Tune In to the Episode:   Spotify | Stitcher | iTunes

Let’s start with some major improvements…

1. We increased our spending to BIPOC-owned businesses by almost 700%.

In June 2020, our spending to BIPOC-owned businesses (not including monopolies like Facebook) was 3.2%. By the end of 2020, that number jumped to 19.77%. Our goal was to reach 15% by the end of 2020, so I’m feeling good that we were able to surpass it!

Why was our original number so low? Because we weren’t spending consciously. For example, we’d find software and products to use based on the first search results in Google, who had the highest ratings on Yelp, or based on recommendations from (often) white peers.

And because we now know that Black- and BIPOC-owned businesses face more hurdles on their path to success (such as having a harder time getting small business loans or investor funding, as well as facing systemic racism in life and business), this meant that we were often spending at white-owned businesses. This is why it’s so important for people with societally dominant identities (i.e. white people) to examine our unconscious biases so that we can make more socially conscious choices. 

So, how did we increase our spending to BIPOC-owned businesses by nearly 700%?

Here are some of the things we did:

• We made a list of EVERYTHING we purchased in my company over the previous 6 months, then denoted if those companies were BIPOC-owned or not. If they weren’t (most weren’t), we began researching BIPOC-owned alternatives. This included everything from the company we use to deliver flowers to clients all the way to which breathwork certification training I chose.
• Some expenses were easier to replace, while others continue to be challenging. For example, it was easier to reallocate spending on things like restaurants (for retreat dinners), team, and smaller items (like books, gifts, etc). But it was much harder to reallocate spending on things like software or Facebook ads, as there just are not comparable, BIPOC-owned alternatives. There are a lot of reasons for this, namely the fact that BIPOC-owned startups have a harder time gaining funding. Someone on my team did tell me though that Calendly was started by Black entrepreneur, Tope Awotona, so obviously I stan Calendly now lol.
• We made an effort to hire more BIPOC for our team. I share more about this in the next section, but this was a major priority for us, too. As a white business owner, when I was looking to hire someone previously, I’d often get recommendations from other white peers, and the referrals they gave me were often white, too. This perpetuates a cycle where people who are getting these opportunities (especially amongst white business owners) all look the same, and therefore it excludes BIPOC from the process. I know the value of having a diverse array of perspectives on a team and in a society, yet I could see how I wasn’t fully living this in the lazy way we were hiring. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Our core team is 50% BIPOC and our coaching team is 54% BIPOC.

In June 2020, theses numbers were 33% and 0%, respectively. Yeah, 0%! I’m still embarrassed by that, if you couldn’t tell lol. I’ve got to hand it to my COO, Kat, who really shifted our hiring practices to discover and hire BIPOC talent, as well as to lead our team in a way that prioritized sincere inclusivity.

This sounds overly simple, but if you’re a white person who is struggling to hire BIPOC talent in your business (or not even thinking about it), then you’re probably just not making an effort, like we were. If you’re a white business owner, then it can be easy to go with the first referral your white friend makes or to hire the white person who’s well known in the white microcosm of your industry. There are tons of talented BIPOC out there who you simply may not know of because your bubble is so small. I say all of this from personal experience, if you couldn’t tell. 😉 Once we admitted that we had a problem and decided to make a change, our hiring process became a lot more intentional.

And something that I think is important to add when talking about “diversity” is that you miss so much when your entire team looks like you. Hiring people from diverse backgrounds and races has added a layer of depth and perspective to our team that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. How can you truly innovate when everyone comes from a similar perspective? How can you create inclusivity for BIPOC in your community when everyone on your team is white?

3. Our entire team did a 12-week Social Justice course, led by Dr. Tee Williams.

We learned a lot about different frameworks for dismantling oppressive systems, such as Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion, and Liberation (which are all different lenses from which your activism can look through). Dr. Tee taught through the lens of the Liberation Framework, which was the one I most resonated with. His course taught us how to approach our activism with the goal of liberation in mind (a.k.a. Creating the thing you want, liberation vs. battling against the thing you don’t want, oppression), and it also placed a focus on intersectionality (i.e. we covered all marginalized identities, like disability status, gender, and sexual orientation, in addition to race). I enjoyed going through this with our whole team, as it sparked some interesting conversations, both in and out of the classroom.

After that course ended, myself and my COO, Kat, joined a 6-month program, led by Lynne Maureen Hurdle, to learn about racism and white supremacy in the United States. This has led to some terrific (and disturbing) conversations and has truly shifted the way that I approach activism work in my life. We’re both continuing her mastermind for another 6 months to anchor this work into our lives even more.

And beyond any of these courses, social justice and liberation continue to be part of the conversations we have as a team and company. I know I personally still have a lot to learn, so I’m grateful that we’re continuing to normalize these kinds of conversations in our company culture.

4. Our leadership team created their own personal Social Justice Action Plans and presented them to the rest of our team.

This one is pretty self explanatory, but I asked each member of our leadership team (4 people, at the time) to create their own Social Justice Plans and present them to our core team, detailing how they were going to learn more and make changes in their own lives. I think this also helped to spark some more personal conversations between all of us, as well as create accountability as individuals.

5. We continue to make a significant effort to highlight BIPOC voices on my podcast and as speakers at my retreats.

This was something we were prioritizing prior to creating our Action Plan last year, but it continues to be something we look for in the guests we select for my podcast and the speakers we hire for retreats. My estimate is that collectively, at least 50% of guests and speakers are BIPOC, which is the minimum we’re shooting for.

6. I’ve turned down several invitations, and recommended BIPOC leaders instead.

I made a commitment that I will not speak at an event that doesn’t make a significant effort to highlight BIPOC voices. I’ve been invited to things like speaking at summits, being interviewed for a book, and being involved in a mastermind day with some big industry leaders.

Before, I may have said yes because I’d feel excited to be included, but now my tendency is to always ask who else is going to be part of it. Unless the host makes an effort to highlight BIPOC voices (generally by 50% or more), then I decline the invitation. Instead, I send them a list of BIPOC leaders who I think deserve an invitation instead of me. (Note: I am also careful to do this because I don’t want to connect a BIPOC person with an event where they will feel unsafe. I just use my best judgment in these cases.)

The responses to this have been interesting! Everything from radio silence to slight defensiveness to making a conscious effort to improve and being grateful for the suggestion. I’ll also say that now that this is something I’m very conscious of, whenever I see an event that’s 95% white people, it really bothers me. It’s like I can’t unsee how white-centric certain events are anymore.

I also say this knowing that I have certainly been guilty of hosting and participating in events in the past that did not make an effort to be inclusive. I generally know that the people hosting these events aren’t trying to only highlight white voices, they just invite the first people that they think of, who are often white if that is who they surround themselves. This is why I think it’s so important to uncover our unconscious biases to see where we’re falling short. It’s something I continue to work on, knowing that I still have a lot to learn, too.