Black Narratives: How One Cancelled Conference Turned Into A Diversity & Inclusion Business
3 Key Events that Helped the CEO and Founder of Diverse and Equal Turn Her Story Around
Introduction:
Two ways to make a stand for a cause is to engage in consistent action and be accountable for your actions and inactions.
Having spent an hour with Annette Joseph, I learnt that being promoted through an organisation and assuming a position of authority doesn’t mean that you will get the job done.
In the game of life, some players pose as supporters but have little substance.
Being committed to your goal is imperative.
We agreed that there is increasing cohesion within the black tech community. Still, more can be done to help represent minorities better, which formed the basis of our conversation.
Diversity and Inclusion has been a challenge in the Technology sector and is often silenced. Or at least it was for Agile Coach and Delivery Manager Annette Joseph.
Beginning her career as a Graphic Designer, which led to Web Design, then to Digital Product and Services, Annette found joy in using her understanding of people’s behaviours and their needs to build products that solved pressing problems. Annette now teaches individuals and organisations on how to change their views on diversity and inclusion to help business and society.
Here are the 3 points I took from our conversation that helped Annette turn her one-time conference into a full-time business.
#1 — The Ah-Ha Moment!
Annette and her son travelled to London for a Black Inclusion Event shortly after she’d flourished in her role at The Co-Op. This was the lightbulb moment that sparked her innovative spirit. Given she was the only female black professional in her space, the event served as a reference point. “What is possible for underrepresented people in technology?”
Annette:
There was every kind of person there! People from different races, different ages, another religion, different genders! I just felt so good to finally be seen.
Moved to make a difference based on her experiences in London, she pledged to speak up and amplify Diversity and Inclusion in her Hometown, Leeds.
Having Ah-Ha moments are futile if those ideas are not tested and presented to people with the problem you have in mind. Annette travelled back to Leeds and spent the following nine months planning a 2-day conference.
#2 — Validate Early
Nine months of planning is one way of organising a conference, and on the surface, it makes sense to do all your planning first.
However, Annette explained that it could be a recipe for failure — People may validate your marketing techniques and show support online, but nothing counts until you sell tickets.
And that was the issues she faced:
People were all over social media saying, “Oh my God! This is amazing; this is just what The North needs!”
But behind the curtains, tickets weren’t moving, and she had to pull out of the event last minute.
The event could have been approached by testing to see what an early sign up form could generate or a discounted early bird ticket. But I got the sense that failure was inevitable and embraced in this case.
After reflecting on what had passed, Annette decided to keep the second conference day and offer it as an ongoing event where people from underrepresented backgrounds could come and learn about tech and how to get involved.
Enter The Pivot!
#3 — Pivot and Grow
Annette’s ongoing events went from strength to strength and are now formally known as “Diverse and Equal”.
The company’s focus is to change the narrative of Diversity and Inclusion.
People and Organisations are guilty of labelling individuals as diversity hires and projects associated with them as charity cases.
Given that companies with more ethnically diverse teams generate up to 33–35% more profit, Diversity is much more of a business opportunity that we may think.
Take Puma, for example. The brand can easily create products and market them to different demographics.
But bringing Nipsey Hussle onboard and understanding his perspective on art, culture and politics resulted in the Puma X TMC Collaboration. The collection incorporates a view of the world that Puma might not have encapsulated.
Technology is the same in that the more minds working on a problem from various angles, the more innovative the solutions.
Diverse and Equal train, educate and prepare working professionals for working in tech through workshops, boot camps, webinars and group learning sessions.
Annette and the teamwork with companies to identify their limiting beliefs about their current stance on Diversity and Inclusion. Through workshops, companies can see where their perspectives have been skewed and prepare staff to understand their soon-to-be colleagues’ perspectives better.
Seeing the silver lining in a situation and finding new paths towards helping other people is what turned the boat around for Annette’s idea and turned it into a valuable business.
Takeaways:
Find your tribe — Understand what resonates with you and other people.
Action the ideas you have to test them against those who have the problem. Fail if you must!
Develop the ideas that people find valuable.
