twitter: @Customerfanatix

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