You can’t separate the need for race equity from the need for gender equity. Both movements need to work in tandem to change the world.
“Examining any institution through the lens of race and gender is essential; do not biforcate,” says Jyoti Sarda, producer of the two-part documentary, And She Could Be Next, a series that “follows a defiant movement led by women of color as they fight for a truly reflective democracy and transform politics from the ground up.”
Read MoreIssue 134— July 6, 2020
My cousin Elizabeth is making good use of this time of sheltering during the pandemic to dig into our family history. It was rooted in the small town of Birzai, Lithuania for hundreds of years until two world wars either killed them or dispersed them to many corners of the world. One of the most intriguing and yet exasperating parts of this exploration is getting the names right as spellings varied from language to language. Vinn became Vinh or Bein, Henne to Hannah, and even some in the same nuclear family some people spelled their last names differently.
So what is in a name anyway? Identity, Personhood. Justice. Say her name: Breonna Taylor. Say his name: George Floyd.
Read MoreGender discrimination in the workplace has been affecting women and underrepresented minorities for decades, but has become even more critical today as racial disparities across multiple systems are at the heart of global protests.
About her 2016 book, Women Matter: The Why and How of Gender Diversity in Financial Services, Daralee Barbera, co-author, tells Forbes, “A persistent obstacle is that our profession is primarily white, male, and older.”
Read MoreYour story matters.
Take The Lead introduces the new initiative, Power To Change Stories, to highlight your personal story of specific experiences, strategies, insights and solutions to create change where you work and where you are.
At Take The Lead, we are committed to racial and gender parity as our mission. We recognize the importance of stories especially now during the pandemic of COVID-19 and the calls to action to affect ongoing racial injustice.
Read MoreIssue 133 — June 29, 2020
One thing COVID-19 has done is make life easier for introverts.
If you break out in a cold sweat at the thought of networking, in the sense of walking into a large room full of people you don’t know and trying to make connections that will be useful to you in your professional life, while balancing a beverage — it might seem in first blush that at least that worry is over.
But the reality is your network is your net worth.
Read MoreYes, that is her family’s given surname.
Vidhi Data, founder of Lead with Impact, and the Take The Lead Leadership Ambassador spearheading the launch of Take The Lead’s Premium Coaching, gets the question often if her last name “Data” is a gimmick because she specializes in digital transformational leadership.
Read MoreWhere you live and who you are unfortunately makes a big difference on how you live and work in this country.
Take The Lead took a look at several new studies— on racial equality by state, opportunities for LGBTQIA persons by state, remote work access by state, post-COVID-19 jobs and women in tech opportunities—to clarify the geographic framing of equity and opportunity in America.
Read MoreIssue 132 — June 22, 2020
I first learned about the power of organizing to make change when I was about 15 years old. In the small town of Stamford, Texas, where I lived at the time, there were two short order restaurants in town. One was called Son’s City Pig and it had indoor tables with juke boxes where we kids could sit and kibitz, as teenagers do. And as teenagers were inclined to do, we created various fads. One was eating our French Fries with mustard. OK, I admit I started that one.
The owner of Son’s became annoyed that we were consuming so much mustard. He began charging us two cents for each little paper cup of mustard. We decided this was terrible injustice. Most of us just groused about it.
Read MoreNonprofits in this country are failing on their diversity and inclusion efforts, even as their missions address social justice and fairness issues, according to a new report of more than 5,000 workers in nonprofits.
“The sad — but unsurprising — truth is that people of color and whites have a different set of experiences in nonprofit organizations. This gap in how professionals experience their workplaces — whether they receive mentorship, are granted promotions, or face microaggressions — is partially reflected in what we call the ‘white advantage,’” write Frances Kunreuther and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Co-Directors of the Building Movement Project, and authors of the report, Race to Lead Revisited: Obstacles and Opportunities in Addressing the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap.
Read MoreThe media landscape is perhaps at its most chaotic and disrupted in history with firings of top editors, resignings, furloughs, shutdowns, accusations of racism and sexism in content, coverage and workplace culture.
Anna Wintour, the legendary Vogue editor, says the magazine’s culture is by her own admission “hurtful and intolerant,” and rarely promotes black staff. The co-founder and top editor of Refinery 29, Christene Barberich, resigned after accusations of racism. The Bon Appetit editor resigned over racist allegations. Conde Nast is accused of systemic racism.
Read MoreAs Father’s Day approaches it is noteworthy that more fathers in the U.S. and globally are working from home and sharing in childcare duties, even homeschooling. More of them are sharing Zoom screens on business calls with their children at home in the background.
Yet an abundance of new research shows mothers are not faring as well as fathers in the lockdown days of COVID-19.
A May report from the National Women’s Law Center shows “women — and particularly women of color — hold the majority of health care, child care and other jobs now deemed both essential and dangerous amid a pandemic,” according to Benefits Pro.
Read MoreEven after a few months have passed, coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are still on the rise in some U.S. states and in Latin America and the Middle East.
The parallel racism pandemic and unrest following the killing of George Floyd is also a crisis.
Both are taking a toll on our businesses but also on mental health. Nearly 90% of workers reported moderate to severe stress in April. I’ve seen that stress causes a lot of smart business owners to make really rash decisions. If we don’t calm down and rethink our strategies, our economy, especially small woman-owned businesses, will be even more dramatically impacted than they already are.
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