Meet Our Inclusion Council: Josh Maxwell

Josh Maxwell in light blue large checkered shirt in front of PSA banner

1. What is your role with the Inclusion Council? I am a first-time Inclusion Council member.

2. What is your role at PSA? I am a maintenance recruiter.

3. Why do you think the Inclusion Council is important to PSA, what role does it play, and how does it fit into the company vision?

Each person has a unique experience that shapes their beliefs and values. I think by sharing and engaging with each other, we learn more about our coworkers and ourselves. I did not get the opportunity to grow up in a diverse community and experience diversity outside of a textbook. When I joined the Army in 2001, I was immediately immersed into a diverse group of people from all walks of life. My time in the military opened my ears and mind to learning and understanding different people around me. That was an important step in my development as a person and developed my compassion and empathy for others. Our Inclusion Council is here to achieve the same goal of bringing our team together as a whole so that we can understand and embrace our differences. Diversity and inclusion is not a one-time thing, this is an ongoing movement that will help our company become a competitive entity in the modern workforce.

4. Why are you passionate about diversity and inclusion?

I believe that you have to promote education and understanding of the diversity of humanity. Understanding others that are different from you, allows for you to have compassion and empathy for their causes, and drives us to be successful and included in the world we live in. Diversity and inclusion is living and experiencing the world around us. Each of us has different experiences that have brought us to where we are today and molded us to who we are, and that is constantly evolving as we interact with other people and in different environments. The unique experiences we all have had, allow us to see problems and develop solutions differently than our peers.

5. As you think about your life, what makes you more than your job title?

I never thought I would be a maintenance recruiter or work for an airline. After I left the military I started to pursue an education in marketing and the film industry. I started working as a volunteer at the YMCA so I could save money and get a free gym membership while I was in school. That unexpectedly became a passion and I became a personal trainer, group trainer, started a running team, and became director of fitness for the YMCA. I moved on to other opportunities to manage other fitness facilities. I really enjoyed what I did, but had become somewhat stagnant and felt the urge to find a new and challenging career. I was lucky enough to join an awesome and ever-changing team as a maintenance recruiter here at PSA. I am a combat veteran, a brother, a parent to two spoiled dogs, a runner, and a dreamer. I have lived such a good life, learned so much, and gotten to experience things I never dreamed of. Yet tomorrow is always a new day to learn something new, become a better person, partner, coworker, and leader to those around me and that I care about.