Welcome to another episode of the Intersection Podcast!

In 2020 during the height of the Pandemic, I joined Clubhouse and found myself in a room called Shared Sisterhood co-facilitated by Dr. Tina Opie and Dr. Beth A. Livingston. The conversations in that room had a tremendous impact on me. They went on to coauthor Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work.

Dr. Tina Opie is an Associate Professor of Management and a prominent voice in the fields of research, teaching, consulting, and public speaking. Dr. Opie is the founder of Opie Consulting Group LLC, where she guides corporations towards transformative change.

Dr. Beth A. Livingston is the Ralph L. Sheets Associate Professor in Industrial Relations at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business. With a prolific career studying gender, stereotyping, discrimination, and work-family dynamics, Dr. Livingston's insights enrich our understanding of complex workplace issues.

We explore the following topics in our conversation today:

• Goals and metrics are crucial for DEIJ but reaching goals does not signify true equity. The work is perpetual.

• With the recent SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action, how can leaders and organizations best prepare for the eventual impact on the workplace?

• The Shared Sisterhood Powerful practice of Dig, Bridge, and Collective Action

Welcome to another edition of The Intersection Podcast!  

Today's guest is Stacye Thrasher Brim, the Founder and Principal Consultant of STB Consulting.  STB partners with organizations to develop and execute meaningful strategic plans. Stacye has over 20 years of experience leading corporate and nonprofit clients in project management, process improvement, and strategic planning.  

We explore the following topics in our conversation today:

• What it looks like to embed DEIJ into your strategic plan.

• The common challenges organizations face when operationalizing their plan. 

• Developing quantifiable goals that are realistic and actionable.

Welcome to another enlightening episode of The Intersection Podcast. This week, we delve into the transformative power of The Libertory Consciousness Framework, with our special guest, Julye Williams. This framework consists of four essential pillars: awareness, analysis, action, and accountable allyship.

Julye Williams founded The Project 2043 Institute, whose mission is to educate and prepare organizations for the multiracial society we live in today and in the future.

Julye spent 20 years in education where she led international youth exchange programs, co-founded a public elementary school, and develped resources on race & diversity, trauma, and social-emotional learning. Julye is a passionate advocate for racial and social justice, fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and holds an MBA from Florida A&M University.

During this conversation, we explore the following topics:

• The Libertory Consciousness Framework - what it is and how leaders can utilize it

• The common challenges that organizations encounter as they progress through the framework.

• The importance of understanding historical context and its implication on DEIJ

Julye says, “If I had a magic wand, I would magically make everyone understand the history of how we got to where we are.”

Thank you for joining us in this episode of The Intersection Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned for more thought-provoking conversations. Together, we can create a world where diversity is celebrated, and everyone thrives.

Welcome back to The Intersection Podcast. In this episode, I am speaking with Dr. Lisa Bowleg. Lisa Bowleg, PhD, MA, is a leading scholar of the application of intersectionality to social and behavioral science health research. She is Professor of Applied Social Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the George Washington University (GW) and a Co-Director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core of the DC Center for AIDS Research (DC CFAR). She is also the Founder and President of the Intersectionality Training Institute (www.intersectionalitytraining.org).

Informed by intersectionality and critical race theory, her research projects examine the effects of social-structural stressors (e.g., unemployment, incarceration, police brutality), intersectional stigma, and protective factors on the health of Black men at diverse intersections of socioeconomic status and sexuality.

Leaders need to embark on their own DEI learning journey. It is not your ERG’s responsibility to lead DEIJ within your orgnaiation. Don’t ask employees to committ time, expertise, and passion for free, it is essential to provide compensation. If budgets are limited, organizations can offer learning opportunities or professional development to demonstrate their commitment. By allocating monetary resources to DEI, organizations align their actions with their values, demonstrating that DEI is not merely lip service.

“We are co-creating our workspace, culture, and potentially societal structures. This is a very abstract, high-level vision and what I’ve learned is many organizations aren’t ready.”

“I believe that the current standards of professionalism within the capitalist system were not made for or by people of the global majority and of marginalized groups,” Desi Carson shares. “Debunking professionalism, for me, is just bringing back the human component of it and how we can lead with love, compassion, kindness and understanding within the workplace.”

“When it's about finding our voice and speaking our truth… what I like to draw back to is: this is a job that you have, but who you are, how you feel about yourself and the way you function in the world is more paramount,” Minita Gandhi shares. “And so in terms of whether to speak up or not and finding truth, the really simple thing I say is: if you were to talk to your 80-year-old self right now, what would they want you to do in this moment?”

“The purpose of equity work is [so we can all] exist as full humans. White supremacy culture [and] other systems of oppression [are] about dehumanization,” Rachel Vicente shares. “Equity work is about [ensuring] people [can] be human - all of the emotions, life experiences and complexities that come with it, and for us to be able to learn from each other and grow from each other.”

“[Things] have changed some, but if you look at technology teams at most companies in America, it still skews quite a bit to male and white,” John Higginson remarks. “There has been progress, but there’s still a lot of way to go.” John Higginson is Chief Technology Officer at Chief, where he oversees the creation of the technology and data science that underlies the sites and mobile apps used every day by its members.

Michelle Morkert is a coach and Global Gender Scholar and Professor. She is the founder of Michelle Morkert Coaching, where she incorporates 17 years of academic experience in women’s and gender studies with her certified professional coach training. Michelle is a self-proclaimed disrupter of imposter syndrome.In this week’s show, she defines, disrupts, and debunks imposter syndrome and the myths surrounding it. She shares insights on how imposter syndrome intersects with gender and white supremacy culture

In honor of Women’s History month, I'm speaking with amazing women who are pushing boundaries and uplifting others by the great work they are doing. In this week’s show, Melonie and Yayra discuss the idea behind D.I.G: A Woman's Guide to Discovering her Inner Greatness, a book full of stories of everyday women finding their inner greatness. They explore their research methods, the organization that was born from it, and the most common themes that came up.