Citi Slicker

Tables are jammed together, and the restaurant hums with gabbing patrons and waiters doling out buttermilk pancakes. Sitting at one of those tables on a Saturday morning was 2006 MBA grad Kimberly Clark. And the diner to her left? Actress Scarlett Johansson. “That was my New York moment,” says Clark, who spent the last three years living on the Upper East Side. “The city is defined by the random experiences you have. There’s always something new going on.”

New is a vital word in Clark’s lexicon. An adventurer by nature, she’s tackled a foreign posting in Bahrain, zip-lined in Argentina, and paddled past crocs in the Everglades. It was her quest for fresh challenges that secured her a spot in the MBA program. And since graduation she’s carved out an HR career marked by her willingness to escape her comfort zone—measuring the distance not by the inch but by the mile.

Roots and Wings

The oldest of three, Clark grew up in Morgan Hill, California, a bedroom community south of San Jose. Her father, a commercial garbage collector, and her mother, a kindergarten teacher, believed in the value of hard work and education. Their mantra: You must give your children roots to grow and wings to fly.

That translated to a busy schedule for Clark, who balanced AP classes with several clubs—including Future Business Leaders of America—in her formative years.

“One of my teachers once told me, ‘I knew that bossiness would turn into leadership,’” Clark laughs.

The greatest role models in her life, however, weren’t at school. They were her parents. And although they’ve spent several years on opposite coasts, Clark still chats with them daily.

In fact, it was her father Clark called on the first day of orientation as an MBA student.
Walking into a sea of suits at the breakfast reception, Clark panicked and took a lap around the Tanner Building. Whipping out her phone, she dialed the familiar number.
“Dad, I don’t know if I can do this.”

His reply was simple: “You can do it. You need to walk back in there.”

Spanish Admonition

An MBA was not always in the plans.

Clark originally enrolled at BYU as a veterinary science major. For the record, her earliest memory is playing with the wild kittens at her grandparents’ house. However, a tear-jerking experience putting her cat to rest as a college freshman made Clark realize the animal route wasn’t right for her.

After briefly considering medical school, Clark began pursuing a degree in political science. She excelled in her classes and was asked by Matthew Holland, now president of Utah Valley University, to be a TA for his American Heritage class.

Holland became a mentor to Clark, and when graduation neared, she went to him for guidance. His advice: get an MBA.

“I remember being disappointed,” Clark says. “I thought, ‘I came to you for advice and that’s what you’ve got?’”

Still, Clark promised she’d look into it during her study abroad in Spain the next semester. And in a small Internet café in Madrid, she began to research the program and its courses.
“I began to feel really good about making that decision,” Clark says.

She returned from Spain at the end of December and completed the GMAT and her application by the February deadline.

That fall she followed her father’s advice and walked into the reception—and a new challenge. “The learning curve was steep,” she admits. “Suddenly I was in advanced corporate finance, and I didn’t even know how to use Excel.”

Trench Warfare

While Clark adjusted to her new coursework, her biggest hurdle—securing an internship without formal work experience—lay ahead.

During an interview with Citi, the recruiter asked her to outline her work history. Clark did, highlighting her role as an installation landscaper the previous summer.

The physically intensive position had appealed to Clark because it meant she could skip the gym. What she didn’t expect was that her new coworkers would place bets on how long she’d last.

While she kept her nails manicured all summer, Clark dug trenches until her hands blistered. She learned how to drive a backhoe. She wielded a pickax. And by the end of the season, she was the foreman’s right-hand woman.

When she finished recounting her experience, the recruiter said, “You can do the same thing here. You don’t have formal experience and you don’t know much about HR, but you’re going to learn.”

Kind Business

That interview translated into a New York City internship and nearly eight years at Citi in various positions. 

In her most recent role, Clark worked as an HR advisor for commercial banking, juggling talent management, compensation planning, employee management, and organizational design.

“I love feeling like I’m part of the business,” she says. “I don’t want to be the HR person stuck in the back room.” 

While the action is important, Clark will be the first to tell you it’s the human side of business that really matters.

A few years ago Clark unexpectedly had to team up with a colleague who didn’t seem to enjoy working with her. “Because I couldn’t think of any elective surgery to have in time,” Clark quips, “I realized I needed to do my part to make things better.”

Clark redoubled her efforts to be kind to her coworker. It soon became apparent that her colleague felt undervalued and had little support from her manager. The more Clark opened up the communication channel, taking time to chat about family and after-work interests, the more the relationship developed.

“Perspective is everything,” Clark says. “I now count that coworker as a close friend. If I hadn’t been open to looking beyond my preconceived notions, I would have missed out on a wonderful opportunity.”

Bahrain Calling

Travel enthusiast, globetrotter, and citizen of the world, Clark very rarely has empty suitcases. At this point it’s easier to name the places she hasn’t been than to count her passport stamps. Domestically, she’s on a quest to visit all fifty states. A trip to Wisconsin earlier this year brought the running total to thirty-eight.

Wanderlust, in fact, played a large part in Clark landing an exotic post at Citi. While many employees were hoping for positions in traditional destinations, Clark’s first choice was Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf.

“I had to look it up,” Clark admits. “I didn’t know if it was a city or a country. It was a six-month opportunity, so I thought I should do something crazy—work in a place I’d never visit.”

Clark became the interim head of HR and transitioned into a completely different lifestyle. Although the first month was difficult, her colleagues became family, inviting her to join in cultural celebrations. One of the most memorable was spending iftar, the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during Ramadan, with a coworker’s family.

“I cared about trying to understand their beliefs and to see what was similar to my own,” Clark says. “People were so generous in opening their homes and hearts to me.”

When she completed the six months, Clark was invited to consider staying in the region but decided to fly back to the States. “I’d hit my stride at that point, and it was time to come home,” she says.

Basic Mixology

Clark has always made her family proud. But when she secured her first job, they were most impressed not by her title but by her new office. Their interest in her workspace was amusing since she’d never envisioned her name on a door.

“Inadvertently I always thought I’d be married by the time I graduated,” she says. “Not because that was the only thing I was concerned with but because I had only planned my life until that point. I quickly learned you’ve got to have a plan after that.”

Clark, an accomplished home chef, often illustrates her point to other singletons with an unlikely prop: a KitchenAid mixer.

“I thought a KitchenAid was something you got when you were married,” Clark says. “I remember talking to my mom about it, and she said, ‘Why shouldn’t you have one now?’”
That Christmas there was a shiny mixer waiting for Clark under the tree. In the years since, it’s prepared many delicious treats and reshaped how she views the future.

“When I hear people complaining about being single, I tell them to buy their Kitchen-Aid—whatever that might be—and embrace it,” she says. “I’m living Plan A.”

Manifest Destiny

For Clark the future has already arrived. In August she accepted a position with Dish Network in Denver. Supporting nearly 1,700 employees, she is a senior HR manager responsible for the company’s corporate groups.

Several factors precipitated the move for Clark, who managed to pack up her entire NYC apartment in two days. Learning about a new industry, living closer to family, and expanding her management experience were all positives. The job change also means she’s spending less time on crowded subways and more time outdoors.

Still, there are things Clark misses about the Big Apple: friends and associates, built-in trash chutes, and, of course, those brunches with ScarJo.

“It’s not that I didn’t love New York,” Clark says. “Sometimes I think New York is the man you love but don’t marry.”

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Article written by Megan Bingham
Photography by Brittany Ambridge