I decided to attend The Importance of DEI in the Workplace & Creating an Enriching Experience event hosted by the Gordon Career Center. I really enjoyed this conversation as it’s one that as a young woman of color am always interested in especially given that I’m considering going into a very white, male-dominated field. While we can’t suddenly change the demographics of an entire industry, it’s comforting to see that there are efforts to make fields more accessible and by default more diverse. It really made me think about the importance of having multiple viewpoints in a given room, as each individual, comes from their own past experiences and holds their own political, social, etc. values and beliefs, they will inevitably think about the same problem with a different lens.
Also, I think that encouraging and instituting a way to show care for DEI in the workplace can also extend beyond the office and serve as a new learning opportunity. Co-workers often become your work family, however, that can cross the border of professional into personal, simply because you spend so much time with them and have really gotten to know them as a person. Having friends from different backgrounds is an immense privilege as it allows you to learn about communities or ideas, that you might have not otherwise known or had the opportunity to engage in. It’s through these interactions and friendships that we can understand the multiplicity of an individual and come to realize the number of similarities we share with one another.
By incorporating and emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, I feel that that is telling of a company’s morals and values, which to me is really important given that I don’t want to work in a place, nor would I feel comfortable working in the same space as others that didn’t see the value of multiculturalism and the collaboration that can stem from this. It was also helpful to think about how I can try to incorporate and foster diversity in the workplace.
I firmly believe that once someone who you identify with proves they can break into a space, or break the conventional norms, that opens the floodgate of others as it validates that their desires are in fact tangible. The difficulty is getting someone there in the first place to lead the charge. While having one person in the field won’t suddenly make all the hardships go away, only strength in numbers and unifying/sticking together will allow individuals previously excluded from various fields and conversations, to not only have a seat at the table but be a voice of reason, that’s worth learning from and listening to.
