A Carefully Curated Career: Alum Pursues IDEA at the Carnegie Museums
Gina Winstead is Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh’s first-ever vice president for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA). A journey through several roles and a lot of guts, stress, and hard work got her to where she is today.
Several different roles have served as stepping-stones to Winstead’s current position. After graduating with a degree in psychology from the Dietrich School, Winstead launched a career in behavioral health, then moved into a research-based position in the energy industry. After work took her to North Dakota and Montana, Winstead found herself missing the city where she was born and went to school.
“I was seeing all of the economic boom and a technology shift in Pittsburgh, and downtown coming back to life, and I wanted to be a part of that,” remembers Winstead. She moved back to the city and into the nonprofit sector. Winstead says the most influential role leading to her current position was the work she performed with the Pittsburgh Technology Council.
“I was originally their director of member engagement, but every time I would go and speak to different CEOs, chief information officers, and HR administrators, they would often say the same thing: that they're really looking for someone like me to hire. And I knew at that time that they really meant they were looking for more diversity.”
“There was a great need for Pittsburgh employers to diversify,” Winstead says. Understanding this need, combined with her long-standing interest in social psychology and her experience as a biracial person, Winstead felt herself pulled toward a new initiative.
“I felt that it was time for me to really embrace that,” offers Winstead. “I had taken classes on race at Pitt, and I knew that I had the education and the experience to leverage, so I created a role as the director of diversity and inclusion at the Pittsburgh Technology Council. And that was the start of it.”
After creating this role, Winstead built relationships with Vibrant Pittsburgh, a resource for companies that are trying to improve diversity and inclusion. At Vibrant Pittsburgh, Winstead served as assistant vice president before taking her role as vice president of IDEA at Carnegie Museums.
Winstead believes her Pitt education provided a solid foundation for her career, particularly the courses in social psychology, race, gender, and social structures.
“I took a lot of different classes that helped break down the psychology of the behavior of how we treat each other,” Winstead says. “I think my classes and my studies demonstrated different moments in time and history where people stood up and made a difference.”
One Pitt experience particularly stands out. As part of a course on race, Winstead’s professor assigned students to visit the “Without Sanctuary” exhibit at The Andy Warhol Museum, which displayed images of lynching in America.
“I didn't know that there was this art museum in the region that went beyond Andy Warhol, that dove into some of the uncomfortable background of America’s dark, deep past with racism,” says Winstead. “That class really implanted in me that art, history and culture could play a role in the betterment of society by learning and making sure we don't repeat that in the future.”
Winstead made it through an intense interview process with a diverse and qualified pool of candidates to obtain this new position.
“I think this position requires somebody who understands the museum systems and Pittsburgh, as well as IDEA. Somebody who is eager to have relationships with the community and identify new talent pools that haven't been tapped into in the past. … And somebody who, like me, has a broad background which allows me to be able to work with different departments,” says Winstead. “I've done a lot of collaborative work in my past, a lot of gathering folks and making sure that they are having cross-component conversations, across-the-aisle conversations, and building allies. I've developed programming in the past, and that's going to be a big part of this work going forward.”
Now, Winstead has many plans to help improve IDEA within Carnegie Museums, including placing a major focus on nurturing relationships with the community.
“We want to make sure that people in the community find our museums accessible and relevant to the diverse audiences that are increasing,” Winstead explains. “Historically, there are some community organizations that we just haven't connected with.”
Winstead emphasized the importance of connecting the deep roots of Black and Brown communities in Pittsburgh with the museum’s deep roots as an institution that's 127 years old. “How can we connect those two? We need to make sure that we're breaking down those barriers, and reaching out and pulling people in.”
Other goals for Carnegie Museums include initiatives of the larger museum community, such as examining repatriation and decolonization and best practices for representing cultures that are on display. Winstead also plans to promote positive working conditions for museum employees. Some of this work includes supporting ongoing efforts to ensure inclusivity for employees who are in same-sex couples and non-traditional homes, providing resources for parents and non-parents, and fostering an accessible and friendly workplace for people living with different abilities and disabilities.
“I'm really excited about those buckets of work, and trying to shift the culture internally. Because we have some really interesting and intelligent people here, and I want them all connected to each other. And I want them staying and working at the museum and inviting their friends in,” enthuses Winstead.
“I never, ever pictured myself working at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh,” Winstead admits. “I think it's important for all of us to take into consideration that we can pave our own roads. … I've taken roles where I've broken down barriers. I've been the only woman, the only person of color, in several companies, and I've been persistent in making sure that I am not the last.”