5 Things / if not now
This week was my first week giving an in-person keynote in 18 months and it felt amazing to be back on stage. My 10 year old son Patrick came to watch me speak for the first time. He put down his Nintendo Switch and gave me his full attention. He even handed me some post-it notes with thoughtful questions on them after I finished. It was a proud mom moment, and for him, a proud son moment, and definitely my favorite part of the week.
I hope you found some joy this week as well.
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Earlier this week I learned that the most recent U.S. Census survey revealed a much more racially and ethnically diverse country. I found the following especially notable:
White people no longer make up the majority of the population among children 18 or younger. There is no majority by race in this age group, as the breakdown for each race totaled less than 50%.
Since 2010, the Asian American and Hispanic or Latinx population have grown the most for those ages 16 and younger. In general, Latinx or Hispanic and Asian American people grew by rates of 20% and 29%, respectively. Net immigration accounted for 74% of Asian American growth.
America’s multiracial status continued to grow, with the number of people identifying as belonging to “two or more races” more than tripling. Mixed-race individuals are approximately 10% of the U.S. population or 49.9 million people.
My hope is that this data is simply one more call to action for organizations to take diversity, equity, and inclusion more seriously, and in a holistic Inclusive 360 way. What do you think will happen if they don't? Diversity is already here, and it's time we take action about it.
Here are some good vibes I found this week:
Illinois passed a law banning natural hair discrimination in schools. The law prevents schools from punishing kids for their natural (typically Black) hair and corresponding hairstyles. I can't believe I'm even writing that sentence. It breaks my heart that this is even a thing. That's my privilege. This matters because it undoes the standardization of Western beauty ideals.
One year after the racial justice uprisings in the U.S., historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) report a massive increase in recruitment from corporations. The HBCUs have also seen record-setting donations. This matters because it shows intentional actions towards broadening the talent pipeline. There are 107 HBCUs with 228k students enrolled. This matters because proactively supporting these students and recruiting them will go a long way towards increasing racial equity.
In a rare move for the retail industry, Old Navy has decided to integrate its women's plus-size clothes, bucking the common practice of keeping the larger sizes in a separate area. Let's be real: this is a smart business move, but I still appreciate any move that can destigmatize fatness and include all body types. This matters because we don't talk much about size diversity, and according to a study of the Harvard Implicit Association Test, fatphobia is one of the few types of implicit bias that has increased.
There are a lot more women working in the National Football League (NFL), with now 12 female coaches, 12 female scouts, and nearly 40% of league office roles. This didn't happen by accident and was done with a lot of intention, and you can read about how they expanded the pipeline in the article. This matters because it shows what happens when there is intention and specific actions taken towards increasing diversity: it works!!
Image by Naveen Kumar