Bryttne Wright & Dorcia McDuffie: Dedicated Women in Partnership at NYCHA
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we bring you the story of two inspiring NYCHA colleagues, Bryttne Wright and Dorcia McDuffie, who formed a productive mentor/mentee partnership this year as members of Cohort 2 of NYCHA’s Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy (CMLA).
Bryttne Wright is a Supervisor of Civil Service Transactions and Audit in the Human Resources Department who has served at NYCHA for over a decade. Dorcia McDuffie, a Director of Vendor and Contract Management in the Asset and Capital Management Division, is also a seasoned professional; she has served over two decades in City government across multiple agencies.
The CMLA aims to provide participating mentors with the resources they need to build their coaching and mentoring skills while also enabling mentees to build their leadership skills and their professional networks at NYCHA – benefitting participants’ careers as well as the service they provide to the NYCHA community.
“My original inspiration for doing the CMLA program came from my desire to learn more about NYCHA generally – but as a mentee,” said Mrs. McDuffie. “But Yvette [Andino, NYCHA’s Vice President of Employee Engagement who leads the CMLA program] and her teammates said, ‘We have this great match for you – but as a mentor!’ I don’t know how they knew Bryttne and I would fit so well, but this has been a truly wonderful match!”
The CMLA has helped both women in different ways. For Ms. Wright, the program was an introduction to areas of leadership study she had not previously explored. “I have been a professional for quite some time already,” said Ms. Wright, “but this opportunity has helped me grow far beyond where I was when I began the program.”
For Mrs. McDuffie, the CMLA opportunity has been revelatory – sometimes in surprising ways: “Right now, I’m reading a book called How to Deal with Toxic People. What it really taught me about was…my own bad behavior! I was amazed when I saw what I was doing. But once I saw it, as I told Bryttne, I immediately knew what needed to change. And that kind of self-correction is critical to leadership.”
For Ms. Wright, networking has been another key benefit of the CMLA: “It’s of course been great to connect with my mentor Dorcia. But it’s also been so good to connect with other participants. In our last session, we held a conversation about different HR processes. It was great to connect on the human level and have the chance to help so many colleagues understand better what HR does.”
Mrs. McDuffie has also learned a great deal about NYCHA itself: “Whether it’s NYCHA, DCAS, HRA – and I’ve worked for them all – each of them has its own culture. If I don’t understand my organization’s culture, my work is going to be less effective. I am so grateful to have been able to learn more about the culture of NYCHA through this program.”
To apply, or nominate a colleague, for a spot in Cohort 3 of NYCHA’s Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy, please refer to the links below:
The deadline for nominations and applications is April 14, 2025. Learn more about the CMLA in the flyer and FAQs – and you can email employee.engagement@nycha.nyc.gov with any questions.
