Navigation Categories

The pressure faced by celebrities, artists, and people of influence is great, especially when also part of the LGBTQ+ community. Many musical artists who identify members of this community have chosen to use their platforms for good, letting the world know they are out and proud and should be able to be so without judgment.

While many activists over the last century have fought, protested, and campaigned for the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, there are sadly still many people in this community who face prejudice and judgment on a daily basis.

Successful musicians can be such valuable voices in the fight for acceptance. This is because they generally have the ability to quickly reach a wide audience of people from a variety of backgrounds. From Elton John to Lil Nas X, here are some of the most Iconic LGBTQ+ artists who used their voices to let the world know it’s ok to be gay!

Inclusive leadership requires us to release old ways of thinking, act with humility, and open ourselves to new perspectives. These seven essential skills for inclusive leaders aren’t often taught in college classrooms or corporate training spaces. But they are vital to managing teams—and ourselves—through turbulence and into prosperity. (Article continues below video)

1. Understand Why Inclusive Leadership Matters

Have you ever wondered why so many companies focus on diversity and inclusion? You may be surprised to know that inclusive leaders can positively impact every aspect of company performance. From sales and marketing to supply chain, from operational efficiency to talent retention, inclusive organizations enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage. Learn how inclusive leadership drives bottom-line benefits and promotes a thriving organization. What would inclusive leadership allow you or your organization to do or become? Tie the work to your mission. Set measurable targets, and review progress regularly. That’s how you keep your focus.

2. Respond Productively to Change

Your industry is changing more rapidly than ever before, bringing a barrage of discussions about disruption, agility, and resilience. Professionals who adapt quickly can seize new opportunities and manage their careers. Organizational change management focuses on “pushing” change outward. But leaders at every level need a foundation in consuming change responsibly. Learn techniques for identifying and overcoming fear, resistance, and uncertainty. Create action plans that put you in the driver’s seat.

3. Build a Robust and Inclusive Professional Network

Is your professional network as diverse as the workforce and community around you? If not, you could be missing important opportunities for your career and your company. We all face challenges in making meaningful connections. Inclusive leaders understand the impacts of these missed connections, then work to recognize and overcome them. Remove the artificial barriers that may be keeping you from your next mentor, star hire, or big customer. Remember, we go far when we go together.

4. Focus on Strengths

No matter where you are in your career, you have the power to be a superstar. The key to your success lies in doing what you do best. For many of us, though, we take our gifts for granted and struggle to see what makes us uniquely talented. Take the time to recognize and celebrate how you (and others) can truly thrive! (As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, I can’t speak highly enough about the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment.)

Once you’ve discovered your own strengths, you’re ready to continue the journey. Apply your talents in the real world. Just remember, your strengths are stronger and your weaknesses weaker than you realize. You need help. You are also precisely the help someone else needs. That’s why you’ll want to harness the collective power of your team. On strengths-based teams, everyone is valued for their strengths, while also recognizing that we need one another to realize individual and team excellence.

5. Give and Receive Feedback Effectively

Many people shy away from giving constructive feedback because they fear conflict. And while many are quick to praise for a job well done, few do so in a meaningful way. Evidence also shows that managers give the most (and the most useful) feedback to employees who are most similar to themselves. That won’t do! Everyone deserves a chance to improve performance.

Use a consistent structure for giving feedback. Track the flow of feedback into, through, and beyond your team. Practice strategies for accepting both compliments and criticisms gracefully. In time, you’ll become confident coaching up, down, and across your organization. What’s more, you’ll be ready to seek out more meaningful feedback to propel you forward in your career.

6. Hire the Right Person for the Job

Are you ready to expand your team or backfill an open position? Unconscious bias can influence our hiring processes in ways we don’t readily recognize. This makes it hard for us to attract a diverse slate of candidates and to recognize qualified candidates who may not conform to our expectations. Learn how you can avoid common pitfalls at every stage of your selection process.

7. Create a Learning Culture

Ongoing professional development is an important component of a winning inclusive leadership strategy. But how do you influence your team or organization to adopt a “learning culture” that values professional excellence? Build and sustain an environment that supports your pursuit of lifelong learning. Teams with learning cultures outperform other teams. Companies with learning cultures outperform their competitors. Keep developing these essential skills. The work of learning is never finished!

Inclusive Leaders Need Essential Skills Training!

Does your team or organization need more inclusive leaders? Lead at Any Level® can help with essential skills training. Contact us today to learn how we can customize a program to meet your needs.

Full Interview with Vanessa Nazario

Interview Transcript

[00:00:46] Amy: Welcome back to including you. My name is Amy C. Waninger. I’m your host. I’m also the founder and CEO of lead at any level. My guest today is Vanessa Nazario. Vanessa’s the corporate director and chief diversity officer a Memorial healthcare system. Memorial is one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems in the US.

[00:01:08] Amy: It’s based in south Florida and employs 14,000 people. Vanessa, welcome to the show.

[00:01:14] Vanessa: Good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for that warm introduction.

[00:01:18] Amy: I’m so glad to have you here. I am curious as I am with all of my guests, with 14,000 employees having a commitment to diversity and inclusion is a big commitment, right?

[00:01:31] Amy: Because you’re talking about folks from all different kinds of professions and all different sorts of roles from hourly people to salary, from people who are in food service to people who are doing brain surgery, and that’s a big swath of stakeholders and interests. Why is diversity and inclusion such a priority for Memorial?

[00:01:57] Vanessa: Oh, thank you for that question.  I think that’s a good place to start, right? Because at the end of the day, you always have to go back to the why this matters for an organization, particularly in healthcare. If you think about what we’ve been through over the last several years with the pandemic, I think more than ever, we have to really stay laser focused on creating an environment where people can bring their whole self to work really their authentic identities.

[00:02:18] Vanessa: And you have to be really intentional about going to market with strategies to make that happen. I’m a firm believer that, you can let it sort. Try to happen organically, but what happens is sometimes you don’t get it sort of right, so to us, in terms of building a culture of inclusion and having a specific strategy was super top of mind for us again,

[00:02:38] Vanessa: and the other thing I’ll share with you that in south Florida, we’re very fortunate to have a rich, diverse marketplace, right? We have an abundance of diversity within our own organization. So that’s a really great place to start with, but the area that again, we have to be very intentional about is making sure that those individuals who come to us every single day for as part of their career and employment, the 14,000 employees, that they feel that sense of belonging,

[00:03:04] Vanessa: and that’s the why for us, right, connecting it back to, why should they show up each and every single day and really give 150% of themselves to this organization? If they’re not feeling respected right, and treated with dignity, and for me as a leader in DEI was to make sure that we focus on that because if you do that and you do it well, you get the best results from comradery among peers, right?

[00:03:26] Vanessa: How they show up in front of our diverse patients, maybe the ideas that come from having, these diverse sort of individuals around a certain space. So, there’s just so many benefits to this for this reason, right? And many others was the why behind we wanna do this, right, it’s essential.

[00:03:40] Vanessa: It’s an integral to make us the best healthcare organization. Not only is south Florida, but honestly my aspirational goal is you know, countrywide that we’re recognized as leaders in this space because we’ve been so focused on really supporting diversity equity inclusion from the ground up.

[00:03:56] Vanessa: And it, and I guess for me, I would probably say I would see it successful when you hear employees show up, and it shows up in our employee engagement scores when they themselves are talking it up and really being DEI champions. So, for me, that’s how I would know that we are trending in the right direction.

[00:04:13] Vanessa: But for us inclusion was top of mind and that’s why we’ve been so laser focused on it. So, thank you for that question. I think that’s a question that again, many DEI professionals have to start with in terms of like, why does this even matter? How does this impact the business and us in healthcare?

[00:04:27] So thank you for.

[00:04:30] Amy: You bet. I wanna,  I wanna pull on this thread a little bit about, the constituency or the marketplace that you’re serving because when I work with hospitals, especially, I always think about when somebody walks through the door to be served at a hospital or to see a doctor, they are likely at the most vulnerable point, they’re going to be

Vanessa: Absolutely.

[00:04:50] Amy: Kind of, once you walk through those doors, you have very little control, right? Because people are gonna tell you what they’re gonna do, and you can say yes or no, but you don’t really always understand what’s going on, you don’t always understand the impacts cause we don’t walk in with all that medical knowledge,

[00:05:03] Amy: and I would imagine that having a diverse and inclusive and authentic workforce in a hospital really changes the patient dynamic as well. Because the level of trust that people need to have to even walk through the doors is so high. Can you talk a little bit about that and how that translates into the services that you provide?

[00:05:23] Vanessa: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So obviously, when you always hear people say, no one really wants to come to a hospital, right? It’s not Ooh, let’s go to the hospital today. What a fun activity it is. So obviously, when they do come into our facilities, any one of our facilities.

[00:05:35] Vanessa: The expectation, I would hope, that they hold us accountable for delivering the best care to them. The piece that we’re trying to make sure that we weave into this whole conversation is that its culturally competent patient centered care, that at the end of the day, understanding the diverse marketplace where we’re in again, that we understand our patients come from all walks of life, all different cultures, backgrounds, customs,

[00:05:57] Vanessa: religion, speak different language. So, for us to meet them where they’re at and be in a place where we understand and appreciate that makes the world of a difference. They, what we’ve seen is that patients trust their providers when we take the opportunity to learn a little bit more about them.

[00:06:13] Vanessa: Yes, you wanna treat, whatever’s happening and get them outta here as soon as possible. But if you’re taking consideration, if they speak a different language that you wanna be able to make sure they have an interpreter as an example, that the documents that they’re reading is in their preferred language, that their provider may be

[00:06:29] Vanessa: speaks their specific language or, and, or is cognizant of maybe something about their religion, that they abstain from certain foods. And for us to customize that experience, it’s gonna make the difference for us. That’s what’s gonna make us again, the best healthcare providers in south Florida market.

[00:06:44] Vanessa: And again, I think big, I think across the country in terms of being a best in class. So, for me and for our organization, that’s, we’ve been focused on, and that’s the other piece of that question in terms of the why this matters for us, because again, if you’re meeting the patient, when they’re at making sure that you take into account again, their background, their customs or culture, it’s just gonna feel as though we really do care because we do, we do, and a part of that in terms of how do we even get ready for that is on our side is raising our cultural awareness.

[00:07:13] Vanessa: So, we focus a lot on educating our staff around all the different cultures we serve, and as a matter of fact, yesterday for pride month, we had an amazing speaker that really took the opportunity to teach our caregivers around understanding how to create an affirming environment for the LGBTQ plus community, right?

[00:07:32] Vanessa: Raising our collective level awareness, understanding why pronouns matter preferred names in our identity, all these things that we should know. Because if you’re sitting in front of someone who identifies as transgender, and they’re saying, hey, please use my preferred pronouns. I would expect that our caregiver would understand the significance of that request.

[00:07:51] Vanessa: So, for me, and for us, that’s what we’re focused on. And that’s what it makes a difference, and we could probably start to see the impact of this work. When you look at our patient experience scores, and we see this back in our surveys when our patients are saying, Hey, I’m gonna select Memorial healthcare system for my care because they really do care about who I’m as a person, I’m not just, a number that comes in and I’m treated and released. They actually do care, and that goes back to that emotional sort of connection, that sense of belonging. And that’s for me, top of mind when it comes to seeing our patients who select us for their care quite honestly, I and it’s a tremendous endeavor.

[00:08:28] Vanessa: It’s not an easy on, I keep going back to what I said earlier. In south Florida, there’s such rich diversity that we’re not gonna know every single thing about every single customer culture, but if we’ve raised our awareness and terms, by at least understanding that, hey, this person might have a custom in practice that we need to be mindful of

[00:08:46] as we do their care plan, then we’ve gotten it, we’ve gotten it, we’ve elevated that conversation.

[00:08:53] Amy: Absolutely, and I think from a patient perspective, having been in the hospital a few times, it’s hard to trust that your care is going to be good if, or that it’s gonna be appropriate

[00:09:03] Amy: if your nurses, your doctors, even the people at registration, if they don’t see you. How can they treat you?

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Amy: And if they don’t see you, how will they treat you? And that’s a big fear for a lot of patients, especially those that have been in the past, excluded from, for example, medical trials or who have been part of groups that have been mistreated by the medical industry or, by this the broader medical institution, right, there’s a lot wrapped up in that for them, and when they walk in and they feel seen and they feel heard. Some of those barriers come down and can lead to better outcomes.

[00:09:38] Vanessa: Absolutely. It’s you have to build a level of trust with your patients, right? They have to trust that, you really have their best intentions on top of mind and we do, we do

[00:09:47] Vanessa: and I think again, when you inject sort of the diversity equity inclusion, sort of conversation into this fold. It just elevates that whole experience for that individual, right. So, taking the time to understand, again, someone’s preferences and again, meeting people where they’re at, it just makes the world of a difference.

[00:10:04] Vanessa: And I want them to walk away saying Memorial really got it right for me, and they go back home to their family and friends to say, hey, let me talk about this experience at this hospital, you know. They were considerate about the foods I consume, my religion, as an example, my language and all that kind of stuff that really really matters to people.

[00:10:22] Vanessa: Absolutely, and you have to build that trust factor and take the opportunity to understand where they’re coming from and meet them where they’re at.

[00:10:29] Amy: You talked a little bit about, building cultural competence within your organization. How are you doing that specifically? Is this through training and education?

[00:10:38] Amy: Is it, what are the media or delivery mechanisms that you’re using to build that kind of competence? Because it’s not a once and done right. It’s over time and it just layers upon layers. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[00:10:50] Vanessa: Absolutely, you have to use different modalities when you’re

[00:10:55] Vanessa: teaching and really trying to inject this cultural awareness, thinking among, 14,000 individuals, right? So, we’re a large organization. So, you cannot do a one webinar and expect like transformation to occur. You have to constantly build on sort of the content, the conversation.

[00:11:14] Vanessa: So, we do webinars, we do in persons. The last two years, obviously, because the pandemic, we had to hold back on the in person. So, we’ve transit transitioned to virtual. However, the aspirational goal is to get back to those in person conversations. I will share though that even with our leadership

[00:11:30] Vanessa: we do have a forum, a leadership forum that occurs quarterly and we’ve injected conversations around unconscious bias as an example and different topics and themes that connect back to the DEI conversation to make sure that again, that as leaders, they’re walking away with something new in terms of learn around this and that they take it back to their staff.

[00:11:50] Vanessa: And we’re testing different models in terms of how we go to market. Because again, it gets a little hectic, as you can imagine, because patients are first and foremost, and when you have clinicians who are on units, you can’t pull them off the floor for three hours, right? So, we do, in-services where the nurses for example, will huddle for 20 minutes and we’ll pick one topic microaggressions, let’s say as an example, and we’ll talk about microaggressions, how they might show up and leave them with some resources that then they can read and digest

[00:12:19] Vanessa: after that conversation. So, we have to be really creative but we’ve tested out the in person, the virtual webinars. We’ve also looking at doing some more lunch and learns as an example. We do send out email communications every single month, but specifically if we’re celebrating a national sort of cultural holiday.

[00:12:39] Vanessa: So, for black history through my office, a DEI office, I put together a really thoughtful communication to race our level of awareness around the importance of that particular historical month. What are the things that we need to know and learn about? So that’s the other way is sending information electronically.

[00:12:55] Vanessa: We really try to figure out, what are the best modalities to get this information out there, and that way, again, people can start to absorb. However, to your earlier point, it can’t be a one and done, right? So, I talked about pride month and the conversation we had with our staff now, what happens next is an additional session that we can now put in our e-learning platform and push out to them

[00:13:17] Vanessa: so that way they can enroll and complete an additional sort of session around this conversation to continue to build on what they were exposed to as part of sort of their introduction, if you will during the dialogue on pride month. So, you have to really think about how to get it to market within healthcare, because it’s a little different, like I mentioned we’re in a very unique sort of situation where we just can’t pull people off units in Florida.

[00:13:40] Vanessa: Doctors are, treating patients or clinicians, even our environmental services, they’re making sure rooms are sanitized and safe, and so you have to think about how do I get this information out there. So, we’re very fortunate that we have different modalities that we can test

[00:13:53] Vanessa: to bring them the information it’s been pretty successful. It’s been pretty successful, and I do receive emails back from staff who participate in these sessions and many of them are like, wow, I had no idea about, fill in the blank, right? and it’s remarkable and it’s amazing.

[00:14:07] Vanessa: It’s exactly what I’m looking for that people say, wow, I had no idea, but now I know now I’ll understand a little bit more if I have a patient from fill in the blank from this country or someone who’s LGBTQ plus, and that to me, it’s those, it might seem so small and minute in terms of the learn.

[00:14:24] Vanessa: But again, I, if you continue to build the impact, you’ll feel it you’ll feel it eventually again when it shows up and how they show up in front of that patient for us.

[00:14:33] Amy: So much of this is just about challenging one’s own assumptions, right? That, that we all go about the world as if our worldview is truth and is fixed and is objective.

[00:14:46] Amy: And when you can start to introduce different lenses onto reality. When you can start to interject and interrupt those patterns, then people can start to see them on their own. It’s almost like a muscle memory that comes to them when they say, oh, I wonder what I’m assuming about this person or what I’m assuming about this situation, or did I hear this the way they intended it and just breaking down those barriers bit by bit can make a huge difference.

[00:15:11] Vanessa: Oh, my gosh. It absolutely can. I, Just going back to and I keep referencing this pride conversation we had only cause it was just yesterday. So, it’s top of mind, but one question, for example, from one of our clinicians to the speaker, a phenomenal speaker from the pride center she asked, how do I make sure that if someone I’ve never met as an example of patient

[00:15:30] Vanessa: that I’m not addressing them inappropriately, misgendering them, for example, and I wanna use the right pronouns. How do I even broach that conversation without messing up, so to speak? And, we were able to address that question specifically about how do you do that, right? and maybe you start with just introducing yourself.

[00:15:46] Vanessa: My name is. Vanessa Nazaro my pronouns are she her hers? And all of a sudden it sets the stage for, wow. Okay, now I see where this person’s coming from and then you can engage with that other person. Even just asking those questions and raising the level where it is, there they’ll take that back to the hospital and then they’ll share with their staff and say, Hey,

[00:16:04] Vanessa: let’s start introducing ourselves to our patients and then asking for how do they wish to be addressed and what are your pronouns? So again, when you talk about impact and how you see how learnings are really being grasped onto by our staff, it’s remarkable. It’s phenomenal.

[00:16:18] Vanessa: And that’s why I totally believe and I’m a big firm believer that this education, it works. You just have to constantly sort of again, be at it and not have it be the one-time conversation and not really revisit it again. Because, and then it’s outta sight out of mind in many cases

[00:16:33] Vanessa: and that way its people lose sight of again, what we’re trying to do here.

[00:16:39] Amy: Yeah, and I wanna touch on this too, because it occurs to me as you’re talking about all these things that you’re doing, that your hospital system you’ve been dealing with COVID for the last two plus years and two and a half years now at the time of this recording, and you’ve kept this work going despite or perhaps because of or especially because of all of the pressures on your staff.

[00:17:05] Amy: and so many hospitals, especially right now are dealing with burnout from doctors and nurses and support staff. They’re dealing with people, really high turnover, they’re dealing with overwork just fatigue around compassion and empathy, and there’s really some trauma going on within the hospital staff as well with what you’ve been through

[00:17:26] Amy: and I’m curious, cause I’ve heard people say we can’t start that until we’re through this. What would you say to the hospital systems or to the companies that say, look, we gotta get through COVID first, then we can address this.

[00:17:36] Vanessa: I would say don’t delay you can actually do it, so, I’ll share that.

[00:17:40] Vanessa: I actually started my journey with Memorial in January of 2021. So, it was year the year, the second year of COVID and to start a DEI strategy from the ground could, and on the onset it might feel a little daunting that, can I even do this? but then you fast forward and here it is a year and a half into it

[00:17:55] Vanessa: and what we’ve been able to accomplish in just a year and a half in terms of acceptance, adoption of what we’re trying to do has been nothing but shorter, remarkable. We’ve been able to launch new education programs, we’ve signed a CEO action, diversity inclusion pledge, which is a national pledge, American hospital association, 1 2 3 for equity pledge.

[00:18:15] Vanessa: We kickstarted our physician diversity equity and inclusion council to talk about how do we bring an equitable lens to the physician community right in our stakeholders there, we’ve done so many remarkable things. We’ve launched our curriculum around understanding different cultures and backgrounds.

[00:18:31] Vanessa: And to be honest, the feedback I’ve received from staff has been, you know what, this is something that we needed because when you’re only here about COVID and COVID, COVID COVID, to see something different, that’s exciting, right? That’s gonna help us be better professionals to build a culture of inclusion and, and get people excited about coming to work each and every single day, because we’re honoring their identities and who they are.

[00:18:55] Vanessa: It’s exactly what was needed. It was like a blessing for us to be able to launch this andI think you could put, ’em a hundred excuses in terms of why you can’t get it done, but we did it and as a matter of fact, we’ve been invited to speak at national forums about the work we’re doing at Memorial relative to diversity equity inclusion,

[00:19:11] Vanessa: and the word is getting out about what we’re doing here, which is remarkable, and maybe that sounds a little boastful, but that’s okay. I think we’ve earned it. And I was saying at the end of the day, Amy. It takes an entire team and village to bring us to life, right? and it starts with our CEO (inaudible first name) Fernandez, who, again, because of his leadership and his vision, you know, to, for us to embark on this journey, my leader, Margie Vargas, who’s CHRO of our organization, she and her vision to make sure we were able to get this done and all those support in terms of resource.

[00:19:42] Vanessa: That is what has made it so successful for us, and I can only imagine that we’ll continue to build on this great momentum in making things really happen. I mean, just in one year we were able to do new policies, a gender transition policy, to make sure again, that our colleagues who identify as transgender, that we’re creating an environment space for them to feel safe and comfortable as a transition.

[00:20:03] Vanessa: We’ve done certain things around patient populations and making sure again, that we’re looking at our policies or procedures, does it read from an equity perspective at an equity launch? Is there bias comments within that policy? So, we’ve done those reviews, so there’s so much you can do, I think people think that you have to have in person everything and what have you to be DEI, but there’s so much more that you can do in terms of the internal infrastructure just to move this thing forward, and that’s what we focused on the first year and a half. So, it’s a feasible absolutely proof in the pudding that you can actually do it.

[00:20:35] Vanessa: And again, I invite anyone who wants to reach out to me to ask, about how we’ve done this, I’m always, I’m an open book, I’m an open book and I do speak to others chief diversity officers and other diversity professions about this work. And hopefully through this podcast, they’ll be able to also get some glean some of the information that I’m sharing and hopefully get them excited about continuing their work regardless of what’s happening, pandemic, right?

[00:20:58] Vanessa: There’s just so many things. There’s always gonna be something, let me put it that way. There’s always gonna be something. However, if you stay really laser focused and really surgical about your approach, you can get it done.

[00:21:10] Amy: Absolutely, and I think so many people need to hear that, there’s always a reason not to do the right thing, and if you’re committed to doing the right thing, you’re gonna get it done anyway.

[00:21:20] Vanessa: Absolutely. You have to come from a good place, right? If you’re coming from a good place with really good intentions, I think it’s and that’s where we started the conversation about being very intentional about the approach and we have been really intentionally thoughtful about it,

[00:21:31] Vanessa: and that’s why I do believe we’ve had the success we’ve had in a short amount of time given, the backdrop of a pandemic and everything that’s going on, right? I think for staff specifically, again, it’s been a welcome sort of change in terms of the conversation and, to hear about different cultures and their cultures being celebrated, whether it’s black history month women’s history, month pride month and all of a sudden wow, this organization, like they actually care, about me and my culture, I feel seen and hurt, which by the way, I’ve had employees say that to me, I feel seen and heard, how powerful is that?

[00:22:06] Vanessa: How powerful is that for an employee to say that, and you think about their head space, coming to this organization each and every single day, bringing you know their true selves to work and how that shows up in terms of in front of our patients with their colleagues. It’s impactful work.

[00:22:21] Vanessa: It really is. So, you can get it done.

[00:22:24] Amy: Absolutely, Vanessa, thank you so much for your sharing your expertise for your openness and for your time today. I really appreciate hearing about what Memorial’s doing and how you’re driving this in your organization. Thank you.

[00:22:36] Vanessa: Oh, thank you so much for the opportunity.

[00:22:38] Vanessa: And I’m glad that I was able to share, and again, if there’s ever, if anyone who’s listening to this wants to reach out to me. I do make my information available and it’s a journey for all of us. It really is, and listen, are we gonna get it right all the time? Absolutely not.

[00:22:52] Vanessa: But we learn from our mistakes. We continue to grow right? and move forward, and when you have the right resources, leadership, commitment, and the right people around the table, supporting this, your internal stakeholders, you will be successful and you can do it. So, thank you again for the opportunity to have this conversation it’s it was great.

Full Interview with Blessing Allison

Full Interview Transcript

[00:00:46] Amy: Welcome back to including you. I’m your host, Amy C.
Waninger. My guest today is Blessing Allison, Blessing is the director of
learning and development at the red river federal credit union, based in
Texarkana, Texas red river credit union employs over 350 local residents. They
manage over a billion dollars in assets and their membership is over 110,000
strong blending.
[00:01:09] Amy: Blessing welcome to the show.
[00:01:10] Blessing: Hi, Amy. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:13] Amy: I am really excited to talk to you. My understanding is that
you all are pretty new in your diversity and inclusion journey, is that correct?
[00:01:19] Blessing: Yeah, so we are fairly new and actually defining what our
DNI journey and strategy is, absolutely.
[00:01:30] Amy: Why was this the priority for the credit union?
[00:01:33] Blessing: When you really think about credit unions and how we
were founded way back away, it truly was credit unions were people helping
people, right? It was a group of people coming together because we, the people
couldn’t work with the bank or they didn’t want to pay the high interest.

[00:01:50] Blessing: So that diversity and inclusion are truly, if you think about
it at the heart of credit union. So, it’s been there all along and the priority really
stemmed from really taking that heart and defining what that needs to look like
today in today’s world, a lot has changed from when credit union started.
[00:02:12] Blessing: So today strategically, what does that look like? And I
think society has really challenged a lot of organizations to look at themselves
and to define this is our strategy, this is our commitment, this is who we are
when it comes to DENI, and then to be more transparent with that, and I think
that was really the priority for us was diversity,
[00:02:35] Blessing: equity inclusion has been at the heart, but have we defined
it? Have we really showed up for the public saying, this is our heart, this is why
we do what we do, and this is why it’s important to us.
[00:02:49] Amy: And so, I know that you’re early in your journey, but what
have you done so far? What do you feel like is working to kinda move you
forward into the space within the credit union?
[00:02:58] Blessing: Absolutely, education I would say number one, and I think
that goes without saying for anything else is when you really set a tone, because
culture was so important, when it comes to DENI, and we really wanted to
make sure that the employees that we had here really felt like they had a voice
and that was our number one priority.
[00:03:19] Blessing: So, the first thing that we did was just to launch in the
ERG groups, but then we kinda had to take a step back and realize like ERG
may mean something to me because I’ve been researching and diving into this
whole diversity and inclusion, but for my staff, they’ve never heard ERGs
before, and so even going back to say, this is what
[00:03:42] Blessing: an employee resource group is, and this is why it’s
important to the credit union, this is why it’s valuable to you as an employee,
and once they captured that vision, it’s just taken off. So we’ve really enjoyed
our ERGs and they’ve really been beneficial in the education to even our
communities to then go out and say, hey, this is what we represent here
[00:04:07] Blessing: and we wanna blend the lines between our organization
and what our communities look like. So that’s been a huge success, we’ve had a
blast with the celebration pieces of it. Our employees have really loved
celebrating what makes them, who they are, and then we’ve seen that in those
celebrations, that excitement is spilling over into the community and into the

employees are feeling like they’re allowed to be their authentic self at work, or
maybe before they thought they could be, but they weren’t
[00:04:39] Blessing: exactly sure, and now it’s actually given them a platform to
be, this is who I am, and I’m excited to be here, and not only that, but it’s
valuable for me to be who I am at red river credit union.
[00:04:53] Amy: So how many ERGs have you launched so far?
[00:04:56] Blessing: Oh I think we’ve launched about six. I would have to go
look. So, we have our Latin X group,
[00:05:03] Blessing: we have our teal vets, so teal is our brand color, we’ve
actually used the word teal as our acronym to define our core values. That was
something we did when we really started doing our DENI strategy when we
focused on the culture was to say, this is our DENI commitment, his is who we
are as a company.
[00:05:24] Blessing: So, our core values were defined. So, in our core values,
its team focused, excellent authenticity and leading in innovation, and the
authenticity is so important for DENI, because that truly is how you bring in the
trust factor when you’re working with DENI strategies. So, we have our teal
vets, our Latinx, we have our LGBTQ, ERG, (inaudible) pride and then we have
our women’s group so far and our they call our RRUBR our red river un
apology, black group as well,
[00:06:00] Blessing: and they’re very awesome.
[00:06:04] Amy: So, when you started these ERGs, was it a, different
companies have different models? Was it a top down sort of thing where you
said, okay, we’re gonna launch ERGs and you went and recruited people to be
part of them, or were these more grassroots efforts that people came to you and
said, we wanna start a group for ourselves so we can stay connected?
[00:06:22] Blessing: So, it started from the top down, and luckily what we’re
seeing is we’re starting to see the grassroots one come about now so I’m excited
about that, because like I said, we really had to take a step back and really
educate our staff on what ERGs were, why they were vital to a DENI program
why they were important to us,
[00:06:45] Blessing: and what we did, what I found to be the most organic way
to start an ERG was to take a diversity and inclusion calendar and start

recognizing events that are on the calendar worldwide, that people are
celebrating already, because that was just a natural, those topics were already
being discussed,
[00:07:06] Blessing: people were already aware, and so we would take this
event maybe like Hispanic heritage month is coming up, and that was one of our
first that we did, and so we took the event and we formed a group, just said,
hey, if you wanna help us plan events, topics for Hispanic heritage month,
anyone can join,
[00:07:24] Blessing: and so, from that, it was a planning committee that then
transitioned into, hey, this isn’t employee resource group, and what’s your
vision? What do you wanna see come from this? So that’s how we just slipped it
in without it being like, oh, this is an ERG and we’re gonna start it today, and so
that has worked,
[00:07:44] Blessing: and now, as employees are learning the value of that,
they’re coming with their own and saying, Hey, we wanna start this group or
this, so it’s been exciting to see.
[00:07:54] Amy: You mentioned a community aspect, my guess is that this is
going to help you spread the word about the credit union and what services the
credit union provides in different communities, where you have branches and
where you have operations,
[00:08:08] Amy: but also probably help not just bring folks in, but help
understand, help the credit union understand, what are the specific needs of
those communities. So, you’re bringing something different to market maybe
than you would out this input, is that correct?
[00:08:22] Blessing: Yeah, absolutely. One of the fun things that we’ve really
taken on was our Hispanic heritage group and our RUB group.
[00:08:31] Blessing: They really love food, food is very much a part of their
culture, and so what we’ve done is a lot of times, like in Hispanic heritage
month, we’ve had these food truck Fridays where they pick vendors of their
community to come and set up in some of our branch parking lots to sell food,
and what it’s done is of brought more of that community to us, but then it allows
us to go and meet them,
[00:08:56] Blessing: and we’ve been able to make a lot of partnerships that way,
and showing, hey, these are products and services that could help your business,

but we’re also learning more of, did we actually have a good product for, excuse
me, for that business? Was it as good as we thought it was? Because now we’re
actually getting to talk to the communities to really, like you said, learn, we may
think it’s a great product, but when it actually penetrates that community, does it
serve their financial needs, which is our ultimate goal here.
[00:09:27] Amy: And your credit union was actually formed from a veteran’s
group, right? From a group of army recruit. Can you talk a little bit about the
founding of the credit union? Because I think the credit union’s founding almost
feeds into this notion of, folks who maybe were not well served by
[00:09:42] Amy: traditional banks, traditional financial services vehicles, and
now you’re taking that to a next evolution of service. Can you talk a little bit
about that?
[00:09:51] Blessing: Absolutely. So, we started back in 1948. I think we had a
total of six people. I think it was like 46, $48 in the group, and going back a
little bit further than that, in the financial world, I started in banks, nothing
wrong with them at all.
[00:10:06] Blessing: I know some great people who work there, but when I
started, I had a lot of coworkers who were going to red river credit union, and I
was like, what’s so great about that, and I started looking and I was like, man,
our products and services seem very similar, and at the time I actually found a
course through our learning management system that talked about the difference
between a credit union and a bank.
[00:10:30] Blessing: Because I was just curious, like why are all my coworkers
going to work for this credit union? And it really talked about how, back, I can’t
even remember the time, but I think Germany was the original group was bakers
or farmers that couldn’t afford to borrow money from the payday lenders, from
the banks who came together to say, hey, we’re a group of farmers and we’re
gonna help each other out.
[00:10:54] Blessing: So we’ll all put some money in, and as Amy, as you need
it, I’m gonna give you some, you’re gonna pay it back into the pot, and so it
really was all about people helping people financially reach goals that otherwise
they would not be able to meet, and when I read that and knowing to like our
board of directors are completely volunteer, we’re technically classified as a, not
for profit.

[00:11:17] Blessing: So, anything that we profit has to be poured back into our
membership base. It’s just a different way to work in the financial world when
you know that’s your foundation, and so it wasn’t long after doing that course
that I knew credit unions were the only way for me to go, and I’ve been here
ever since, but for us, we have a huge army depo that is out here not is
essentially what started us, was that coming together, needing a place to borrow
money.
[00:11:48] Blessing: So, it used to just be for the army depo, hence our name,
and then it has evolved into all the communities around, one thing we still strive
on is a lot of military bases or army depots. They will have contracts that end,
they will have funding that stops, and so a lot of these people will go through
layoffs uncertainties about how long that contract’s gonna be,
[00:12:13] Blessing: and we always prioritize that. So, if we know this group of
people are gonna be laid off, they’ve gotten loans with us, we’re already having
a game of place to reach out and say, hey, this is how we’re gonna help you to
make sure you’re not losing your home during this time, you’re not losing your
vehicles, things like that.
[00:12:30] Blessing: So, it’s a really neat thing to be behind.
[00:12:34] Amy: You know, the fact that you’re in the community already, and
you’ve got not just roots in the community, but you’re there. Makes those
conversations so much easier and so much more natural, I think, than I’ve gotten
these, I’ve gotten these emails from the big banks before, right?
[00:12:51] Amy: So big bank USA, says we know that people are falling on
hard times. If you need help call this 800 number, and there’s you feel like,
yeah, the number’s there, but I don’t know if I should call it, but when it is,
blessing in the office, down the street is calling me because she knows me
[00:13:07] Amy: to say, hey, I understand what’s happening, we’ve been
working on this, we have a plan for you. I think that makes a big difference, and
especially for folks who would not have a trusted banking relationship,
otherwise, because they’ve been excluded from the financial services industry
or, either financial services, historically.
[00:13:29] Amy: And so, I think that marriage of not just the mission, but the
local presence is really valuable to people who have been excluded in the past.

[00:13:40] Blessing: Absolutely, and it’s even thinking of ways as a credit
union, there’s more ways that we can develop, maybe even lending needs for
our areas. Like you’ll find, payday lenders are prominent in minority
communities,
[00:13:54] Blessing: and so, one of the biggest things that we are passionate
about is financial literacy and going into those same communities that these
payday loans are targeting, who don’t have laws to say how much interest they
could charge so they could charge whatever they want to go in and say, let us
help you create a budget,
[00:14:14] Blessing: let us help you create a trust or a will for something that
happens, or we’ve even got some service groups that can help with Medicaid
when it comes time for that. So really, the partnership is there from the moment
they become one of us till they no longer need us, and it’s what can we do in
every stage of your life to be that financial ally for our communities that we
serve,
[00:14:42] Blessing: and we do prominently serve the minority communities, a
lot of credit unions that is their field of membership.
[00:14:51] Amy: And so, you have operations, not just in Texarkana, but in four
states, correct?
Blessing:Yes. Yeah.
Amy: And so, are the communities that you’re serving in all four states, are they
similar? or do they differ by geography?
[00:15:03] Blessing: They do very much differ. So, we have Texarkana, Texas,
we do go almost all the way out to Dallas. So, we are expanding out that way,
Marshall Greenville, things like that. We go up to Arkansas and then Louisiana
and Mississippi look very different than our Arkansas and Texas. So, I would
say Arkansas is predominantly Hispanic as far as our communities,
[00:15:28] Blessing: and then in Mississippi, we’re in a Delta area. So that’s a
minority area as well, and it’s a very poor area, but we’ve got two branches
located out there and a wonderful staff that really has worked with the
community and serves it very well. No, it looks very different.
[00:15:47] Amy: Yeah. So, serving the black community in the Delta space

Blessing: Yes.
[00:15:49] Amy: And then more Hispanic community in the, it’s not really the
middle of the country, but I think of Arkansas, the middle of the Texas just in
my head where the geography goes. No, that’s fascinating. Building that
connection in inside the organization, to the community, outside the
organization and helping bridge that gap and build the communication channels
back and forth is really important.
[00:16:12] Amy: What’s next for red river in this journey that you’re on?
[00:16:16] Blessing: Absolutely, so I feel the last two years, like I said, we
focused on our employee resource group, we focused on leadership training,
really teaching, what diversity and inclusion is, because one of the questions
that I have found that you get a lot when you’re
[00:16:31] Blessing: celebrating and honoring diversity is if you’re preaching
inclusion, blessing, why are you so focused on diversity? And so really that
education piece of learning that, without knowing what makes you and I
different, we cannot be inclusive as an organization because what makes Amy
successful is not what makes Blessing successful,
[00:16:51] Blessing: and I need in knowing what makes this different, I know
what resources you need, and I know what resources I need. So, I feel like that
has been our focus, so my heart for 2023 is that we will move more into the
equity pieces. So really finding like you asked earlier, we’re very different in the
communities that we serve based on our branch locations.
[00:17:14] Blessing: So really, narrowing down that member experience to
make sure that the branches are focused on what Texas needs may not be, what
Mississippi needs and how do we serve and offer a personalized experience
equity wise to the communities that we’re in, because we don’t wanna just be in
the communities, we want to be part of that community.
[00:17:38] Blessing: So that’s where I’m looking to go at 2023 is to really focus
on products and services, what our branch looks like and making sure that trust
and those needs are being met in each of the communities that we’re in
currently.
[00:17:53] Amy: Blessing, I wanna thank you for sharing about the credit union
history your mission to this point

[00:17:58] Amy: and what’s next for you? Thank you so much.
Blessing: Yeah, it was a pleasure.
Amy: I’m really glad to have you on the show. Thank you.
Blessing: Thanks Amy.