Intentional Conversations

We were honored to have Chelsea Williams join us for the Intentional Conversations vodcast and hope you enjoy this encore presentation!

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

We have to sit back and listen to the experiences the new generation of employers are having and what that looks like in the workplace

What is occupational identity: What do you believe you can be? Who do you believe you can be? It is the foundation and life cycle approach to building confidence and being able to tap into the experiences of this population

What does occupational identity look like in practice: Asking the nontraditional questions? What are your values? What are you passionate about?

Conscious Career development means being your authentic self when you’re seeking and interviewing for employment

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Ceah Justice joined Dr. Nika White and her team for the Intentional Conversations vodcast and we are so excited to share this encore presentation with you.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM CEAH:

1. Employee resource groups create a space for people to be more productive and to show up at their best. They can be a real big catalyst for change.

2. Companies should leverage ERGs to a greater capacity and really get to know how their employees are doing, especially around mental health.

3. Life doesn’t happen to us it happens for us, and it all becomes a part of our testimony and how we can share our journey with others.

4. Our intersectionality’s give us a lens that others might not have but it bridges the gaps to trust in our peers.

5. If we want DEI to be rooted in the organization, a part of that is we need to have a cultural shift, not to get caught up in the words and the description of what that is but shaping what we stand for.

6. People accept change but there are always limitations to it. It’s important to do the research to understand the true climate within an organization and be strategic in how you implement it.

7. Link new hires with someone from and ERG within the organization to help them answer their questions.

8. You can show up as your authentic self and still recognize who your audience is. 

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We were thrilled to welcome John Graham to the Intentional Conversations vodcast and can't wait for you to listen to the encore presentation.

Key Takeaways:

We are often in a Dr. office version of DEI where we are writing the prescription, but not getting to the root cause of the issues that are compromising diversity, equity, and belonging.

I don’t use the term "white supremacy", but "white insecurity" based on centuries of scarcity. Insecurity plus fragility equals rage.

If you are a Black American descendant of enslaved people, you were brought here specifically to work. That relationship was defined by a colonial construct that still exists today. Our relationship to work is defined by how it was started, you must work twice, three times as hard to get results.

Who does it benefit for us to work twice as hard? Our twice as hard output we believe is an asset, but it shows a spotlight on someone else’s ineptitudes.

We believe the pathway to success is so narrow that we shy away from bringing others along the way with us.

Diversity requires a standard to be diverse from, equity requires somebody giving something up to level the playing field to be equitable and inclusion requires somebody to accept you.

How do we define success? What does good look like? This is widely centered around euroideology. It doesn’t mean flipping to the opposite, but it starts with where do you choose to live, who do you choose to interact with, what values are being exchanged at schools?

Not everybody is taught to be entrepreneurs, we’re taught to be employees, but the mindset shift is the way it starts.

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We were honored to have Deepa Purushothaman join us for Intentional Conversations! The conversation was rich and encouraging. We hope you enjoy the encore presentation.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

The message of do more mentality is easy to get stuck in if you are not mindful of it and it’s one of the most harmful things for women of color.

Some individuals must make a choice based on personal boundaries how much they’re wiling to change in their workspace.

It is common for women of color to feel they sit in a seat of power but don’t feel powerful.

We often feel pain and shame in instances of microaggression. It is helpful to practice and write your responses to really express what you are holding.

Its important to create better and safer places for people to tell their truth. Women of color are often truth tellers and companies need to get better at listening and creating the forums to do so.

There’s a lot more to the justice work that the DEI work doesn’t solve for however they are both significant to move the needle forward.

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We were honored to have Camille Tate join the Nika White Consulting team for our weekly vodcast, Intentional Conversations!

We hope you enjoy this encore presentation.

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Lisa Gelobter joined Nika White Consulting for Intentional Conversations and we learned so much!

Listen now to the encore replay of her vodcast.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM LISA:

1. Tech is everywhere and everywhere is tech. BIPOC and women are instrumental in how tech influences our lives. We can set direction and contribute.

2. We can harness technology to make instrumental impacts at scale in our societies.

3. 78% of employees report experiencing some form of unfair behavior or treatment.

4. It's important for people to have an outlet to express themselves and their lived experiences to help them cope and understand what action items need to occur, especially in the workspace.

5. Self-reflection and self-agency is key to navigating through workplace dynamics of microaggressions.

6. Sometimes wide perception of inequality and inequity within an organization is just as important as whether these events are happening. Getting to the root cause of why your employees feel this way is imperative.

7. Ask the right questions to help people reframe their own mindset when faced with difficult situations.

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Kim Crowder joined us for Intentional Conversations as a fantastic guest co-host. We are excited to share this encore presentation with you!

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Cultural humility is understanding the humility that you will not understands everyone’s journey and struggle.

DEI work is organizational work not a single person's (CDO, CHRO, etc.) responsibility. When you build a departmental initiative, it captures a diverse representation and perspective.

It is important that we are yielding to the cultures we've invited to the conversation

Leadership doesn’t look like any one criterion. You can be bold and be a leader, you can be an introvert and be a leader.

ERG work should be reconsidered, if you want them to give dedicated time you should compensate them.

Final remarks: Community and solidarity are the cornerstone of change. Do your homework and find out what that’s looked like in our history. Also, find time to take breaks and remove yourself from the work for yourself.

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Nika White Consulting was so honored to welcome Dr. Jen Fry to the Intentional Conversations guest seat! This conversation was full of passion, wisdom and insight. We hope you enjoy the encore presentation here.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Helping people be culturally competent helps people develop great humans in any field.

Ask yourself how you’re managing your biases personally before cultivating it in others. Its not about treating people the same but about treating them fairly.

Different causes conflict, and people don’t often know how to handle it and try to limit their exposure to others differences.

Athletic directors must acknowledge what type of emotions are acceptable. What characteristics do we accept in our coaches in the sports field.

Get to the root of your biases. When you peel back where did you learn what you know then we can start seeing the differences in the athletic space and DEI.

There is no bad or good emotion. Our emotion is there to protect us however, we have to reframe how we process that emotion to handle the conflicts we face.

If you’re not holding people accountable in your personal circle when it comes to anti-racism you can’t speak on it elsewhere.

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Grab your headphones and get ready to be inspired and encouraged in this encore presentation of Brittany Janay Harris's Intentional Conversations vodcast.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

My hope that this work of DEI is facilitating some unlearning, as we show up as our most liberated selves.

It is important to grant yourself permission to see how you have internalized colonialism and return that in a form of love for your community.

You can love your work and be incredibly exhausted by your work.

A part of community care is having the right people in your circle.

A Liberated Love Note For Black Folks in DEI when Doin’ the Work No Longer Feels Like Enuf: A loving note of accountability I hope is nourishing to black folks specifically as we navigate this unique time.

There will be moments when I feel like I don’t belong, I will not internalize those moments as deficiencies, but will remind myself that I belong.

Your worth and legitimacy are not dictated by white institutions.

Know that Imposter Syndrome is the system. The system is working as it is intended for you to feel this way. The beauty of developing the critical consciousness is that it brings you to understand these systems further.

The more you know about yourself, the less you let imposter syndrome affect you.

Exercise Tip: Write out all your values, and group them in values fulfillment and in value violators.

What does it mean to be rooted in something other than what you do? If there was a call to action, what values are you rooted in?

Closing words: “I am loving, gracious, and invested in the growth of those of whom I am in relationship with, still I will not internalize, or own others work as my own. They are not our work.”

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The Intentional Conversation with Jared Karol was full of information and insights, we hope you enjoy this encore presentation of it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

DEI work is not telling people what to do, it doesn’t have to be aggressive. Its helping people how to be through 4 principals: Social Justice, EQ, Mindfulness, and Storytelling.

There are degrees of discomfort. Level 1 is I don’t want to sound uninformed; level 2 is I don’t know if I belong, and level 3 is I don’t feel safe here. Don’t let someone’s level one trump someone’s level 3.

Vulnerability is significant to anyone who has a lot of influence to any organization. Its important to let it impact your public narrative.

To be an ally you should start by believing people, if they say something happened, if they say they feel a certain way believe it. From here you start to see the humanity that is around you.

Stay curious about what you don’t know about and what you know little of.

Judgement is so easy to arrive at, and we need to move away from it as much as possible by asking more questions.

Shedding your notions of who other should be from your lived experiences is a road to new perspectives.

Tone policing is the practice of reminding others to be respectful with their opinions and it often has physiological implications such as maintaining one’s power.

Corporations should take a social justice stance; the challenge is so many do and its superficial and performative. There needs to be more constancy and intentionality around it.

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