On Wednesday February 23rd, NAMIC-Virginia hosted another engaging discussion in our Level Up! series, We All Have Dreams- Representation Matters. During this session we discussed topics surrounding Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in the workplace and our communities, and how representation plays a role not only in individual career advancement, but also in societal growth. What do you consider a dream to be? Some feel dreams are there to fuel us and spark desire to push forward. Dreams can be things you want to get accomplished or dreams can be possibilities of what could be.

What happens if there is underrepresentation within your workplace? How will that affect your dream? You should have an advocate to be your lighthouse and keep you from going adrift. It can be challenging when you don’t feel like you have a seat at the table, but you are capable of growing your voice and emanating confidence. How can your company continue to implement change and encourage growth in underrepresented communities? Things like continuing to contribute to HBCU’s and promote diverse hiring and recruitment processes can help us make sure this is not a one time thing. We need to make sure we are providing awareness of how the money is being used to shape our future community leaders and company executives. We discussed how praise should not be given to companies for doing things that they should already be doing. Celebrations of ID& E is a wonderful start, however accountability is key, not performative acts.

Where do we go from here? What advice can we give to the next generation and how can we bridge gaps in underrepresentation, not just surrounding race, but gender equality as well? And the biggest question is what happens if we ignore ID& E? The answers we heard were profound and enlightening. Here is what one of our members, Bonita, had to say: “I just attended the NAMIC Virginia Level Up 2022 webinar. Words cannot express how much I gleaned from that discussion. The panelists were phenomenal! I am empowered, inspired and motivated! Thank you and the leadership of NAMIC Virginia for providing such quality content for the members.”

We hope that you all enjoyed the event as much as Bonita and that you were able to acquire some new perspective and knowledge to guide you in the future. We’d like to thank our panelists and host below for joining us and sharing their insight and ideas:

Karen White Dir., Enterprise Portfolio Management Cox Communications

Renard Jenkins SVP of Production Integration & Creative Technology Services Warner Media

Danielle Hawthorne VP of Programs Code 2040

Hilliard Sumner III ED of Sales Strategy Cox Communications

Azariah Workman VP of NAMIC – Virginia & Human Resource Business Partner Cox Communications

Please continue to follow us on FB, LinkedIn, IG, YouTube, Twitter, Eventbrite, and check out our new and improved website www.namicvirginia.com for more events and to join!