Black History Month: Interviews with Black In Business - Part 1

I am a biracial woman with the pronouns she/her with a Black and Indo-Caribbean background. I have 2 dogs, a 10 year old husky named Sienna and an 8 year old Australian Shepherd, Tundra. However, the best part of my whole life are my family, my husband Jason and our funny, sarcastic, dramatic, 4 year old Micah.?

At Flywheel , I run the contracts department. My team is responsible for the drafting and finalizing of all things customer contracts. When I first started, this position did not exist - almost 3 years later, we are a team of 3 and manage all contracts for multiple brands under Ascential Digital Commerce . Other than the stellar work that we do, what makes us unique is that we are an all female, Black team–something that I am extremely proud of and hope inspires more younger Black professionals that come behind us.

Black in Business is a space for Black colleagues to network, advance their professional and personal development, share experiences and celebrate diversity. We are committed to building an inclusive environment that supports and encourages Black colleagues to advance their professional and leadership potential through connection, mentorship and collaboration.

Our leadership does not yet have official roles. I have proactively been working with Terrell Clay, Flywheel's Lead Service Desk Consultant, to be the voice and representatives of the United States branch of BiB. We work together to run the BIPOC and Allies Slack channel where we provide a safe space for POC to share, teach, and collaborate. We also work together to ensure that Black achievement is recognized and appreciated. This can be through the celebration of Black History Month, recognition of Juneteenth, or collaborating with the Digital Commerce DEI team to work together to achieve the goal of equal opportunity and representation throughout the organization.

Black in Business is hosting a Lunch and Learn in celebration Black History Month. We are working with multiple brands to organize lunch that will be provided by a local Black owned business. During the month of February, we want to recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions that generations of Black Americans have made in our communities, economy, and world. Along with this, we see the importance of also recognizing the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement–one of which is Bayard Rustin. While Dr. King, who is well known, spoke as the face of the civil rights movement, he stood behind the scenes as an indispensable force. His life was shaped by the very prejudice the movement fought against, not only because of his race, but also because he was gay. Rustin bravely lived a life of activism while openly gay saying:

Thank you to Ricardee for sharing her story! Next week will be a follow up installment featuring another member of the Flywheel and Black in Business team.