EVERYONE HAS THEIR REASON - MY MASTERING DIVERSITY RAISON D' ETRE

I think about it every time I am asked why a lawyer is the Founder of a Diversity and Inclusion CIC OR whenever someone assumes I am the Founder, because of my ethnicity. Unconscious bias overload at worst or tunnel vision at the very least. In order to shed some light on the woman behind the mission or more particularly, my raison d'être, I will share an article I wrote for Women in Change Magazine's November 2024 issue. Let me know your thoughts.

"If we remain contained within the walls of our own lived experiences, to the exclusion of an understanding of that of others, we run the risk of falling short of the mark and making peace with mediocrity. I will quote from my 2023 Bestseller, Mastering Diversity: We Go Together or Not at All, “Whilst Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, has been par for the course for me…it is anathema to some…but who am I to judge?

I grew up in a remarkably diverse context with my teachers showing up in Saris, African dress, and others, white…of American, German, Spanish and Jewish heritage, to name a few. My classmates were just as, if not more diverse. But that was my lived experience.”

Over the years I have supported the Welsh government, major banks, and universities’ Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace programmes. I’ve trained large and small corporate teams and mentored entrepreneurs. My insider information is that there is a head knowledge of the importance of diverse teams BUT a failure, for the most part, to truly come to terms with what that should look like.

The struggle is NOT with welcoming diverse talents, origins and expertise. The disconnect is with recruiting the talent, skill and experience we are looking for, that does NOT share how we view the world, or our religion, sexual orientation, size, race and gender. That unfortunately, becomes a step too far…for most.

The companies that are thriving and boast a wholesome and productive work culture, are the ones that undertake deliberately diverse recruitment and practice allyship within the workplace. Their team leaders are aware of privilege and their responsibility to influence attitudes and are intentional in monitoring and rewarding inclusive behaviours. They are deliberate in ensuring that no one feels undervalued in meetings and all opinions are treated with the same respect. Micro-aggressions are identified AND if not eradicated...they are challenged.

What I am inviting us to do is to intentionally create platforms and opportunities for storytelling that gets to the heart of the human perplexities, making room for an understanding of issues and nuances far removed from our own with the view to achieving a groundswell of good governance and a collective consciousness which engenders behaviours, attitudes and systems that lead to a culture of Allyship in its truest form.

It is my belief that we are satiated with the banal bureaucracy of the of the boxes that we tick, to the extent that some of us are figuratively gagging on the sick of it, contemplating whether it’s better to let it go back down or eschew it with the risk of it causing more harm than good. I will say as my mother always said, it's better out than in!

What we might surprisingly find (like what happened once when my daughter “lost” her food on a road trip) her older brother took one look at her and did the same. Wasn't funny then.... but we laughed uproariously. I did what Mums do, and we were on our way, never to think of it again. Imagine if we simultaneously eschewed the ideas, attitudes, systems and endemic institutionalised ways of being, by each one taking the cue from the other and carefully and purposefully charting a new path for deliberate and true Diversity and Inclusion in the UK.

Imagine not any ONE protected characteristic being preferred over another. Imagine a day when we are no longer satisfied with the excuse that our previous stately buildings are old hence nothing can be done to prevent the wheelchair bound guest of honour from accessing its halls, through the kitchen or filthy entrance to Speak or receive his or her Award.

Imagine the Foster care child and the adopted youth finding ways to share their feelings of isolation, within a school system that's prepared for them.... instead of being met with isolating units predictive of...in some instances...and at best reminiscent of our penal system...

Imagine the United Kingdom benefiting from an injection of circa ￡250 billion pounds of value because Female Founders have started to launch businesses at the pace of their male counterparts? (Ref: Alison Rose Review NatWest Report)

Imagine a Wales where the minimum 15% gap between the profitability and sustainability of Black Owned businesses, who reportedly work harder and are more qualified than their white counterparts is bridged? AND where Reports are not just written and shelved with no influence on ensuing decisions... (British Business Bank 2020 Report: Alone Together Entrepreneurship and Diversity in the United Kingdom)

Imagine a United Kingdom, where understanding the heartbeat of our diverse communities is prioritised, diverse voices are heard and we truly embrace, what Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking Bird encouraged...climbing into their skins and walking around in it for a little while.

Over the last 12 months, my Mastering Diversity Taskforce did just that. The Documentary co-written and coproduced by me -"Mastering Diversity: Diverse Voices by Filmmaker Georgios Dimitropoulos" where we interviewed an array of people from varied organisations, communities and creeds, achieved that. The mainly individual interview sessions allowed subjects to freely speak without any influence or fear of prejudice.... hopefully paving the way for further conversations, resulting in awareness raising that impacts decision making…Decision making at the very heart of the establishment, effecting legislated, monitored and enforced change. Too long have we made peace with toothless platitudes. Now is the time for genuine and deliberate diversity, equality, equity and inclusion in the United Kingdom."

So that's my reason...what's yours? Or rather, WHO are yours? Together let's make it happen.