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I met her early last year at F1 Recruitment’s Let’s Be Bold About Race event which she was hosting as worldwide Head of Culture & Inclusion M&C Saatchi. So, I was totally chuffed when she accepted my invitation to be a guest on The Elephant in the Room 

Previously as a Diversity & Inclusion expert she has advised the U.K. Advertising & Media Industry Diversity Taskforce and the IPA's Leadership Talent Group. In this episode she talks about 👇🏾

👉🏾 Being comfortable with her identity

👉🏾 Her belief that our liberations are tied to each other.

👉🏾 The role of the Chief Diversity Organisation in the organisation

👉🏾 Her advise on how organisations can be more inclusive 

👉🏾 Organisational purpose and inclusion 

👉🏾 People who inspire her and much more

Listen to the full episode here 👇🏾

https://thepurposeroom.org/podcast/Subscribe to the show on any of your favourite platforms iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts

Listen to the audiogram here 👇🏾

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In this episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast my guest Sereena Abbassi talks about her identity, her belief that all our liberations are tied to each other and shares plenty of great advise on how organisations can be more inclusive. 

Listen to the full episode here 👇🏾

https://thepurposeroom.org/podcast/Subscribe to the show on any of your favourite platforms iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts

Listen to the audiogram here 👇🏾

Shownotes

I met her early last year at F1 Recruitment’s Let’s Be Bold About Race event which she was hosting as worldwide Head of Culture & Inclusion M&C Saatchi. So, I was totally chuffed when she accepted my invitation to be a guest on The Elephant in the Room 

As a Diversity & Inclusion expert Sereena has previously advised the U.K. Advertising & Media Industry Diversity Taskforce and the IPA's Leadership Talent Group. In this episode she talks about 👇🏾

👉🏾 Being comfortable with her identity

👉🏾 Her belief that our liberations are tied to each other.

👉🏾 The role of the Chief Diversity Organisation in the organisation

👉🏾 Her advise on how organisations can be more inclusive 

👉🏾 Organisational purpose and inclusion 

👉🏾 People who inspire her and much more

Listen to the full episode here 👇🏾

https://thepurposeroom.org/podcast/Subscribe to the show on any of your favourite platforms iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts

Memorable passages from the interview: 

👉🏾 Pleasure to be with you this morning. So what can I share with you? So, my father is Persian Iranian and came to the U.K just before the Iranian revolution of 1979. My dad is an immigrant and my mother is British, Jamaican and my great granddad came from Jamaica and then brought over my dad, a few years later. So, Jamaican as well as Persian Iranian and I very much identify as both as well as British. I was born in London educationally, I lived part of my childhood or teenage hood in the countryside. Other parts in London, have lived and moved to Iran when I was 18 for eight months. So, I lived in Tehran and I have lived in few different parts of the world the Netherlands, Spain and America as well. I love to travel.

👉🏾 Actually, I think I'm quite the opposite. I'm all of my identities at the same time. Yet I think naturally, when I'm with my Iranian family, for instance, it pulls out my Persianess perhaps even more. Thus when I'm perhaps with my Jamaican family that it might pull out my Jamaicanness more. But I very much have. I embody all of my identities at the same time. I don't try to suppress any of them. I don't try to assimilate and just. Yeah, just a real celebration of all of them. I love talking about my identity. I can't put a label on it. I don't have a label. I'm just me.

👉🏾 I am I'm very comfortable with who I am. Yeah, I don't allow others to define who I am. Because I think if you do that, that's when you start going down a really slippery route. And that's where I say imposter syndrome I believe kind of originates as well, by allowing other people to define who you ought to be and what you should be doing. So, yeah, I got a very strong sense of self, and my parents are to thank for that.

👉🏾 I suppose The Elephant in the Room for me is when I'm with clients and trying to get them to acknowledge that we don't live within a meritocracy. So, for me it's so obvious we clearly don't live in the meritocracy. Many people really struggle with that as a concept. And I suppose that's my elephant in the room. I think we can all acknowledge that some people need to work harder than others. Therefore, that in itself proves that we don't live in a meritocracy if there are so many who have to work harder than others. Well, I think also without getting too political, I believe that there's something inherently capitalistic about the notion that we do live in a meritocracy. And I think that's why so many people really struggle to kind of think that we don't live in a meritocracy. So, it's a lot to unpack with clients. But one of the things that I always stress is not for one second am I trying to negate the fact that you’ve worked incredibly hard to get to where you've got to. As I would be incredibly offended, if anyone were to say that to me that I hadn't worked hard. It's merely to show that some people have to work harder.

👉🏾 I would say most industries are obviously built on nepotism. And I think with the creative industry dependent where you are, if we were to say just model it on, say, a typical creative agency, an advertising agency, so much of it is down to relationships. It's not just skills based. And I think that's probably the reason why there's a lack of diversity, because how are relationships forged. Relationships are forged through commonalities more often. But our commonalities can be gendered, they can be racialised; they can be class based. So, I think, therefore, it produces a homogenous culture within a business.

👉🏾 I really think it just starts with your social network, and I'm a strong believer that the way that we're socialised in our personal life is pretty much impossible to separate professional particularly in the time that we're living in. Well, I think the way that we're socialised in our personal life will have a knock-on effect in the way that we're socialised within our business. 

So, for instance, I have within my most inner trusted circle, you know, women are my friends, I have people from the trans community that are my friends. It's very likely that if I were interviewing someone in my business who was a woman who was trans, I would perhaps feel more comfortable being with them, hiring them, because I have that representation in my personal life. So I'm a strong believer, actually, a lot of this work starts with just broadening people's social networks and making people socialise, bring different types of people together. I think that's where it starts, actually.

👉🏾 Well, yeah, the earlier in the early start the better. Though also, I acknowledge that it's not always possible because not everyone lives in a multicultural city. So, if we were to just relate to and being in an organisation, say, in London, it would be perhaps taking part in a mentorship scheme where you were mentoring people externally. But any opportunity to socialise with other people will have a positive impact in the way that you then choose to hire, I am strong believer of that. 

👉🏾 So, yeah, it should be the CEO. You know, it's I think it's completely unrealistic for businesses to bring in an individual. And even if that individual were given resources to create a team, it still should not sit with an individual So, a handful of people to make an organisation more diverse and inclusive and equitable. Every single individual in that business needs to take some level of accountability and responsibility, in my view.

👉🏾 What's the responsibility of the brand? So I think brands have such a huge responsibility and they also have so much power. I think, where so many governments globally and not just not just pointing to one that so many governments globally fall short, brands have the opportunity to be always the moral compass for people, they in people's homes. Brand equity is huge. And, I really do believe that brands are missing a trick, if they don't start becoming less impartial. 

I just don't think this is a time for impartiality. I think particularly younger generations. But, you know, I speak to people that are in their late teens, early 20s, and they're really wanting to know who people are. They really wanting to know who brands are. So, I think in order for brands to futureproof themselves, it's important for them to do so, for them to really kind of acknowledge their social responsibility. But in addition to that, I just think that there's a clearly a moral imperative here as well, not just a business one.

👉🏾 Going back to capitalism because obviously all of this sits within a capitalist framework when we're talking about brands. I think we're moving into a more conscious phase, whether it be the sustainability conversation, whether it be the amplification of the Black Lives Matter movement that happened directly after the murder of George Floyds or as a result of George Floyds murder. So, I think there will be change, though, going back to the question that you asked me, regarding whose responsibility is it within an organisation to enact change and make a business more diverse, inclusive and equitable? It's the exact same thing for our world. You know, a business is just a microcosm. So, the answer I would give is in order for us to see long lasting change, it's every single person on this planets responsibility to educate themselves, to check themselves. It's not just down to brands and our governments, obviously, historically, particularly our governments, would look towards them for our moral compass, though, there's enough knowledge out there for all of us to be educated, particularly in the West.

And if you're somewhat of in a comfortable financial situation, particularly those individuals. providing everyone acknowledges their own personal power keeps themselves accountable there's no reason why we won't see a huge transformation in our world.

👉🏾 I am a strong believer that most of us are disenfranchised by the heteropatriarchy that we live in. Heterocisgendered patriarchy that we live in. And I just think even those who are white, cis gendered man, able bodied, even, they are fighting something in some way. 

And I think the beauty of this world is to really see how others might be fighting something. Even those that, you know, statistically on paper should have it all. I believe that we're all fighting something, whether it be toxic family dynamic, sibling dynamics, you know you could be a carer for your parents, but still be of all those characteristics and or whether it just be the confinement of masculinity. I do believe that we're all fighting something. And I think this what really calls upon everyone to be empathetic, to really tap into their empathy for all people.

👉🏾 There were commonalities and we just all you know, and even though even though someone else's oppression might be different to, say, mine or yours, just the fact that we all do, I do believe that we are all fighting something in our own way or the vast majority of us.

👉🏾 Well, the Other Box are phenomenal, but I'm slightly biased because I sit on their advisory boards and yeah, their founders they are dear friends of mine. So yeah, The Other Box are just brilliant. They have really, really kind of encapsulated this inclusivity, inclusion movement. And the more recent movement, as you rightly point out, conversations around diversity, inclusion, equity and equality have been going on for a really long time. But I've got a lot of time for them. And I think, you know, what I really love about The Other Box is the community that they created where it's a safe space for so many people that feel hugely underrepresented within that business, for instance. It is a place for them to or for us to seek comfort. So huge, to answer your question.

👉🏾 Who really inspires me, because in some ways it would be easy to name someone that's well known, famous though, I don't know, I don't actually know who they are like, are they good people. You just have this version of them that you see in newspapers or on the screen. But I suppose it would be friends of mine, mothers. I've learned so much about being a mother through my dear friends that have recently had children. And I just have a whole new appreciation for not just mothers, also fathers, particularly mothers, as just carrying a child and their discomfort and not getting a good night's sleep because you're you've got this human inside your stomach. And so. Yeah, mothers. I know. That's just a really I'm not really answering your question.

👉🏾 So, I'm obsessed with inherited trauma and also how trauma is and stays in the body. So, I'm reading a few books on trauma, but one in particular is by I'm just going to read it. I'm going to read his name so I don't say it wrong, it is a Dutch author and his name is Bassel Van Der Kolk and it's ‘The Body Keeps Us Cool’ and it just talks about how trauma stays in the body. But I'm obsessed with trauma. There’s some wonderful other scholars that talk a lot about trauma. There's Dr. Joy DeGruy that talks a lot about inherited trauma, her work is phenomenal she is an American scholar. And then there's also another American scholar. Her name is Dr. Rachel Yehuda. And she speaks a lot about inherited trauma via the lens of those who descended from Holocaust survivors.

Follow her on

Twitter: @sereenaabbassi 

Instagram: @sereenaabbassi 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sereenaabbassi/