Diversity Matters

My guest this week is Yanique DaCosta, a Jamaican-born graphic designer and entrepreneur with a passion for advocating for diversity and inclusivity in the design industry. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Fine Arts in Media Design from Full Sail University.

She is the founder and owner of YKMD, a unique graphic design company that utilises modern technology and tools capable of delivering custom branded graphic designs in as fast as 12 hours after submission. Yanique has made significant strides in her career, serving on the Executive Board of the Graphic Artists Guild as National Treasurer before being elected as the first Black President of the organization. She is also a Vice President of the International Council of Design, where she advocates for the design community worldwide.

Her dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion in the design industry has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer and champion for underrepresented voices.

According to a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research, thousands of pupils in England’s inner cities skip school for up to two weeks every year, and hundreds of students are truant for the equivalent of a whole term or more. The report also found that boys who skipped lessons fell further behind with their school grades than girls. 

There are a variety of reasons why children in inner city schools may be truanting. Students in these schools often face language acquisition problems, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, lack of parental support and enormous pressures from negative social influences such as gang violence and drug use, and yet, many of these children succeed. Their individual determination to improve their lives, and the dedication of hard-working teachers, must be credited.

My guest this week is Theresa Allotey. Theresa is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Westminster Academy and serves on the board of Stratford School Academy as a Director and Trustee. She deliberately chose to work with inner schools to help address the challenges and issues related to disadvantaged students in the education system.

Theresa shares her experiences and the great work she is doing including her work as founder of Meliora High School which is a not-for-profit company whose mission is to reduce the numbers of persistent absentees and students missing in education across North London, borough by borough. 

In this episode I want to talk about Menopause in the workplace to coincide with World Menopause Day, held every year on the 18th of October, to raise awareness of menopause and the support options available for improving health and wellbeing.

My guest is Lauren Chiren, CEO of Women of a Certain Stage a company that specialize in supporting employers in embracing and normalizing all life stages, from menstruation to menopause.  Their mission is to eliminate stigmas and ensure that everyone recognizes when to seek timely and effective support.

Lauren is an entrepreneur, passionate about supporting people to successfully navigate menopause. She provides evidence to the UK Parliament, sits on the BSI committee that created the landmark Standard on Menstruation, menstrual health and menopause, is a regular commentator in the media and is a global keynote speaker, trainer & coach on executive women's wellbeing.

She left her senior role in financial services, in her early 40's believing that she was suffering from early-onset dementia. Imagine her surprise when her doctor informed her, she had 'just' been through menopause!

Follow Lauren's work https://www.womenofacertainstage.com

My guest this week is Julian Hall, who is the founder and CEO of multi-award-winning company, Ultra Education CIC, a social enterprise that exists to inspire positive and lasting change in the lives of young people who would otherwise suffer from the disadvantage of their starting point, and focusing mainly on those from minority communities for whom the existing education system does not deliver. Their core values support equality, diversity, and the capacity for human capability to go beyond expectations. He is making an impact on the lives of children, some of which will go on to become our great business leaders and CEOs of the future.

Amongst his numerous achievements and awards, Julian is the winner of the inaugural Virgin Unite Founders award, endorsed by Sir Richard Branson, he is also a freeman of the Company of Entrepreneurs, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, member of the Association of Business Mentors and Shakespeare Globe Council, co-founder of UkBlackTech Julian has been honoured by the British Citizen Award with a medal for services to education.

Ultra Education | Teaching Entrepreneurship to Children & Young People – Teaching Youth Entrepreneurship

In Brixton, in 1985, at the age of 37, Cherry Groce was wrongfully shot by the police in her own home, witnessed by her 11-year-old son, Lee Lawrence and his siblings. Cherry was left paralysed from the waist down. The children were left traumatised. In April 2011 Cherry Groce eventually died from her injuries having spent 26 years in a wheelchair. At the time, the shooting sent shockwaves through a community that had become accustomed to police brutality aimed at black males - and sparked the second Brixton Uprising – an overflow of anger and frustration at the institutional and everyday racism that the Black community faced.

My special guest is Lee Lawrence, this episode marks an important point in UK Black History and Lee shares his life experiences and journey with triumphs and heartbreaks along the way.

Lee has written a book, entitled The Louder I will Sing which is available on Amazon and highly recommended - The Louder I Will Sing (Audio Download): Lee Lawrence, Lee Lawrence, Ben Bailey Smith, Candice Brathwaite, Hachette Audio UK: Amazon.co.uk: Audible Books & Originals

He is also the chair and founder of the Cherry Groce Foundation which is a charitable trust that exists to, Honour Cherry Groce so as to ensure that our future will learn from the past, build communities through the pursuit of justice and work at the root cause to prevent miscarriages of justice. Donations are gracefully excepted, click here to make a donation The Cherry Groce Memorial

NOTE: Apologies for the audio quality throughout the episode

Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) is celebrated to acknowledge the history, culture, and contributions of Americans whose ancestry can be traced to over 20 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

My guest this week is Robert Leal, Robert is a colleague presently working with Informa Markets as a sales account executive for the International Roofing Expo, the largest U.S. roofing tradeshow.  The International Roofing Show allows roofing manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers to exhibit their latest products and services to commercial and residential roofing contractors.

Robert shares his Hispanic heritage, culture and background growing up in McAllen , Texas and really discovering diversity at the University of North Texas.

Mike's guest of this weeks show is Alex Robinson. Alex is a wife and mother who was born and grew up in Slovakia. She studied journalism and marketing at university. She moved to the UK 17 years ago and is currently working full time for financial advisors.

Alex is a friend and someone I met at my local gym as part of what I call the 6am club, a very small group of regular early morning gym goers who turn up for a workout rain or shine.

Her  9-year-old Son is autistic with special needs and today we are discussing the experiences of neurodiversity through the eyes of a parent

Mike's guest is Georgina Kennedy, a sales account executive at Cognassist, a company that was created with the single idea in mind to ensure neurodiversity is embraced every day.

Georgie is an openly gay woman, diagnosed with ADHD and Dyxlexia, she has been working in sales for over 13 years but 4 years ago she actively moved into the neurodiversity space after realising that her neurodiverse differences were being interpreted as a lack of intelligence and ability. At Cognassist, she is on a mission, along with her colleagues and the wider neurodiversity community to drive change. This includes driving awareness by educating and sharing lived experiences, being an ally, and providing individuals, institutions, and organisations with the resources and tools to enable all to thrive.

The exhibition and events industry is one of the world's largest industries with exhibitions and events running everyday of every year with connecting millions of people who exhibit, trade and visit shows. A safe and inclusive environment in critical for the success and wellbeing for all. Mike's guest is Gabby Austin Brown, who discusses her work to create a safeguarding charter that can be adopted by organizers, venues, exhibiters and suppliers throughout the industry.

Gabby is a multi award-winning diversity and inclusion expert delivering consultancy, education and training to the events and hospitality sectors as founder and director of Diversity Alliance. Gabby regularly writes for a variety of industry publications, lectures on diversity and inclusion in events, and has appeared on many panels and hosted talks about diversity in and outside of the events industry. She is also co-founder of the Reach Event Management Scholarship Fund.

In the season finale, Mike gets a better understanding of Why Diversity Matters. His guest is expert, Professor Dr. Funke Abimbola MBE, a lawyer, inclusive business leader and DEI consultant. She currently works as a London-based partner at a global organisational consultancy, focusing on delivering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) solutions to clients across the Europe, Middle -East and Africa region.

Her professional experience spans over20 years with a first career as a corporate lawyer in the UK and subsequent careers in C-suite leadership roles within global pharmaceutical companies alongside providing DEI expertise. For many years, she worked as a senior leader for Roche, the world’s largest biotech company, serving in a range of different roles including the role of General Counsel and Head of Financial Compliance.

Immediately prior to her current role, she ran her own DEI consultancy during the pandemic, developing an impressive global client list over a 2-year period amongst which were several FTSE and NASDAQ-listed companies.

Together with her Son, She hosts a global podcast series called The Power of Privilege and Allyship, showcasing exceptional role models who have used their privilege to maximise the impact of their allyship to transform lives.