Rayonier Welcomes Terry Baker and Sam Cook for Employee Education Event

Originally published on Rayonier.com

Rayonier was honored to welcome Terry Baker and Sam Cook to speak to Rayonier employees recently about their experiences as black leaders in the forestry industry. The table talk was one of Rayonier's DEI education events in celebration of Black History Month.

Terry is CEO of the Society of American Foresters and Sam is NC State University's executive director of Forest Assets and VP of the Natural Resources Foundation for the College of Natural Resources. Both of them shared personal stories from their careers and lessons they have learned. Then they answered questions from the audience.

Terry explained that it can be difficult for students of color to enter a profession in which there are few leaders that look like them, which contributed to his decision to take the helm at SAF. In fact, he recalled, a black student on a Zoom call actually began to cry when he saw that Terry also was black.

"He was in that level of shock because the last face he expected to see was one with a similar skin tone to his."

Asked how to reach the younger generation and inspire them to consider forestry, Terry advised, "Show up where they are, make that intentional effort to be in their space and to ask them questions about themselves, who they are and what their aspirations are."

Sam agreed, adding, "I feel a responsibility to get kids to recognize that there is a career in this space for them. There's not one person that would come to me that I don't find a way to help. Kids are just looking for an opportunity to sit down and have that conversation."