In mid-July, nwPlus’ equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) team had the privilege of hosting a panel of EDI Microsoft speakers for our executive team. The panel consisted of four speakers: Courtney Leggett, Divinee Chidume, Binit Mishra, and Kennedy Mumo. Here’s what we learned from their stories, thoughts, and advice!
Note: parts of the responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Introduce yourselves!
Courtney: I am a senior sales excellence manager at Microsoft. I was born and raised in Queens, New York. I identify as an Afro-Latina. My mother is a Dominican woman, my father is a Haitian man, and I’m an energized no coffee kind of gal.
Divinee: I am a software engineer and used to be on Bing Maps. I transferred to endpoint preparation management, and I’m doing security-related things. Diversity is always important to me, as a Nigerian immigrant. I moved to the United States when I was six and grew up in a not-diverse environment.
Binit: I am a manager here at Azure Core Compute in Microsoft, and we manage the availability of customer workloads. I grew up in India and hail from a group that’s the equivalent of Indigenous people from India. I truly appreciate what diversity brings into your perspective in widening your horizons and its importance.
Mumo: I prefer to go by Mumo. I’m a software engineer working on the Xbox platform, and it’s like being a kid in a candy store! Every morning I wake up to work on new things that bring joy and community to people everywhere. I’m Kenyan. I love traveling. Before I die, I want to visit every African country.
Have you faced any barriers to entering tech, and how did you respond?
Mumo: Growing up in Kenya, I lived in a world where everything came 20 years later. Computer science was financially uninvested and an unavailable career. As a safe bet, my folks wanted me to pursue accounting, but taking my school’s first computer science class led to long conversations with them. I got my accounting degree first and a computer science degree second.
Being in tech, skills from nontraditional backgrounds give you another perspective. Typically when they talk about diversity, it’s socioeconomic or racial diversity. Diversity of thought from nontraditional backgrounds also adds to this space.
One of the best engineers on my team was a psychologist. He understands how we think and interact with interfaces — making him ten times better at working on the front-end than the average engineer. Microsoft lets you in and gives you a voice. What makes you special either propels you forward or holds you back, so don’t let it hold you back.
Divinee: Yes and no. My computer science degree is from UC Berkeley — a feeder school for Big Tech. While studying, I didn’t know if I wanted to enter Big Tech because I might enter consulting or something else.
The barrier was I was insecure about my technical interviewing skills. I made sure to have a strong community surrounding me — a community of like-minded people breaking into tech. Relying on that community, I got through my interviews and got here. Solving the problem and articulating your thought process confidently is important. Confidence is the most important skill in interviews.
What do you hope to see in the future of EDI in the tech space?
Binit: For any social movement, two types of people exist. The genuine people and the people wanting to check a box to be part of the movement. Both are fine — provided it benefits all communities for more EDI. Everyone doesn’t appreciate all efforts. To me, it doesn’t matter, you go through with it because the end is a metamorphosis of the tech society we belong in.
You guys are the first generation that will lead the entire world society in that direction, and the future generations will benefit from these initiatives you lead.
Mumo: I want to see a black Big Tech CEO. If you can’t see it, you cannot achieve it. Across multiple sectors, you see a clear path between someone who enters as an intern and moves toward a CEO; it’s someone of a similar background. Thus, it’s easier for someone to advocate for people at a higher level — especially in tech.
There’s a resurgence of people from diverse backgrounds, like Jensen Huang and Tim Cook. Our Satya Nadella is from India. You find a line-up of similar backgrounds from the top to bottom, gaining an advocacy. At the junior level, Microsoft hires people from diverse backgrounds, but somewhere at the VP level, the diversity doesn’t seem to scale up with those in leadership positions. I want us to figure out why, so we can break through those barriers and get higher.
Courtney: When I walk into a room, no one bats an eye about who I am, a black woman. I’m more than just a black woman. It takes more than one person to get to that level of the organization, so we can ascend to these different roles and see representation. We need to widen our reach.
I’m the only black woman on my team and a minority in my organization. That means you need to approach things differently; familiarize and advocate for yourself. If you only enter wanting to see a representation of you, then we may be fighting for much longer. For example, intersectionality between me and another Latina person exists. We need to cast a wider net and befriend everyone.
How can EDI values, practices, and principles be applied in real life?
Divinee: Be eager and collaborative. Take advantage of the opportunities in this club to learn, impact, and grow. If you want to go fast, go by yourself, but if you want to go far, go together. Many people already share the same mentality. Utilize each other as resources to push yourselves to where you want to be.
I try to share my experiences and inspire people who look to follow a similar path by participating in panels like these — being open when people reach out to me and have conversations to share my insights. I lead EDI initiatives with my organization.
Courtney: One, curiosity. Two, the ability to find the gap and fill it. I was born and raised in the United States, but my parents are immigrants. They worked hard to give me opportunities and a different way of life. That’s why I aspire to serve the next generation, so reach out to me! Ask me real questions and don’t dial it back. How I got here feels like luck, so I’m passionate about serving the next generation.
It’s smart to have a board of directors, and everyone on your board shouldn’t look like you. You want them to have diversity in life experience, professional portfolio and thought.
Binit: Be genuine and empathetic because your intentions show. When you’re genuine, your impact multiplies. Empathizing with someone’s situation makes you curious and understand different perspectives. Extending empathy helps a lot; we practice this daily with partner teams. By being genuine, you end up building consensus.
Mumo: Intention. Working at Xbox, the team intentionally figures out how everyone is part of the table. Upon joining, I had a traditional idea of who a gamer is, and we try to break down that idea that permeates. If people feel excluded from the team, they drop out. When you come to work, assume good intentions from people.
A huge thanks to the EDI team and panelists! Find the panelists here:
Courtney Leggett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-leggett-90466157/
Divinee Chidume: https://www.linkedin.com/in/divinee-chidume/
Binit Mishra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/binit-ranjan-mishra/
Kennedy Mumo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennedy-mumo-8a57a0170/
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Written by Angela Chiang, Content Writer
Edited by Cristen Lin, Marketing Director
