Published Feb. 24, 2022

Zan Truluck is a senior manager within the Global Equity Diversity & Inclusion organization, responsible for leading our company’s Business Resource Groups strategy.

Zan Truluck knows what it’s like be excluded, and has dedicated his career to making sure others will not experience that same feeling.

Zan is responsible for Boeing’s Business Resource Groups (BRGs) and how employees can work better together by understanding each other. He takes pride in working with our nine BRGs, which are volunteer, employee-driven groups centered on shared lived experiences, such as ethnicity, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.

“I want to foster an environment where people are comfortable bringing their full selves to work,” said Zan. “Everyone should feel like they belong.”

The empathy and authenticity Zan brings to his role as a senior manager within the Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion organization has been shaped by numerous life experiences including homelessness, being raised by a courageous single mother while his father was in prison, and starting his career with limited financial means.

Zan attended Morehouse College, a historically Black College and University and earned a Boeing scholarship after facing financial hardships that would have rendered him unable to complete his matriculation. Upon graduation, he joined Boeing’s Business Career Foundation Program, a two-year development program tailored to recent college graduates. He attributes his success to the scholarship and the committed Boeing teammates who recruited him while at Morehouse.

“Boeing provided an opportunity for me to have a shot at overcoming my lack of resources growing up and making something of my life,” Zan said. “I remember speaking with my childhood friend Riyan, who is currently incarcerated. During the conversation my friend shared, ‘your career lets me know it’s possible for things to go another way for people with backgrounds like ours.’ It was in that moment I realized the hope inspired by my journey.”

After arriving at Boeing and realizing that he was often one of few people of color within his work teams, Zan saw an opportunity to champion diversity. During his career he has increased diverse representation within Boeing's Leadership Rotation Program and, in a full-circle moment, contibuted to the diversity of our talent pipeline as the Deputy Executive Focal for Morehouse College.

Zan's journey allows him to understand what unites employees as they work toward personal and professional goals, and how inclusive leadership benefits our workforce at large.

“In the past year a monumental pivot has taken place in terms of how BRGs care for, develop and engage their members, with a bigger focus on holistic inclusion through intersectional conversations and collaboration,” said Zan. “Collectively they delivered over 350 unique offerings across the enterprise in a virtual environment. Each of these events played a critical role in engaging the hearts and minds of our colleagues across the enterprise.”

Under Zan's leadership, our company's BRG network grew to over 13,000 members with more than 150 global chapters. In 2021, membership outside of the U.S. increased by more than 44%, adding more global perspectives to our approach to inclusion.

Zan is also committed to spreading the message of diversity and inclusion outside our company, as a published children’s book illustrator and painter. Through his art, Zan conveys human experiences organically.

One piece he created when he started at Boeing is called The Corporate Mask. It’s a drawing of Zan in his work clothes.

“In the piece I’m pulling off a shell of myself to reveal the real me below it. It’s a representation of how we often feel compelled to mask ourselves and our life experiences to be accepted in the corporate environment,” Zan said. “I no longer feel like I have to wear a mask to work at Boeing, and I work daily with our BRGs to ensure others feel the same sense of belonging. By authentically sharing my past experiences, I can let others know that there's a future for everyone here at the company.”

Zan's original drawing The Corporate Mask
Zan's original drawing The Corporate Mask is a representation of how we can mask ourselves in order to be accepted. As a leader, he strives to create an environment where people are comfortable being themselves. (Courtesy of Zan Truluck)