Multicultural Homecoming Virtual Event - Pathway to Success

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11/04/2020 Added

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Multicultural Homecoming Virtual Event | Panel: Pathway to Success | College of Education and Human Sciences | University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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[00:00:03.990]To our virtual event today
[00:00:07.570]for our CEHS Multicultural Homecoming event.
[00:00:10.700]Dean Jones wanted to be here.
[00:00:13.120]She had something come up last minute.
[00:00:15.010]And so she wanted me to let you know how excited she was
[00:00:18.550]to be a part of this and how grateful we are
[00:00:21.590]for our alumni to be talking about
[00:00:24.270]some of the great things that they'll be doing today
[00:00:26.490]and how important this topic is.
[00:00:28.760]And so she asked me to kind of introduce everyone
[00:00:31.633]and before we get going,
[00:00:33.430]I think it's really important for our students
[00:00:36.700]to have an introduction to our career counselors
[00:00:40.440]who will then introduce our distinguished guests,
[00:00:44.330]who are returning back our CEHS alumni.
[00:00:47.663]And so, as I say your name, Mollie and Darwin,
[00:00:54.010]So I'm gonna introduce Mollie first.
[00:00:55.890]So Mollie just wave your hands.
[00:00:57.220]Mollie is one of our career counselors in CEHS,
[00:01:00.650]and this is such an exciting position
[00:01:02.810]because we've never had this before,
[00:01:05.210]and we've gotten two excellent
[00:01:07.390]and exciting career counselors.
[00:01:09.960]So I want to introduce Mollie a little (video/audio freezes)
[00:01:15.710]born just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.
[00:01:18.690]She's the youngest of four children.
[00:01:20.410]She was a non-traditional student who pursued
[00:01:22.750]an Associates Degree in Business and Marketing,
[00:01:25.530]and then a Bachelor's of Art in Business Studies at Doane.
[00:01:28.726]After graduating, she explored a variety of careers,
[00:01:32.710]including health and beauty sales,
[00:01:36.160]real estate, property management.
[00:01:37.900]I mean, she's done all sorts of things.
[00:01:40.070]And so her understanding of careers is really significant.
[00:01:44.870]And then she recently worked for housing at UNL,
[00:01:48.530]where she focused on learning about student populations
[00:01:51.720]and helping students adjust to life in college.
[00:01:55.610]We're excited to have her here.
[00:01:57.010]She's really exploring strengths of our students
[00:01:59.740]and connecting and assisting them with their career goals.
[00:02:03.790]And she's a first-generation student
[00:02:07.060]and a proud mentor and advocate.
[00:02:08.910]So thank you, Mollie.
[00:02:10.040]So some of you will have the opportunity to meet with her.
[00:02:12.520]And then we have Darwin, Darwin Archie
[00:02:15.548]and Darwin is originally from Omaha, Nebraska,
[00:02:19.300]and he's a military brat.
[00:02:21.310]So he grew up all over the world.
[00:02:23.660]And so his perspective is really exciting
[00:02:27.670]because he can talk about these world experiences as well.
[00:02:32.450]He went to school at Lincoln High and North Star
[00:02:36.000]graduated in 2005.
[00:02:37.970]So it makes me feel old.
[00:02:40.360]He went to college at UNL,
[00:02:42.130]graduating from our College in Education and Human Sciences
[00:02:46.520]in Nutrition and Dietetics.
[00:02:48.758]He joined the Army Reserves
[00:02:50.730]as a behavioral health specialist,
[00:02:52.950]and he found himself in Denver and Phoenix
[00:02:55.460]doing all sorts of work.
[00:02:56.850]And then in June, he started as a career coach
[00:03:00.210]in our college, and he really feels
[00:03:03.460]it's important to give back to our students.
[00:03:06.550]And so we are so fortunate to have these two.
[00:03:10.270]And so I'm gonna turn the time over to Darwin and Mollie,
[00:03:13.150]and they will introduce our distinguished alumni,
[00:03:16.610]who will be talking to us today.
[00:03:19.360]Well, big thanks, Paul, for our introductions.
[00:03:21.830]You're too kind.
[00:03:23.776]We're very excited about this and would like
[00:03:26.410]to thank Dean Jones and the rest of our CEHS staff
[00:03:29.140]that helped build this and put it together.
[00:03:31.720]We also would like to thank everybody for joining us today,
[00:03:34.220]especially our esteemed alumni,
[00:03:36.888]who we will be introducing shortly.
[00:03:40.380]Just for a little housekeeping for everybody
[00:03:42.330]that's attending, if everybody could put their screens
[00:03:46.290]on mute, it seems like everyone is there already.
[00:03:49.340]We want to make sure that everybody's heard.
[00:03:52.260]Also we will be recording this,
[00:03:56.730]so we can, you can check it out later.
[00:04:00.370]And then also, if you have any questions,
[00:04:02.950]please put it in the chat
[00:04:03.890]and Mollie and I will be reading those off later.
[00:04:08.580]Excellent. Well, thanks Darwin.
[00:04:10.470]And thanks everyone for allowing us to be here today
[00:04:14.420]and have some great discussion.
[00:04:16.540]We're so excited.
[00:04:17.980]Thank you, Paul, for the introductions and just thanks
[00:04:20.410]to everyone at CEHS that has helped us put this together.
[00:04:24.240]But, we want to of course highlight
[00:04:26.690]our alumni that are here.
[00:04:29.110]It's so awesome that they've taken their time out today
[00:04:32.510]to be with us from all across the United States.
[00:04:35.500]So we're so thankful that you could all join us,
[00:04:38.214]but before we hop into questions,
[00:04:40.990]I'm just gonna tell you a little bit
[00:04:43.310]about each of our fantastic alumni
[00:04:46.490]and while they're answering questions,
[00:04:48.340]hopefully they can share a little bit more about themselves,
[00:04:51.540]but we're just gonna kick it off.
[00:04:53.320]So first up we have Christian Sypavogsay,
[00:04:58.007]a Prestige Lead Concierge at the Palazzo
[00:05:01.680]at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada.
[00:05:04.330]He is an experienced young professional
[00:05:06.630]with a demonstrated history of working
[00:05:08.670]in a large scale luxury hospitality industry.
[00:05:13.300]Sypavogsay is an alum of Nebraska's Hospitality, Restaurant,
[00:05:17.210]and Tourism Management program.
[00:05:19.270]So thank you Christian for being here with us today.
[00:05:23.720]Our next alumni panelist that I'm going to introduce is
[00:05:27.707]Alisha Tesfalem.
[00:05:30.930]Alisha is a Member Engager at Color of Change,
[00:05:34.430]the largest online racial justice organization
[00:05:37.900]in the country.
[00:05:39.280]She's an experienced professional
[00:05:40.960]with demonstrated history of working
[00:05:43.000]in the higher education industry.
[00:05:44.790]Tesfalem earned her Master of Arts
[00:05:48.000]in Education Administration
[00:05:50.170]from the Department of Educational Administration
[00:05:52.630]at Nebraska.
[00:05:54.130]Thank you so much, Alisha for joining us
[00:05:56.750]and being a part of our important discussions today.
[00:06:01.260]And last but not least, we have April Turner,
[00:06:05.010]April was a school psychologist
[00:06:06.880]in Baltimore City Public Schools.
[00:06:09.440]Dr. Turner's professional interests include social justice,
[00:06:14.000]urban school psychology,
[00:06:16.150]early career mentorship, and supervision.
[00:06:19.480]She is an alum of the Department of Educational Psychology
[00:06:22.900]at Nebraska.
[00:06:24.090]So welcome to all of our panelists.
[00:06:27.160]These little blurbs about you don't even begin
[00:06:29.540]to describe how amazing you are and all of the experiences
[00:06:33.200]that you have in your different roles
[00:06:35.660]and different industries that you work in.
[00:06:37.400]So we welcome you, and we look forward to hearing from you
[00:06:42.430]and getting some of your perspectives today.
[00:06:44.550]So we're gonna go ahead and switch now over into our,
[00:06:49.260]the discussion part of our panel today.
[00:06:51.660]And as Darwin mentioned earlier,
[00:06:53.570]we encourage anyone who's attending to go ahead
[00:06:57.080]and submit questions you have down in the chat.
[00:06:59.870]We will be following along with your questions,
[00:07:02.670]and we will make sure that we get
[00:07:04.430]those to our different panelists.
[00:07:05.810]So if there's something that you've been thinking
[00:07:07.560]about asking, please feel free to put that in the chat.
[00:07:10.840]And we're gonna go ahead and start asking questions
[00:07:13.398]from our panelists now.
[00:07:16.360]Yes. Thank you for all that, Mollie.
[00:07:17.770]And once again, thank you for our panelists.
[00:07:20.660]We'll start the questions off with Christian.
[00:07:22.628]What advice do you give
[00:07:23.880]for first-generation college students?
[00:07:27.520]So when it comes to like being a first-generation student,
[00:07:30.830]I can speak firsthand being one myself,
[00:07:34.447]being born and raised in Grand Island
[00:07:37.160]in the state of Nebraska.
[00:07:39.290]It's a different scenario growing up in a smaller town
[00:07:44.110]with mainly like manufacturing being one
[00:07:47.130]of the biggest employers, which kind of runs
[00:07:49.550]in the entire city.
[00:07:50.480]So when it comes to first generations, I mean,
[00:07:53.927]we all face different challenges as individuals,
[00:07:58.460]as families, as pretty much communities as a whole.
[00:08:01.540]So depending on like, what your background is,
[00:08:05.425]I feel like this is something that's true.
[00:08:08.189]That can be applied to a lot of different people here.
[00:08:11.790]But one thing is, one thing I like to live by
[00:08:14.770]or progress by number one,
[00:08:17.370]it sounds a little bit funny
[00:08:18.430]because we're putting something that is perceived
[00:08:21.610]as negative with something that's positive.
[00:08:23.380]So leadership with vulnerability.
[00:08:26.620]But if you combine those two and kind of challenge yourself
[00:08:29.350]to lead with vulnerability as a first-generation,
[00:08:33.960]I feel like that's a statement
[00:08:35.400]that I can apply to just about anyone here,
[00:08:38.610]mainly because no matter what we do as first-generation,
[00:08:42.180]we're paving our own path as we move forward
[00:08:44.500]in our lives and our careers.
[00:08:45.690]So everyone is gonna be vulnerable
[00:08:48.550]with every step that you take.
[00:08:50.400]For instance, for those, for many of us joining here
[00:08:54.492]as a first-generation student,
[00:08:56.520]progressing from high school into college,
[00:08:59.573]that puts vulnerability not only on yourself
[00:09:02.310]as just a student, but as a family,
[00:09:05.460]who may not be financially set or anything like that.
[00:09:08.090]So that's a whole new journey that kind of opens up
[00:09:10.570]a can of worms that a lot of people may not be prepared for,
[00:09:13.310]or think that they may not be prepared for.
[00:09:17.230]And then after that
[00:09:18.500]once you're able to get through the college process
[00:09:20.480]and you're in college,
[00:09:21.650]you're left with like the burden and the stress,
[00:09:24.160]which can become a nightmare for a lot of people.
[00:09:27.410]So when it comes to like the stress and managing the stress,
[00:09:30.010]that's another thing that I can highlight here.
[00:09:34.010]I've mentioned this a lot,
[00:09:35.020]a lot of it stems from family where,
[00:09:37.990]we're the first ones kind of taken on this path.
[00:09:39.810]So as a first-generation,
[00:09:42.331]you're trying to live the balance between supporting
[00:09:47.040]your culture, supporting where your family comes from,
[00:09:48.870]and then trying to fit in with your,
[00:09:50.760]with the new culture that you've walked into,
[00:09:53.870]getting the higher education and moving on in your career
[00:09:56.980]as you grow up here.
[00:09:58.830]So that can be something that's very stressful.
[00:10:01.400]And I can say that I've experienced that myself being
[00:10:05.400]Laotian American and having parents,
[00:10:07.340]who didn't have the American education,
[00:10:10.690]there were some big challenges that arose throughout
[00:10:14.060]the entire process here from schooling to all the way up
[00:10:18.010]to employment and moving halfway
[00:10:20.070]across the country from family.
[00:10:21.380]So when it comes to managing the stress number one,
[00:10:26.080]the number one thing that I can stress is going to be
[00:10:27.990]understanding where the source is coming from,
[00:10:31.210]whether it's miscommunication or lack of communication
[00:10:34.790]thereof between your family and yourself.
[00:10:37.842]I personally felt like I was alone
[00:10:39.840]going through this, moving forward in life
[00:10:42.290]and applying for college and going to colleges
[00:10:44.792]and everything like that.
[00:10:45.990]I mean, luckily UNL was right there
[00:10:49.011]hour, hour and a half away from home.
[00:10:50.980]So many others were traveling halfway
[00:10:54.380]around the world to do campus tours and everything
[00:10:56.380]like that with friends, who've had families
[00:10:58.880]that have had that education
[00:11:00.465]that have gone through the form of college life.
[00:11:02.560]So others are going across the country and touring
[00:11:06.050]different universities and taken advantage of
[00:11:08.480]all of these great opportunities versus me, for myself.
[00:11:13.230]This is where the stress comes in,
[00:11:14.610]where you want to pursue other opportunities
[00:11:17.100]and other cities and other locations,
[00:11:18.750]but you have your family that's keeping you grounded
[00:11:21.710]and kind of like in that region there.
[00:11:23.800]So for me, I felt like UNL was the only place for me,
[00:11:27.460]which I'm very, very glad that it was right there for me
[00:11:31.250]'cos I've learned so much just by going through the program
[00:11:36.530]and everything there.
[00:11:37.363]So the challenges that arose for me was number one,
[00:11:41.230]with parents who really don't understand
[00:11:44.420]the full application process and everything like that
[00:11:48.349]and just moving on with life, you know.
[00:11:51.430]Thinking back the biggest was they didn't have
[00:11:54.840]the proper experience.
[00:11:55.780]They didn't know what was going on.
[00:11:57.390]So although it's stressful for us as individuals
[00:12:00.370]of going on a new journey and starting something new
[00:12:02.840]as first generation students or professionals.
[00:12:09.830]It's just as important for you to understand
[00:12:13.373]the process and for your parents and your family
[00:12:16.670]to fully understand the process.
[00:12:19.110]So with that, I mean, be open and communicate
[00:12:21.640]with the people around you.
[00:12:22.850]That itself will fix a lot of the stress and the burden
[00:12:25.820]that a lot of us are feeling.
[00:12:27.540]And especially in times like this
[00:12:29.020]with the pandemic going on with even more stress,
[00:12:31.280]when it comes to work and everything like that,
[00:12:33.717]it's okay to call home
[00:12:36.342]and just be like, "Hey mom, like this is going on.
[00:12:39.430]Like, how would you handle it?"
[00:12:40.951]Just because they don't have the American lifestyle
[00:12:45.350]or anything like that, they have the advice
[00:12:48.830]and they have the, their own experience
[00:12:51.950]that can guide you through pretty much the struggles
[00:12:55.350]and everything just because they have different struggles,
[00:12:57.780]you have different struggles,
[00:12:58.840]but in a way the concepts are pretty much,
[00:13:02.600]they all mesh together.
[00:13:04.050]So the biggest thing is communicate, open
[00:13:07.350]and just learn from them.
[00:13:09.140]And then also as I'm growing up in,
[00:13:12.310]I think it took me moving out of Nebraska
[00:13:14.150]and being out here in Las Vegas for nearly seven years now,
[00:13:17.690]the biggest thing is, remember your roots, just stay humble.
[00:13:20.340]Remember your roots. We all have a different story.
[00:13:23.580]We all have a different path.
[00:13:24.970]And we all choose our own different path,
[00:13:26.330]whether it's career-wise lifestyle, anything like that.
[00:13:30.290]But the biggest thing is
[00:13:31.300]we're all here to support one another,
[00:13:32.870]especially with everything that's going on right now.
[00:13:35.950]We're here to support one another. Remember your roots.
[00:13:38.300]And the biggest thing is learn the history of your family.
[00:13:43.370]That has been the biggest drive for me.
[00:13:45.900]Having been here, a family that's been established
[00:13:49.540]here in the US for 35, nearly 40 years now,
[00:13:53.190]it only took that long for us to really learn
[00:13:56.040]about our family history and everything.
[00:13:58.180]And just like the burdens and the troubles
[00:14:01.538]that got you here.
[00:14:03.390]I want to challenge each and every one of us
[00:14:05.950]in this chat room and anyone else out there
[00:14:07.960]that has listened to this,
[00:14:09.570]use your background and use the hardships
[00:14:11.370]of your family history as an extra push
[00:14:14.070]for you to move forward in your career.
[00:14:15.930]Use that to your advantage.
[00:14:17.400]You have one thing that many people don't,
[00:14:20.540]and that's a unique family history
[00:14:22.190]that you can apply into diversity and learning
[00:14:25.365]and into learning more about this world that we live in,
[00:14:28.680]that's becoming more diverse
[00:14:30.110]and becoming more challenging by the day.
[00:14:32.800]So yeah, first generations definitely,
[00:14:38.272]lead with vulnerability, manage your stress and stay humble.
[00:14:42.230]As Sam Foltz would say,
[00:14:45.010]former Grand Island person
[00:14:47.010]work hard, stay humble
[00:14:49.390]and we all know the rest of the story when it comes to that.
[00:14:53.620]Thank you, Christian.
[00:14:54.453]I think that was an absolutely perfect way
[00:14:57.650]to wrap up your personal thoughts there.
[00:15:00.500]I really appreciate you sharing that.
[00:15:02.170]And I was taking some notes while you were chatting.
[00:15:05.270]I really liked the way you phrase some things,
[00:15:08.010]but that leadership and vulnerability,
[00:15:10.090]I think that's a really,
[00:15:11.940]a really striking way to say that.
[00:15:13.880]So thank you for sharing those thoughts with us.
[00:15:16.650]We really appreciate it.
[00:15:18.110]I'm gonna switch gears a little bit.
[00:15:20.760]Dr. Turner we're gonna look to you
[00:15:23.610]and I just have a question here.
[00:15:26.105]So for you, what we're wondering is what college moment
[00:15:30.750]led you to where you are today in your position?
[00:15:33.910]So if you had to think back to a moment, like,
[00:15:37.400]is there something that stands out to you
[00:15:39.270]from your experience in your undergrad
[00:15:41.480]or your master's that really impacted you in some way?
[00:15:46.590]I think if I'm reflective about my graduate work at UNL,
[00:15:51.130]I think my advice and experiences that I would encourage
[00:15:54.720]people to seek out are those experiences
[00:15:57.080]outside of the classroom.
[00:15:58.680]So when you leave the university setting,
[00:16:01.030]you're then going into competition with multiple people
[00:16:04.290]who have the same degree as you.
[00:16:06.010]So they ideally have taken the same set of classes.
[00:16:08.310]They've had the same set of experiences
[00:16:10.410]within their program, but it's about what are you doing
[00:16:14.010]outside of your program
[00:16:15.510]to strengthen your individual skillset?
[00:16:17.910]So a lot of the things that I was involved in at UNL
[00:16:21.180]really helped to strengthen that.
[00:16:23.401]So I was involved in the Black Graduate Student Association,
[00:16:26.480]and that was a great experience to be able to interact
[00:16:29.850]with like-minded students,
[00:16:31.606]to provide a support system for the black graduate students
[00:16:35.610]that were on campus.
[00:16:36.950]And what I've used those experiences are to kind of parlay
[00:16:40.387]into my career now.
[00:16:42.330]So currently I am the Maryland delegate
[00:16:46.280]for the National Association of School Psychologists.
[00:16:49.120]So I represent all the school psychologists
[00:16:51.430]in Maryland to our national organization.
[00:16:54.210]And so a lot of those skills are things I learned
[00:16:56.910]in external kind of organizations that I was in.
[00:17:00.610]as I was in graduate school to really understand
[00:17:03.130]what leadership looks like in the real world,
[00:17:07.000]what building consensus looks like,
[00:17:09.470]what time management looks like.
[00:17:11.760]So I think that when you are reflective
[00:17:14.120]on your college experience,
[00:17:15.910]you really wanna think about whether the things
[00:17:17.900]that I'm doing to strengthen myself as an individual
[00:17:21.240]outside of my coursework.
[00:17:23.090]So again, that could be organizations on campus.
[00:17:25.640]It could be researching with a particular professor.
[00:17:28.840]It could be taking on another internship.
[00:17:31.100]It could be a various school placement,
[00:17:34.300]but you really want to think about what are the things
[00:17:36.400]that are gonna set my application or my skill set
[00:17:39.640]apart from everyone else,
[00:17:41.500]because your core kind of coursework skillset
[00:17:44.330]is going to be very similar,
[00:17:45.840]but it's about how you have applied those skills
[00:17:48.290]in other work that's really gonna help
[00:17:50.440]to kind of keep propelling you forward
[00:17:52.436]and give you some of those skills
[00:17:54.636]that you can't really learn inside the classroom.
[00:18:00.020]Wow that was powerful.
[00:18:01.020]And a little quick brag.
[00:18:02.570]I went to college with her.
[00:18:05.525]Well, moving forward, thank you for that, Dr. Turner.
[00:18:09.820]I would love to hear more about this in the future.
[00:18:11.890]We're definitely gonna talk.
[00:18:14.446]And so now the next question goes to Alisha.
[00:18:18.290]What has been the most impactful professional event
[00:18:20.820]you have faced in your career thus far?
[00:18:24.900]Hi everyone, it's so nice to see familiar faces.
[00:18:27.660]I see Karen Kassebaum, AnnMarie, is that Darwin?
[00:18:32.690]I would say that the earliest most impactful professional
[00:18:36.950]event would be having the opportunity
[00:18:39.400]of having an assistantship
[00:18:41.120]at the College of Education and Human Sciences.
[00:18:43.280]I learned so much during that graduate experience,
[00:18:45.053]what I liked, what I didn't like.
[00:18:47.996]And I remember like, especially during
[00:18:49.750]the second year Deb Mullen really was just like,
[00:18:52.857]"Hey, what is it that you're passionate
[00:18:54.700]about in student affairs?"
[00:18:56.280]And I was just like diversity and inclusion,
[00:18:59.550]and I'm super, gracious for her in
[00:19:04.560]helping me navigate through that experience.
[00:19:08.220]I saw that there was so much that needed
[00:19:10.500]to be done within our college.
[00:19:13.300]And, she mentored me,
[00:19:15.260]she allowed me to just be flexible and just do what I did.
[00:19:19.900]And so that really allowed for me to figure out
[00:19:23.950]what my passion was and how I had the skill
[00:19:28.230]to not only bring awareness,
[00:19:30.490]but figuring out how to strategically creating change,
[00:19:36.260]systemic change specifically.
[00:19:39.530]So yeah, I would say that experience really taught me a lot.
[00:19:44.820]And I think thereafter,
[00:19:46.330]it really led me into the diversity and inclusion world.
[00:19:49.960]And currently I do a lot of organizing work
[00:19:53.250]on the ground and yeah, I'm just super,
[00:19:58.090]I'm super grateful for that experience.
[00:20:02.850]Awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us Alisha.
[00:20:06.040]So thinking about the work that you do, Christian,
[00:20:09.810]Dr. Turner, and I think something that we're all actually
[00:20:13.460]kind of bonded by everyone in this Zoom room right now
[00:20:18.150]that it's impacted us all in one way or another.
[00:20:20.710]It's something we think about all the time,
[00:20:22.820]I'm gonna bring it up is COVID-19.
[00:20:25.370]It affects us personally.
[00:20:26.840]It affects the places where we work.
[00:20:29.340]So I want to pose a question to the panel.
[00:20:32.410]So whichever one of you feel comfortable talking about this,
[00:20:35.580]but how has COVID affected your specific work,
[00:20:40.370]the work that you're doing,
[00:20:42.080]or how has COVID impacted the way
[00:20:44.310]that your industry is operating?
[00:20:46.410]If you could just give us any insights
[00:20:48.590]to how you have had to respond to COVID-19
[00:20:52.390]or how you feel it has impacted you
[00:20:54.280]in your professional work.
[00:20:59.800]This is April. I'll take a stab at the question first.
[00:21:03.420]I think what has been very impactful
[00:21:06.740]is I work in Baltimore City Schools.
[00:21:09.970]So we have been out of school since March the 13th.
[00:21:14.550]And so all of our work has been in the online platform,
[00:21:18.169]which in other industries that kind of translates
[00:21:21.790]a little bit more smoothly,
[00:21:23.470]but in education that's been really challenging.
[00:21:26.363]I do a lot of counseling work with kids K through 12.
[00:21:30.990]And so transitioning that face-to-face
[00:21:33.710]counseling work to an online platform has been a challenging
[00:21:38.190]kind of event, as well as the impact of COVID has really
[00:21:43.840]become has brought to the forefront
[00:21:46.630]a lot of the inequities that we have across the country,
[00:21:49.950]as it relates to access to internet,
[00:21:52.710]access to devices for online, access to healthcare,
[00:21:57.170]access to food and so I think that it's impacted us
[00:22:01.940]in a way that maybe people weren't expecting,
[00:22:04.380]but I think it's really been felt in the schools
[00:22:07.000]because a lot of the schools in Maryland
[00:22:08.780]are currently closed or doing online learning.
[00:22:11.650]And so we've really began to understand
[00:22:13.840]how much of a role schools play
[00:22:17.120]in the whole infrastructure of the country
[00:22:19.770]from providing education
[00:22:21.750]to providing mental health supports to healthcare,
[00:22:25.301]as well as safety for students.
[00:22:28.200]And so I think it's impacted us in really transitioning
[00:22:31.240]to what this online platform looks like and helping students
[00:22:34.920]adjust to that as well as just becoming more aware
[00:22:37.859]of those inequities across the country versus
[00:22:41.530]one particular school district versus another.
[00:22:44.300]And even sometimes within school districts.
[00:22:47.800]Thank you.
[00:22:48.633]Do either one of you want to speak on how COVID
[00:22:51.930]has impacted you or your industry?
[00:22:56.182]I can take a stab at it.
[00:22:58.410]I would say with Color of Change,
[00:23:01.320]the momentum is very strong right now,
[00:23:05.020]if anything, we're taking advantage of what's going on,
[00:23:08.710]especially after George Floyd
[00:23:13.130]earlier this year went from like a million subscribers
[00:23:15.740]to like 7 million subscribers.
[00:23:17.240]So there's so many people that want to help.
[00:23:19.990]I think racism has always been a thing,
[00:23:23.570]but it hasn't necessarily been a conversation
[00:23:26.130]that people are willing to accept.
[00:23:27.710]And so I think this year,
[00:23:29.020]a lot of different institutions, universities and so on
[00:23:32.275]are having to face the conversation of like,
[00:23:35.210]okay, people have been talking about this.
[00:23:37.890]Now we have to actually deal with it.
[00:23:39.720]So it's very difficult,
[00:23:41.722]but yeah, like I think we're not stopping.
[00:23:45.538]We're strategically fighting through petitions,
[00:23:48.300]creating black power through getting black folks to vote
[00:23:51.990]and participating in community building
[00:23:54.520]'cos that's really how you create power.
[00:23:57.606]And at my last position earlier this year
[00:24:02.130]at the University of California,
[00:24:04.830]they were having a lot of conversations around
[00:24:08.070]diversity and inclusion and what that meant.
[00:24:11.014]It was interesting because we weren't ready
[00:24:14.330]to have that conversation,
[00:24:15.600]but we were forced to have that conversation.
[00:24:17.710]So I think a lot of people have feelings,
[00:24:21.500]especially people of color, especially Black staff members.
[00:24:25.170]And we're just having, well I've left since,
[00:24:28.630]but 'cos my contract was over,
[00:24:30.540]but they're having a lot of conversations
[00:24:33.580]in regard to this hard issue.
[00:24:35.480]And it's not a pretty time to have this conversation
[00:24:38.420]and especially since we're all in our feelings,
[00:24:42.300]we're worried about job security, funding
[00:24:45.060]and all of those things during a huge pandemic.
[00:24:51.410]Thank you Alisha.
[00:24:53.480]Christian, I feel like this is one you almost have to
[00:24:55.410]answer being down there in Vegas.
[00:24:57.460]I mean, you're in an industry that can be so impacted,
[00:25:01.070]but I don't think we've ever seen it impacted
[00:25:03.350]in such a large scale.
[00:25:05.810]So if you have any follow-up thoughts to that,
[00:25:10.130]we'd like to hear them.
[00:25:11.850]Right so just to give like a little insight on
[00:25:14.770]how it's affected like the hospitality, the tourism,
[00:25:18.340]the hotel industry here.
[00:25:20.170]I mean, we all know hotels, casinos or whatever
[00:25:24.820]here in Las Vegas, we're all built
[00:25:26.130]to be a 24 x 7 x 365 operation.
[00:25:30.830]And even back in the 2008, 2009 recession times
[00:25:35.900]that didn't even, it did hurt Vegas,
[00:25:40.110]but it didn't shut down the operations
[00:25:43.240]or it didn't shut down the industry period.
[00:25:46.200]I mean, a lot of hotels did cut back,
[00:25:48.610]but they still were able to operate.
[00:25:50.890]And it was just the biggest thing ever.
[00:25:54.700]I mean, being here, I think Vegas got shut down
[00:25:58.610]maybe just about the same time
[00:26:00.624]as the schools in Baltimore did as, as Dr. Turner mentioned,
[00:26:03.950]but around like March 18th was when every single hotel,
[00:26:08.920]the Las Vegas strip was literally forced to shut down.
[00:26:11.750]Doors were locked.
[00:26:13.510]You had, the VIP limousines
[00:26:16.354]and the personal and the private cars
[00:26:19.690]being used as barricades on the front drives,
[00:26:22.400]as you saw these big chains locking up these doors
[00:26:24.710]that were built and developed
[00:26:27.330]not to be shut down ever were closed.
[00:26:30.000]So that was like the biggest eye-opener and the craziest
[00:26:33.060]thing is, and we're still seeing the effect in the industry
[00:26:35.730]right now in airline travels and a lot of hotels
[00:26:39.341]and a lot of restaurants, as we all see,
[00:26:42.410]are still facing the struggles of this pandemic.
[00:26:45.240]So one thing that I'd like to highlight
[00:26:48.940]and kind of like piggybacking off of what the other
[00:26:51.380]two panelists discuss there is that
[00:26:54.080]this is actually a perfect time for us as like
[00:26:57.050]a diversity group to really come together.
[00:26:59.680]Whether, like what they were saying,
[00:27:02.430]discussions are being had right now in the industry as well.
[00:27:06.210]I mean, hotel industry is internationally operational,
[00:27:10.500]everything is all the same.
[00:27:11.990]Hotels are hotels, resorts are resorts.
[00:27:14.020]And the one thing that adds on to that is,
[00:27:17.470]is the diversity and the multicultural awareness,
[00:27:20.939]if you will, if you will.
[00:27:22.980]So now you see a lot more of these like big corporations,
[00:27:27.220]you see a lot of these operations started to have these
[00:27:29.270]conversations, because number one,
[00:27:31.430]it is time for that conversation to be had.
[00:27:34.010]And then number two, as things are slowing down,
[00:27:36.770]it allows us, we're all going through
[00:27:39.360]the struggles personally or as a business operation there,
[00:27:43.510]but at the same time,
[00:27:44.930]it allows us more time to focus on the things
[00:27:47.110]that have been on the back burner for so long.
[00:27:49.700]So we can have those discussions
[00:27:51.460]about the multicultural differences,
[00:27:53.990]or also just like inclusion, if you will.
[00:27:56.120]I think inclusion needs to be the biggest word
[00:27:58.040]to be had right now,
[00:27:59.920]but things are slowly opening back up.
[00:28:02.650]And then as we start reopening up,
[00:28:04.240]I think it's time to really,
[00:28:06.310]it's time for us to hit the reset button on how things were.
[00:28:10.936]One thing I've been hearing,
[00:28:12.820]a lot of people and a lot of tourists and everything here,
[00:28:15.510]they want things to go back to normal.
[00:28:17.560]But one thing I always like to counter that with,
[00:28:19.814]or play devil's advocate with is if the normal
[00:28:23.610]was somewhat broken, why do we want to go back to that?
[00:28:26.280]Now's the time to hit reset, recreate, and move forward.
[00:28:32.650]Thank you for that.
[00:28:33.483]I was actually in Vegas as it started to shut down.
[00:28:36.160]So I know only well, and it seems like all you must've known
[00:28:39.340]what the next question was gonna be,
[00:28:41.380]because it's with all the social unrest this year,
[00:28:45.620]how does your place of employment address this topic?
[00:28:48.180]If anybody would like to share anything further,
[00:28:51.274]I can allow that time.
[00:28:52.420]Otherwise we can move on.
[00:28:56.149]I want to add just one aspect of it,
[00:28:58.610]because I think a lot of people that are participating
[00:29:02.240]in this panel and that are participating,
[00:29:04.215]I think are excited about moving the work forward
[00:29:09.030]and excited about what it looks like
[00:29:11.210]for social justice in action.
[00:29:12.720]What does diversity equity and inclusion look like?
[00:29:15.790]And I think what I want to be aware of
[00:29:19.430]and bring some kind of light to is
[00:29:20.960]sometimes there are barriers to getting that work going.
[00:29:25.121]So I know in Baltimore City, we,
[00:29:28.630]as any school district have a lot of red tape
[00:29:31.860]and a lot of offices that information needs to go through.
[00:29:35.500]So if I want to do something,
[00:29:37.500]it has to be approved by my boss
[00:29:39.210]and then approved by their boss and then approved
[00:29:41.210]by the Department Of Equity
[00:29:42.407]and then approved by the PR people.
[00:29:44.240]So at times I think it can be frustrating in wanting
[00:29:47.800]to get things off the ground.
[00:29:49.450]But what I would encourage people to do
[00:29:52.190]is think about what you can do
[00:29:54.080]within your department, within your office,
[00:29:57.010]within your social group.
[00:29:58.870]And so one of the things that I've done in Baltimore City
[00:30:02.330]is created a group with
[00:30:04.920]just the Black school psychologist on staff.
[00:30:07.340]And so we get together on Zoom.
[00:30:09.820]Hopefully once things clear up a little bit,
[00:30:11.940]we can get together and have drinks,
[00:30:14.040]but I think that creating that sense of support
[00:30:17.880]is what we really need at this point.
[00:30:19.720]And really thinking about how you can be creative
[00:30:22.250]if your department or university, or company
[00:30:26.100]is not gonna support something on a global level,
[00:30:28.490]then what can you do to support people
[00:30:30.210]in your department or in your office?
[00:30:33.310]Yeah, I think that's really good April
[00:30:34.890]'cos there is a lot of red tape,
[00:30:36.250]especially in universities,
[00:30:38.410]but I think I know at my previous position,
[00:30:42.900]seeing that there were reoccurring themes,
[00:30:45.240]no matter what university you go to,
[00:30:47.080]no matter what reputation they have,
[00:30:48.970]navigating these conversations are very difficult.
[00:30:52.930]But I think that what is really important is checking in
[00:30:57.140]with your folks that you might be supervising with
[00:31:00.560]or working with like, "Hey, how are you doing?
[00:31:02.690]Is there anything that I can do and taking initiative of
[00:31:06.488]learning your biases and so on,
[00:31:08.540]I think is so critical especially at this time.
[00:31:11.070]You can't control what the university does,
[00:31:12.760]but you can control what your office does,
[00:31:15.290]but checking in with your folks is really important
[00:31:17.540]'cos I know I've seen and heard a lot of horrific stories
[00:31:21.710]about things not even being acknowledged at their workplace.
[00:31:26.450]So please, please, please do check on your coworkers
[00:31:30.420]and make sure that they're okay.
[00:31:33.730]Yep and I guess adding onto that,
[00:31:36.461]I covered a little bit of it
[00:31:38.660]about the workplace inclusion stuff
[00:31:40.380]and kind of like along the lines of that,
[00:31:42.970]but the other two panelists hit it on the dot.
[00:31:45.590]Number one, let your people be heard.
[00:31:48.554]And I think that's one thing that I've been seeing
[00:31:50.510]throughout Las Vegas here,
[00:31:51.460]you have a lot of these multi-billion dollar operations
[00:31:54.850]with the workplace that I'm in myself,
[00:31:57.930]there's almost 10,000 of us under one roof.
[00:32:01.060]And that's kind of like in the middle,
[00:32:02.490]you have other employers who have 50- 60,000 people
[00:32:05.950]and you have others with like 10-12,000 people
[00:32:08.510]as employees there.
[00:32:10.160]And as you can imagine, the logistical challenges
[00:32:13.160]of trying to get that rolling.
[00:32:15.520]But one thing that I've been seeing is that a lot of these
[00:32:18.360]corporations that are actually putting out these surveys
[00:32:21.850]and reaching out to just about every single employee
[00:32:24.870]out there with whatever platforms they have access to
[00:32:28.200]and getting their opinions, their personal opinions,
[00:32:31.240]seeing how they feel in the workplace,
[00:32:35.320]checking on your people was highlighted.
[00:32:37.810]So checking on your people,
[00:32:38.720]making that their actual true genuine words
[00:32:41.590]are being brought into consideration,
[00:32:44.630]not just the vague, just like what's out there,
[00:32:47.950]but individual words from the individuals
[00:32:50.920]who are working for you.
[00:32:52.700]And what I've been seeing is just a lot of these
[00:32:57.320]organizations and committees are being developed
[00:32:59.920]on a corporate level to help address the situations
[00:33:03.650]that are being exposed right now to help alleviate
[00:33:07.370]the challenges that people are facing right now.
[00:33:10.170]So I think change is happening.
[00:33:11.550]And as everyone has been saying, it's out there.
[00:33:14.990]We just gotta continue pushing forward.
[00:33:17.320]Just got to do it the right way,
[00:33:18.400]whether it's step by step or whether it's big steps
[00:33:21.210]at a time, progress is progress.
[00:33:25.100]Thank you, Christian, that you all three had some really
[00:33:28.290]great perspectives there.
[00:33:29.580]Alisha talking about checking in on your people with,
[00:33:34.000]I think that's a good reminder for everybody,
[00:33:36.110]especially for those of us who want to be good allies
[00:33:41.000]and accomplices to make sure that we're doing
[00:33:43.930]as much as we can where we can, when we can
[00:33:46.760]with what we have.
[00:33:47.593]So I think that's great.
[00:33:48.970]And I just want to remind everybody that's with us today,
[00:33:52.980]that if you have anything specific
[00:33:55.510]that you'd like to hear from the panelists,
[00:33:56.670]feel free to drop something in the chat.
[00:33:59.120]If you're curious about anything with them,
[00:34:01.720]we'd love to be able to ask them your specific questions,
[00:34:05.110]but kind of based off of some of the responses
[00:34:09.020]that we've been hearing from our three panelists.
[00:34:11.130]I'm wondering if you'd be able to talk to us a little bit
[00:34:14.870]about if there's any formal training going on,
[00:34:17.700]like any bias training or any diversity and inclusion
[00:34:22.000]training that is going on within your organizations
[00:34:25.120]that you feel is beneficial or that you could highlight
[00:34:27.730]and speak about a little bit to us today.
[00:34:32.010]Yeah I mean, I think, yeah, like at Color of Change,
[00:34:36.850]I know that you can be a subscriber
[00:34:39.250]and get involved through different ways.
[00:34:44.090]So subscribe, sign petitions,
[00:34:48.110]there's a lot of good books out there to learn
[00:34:51.200]about the biases that you may have,
[00:34:53.210]how to be a proper ally and so on.
[00:34:55.090]I think what's important to know is that
[00:34:58.320]the process is a continuation, right?
[00:35:01.410]It's a journey.
[00:35:02.560]It's not something that you can kind of just do
[00:35:06.210]in a short amount of time.
[00:35:07.440]That's also a craft that you have to learn to appreciate
[00:35:10.960]something that I noticed is that
[00:35:13.303]you have your different sub groups of folks
[00:35:16.110]like folks that can say, "Hey, like okay, yeah,
[00:35:18.260]diversity and inclusion support,"
[00:35:19.740]but they kind of see as a subject matter
[00:35:21.860]versus other folks that kind of say,
[00:35:23.857]"Hey, now systemic racism is a real thing
[00:35:26.620]and I need to actively participate in the system
[00:35:30.586]to try to counter that in many ways."
[00:35:34.210]And so I think reading up on it, if you don't know much
[00:35:38.350]is really the first critical step.
[00:35:41.440]And then, I think things will come along
[00:35:45.400]and trying to figure out ways that you can actually
[00:35:47.780]be a help, because there's a lot of people
[00:35:49.130]that want to help, but just don't know how to,
[00:35:52.240]or they might be helping,
[00:35:53.280]but they're doing the exact opposite.
[00:35:55.700]So this is not easy work to do.
[00:35:59.140]But I think if you have the will,
[00:36:00.980]there will be creative ways in navigating those spaces.
[00:36:04.590]Especially at UNL, there's a lot of great allies
[00:36:08.580]that are doing a lot of great work,
[00:36:11.160]whether it's being shined on
[00:36:13.100]or whether it's in the dark,
[00:36:16.660]but there's a lot of great people doing great things.
[00:36:19.080]And just, if you have the interest, I'll come to you,
[00:36:21.700]that information will come to you.
[00:36:23.650]I think similar to what Alisha said,
[00:36:25.960]I think a lot of it has to do with really looking
[00:36:29.800]at what your internal development looks
[00:36:31.670]like as an individual.
[00:36:33.270]A lot of organizations are doing
[00:36:35.720]a lot of implicit bias training,
[00:36:39.870]anti-racism training those types of things.
[00:36:42.320]But I think it's about what you're doing
[00:36:44.480]at an individual level.
[00:36:46.120]And I think there are some really great books
[00:36:49.345]and a lot of things that are out there,
[00:36:52.520]there is work as it relates to white fragility.
[00:36:56.430]There's work as it relates to anti-racism.
[00:36:59.470]And I think a lot of that becomes
[00:37:01.550]what are you doing at an individual level
[00:37:03.640]to be self-reflective on your own work.
[00:37:06.760]And then I think there's also some new budding work
[00:37:09.440]that's coming out with shifting, from being an ally,
[00:37:13.070]to being an accomplice.
[00:37:14.610]So thinking about how are you using your
[00:37:16.840]individual privilege and power to amplify
[00:37:19.770]the voices of others?
[00:37:21.294]So really thinking about when you're in settings,
[00:37:24.530]you're in a meeting, you're in a school setting,
[00:37:27.832]you're at a committee meeting,
[00:37:30.100]looking around the room and thinking
[00:37:31.660]about what voices aren't represented at this table.
[00:37:34.560]Are we at a particular situation
[00:37:36.310]where everybody looks the same
[00:37:38.310]or everybody has the same type of opinion,
[00:37:40.340]and then really asking yourself,
[00:37:42.110]why are those people not in the room
[00:37:44.380]and how do we amplify their voices
[00:37:46.500]so they can be in this room because the more diversity
[00:37:49.720]that we have at the table really strengthens
[00:37:53.160]any of the work that we're doing.
[00:37:54.930]And then I think as the other panelists
[00:37:57.060]kind of mentioned as well,
[00:37:58.160]shifting from diversity to what inclusion really looks like
[00:38:03.170]so not only are these other voices at the table,
[00:38:06.490]but do they have power and agency
[00:38:08.550]to actually be included in the decision-making.
[00:38:11.783]I think a lot of it has to be on the
[00:38:15.480]individual level of work,
[00:38:18.120]as well as what the corporation
[00:38:20.170]or the university is doing globally.
[00:38:23.300]Thank you for that. That was great.
[00:38:24.930]And excellent answer.
[00:38:27.920]I think next we, kind of,
[00:38:29.680]along with you all been talking about,
[00:38:32.060]we wanted to ask a question,
[00:38:33.970]have you ever been only one like you rather sex, race,
[00:38:37.360]ethnicity, culture interests
[00:38:40.750]whether that's in college or at a workplace
[00:38:43.383]and if so, how did you deal with that mentally?
[00:38:46.474]How did you mentally prepare for that?
[00:38:48.870]And have you ever found that support that you needed?
[00:38:54.600]I guess I can answer that.
[00:38:55.790]Yeah, I think in plenty of spaces,
[00:38:58.010]especially growing up in Nebraska,
[00:39:01.240]always been kind of very specific,
[00:39:04.520]like the only Latin woman in the room and so on,
[00:39:07.830]and not only that, I'm quite vocal
[00:39:10.120]and blunt at times, right.
[00:39:12.470]And so that has repercussions for that,
[00:39:15.760]but I think what's really important
[00:39:17.400]is to be true to yourself
[00:39:19.660]and then also to seek the community,
[00:39:22.550]the mentors that can guide you,
[00:39:25.170]teach you, but also validate you in your experience.
[00:39:28.210]Like, I think we all have a purpose in life.
[00:39:30.720]And sometimes if that relates to anything
[00:39:34.400]that involves with systemic change,
[00:39:37.290]there will be problems because people
[00:39:39.710]normally don't like change right in anything, right?
[00:39:42.360]People are used to how things are done.
[00:39:45.670]And so sometimes people can't see the vision that you have,
[00:39:48.940]but you got to believe in your purpose
[00:39:50.370]and you also have to seek people that believe in you
[00:39:53.547]and to validate you.
[00:39:55.830]I mean, I believe she nailed it on the head there.
[00:39:57.960]Number one is like creating that value.
[00:40:00.935]Although it may be a little bit different,
[00:40:02.980]but like as you mentioned,
[00:40:04.700]like we all have a different purpose
[00:40:06.970]and whether that's in the workplace or anything like that,
[00:40:09.630]it's making sure that that the right voice is heard.
[00:40:12.450]And again, just making sure the end goal is all the same,
[00:40:14.470]how everything is approached or anything like that.
[00:40:17.060]We all have our own ways as it should be, you know?
[00:40:20.420]And it's just making sure number one, resources,
[00:40:23.092]number two, the end goal, like we're all here,
[00:40:27.550]in a professional workplace,
[00:40:28.730]especially we're all there to work towards one common goal.
[00:40:31.765]At that point it's like, we're all different
[00:40:34.790]in our own ways, but in a way all should
[00:40:37.100]benefit one another.
[00:40:38.718]So whether it's something a little bit different
[00:40:40.820]or if it's anything or if it's like a big picture
[00:40:44.700]or anything like that, I just feel like,
[00:40:46.290]she nailed it on the head.
[00:40:50.510]Simply put, just it's the same end goal, big picture,
[00:40:56.570]how we get there, get there together.
[00:40:59.100]That's the biggest thing.
[00:41:00.820]Yeah. I would definitely agree with both of them.
[00:41:02.280]I think the other thing that I would echo is that
[00:41:08.550]when you're in this situation
[00:41:09.840]where you are the only person in a particular identity,
[00:41:14.530]really checking in with yourself
[00:41:16.360]and trying to lift a little bit of the burden
[00:41:22.100]that you feel, because a lot of times in those situations,
[00:41:25.710]if you're the only representative of a particular identity,
[00:41:28.010]you feel the need to defend it
[00:41:30.070]or the need to affirm it or add a different perspective.
[00:41:35.180]And I think as you're in multiple settings like that,
[00:41:38.420]that burden becomes very heavy
[00:41:40.560]and it impacts your ability to engage,
[00:41:44.240]your ability to interact because you're on the defensive
[00:41:48.470]of having to defend kind of what's going on.
[00:41:52.290]So I would encourage people that are in those situations,
[00:41:55.480]to echo with the other two panelists
[00:41:56.973]that to really tap into your purpose and why you were there.
[00:42:01.120]And to try to fight the urge,
[00:42:04.070]to always have to carry the burden of defending
[00:42:07.420]or having to give a different perspective,
[00:42:10.460]but to allow yourself to just kind of be present
[00:42:12.890]in this situation as much as possible.
[00:42:16.371]And I think that it's a very difficult situation
[00:42:20.520]to be in at times.
[00:42:21.960]And I think for me, it encourages me to think
[00:42:24.240]about how do I prevent this from happening in the future?
[00:42:27.550]What is it that I need to do in this setting
[00:42:30.150]so that there isn't another person that comes in here
[00:42:32.600]and they're the only person of that identity
[00:42:34.830]and they feel marginalized.
[00:42:37.210]They could feel disenfranchised.
[00:42:40.570]So I just think about like,
[00:42:42.170]how do I then help to make sure
[00:42:44.240]that this organization doesn't go through that same cycle
[00:42:46.310]over and over and over again?
[00:42:48.580]That's yeah, that's really great.
[00:42:49.930]Thank you all for giving those vulnerable answers.
[00:42:53.330]I know that opening up about these things can be difficult,
[00:42:56.030]but it's great to have alumni like you
[00:42:58.710]that are willing to talk and share about your experiences.
[00:43:01.860]So there is a question that we had come
[00:43:04.892]from one of our attendees today.
[00:43:07.680]And so they're wondering, so I guess I'm gonna pose this.
[00:43:11.277]Maybe Alisha, maybe you can take this question,
[00:43:14.671]but what would be your advice to employers
[00:43:18.000]who are trying to start that conversation
[00:43:21.098]like about diversity and inclusion in their workplace?
[00:43:25.140]Is there any advice you could give to like getting
[00:43:27.880]that started or what you think their responsibility is
[00:43:31.075]in bringing that up in their workplace
[00:43:33.400]or how they can best do that to make sure
[00:43:35.630]that everybody's voices are heard?
[00:43:38.770]I would say like, if we're just,
[00:43:41.310]if the employer is just starting to have this conversation,
[00:43:45.210]then you can tell that there might be a problem right?
[00:43:48.700]And so with that, I think there, like,
[00:43:51.840]you have to be really careful
[00:43:53.320]because one thing I'm seeing is a lot of people are upset,
[00:43:56.720]especially staff members.
[00:43:58.010]So if you just come at them
[00:43:59.450]and say, "Hey, let's talk about diversity and inclusion"
[00:44:02.400]you most likely might not know what you're talking about
[00:44:04.930]and you might offend others.
[00:44:07.770]So I would say that there are funds
[00:44:10.021]out there to tap in to, to I guess reach out
[00:44:15.020]to different diversity consultants of some kind.
[00:44:18.070]But I think the first step is for higher administration
[00:44:20.930]to do the self work.
[00:44:22.530]And like Christian talked about like be vulnerable.
[00:44:25.810]I think that we can all see through BS, I guess,
[00:44:29.310]if you want to call it, but just be honest, like,
[00:44:31.847]"Hey, like I don't have much experience in this.
[00:44:34.270]I'm sorry, but I'm here to learn"
[00:44:36.650]and it's a process, it's a journey.
[00:44:39.190]So I think doing that work first will kind of show
[00:44:43.270]your staff members that you're being honest
[00:44:46.240]and that you're going somewhere with it,
[00:44:48.290]other than it just come across as insensitive
[00:44:52.610]and just like work, and then providing those spaces
[00:44:58.090]to have those, for your staff members
[00:45:00.220]to have those conversations,
[00:45:02.220]also too thinking about like,
[00:45:03.657]"Hey, take a day off if you need to,"
[00:45:06.340]there's this whole thing with players wanting
[00:45:09.693]for things to be productive,
[00:45:11.510]like everyone's freaking out
[00:45:13.400]because of the pandemic and wanting to ensure job security.
[00:45:16.870]So everyone's stressing out,
[00:45:18.670]but like, trying to find those nice little things to do
[00:45:24.817]and giving that space for your staff members
[00:45:29.080]that might be hurting right now
[00:45:30.330]to just relax and just take some day offs,
[00:45:33.690]I think would be really nice.
[00:45:38.147]Yes I'm very happy that we're very supported
[00:45:40.420]in that aspect.
[00:45:41.330]AnnMarie really gets on us and make sure that we take care
[00:45:44.530]of ourselves mentally.
[00:45:45.800]And so I truly appreciate that.
[00:45:49.210]We're gonna switch it up a little bit,
[00:45:50.870]just 'cos we're running a little short on time
[00:45:53.890]and I wanted to ask how important is it
[00:45:55.840]to have a mentor to you?
[00:45:57.500]And then what would you say is the best approach
[00:46:00.700]to gain in a mentor?
[00:46:03.590]So mentoring, I feel like it's something
[00:46:06.100]that a lot of people really don't think of,
[00:46:07.910]especially for those in like first-generation
[00:46:09.640]or anything like that.
[00:46:10.540]But when it comes to mentoring
[00:46:14.180]that I can say is one of the most important things
[00:46:16.710]I've learned in the transition from college
[00:46:19.020]to the professional work life.
[00:46:21.830]Luckily with the Hospitality program,
[00:46:24.750]it was a small program at the time.
[00:46:28.370]So a lot of the professors and a lot of the staff
[00:46:32.635]that were involved in outreach of the such a small program
[00:46:37.080]opened up a lot of doors for each and every one of us.
[00:46:41.040]So the mentoring and everything like that,
[00:46:44.200]that aspect is personally one of the most crucial things
[00:46:48.178]that I've like pretty much can emphasize right now,
[00:46:53.500]just because it's, we all have the struggles
[00:46:57.216]of not knowing what direction.
[00:46:59.530]A lot of us will have that feeling
[00:47:01.110]when we're trying to transition
[00:47:02.430]into the professional work life.
[00:47:03.740]Like anyone can get a business degree,
[00:47:05.970]but what field of business is out there right now,
[00:47:08.140]it's like, "Hey, you have your your degree in your hand.
[00:47:10.540]And now it's what?"
[00:47:12.150]So having that mentor, I would say try to find one as soon
[00:47:15.670]as possible while you're going throughout school,
[00:47:19.270]as you transition into the workplace,
[00:47:21.010]you'll start to get more and more of those mentors
[00:47:23.040]that can help guide you along the way
[00:47:26.600]and kind of build you up individually.
[00:47:28.660]The biggest thing is number one,
[00:47:31.570]don't rely on your friends.
[00:47:33.260]You need to find someone who's willing
[00:47:36.013]to be very upfront with you.
[00:47:37.590]Someone that's willing to point out your struggles
[00:47:39.680]or your weaknesses and kind of help bring you up that way.
[00:47:43.370]It's easy to call a friend or someone a mentor,
[00:47:46.260]but you're gonna have someone along the way
[00:47:47.740]that's gonna be a friend,
[00:47:49.290]but also someone there that's willing to tell you
[00:47:51.190]the harsh truth, which for a lot of us,
[00:47:54.263]the reality, it's hard to fix.
[00:47:57.300]The criticism that is one of the most difficult things
[00:48:01.520]that anyone can face and again,
[00:48:04.540]it's easy to feel to kind of support your case,
[00:48:08.742]amidst all of this, but it's always good
[00:48:10.530]to have someone that's kind of countering you
[00:48:12.130]at the same time.
[00:48:13.470]So as you kind of develop up,
[00:48:16.000]you find your way of developing yourself,
[00:48:17.750]but also you gotta be open to take in
[00:48:21.020]what others are seeing from the outside world
[00:48:23.650]to kind of give you feedback
[00:48:24.900]and to kind of help develop you.
[00:48:25.920]So, honestly, it's one of the most important things.
[00:48:28.910]You have a lot of resources on campus.
[00:48:30.650]You got the counselors, you got your advisors,
[00:48:33.199]even some professors that may be some of,
[00:48:36.211]some of the hardest ones that you might've experienced
[00:48:39.290]throughout school, but they can be,
[00:48:40.760]they can be your best ally in the battle towards success
[00:48:44.220]in the future life there.
[00:48:46.380]Yeah, I think I would echo what Christian said.
[00:48:48.150]And I would also say that like it's about having
[00:48:51.700]multiple mentors that play multiple different roles.
[00:48:55.170]So like you could have someone who is maybe mentoring you,
[00:48:58.120]as it relates to career kind of things,
[00:49:00.930]and like what's a job to apply for and things like that.
[00:49:03.690]And then you could also have someone that's mentoring you
[00:49:05.360]about like what things you'd like to do outside of school,
[00:49:08.480]or if you're looking for leadership.
[00:49:09.860]So I think it's important to identify
[00:49:11.400]that you can have mentors
[00:49:12.551]for a variety of different kind of task.
[00:49:18.800]I think that's really, really important.
[00:49:20.210]And also just to make sure that
[00:49:22.010]you are just kind of forward with that.
[00:49:24.590]So if you see someone that you think
[00:49:26.000]would be a great mentor for you,
[00:49:27.640]I think be very forward and ask them
[00:49:29.530]if they're willing to mentor you
[00:49:31.270]and have a little bit of an idea
[00:49:33.010]about what you expect from that mentor in relationship,
[00:49:36.660]because it doesn't hurt to ask.
[00:49:38.910]And if that person is not in a position,
[00:49:40.890]doesn't have the time for whatever reason
[00:49:43.370]isn't willing to mentor you,
[00:49:44.740]they may be able to recommend someone else
[00:49:46.512]who can then set up that mentoring relationship.
[00:49:49.120]That's great advice from both of you.
[00:49:51.660]Thank you I completely agree that
[00:49:54.630]that mentoring piece is so important.
[00:49:57.330]So it looks like we have time for one more question
[00:50:00.940]and we had one come up in the chat.
[00:50:03.730]And I think as we're thinking about like next steps,
[00:50:06.268]and keeping these conversations going,
[00:50:08.490]because what are we gonna do when we leave here today?
[00:50:12.130]Some of the attendees would like to know
[00:50:14.460]if there's any suggestions from the panelists,
[00:50:18.060]as far as like books that can be read
[00:50:23.610]or any sort of like webinars or anything
[00:50:26.106]that you would recommend
[00:50:27.698]or other resources podcasts that people could be listening
[00:50:31.200]to that you think are really beneficial or really impactful.
[00:50:34.740]Or if you have maybe just like one
[00:50:36.622]that you'd like to share with everybody
[00:50:39.160]that you think would be a good resource
[00:50:41.280]to help people learn more,
[00:50:43.340]whether it's about like furthering their career
[00:50:46.200]and expanding their thoughts on diversity and inclusion
[00:50:48.670]or ways that they can become better allies.
[00:50:50.710]If you have any suggestions to keep the conversation going
[00:50:54.133]around resources that our attendees could make note of.
[00:50:58.070]If you'd want to share one or two each,
[00:51:00.030]we'd love to hear that from any of you
[00:51:02.473]that are willing to share.
[00:51:05.120]Yes. Sorry.
[00:51:06.090]I had to step out real quick
[00:51:07.130]'cos I had this within reach,
[00:51:08.280]but this honestly let's see here.
[00:51:12.570]This has been one of my favorites if anything,
[00:51:17.150]just because a lot of us are looking for like
[00:51:19.800]the positives and like,
[00:51:20.997]"Hey, go out and do this and you need to do this.
[00:51:23.940]And you've got to do that."
[00:51:25.400]This book actually, it really takes the opposite approach
[00:51:29.570]where it focuses a lot of your attention
[00:51:32.838]on personal development from the reverse side.
[00:51:37.370]So like the development side can like a negative way
[00:51:40.150]where it looks at the opposite way of developing yourself
[00:51:42.900]and it makes a lot, it really makes you think
[00:51:44.940]and realize a lot of people are like
[00:51:47.240]so focused on moving forward,
[00:51:48.530]but you need to focus on yourself,
[00:51:49.850]developing yourself before you can actually make strides.
[00:51:52.780]So whether that's just like personal development
[00:51:54.850]or just like in general,
[00:51:55.980]I feel like the messages in that book is actually,
[00:51:58.790]it applies to a lot of what's going on right now.
[00:52:02.020]Everyone is so down and negative,
[00:52:03.380]but like, why are you so down and negative?
[00:52:05.690]It's kind of like the question that this book raises a lot.
[00:52:08.440]So I feel like it's been very beneficial.
[00:52:11.070]And then also the title it's an attention getter
[00:52:14.220]for a lot of people.
[00:52:15.053]So, but definitely one of the most popular books right now
[00:52:20.680]around the world, so I highly would recommend it.
[00:52:24.670]So I think one article that's not too long
[00:52:27.630]that I would definitely recommend that has been,
[00:52:32.700]that has been really transformational for a lot of folks,
[00:52:36.100]a lot of allies would be White Supremacy Culture
[00:52:38.540]by Tema Okun.
[00:52:39.831]I can send that to you, Mollie,
[00:52:41.900]to send the rest to everyone else,
[00:52:44.290]but basically it just lists out characteristics
[00:52:48.326]of white supremacy culture that show up
[00:52:50.930]in our organizations, especially at PWIs.
[00:52:53.510]We all participate in it,
[00:52:54.920]whether you're a person of color or not.
[00:52:56.550]And there's a lot of things that we have internalized
[00:52:59.270]as individuals like perfectionism,
[00:53:02.870]ways that we deem as okay, to bring up issues.
[00:53:09.170]And I think it'll be quite insightful,
[00:53:12.960]especially if you're trying
[00:53:14.350]to create a more inclusive workspace,
[00:53:16.200]because I think tradition is something
[00:53:19.280]that we're all used to.
[00:53:21.220]And unless you think about what the other person might be
[00:53:24.888]experiencing, then you're participating
[00:53:32.000]in that white supremacy culture.
[00:53:33.530]It's a very bold title, but it's not,
[00:53:36.730]it may not be what you think it is.
[00:53:39.360]So I definitely recommend the article.
[00:53:41.990]I think this is an excellent question.
[00:53:43.430]I furiously started writing
[00:53:45.100]so I could try to remember the things,
[00:53:46.715]books I wanted to recommend.
[00:53:49.110]I think that it really depends on where you are
[00:53:53.110]in your journey as to what is going
[00:53:55.360]to be most helpful for you.
[00:53:57.080]So I think if you are beginning to do a lot
[00:53:59.760]of self reflection and thinking about your own biases,
[00:54:05.230]and you're thinking about individual level things,
[00:54:08.497]"White Fragility" is a very good book.
[00:54:11.500]It really talks about the way that racism impacts
[00:54:16.895]the majority group and how sometimes
[00:54:20.520]the reactions when being confronted with that
[00:54:23.610]can be really defensive and talks
[00:54:25.560]about how you break that down
[00:54:27.410]and how you then begin to move forward.
[00:54:30.010]So I think that's a really good book.
[00:54:32.310]The second one I recommend, this is a little older,
[00:54:34.510]but it's still very good.
[00:54:36.330]It's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together
[00:54:38.540]in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race"
[00:54:41.890]and Beverly Tatum and it really just talks about groups
[00:54:47.670]and why groups cling together
[00:54:50.400]and how you can work to kind of diversify your groups.
[00:54:55.550]And I like it because it really helps you
[00:54:58.420]to have a real world experience of thinking
[00:55:00.550]about what your high school cafeteria was like.
[00:55:02.840]So when you walked into the cafeteria,
[00:55:04.360]there were all these separate groups and it talks
[00:55:06.680]about why those groups exist and how you can use that
[00:55:10.300]group cohesion to your advantage.
[00:55:12.180]So that's really good.
[00:55:13.680]I'm sorry I have two more.
[00:55:15.200]If you are further along on the continuum,
[00:55:19.160]Dr. Kendi has a really good book called
[00:55:21.077]"How to be Antiracist."
[00:55:24.140]I like the book.
[00:55:25.200]It is a little bit of a diversion,
[00:55:29.400]a little bit away from the way that you typically
[00:55:31.470]think about racism and what it means,
[00:55:34.565]but I think it's a good book
[00:55:36.020]to kind of challenge your current thinking.
[00:55:40.080]So I like that.
[00:55:40.913]And the final one that I like,
[00:55:43.190]if we're moving towards
[00:55:44.770]how you lead others in this conversation,
[00:55:48.363]it's called "Courageous Conversations About Race."
[00:55:52.000]And I like it because it really gives
[00:55:54.210]a really nice framework for how to talk about race.
[00:55:57.570]It talks about why it's important to do that,
[00:55:59.810]and then has tons of activities for you to practice
[00:56:04.540]doing those skills so that you're able to practice
[00:56:06.980]in a small, maybe safer group
[00:56:09.560]before you present to the whole group.
[00:56:11.530]So I would say those four.
[00:56:14.830]Amazing. Thank you.
[00:56:16.100]Like all of those it's great.
[00:56:17.940]I was furiously taking down names and titles
[00:56:21.380]and clearly it shows that there is an interest.
[00:56:24.330]People do want to continue to build their knowledge
[00:56:27.419]and help keep these conversations going.
[00:56:29.920]So as much as we would love to keep going,
[00:56:32.610]we also want to be respectful of everybody's time today,
[00:56:35.330]but I just can't tell you how like excited
[00:56:38.040]I am after hearing all of you talk
[00:56:41.160]and just hearing the success that you're having
[00:56:43.698]in your different positions.
[00:56:46.030]And clearly you're already all doing amazing things
[00:56:48.960]in your roles.
[00:56:49.793]You're already great role models and examples.
[00:56:52.840]And I know you all have strong feelings about being mentors.
[00:56:55.800]So if anybody who's attending today,
[00:56:58.640]we're happy to share out information with you.
[00:57:01.080]You can get in contact with us,
[00:57:02.610]but we just want to extend our extreme gratitude
[00:57:06.119]to the panelists that came today
[00:57:08.630]and to everybody that showed up, CEHS,
[00:57:11.499]and then I'm gonna go ahead and just turn it over
[00:57:14.820]to Darwin here, just to wrap everything up.
[00:57:18.570]But for me personally,
[00:57:19.780]thank you so much for everybody being here today.
[00:57:23.040]Sorry I was on mute, but yes thank you, Mollie.
[00:57:25.650]And thank you for our panel.
[00:57:27.467]I'm so grateful that I've been able
[00:57:30.190]to cross all of your paths
[00:57:31.330]at some point in my life
[00:57:33.346]as you guys are definitely an inspiration.
[00:57:36.460]And so their information is here.
[00:57:38.740]If you want to contact them the best way is by email.
[00:57:41.940]And so if you can jot those down right now,
[00:57:44.770]we'll give it a little bit of time.
[00:57:51.430]And if you can't get it right now,
[00:57:55.170]you can email Mollie or I, and we will get that out to you.
[00:57:59.270]So if you go to the next slide,
[00:58:02.600]if anybody wants to reach either of the Career Coaches,
[00:58:05.500]please feel free to reach us via email.
[00:58:07.990]Or if you want to take your phones out
[00:58:09.650]and use our QR codes, that's the quickest, fastest way.
[00:58:13.290]A lot of people love it that way,
[00:58:16.230]but also just if you, the questions with the resumes,
[00:58:20.868]cover letters, graduate school, going professional,
[00:58:24.490]please feel free to contact Mollie and I.
[00:58:26.740]We love to have these appointments.
[00:58:28.270]We love to meet with you.
[00:58:29.560]We can't wait for COVID to be over,
[00:58:31.240]so we can actually meet face-to-face.
[00:58:33.260]Otherwise thank you.
[00:58:34.910]Thank you so much for everyone
[00:58:36.070]that helped put this together.
[00:58:38.220]And especially Madison's gotten things through so quickly,
[00:58:42.400]even dealing with her young child, it's amazing.
[00:58:46.447]And then Haley all the communication, Dean Jones,
[00:58:50.177]Paul Springer thank you, thank you.
[00:58:52.590]If everyone else could thank them too.
[00:58:55.050]Otherwise have a great day.

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Multicultural Homecoming Virtual Event - Pathway to Success

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