Diversity in Action: How our community members engage in diveristy
When we talk about our core values, we don’t want to just highlight them from the LBI team side of things. We also want to share and include the perspective of our community members and how each value shows up and impacts their business.
Recently we shared a definition of diversity that we really resonated with and asked for feedback from our community with a few specific questions.
The definition we shared was this:
A mix of differences in any particular setting to include but not necessarily limited to race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, age, or generation, and job function.
from Inclusive Conversations by Mary Frances Winters
The first question we asked is if our community members had any additions to this definition and what they might change based on how they do business.
Pamela Jarrin, from Bien Box, had this to say: “I think diversity should include the varieties of neurodivergent women, if they are introverted or extroverted since that affects how people show up in their business.”
When we asked what diversity looks like in their businesses, the women who responded had this to say:
Martine Stefanovic shared “I have the amazing opportunity to serve businesses with a beautiful mix of backgrounds and experiences. This has allowed me to learn so much from each business and it has really helped shape the businesswoman I am becoming.”
And Lakeisha Muhummad said, “In my business diversity looks like attracting who I am seeking and it’s not a limited thought connected to their color, race, creed, sexuality, or religion. Being able to service those who seek what I have to offer them.”
Pamela added, “I am a Latina owned business that welcomes everybody as a client. My main focus is to bring diversity with my vendors since I find that many small business are misrepresented or lack representation in other companies. Hence, I have chosen to purchase my products from Latinx, BIPOC, women owned businesses.”
When we asked about a time that they advocated for diversity, our community members had this to share –
Lakeshia: “I speak about diversity through my own personal story and how me and my siblings were raised, but also through other experiences I’ve had in life with other people. Including speaking about systems and how they look different for people.”
Martine added: “2020 was the year where many faced the relating that diversity was not always a top priority for many businesses. In the summer of 2020, I was involved in creating a Black Caucus for the Black women in the company I worked for. It was wonderful to work with a company that was willing to listen, learn and implement plans to make a space for their Black publishers to be heard and seen.”
We continued on with the conversation to ask who our community members integrate diverse perspectives into their businesses.
Pam shared: “Making sure that people know my business is Latina owned and bringing a mix of entrepreneurs from different backgrounds.”
Lakeshia had this to say: “By being open minded and also being honest that no we don’t all have to look alike sound alike or do things alike to share space or even potentially work together. I focus on purpose and intentions which have aligned me with meeting all kinds of people.”
And Martine added, “As a community manager, I often have the opportunity to help plan content with my clients. As a content creator, I believe there is a responsibility to help bring forth diversity wherever I see it may be lacking. Everyone deserves to be seen and recognized.”
We absolutely loved hearing from the members of our LBI Backstage Pass community about their thoughts and perspectives on diversity and how it shows up in their businesses. We can’t wait to continue our community conversations and sharing insights as we continue to share more about our core values and how they impact the community we’re building and the mission we’re on!
Find Pamela here: website | instagram
Find Lakeshia here: published articles on our LBI Boss Blog | instagram
Find Martine here: website | instagram
