The System is Rigged with Nicole Sanchez

#### And that’s a wrap on Season 2! What better way to head into a summer break than with Nicole Sanchez, one of the smartest, sharpest, most trusted voices on building diverse and inclusive workplaces?

We talk with the founder of Vaya Consulting and lecturer at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business about what has and hasn’t changed in tech culture, how companies try to shortcut diversity efforts, and why well-intentioned white people often screw up.

> We’re taking on 500 years of colonial America when we talk about race. And nobody can be expected to do that in a training… We’ve hit this mainstream complacency with, “Great. You hit 4% black people in your company. Wonderful. Oh. You have 6% Latinx. Wow! You’re really doing well.” Like that’s kind of where the conversation is stuck. It’s a Benetton ad.

> —Nicole Sanchez, founder of Vaya Consulting

We’re taking a few weeks off, but don’t worry: Nicole’s going to leave you _fired up_ all summer. And look for new episodes of NYG in August!

### Links on links on links:

- Nicole’s company, [Vaya Consulting](https://www.vayaconsulting.com) (and their new [management training courses](https://www.vayaconsulting.com/inclusive-management-training))

- “[Diversity in tech and what we’ve already lost](https://medium.com/@nmsanchez/diversity-in-tech-and-what-we-ve-already-lost-987aeb58eb),” Nicole’s moving essay about her father and STEM

- Ijeoma Oluo’s stellar read, [_So You Want to Talk About Race_](https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/)

- Starbucks, [anti-blackness](https://medium.com/@nmsanchez/five-pieces-of-free-advice-for-starbucks-d5811f3cd2a0), and [why unconscious bias training isn’t enough](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/starbucks-unconscious-bias-training/559415/)

### Also in this episode

We, like, talk about our word choice on the show and off—from “I think” to “I don’t know”—and debate the benefits and drawbacks of changing how we speak.

- [Just Not Sorry](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/just-not-sorry-the-gmail/fmegmibednnlgojepmidhlhpjbppmlci?hl=en-US), an app that “warns you when you write emails using words which undermine your message” (we’re skeptical)

- “[From Upspeak To Vocal Fry: Are We ‘Policing’ Young Women’s Voices?](https://www.npr.org/2015/07/23/425608745/from-upspeak-to-vocal-fry-are-we-policing-young-womens-voices)”

- Turns out, [men use filler words _more_ than women](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/08/12/um_vs_uh_gender_disparity_in_the_use_of_filler_words.html)

Have a bitchin’ summer, everyone! Stay sweet and we’ll see you in August!

## Sponsors

This episode of NYG is brought to you by:


_[Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/careers), a leading global commerce platform that’s building a world-class team to define the future of entrepreneurship. Visit [shopify.com/careers](https://www.shopify.com/careers) to see what they’re talking about._