Celebrating Women’s History Month: Meet Andra Stanley, NYCHA’s New Deputy Chief of Staff
During Women’s History Month, we honor the contributions women have made and continue to make. From frontline staff at developments to executives in the central offices, women employees at NYCHA are leading the way in helping to improve and strengthen NYCHA.
We spoke with Andra Stanley, who joined NYCHA as Deputy Chief of Staff last year. In this role, she helps oversee all NYCHA operations, including planning and execution of the Authority’s strategic priorities as well as implementation of the Public Housing Preservation Trust and the Transformation Plan. She also collaborates closely with all NYCHA departments and senior leadership to address key organizational challenges on behalf of the CEO and Chief of Staff and represents NYCHA at meetings with residents and resident associations, elected officials, and other members of the community.
In our conversation, Ms. Stanley spoke about her career achievements and the importance of empowering employees at every level.
Can you tell me about your job history before you joined NYCHA?
I have worked in housing, homelessness, and transportation policy in the last several years. For me, homelessness policy is housing policy; it’s not a social services issue. I really think it all comes back to place. Whether it’s last-mile transportation, how you get to where you need to go and the ability for you to get around where you live, to having affordable housing available to you, it’s about creating a sense of place.
What is a career moment you’re especially proud of?
Early in my career, I helped author Ban the Box legislation, which is a vital tool for decreasing incarceration and recidivism rates and facilitating economic mobility for justice-involved individuals. I had the opportunity to work directly with community members participating in workforce re-entry programs to craft the language, which was important for someone who hadn’t had direct services experience. I am thrilled that Ban the Box became law in both the City of Newark and the State of New Jersey.
What is important advice a mentor has given you?
It wasn’t advice, but in my first job out of law school I worked at a social justice nonprofit called the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. My supervisor was an experienced social justice attorney who respected my opinions and made me feel seen, feel like I had a voice, and feel like I could affect change, even as a fresh graduate. It empowered me to know that I could accomplish something regardless of position or seniority. I think there are some supervisors who don’t empower their junior employees and it’s hard to motivate them to want to commit to the mission if they don’t feel like they can affect change.
What kind of advice would you give to both women employees and new employees at NYCHA?
I do think it’s really cool that when you look across our executive team, it’s led by women in the two highest positions and there are multiple women of color in C-suite positions. It’s refreshing to see an organization of this size and stature in a traditionally male-dominated field to be women-led and women-run. I think it does bring a different perspective, especially when you consider that the majority of NYCHA households are women-led.
We are about 12,000 employees, and housing and NYCHA, especially on the operations side, is very male-dominated. Don’t look around and see the men in either the positions next to you or ahead of you and think you need to fall into any particular behaviors or patterns because you’ve seen that’s how men in your workplace have succeeded. Make space for yourself. If you can do the work, that’s what matters and that’s what people notice. I operate a lot differently than my predecessor; there isn’t just one right answer! The short version is you can find success by being yourself.
