In Diverse Company

In this episode of the series, Lloyd Emeka talks with Luke Windeatt-Dickens, Director of Global Enterprise Solutions, GoodShape. GoodShape are a health management platform that helps employers support their employees' physical, mental and social wellbeing. During our conversation, we discuss fostering inclusive cultures within the context of SMEs and start-ups, how this can be achieved and some of the key learnings derived in recent years. To conclude our conversation, Luke also shares some perspectives with regards to equity, diversity and inclusion and how this might develop over time.

In this episode, Lloyd Emeka talks with Janet Tidmarsh, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Whitbread. Whitbread are a leading hospitality business responsible for brands such as Premier Inn and Beefeater.  In recent years, Whitbread has received external recognition and awards for their work within the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) field.  During our conversation, we discuss some of the contributory factors that enabled Whitbread to successfully implement EDI initiatives, key learnings derived so far and the progress they are continuing to make within this area.  We conclude our conversation with some thoughts and perspectives on future directions for the EDI field.

During the last three years, COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter have highlighted and arguably exacerbated various social inequalities that have existed for a long time.  Organisations have a role to play in addressing these inequalities and this has led to an increased focus on creating inclusive cultures and fostering a sense of belonging. In this episode, Lloyd Emeka talks with Camilla Bruggen, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Wavemaker and Dr Maria Adamson, Associate Professor of Organisation Studies, Queen Mary University of London about creating an inclusive culture within organisations.  During our conversation, we discuss some experiences and derived learnings from creating an inclusive culture during COVID-19, cross-cultural perspectives and nuances within diversity, equity and inclusion, and how this can be incorporated within global DEI strategies.

Our new podcast series tells the story of real behaviour change, relating to the development of inclusive and anti-racist behaviours. We follow the journey of mindset change from a scientific lens of a behaviour change specialist, to stories of impact at individual, business and leadership levels, and finally to understanding how important communication and language is, especially in engaging people on this journey. Our second episode focusses on why consideration of communications and collective buy in is an essential piece of any behaviour change initiative. IDC's CEO talks to Lisa Burroughes, Behaviour Change Expert and Coaching Psychologist, to explore this topic. Lisa is an organisational development professional and coaching psychologist. Over the last 15 years she worked as a consultant with a wide range of organisations to deliver lasting behaviour and culture change. Central to her approach has been helping managers communicate the message in a clear and compelling way.

In Diverse Company's new podcast series will tell the story of real behaviour change, relating to the development of inclusive and anti-racist behaviours. We will follow the journey of mindset change from a scientific lens of a behaviour change specialist, to stories of impact at individual, business and leadership levels, and finally to understanding how important communication and language is, especially in engaging people on this journey. We're starting off this journey with a conversation between Johanna Beresford, CEO of In Diverse Company, and Sion Williams-Eliyesil, a Social and Organisation Psychologist. Sion currently works as a Doctoral Researcher at UCL for the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose and also works for the Qatar Foundation as a Culture and Integration Expert.

It's the LGBT History Month in the UK, and we're discussing the relevance of teaching about it in primary schools. Our Head of Psychology, Caitlin Bethell, talks to Dani Aukett, an LGBT primary school teacher about how she's been able to bring about some change in the curriculum and embed and usualise talking about the terminology and what it means to be LGBT. She opens up about her own journey of being a lesbian and talks about the importance of early education on inclusion. _ Dani Aukett, our guest today, is an LGBT primary school teacher, based in Hertfordshire. She has been teaching for 8 years and has a passion for ensuring the diverse nature of society is reflected and fully embedded in the curriculum.

Our in-house ladies - Johanna Beresford, Dinah Williams, Aavanti Chopra and Antonia Fagbohun discuss (in three parts) all things feminism - its history, whether it's inclusive especially of women of colour, the role of white fragility and white male patriarchy and how we as a community can move forward. At a time of the #blacklivesmatter movement, find out how feminism has evolved over the years and what it means for the people of the 21st century.

Our in-house ladies - Johanna Beresford, Dinah Williams, Aavanti Chopra and Antonia Fagbohun discuss (in three parts) all things feminism - its history, whether it's inclusive especially of women of colour, the role of white fragility and white male patriarchy and how we as a community can move forward. At a time of the #blacklivesmatter movement, find out how feminism has evolved over the years and what it means for the people of the 21st century.

Our in-house ladies - Johanna Beresford, Dinah Williams, Aavanti Chopra and Antonia Fagbohun discuss (in three parts) all things feminism - its history, whether it's inclusive especially of women of colour, the role of white fragility and white male patriarchy and how we as a community can move forward. At a time of the #blacklivesmatter movement, find out how feminism has evolved over the years and what it means for the people of the 21st century.

In this montage track, our Client Director Dinah Williams asks Yasmin Sheikh, Ally Owen and Jane Evans what inclusion, diversity, belonging and sense of identity (among other related things) mean for each of them.

Today we share the sixth and last episode of our season 2 of In Conversation With. We speak with Georgie Holt, Managing Director at a global podcasting company, Acast. Georgie Holt is a media and communications expert and gender equality advocate. With a 20-year career which spans some of the world's biggest news and magazine brands, she is leading voice in her field. In her two most recent roles she has been the Publisher of two of the UK's biggest women's media brands, Cosmopolitan and Stylist, where she has campaigned for better representation of women in media and advertising. Her main priority in these roles was creating a more truthful and respectful visual landscape for women and is working with some of the world's biggest advertisers, creating campaigns that can achieve this. Here, she has an open and honest conversation around the pressures from media around body image and self acceptance. She also talks about the challenges she, as a woman, faced in the media industry.

Today we share the fifth episode of our season 2 of In Conversation With. We speak with Ete Davis, CEO of a marketing and advertising agency, Engine. He is also the co-founder of We Are Stripes, a UK based initiative whose mission is to to create opportunities, for people from diverse backgrounds, within the creative industries, and also an advisory board member for Creative Equals. Here, he talks about data that shows it's harder in recent times for an individual, particularly from the Black community to get opportunities to increase economic status. He portrays what he thinks the responsibility of governments and corporations is. In addition, he also mentions what each individual can do to help with this problem - networks and sponsoring - and this is something every senior individual can do regardless of race.

Today we share the fourth episode of our season 2 of In Conversation With. We speak with Andy Clayton, a speaker, author, coach and entrepreneur. He leads Petra Coach Europe, the UK's leading Scaling Up coaching company, helping entrepreneurs and high-growth companies to develop and deliver high-growth strategies. He is also autistic - it wasn't until late into his successful career that he discovered he has autism. In this podcast, which was recorded before the world was hit by the current pandemic, he talks about leaders showing their vulnerabilities and the fact that those with neurodiverse qualities can be great, successful leaders.

Today we share the third episode of our season 2 of In Conversation With. We speak with Johanna Beresford, one of the few CEOs of a human and technology firm. She started In Diverse Company while being pregnant with her third child. Before this, she served as the International HR Director of various firms for about 20 years, and found herself being particularly interested in the different cultures around the world. She noticed there was so much diversity, but very few firms took advantage of this breadth in perspective, partly because it's a difficult thing to do. And therefore, she thought with her expertise and passion, she can create a difference in the working world, and went on to start this firm. Here, she talks about how she is a CEO, a wife and a mother and what it means to be a woman in leadership.

Today we share the second of our Covid-19 special podcast episodes. We speak to KSAVI Joshi, a Sands Charity ambassador on her personal experience of child bereavement and finding happiness after the loss of a child. Millions of us around the world are experiencing unprecedented times through the current COVID-19 pandemic, many of us may have lost loved ones to this virus, KSAVI shares her personal story of the untimely death of her second son, Shivai at almost 8 months and talks about how her and her family dealt with this tremendous tragedy but also, how they overcame the sadness of losing him through celebrating his life and through the support of various charities including Sands. Sands is the leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK. Sands exists to reduce the number of babies dying and to ensure that anyone affected by the death of a baby receives the best possible care and support for as long as they need it. For support and to find out more about Sands visit >>>www.sands.org.uk KSAVI is an international makeup artist, beauty & makeup educator and speaker, as well as a wife and mother to three sons, but is also a maternal mental health campaigner, using social media to reach others that may have experienced a similar loss.

May 6th is World Maternal Mental Health Day. 1 in 5 new mothers experience some type of perinatal mood or anxiety disorder (PMADs). These illnesses frequently go unnoticed and untreated, often with tragic and long-term consequences to both mother and child. Women of every culture, age, income level and race can develop perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Women are sometimes considered to be criminals rather than patients needing treatment. In today's podcast, Dinah speaks to Clare Wimalasundera, PR Director at In Diverse Company, who shares her personal journey with IVR and her experience of having her latest round through the COVID-19 crisis as well as having her husband who is a GP, working on the frontline and Kim French, Business Development Director at CherryDuck Productions with her experience living with OCD and how the birth of her daughter Johanna, pushed her OCD to a level that required her to get the help she needed. This year's theme is 'Supporting Mums through difficult times', through increasing awareness, we can all drive social change to improve the quality of care for women experiencing all types of PMAD's and reduce the stigma of maternal mental illness. We hope today's episode help's any mother that might be struggling and encourages them to speak out and seek help from health professionals, friends or family.

We launch series two on 'In Conversation With' with the first 'Coronavirus Special' episode. In this week's episode, our Head of Advocacy and Engagement, Dinah Williams speaks to Sheryl Puterman, around the topic of overcoming and accepting life-changing events. Sheryl and her family are survivors of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, a life-changing event that left Sheryl feeling overwhelmed and anxious, with a deep understanding of human vulnerability. Since this life-changing event, Sheryl has studied and trained internationally to became a mind-body nutrition and wellness practitioner. She is also an expert in stress relief management and conscious relationships. Sheryl and Dinah share an open conversation around the importance of building small, daily habits to overcome stressful situations, breaking the mold of self-deprecating thoughts, and accepting the feeling of 'survivors guilt' and much, much more.

This week sees the final episode of our new 'In Conversation With' podcast series and we close with a fantastically open, honest and insightful conversation with Kathy Griffin, Chief Risk Officer of the consumer arm of Fintech organisation, Greensill. Our Head of Social Media, @dinhewilliams, holds a frank yet uplifting talk with Kathy about the highs and lows Kathy has experienced throughout her 25-year career in banking and financial services. We talk about the impact of unconscious bias in this sector, and that while understanding that many of us want to do good, we all have our own unconscious biases and to overcome these can be uncomfortable but necessary to create truly diverse and inclusive teams. Kathy also discusses living with anxiety and impostor syndrome - overcoming that little voice that constantly tells you, you aren't good enough. And why, in a time when so many of UK's workforces face financial hardship she's proud to represent Greensill's latest venture in supporting NHS staff to avoid a financial crisis.

This week's episode is in celebration of International Women's Day and our Head of Social Media and Engagement, Dinah Williams speaks to Priscilla Baffour, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the Financial Times. Priscilla has an extensive career in D&I within the media sector, starting her career in tackling social mobility, as well as leading diversity and inclusion strategies and initiatives at ITN - where she pioneered their work around the Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap and Channel4, spearheading 4Talent. Priscilla shares her personal experiences as a Black woman living in the UK, working in media as well as the role of men as allies, the crucial requirement for data when trying to build inclusive cultures and why we should become comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations to progress and create positive change. As an advocate of supporting others and breaking down barriers, Priscilla discusses what #eachforequal means to her.

This week's guest is Jane Evans and we discuss the topic of age inclusion. Where are all the women over 50? Where do they disappear to and why? Jane is the founder of The Uninvisibility Project, part-comms agency, part-activist organisation, part-think tank, to communicate to and represent the most powerful consumer group on the planet - women over 50. Jane has had a stunning career in advertising. She gave Cate Blanchett her first job, created Australia's first craft beer and ran her own multi-million dollar agency with clients like Revlon and Maserati. She has travelled the world, rubbed shoulders with celebrity, dined with royalty, won a host of awards, and worked with the world's top brands. But after 31 years of working full time(12 as a single mum), Jane reached a certain age and almost overnight, the industry could no longer see her, saw her experience as bonus or believed her or women her age had a place in the organisation. In 2015 only 3% of the world's creative directors (the people who decide what we see in ads) were women. women over 50 are the most powerful consumer group on the planet who buy 47% of everything. With this, it's Jane's mission to make this demographic not just uninvisible to brands but also employers.

This week's guest is Ally OWen, Founder of Brixton finishing school, and we discuss how and why we should be tackling the challenges of Social Mobility in the Creative Industries. After 25 years working in the media industry, Ally had a desire to challenge the status quo and start something different. With just her personal credit and an abundance of determination, Ally knocked on doors for support and after a lot of hard work and endless hours, Brixton Finishing School for Digital Talent was born - an initiative that disrupts the way the creative industries create young talent. What is BFS? It's an outreach to ‘underrepresented' groups e.g. BAME/ Working Class/ Females/Neurodiverse 18-25 year old untapped talent, offering 12 weeks of free, full time learning from the best in the industry including Facebook and MYV. The students develop invaluable digital skills, creative/critical thinking abilities and winning work behaviours. After completing the course, all graduates have the opportunity for a role with one of the initiatives sponsors.

In this week's episode, our Head of Social Media and Engagement @Dinah Williams speaks to International Mental Health Speaker, Psychotherapist and Consultant Petra Velzeboer and @Chris Godwin, Founder and Creative Director of @innereyeproductions on the importance of Mental Health Awareness in the workplace to creative inclusive cultures. Mental Health Awareness is a topic we here at In Diverse Company, do a great deal of work around as metal health plays a significant role in the work we do to help organisations build inclusive cultures. There are so many powerful statistics around mental health in the workplace:- 1 in 6.8 people are experiencing mental health issues in the workplace Women in full-time employment are nearly twice as likely to have common mental health problems as full-time employed men (19.8 v 10.9) Evidence suggests that 12.71% of all sickness absence days in the UK can be attributed to mental health conditions. Today's podcast shares an insightful and engaging conversation between peers, on an important topic for different points of views.

In Conversations with … is a podcast series in celebration of the fantastic work being actioned in the world of diversity and inclusion. Through hard-hitting topics, sharing of personal experiences and being comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations, In Diverse Company brings a refreshing series of weekly interviews with change champions across the industry.