The Diversity Paradox: Building an Inclusive Environment with Bo Young Lee

In this episode of “B The Way Forward,” recorded live at Grace Hopper Celebration 2023, host Brenda Darden Wilkerson sits down with her friend and colleague, Bo Young Lee, a transformative and inspirational voice in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Bo is currently serving as President of Advisory and Interim Chief Impact Officer at AnitaB.org and previously served as Uber’s first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer. Brenda and Bo, both dedicated to empowering women and underrepresented voices, get down to the realities surrounding diversity and inclusion in the workplace and how we can break down the myths about what a diverse culture really means. Bo describes how her upbringing and education helped shape her journey in the DEI space. She quickly realized that she had to reach outside of the cookie-cutter processes for inclusion and explore how each person’s own experiences and backgrounds impact the work that we all do. This eye-opening conversation will not only change the way you view and interact with others, but it’ll challenge you to look within yourself and acknowledge and improve the way you respond to your own biases and assumptions.

“You don’t really create true diversity if you don’t have inclusion first. Because if you have a very diverse organization but it’s not very inclusive, you actually have just basically compliance. You have quotas. That kind of compliance, quota-oriented way to diversifying an organization, that’s actually what breeds the backlash.” 

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At AnitaB.org, we envision a future where the people who imagine and build technology mirror the people and societies for whom they build it. Find out more about how we support women, non-binary individuals, and other underrepresented groups in computing, as well as the organizations that employ them and the academic institutions training the next generations.

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B The Way Forward Is…

Produced by Dominique Ferrari and Paige Hymson

Sound design and editing by Neil Innes and Ryan Hammond 

Mixing and mastering by Julian Kwasneski 

Associate Producer is Faith Krogulecki

Executive Produced by Dominique Ferrari, Stacey Book, and Avi Glijansky for Riveter Studios and Frequency Machine 

Executive Produced by Arlan Hamilton for Arlan Was Here

Executive Produced by Brenda Darden Wilkerson for AnitaB.org

  Podcast Marketing from Lauren Passell and Arielle Nissenblatt with Riveter Studios and Tink Media in partnership with Carolyn Schneller and Coley Bouschet at AnitaB.org

Photo of Brenda Darden Wilkerson by Mandisa Media Productions

For more ways to be the way forward, visit AnitaB.org