Majors:French Studies, Government
What is your current role? What was your journey in arriving there?
I joined the Department of Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEIM) in June of 2021 as the inaugural program manager. In this role, I help guide existing projects and support the development and implementation of new ones that foster a diverse and inclusive department. The ODEIM and my role are unique within the School of Medicine and are a testament to the department’s commitment to actively working toward a diverse, equitable, and more inclusive environment for students, trainees, faculty, and staff.
In addition to this formal role within the School of Medicine, I am the program manager for the Deans’ Advisory Council on LGBTQI+ Affairs (DAC), a co-founder of the Indigenous Leaders at Yale group, and a member of the Yale Latino Networking Group and the Yale LGBTQ Affinity Group.
As one of the DAC Clinical Care Working Group Co-leads, I am helping lead an effort to create and build the first ever system-wide Yale LGBTQ Healthcare Program. This project, begun in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, has brought together stakeholders from across the Yale health system and while much work remains to be done, tremendous progress has been made since I first started drafting a proposal in the late winter of 2020.
I originally joined Yale as the web project manager in the YSM Office of Communications in July 2011, in charge of the website editing and building service, and then concluded my time there as Operations Deputy Director, engaging with departments, programs, and centers on special projects.
What do you enjoy about your work? What challenges does your industry currently face?
I have been involved in what was first known as Multicultural Affairs, then Diversity, now DEI, and as we’ve seen lately, Belonging for some time now. I come from a family that has always believed in and fought for the struggle for equality so you could say it’s in my DNA! As someone who “ticks a lot of boxes” personally and thus travels in and is comfortable in lots of different worlds, I have come to appreciate that we all are far more complex than what the rest of the world may see at first glance.
I love getting to meet and hear from folks who are invested in our efforts and want to be a part of the solution. It’s a terrific opportunity to learn something new about myself and others. As much as I may “eat, sleep, and breathe” DEI work personally and professionally, I am, and hopefully always will be, learning from others around me.
With respect to the challenges we face in this “industry,” one need only read a newspaper, watch the news, or be on social media to know the answer to that. For several decades now, DEI has had varying degrees of importance throughout society at large and within organizations specifically. There was an enormous surge in interest in 2020, attributable in no small part to the murder of George Floyd, but also due to the unique circumstances of the pandemic and the rise of social media’s importance on shaping the conversation. The research is now clear that diverse and inclusive workplaces perform better. Nonetheless, as with all major social movements, we are currently in the midst of a backlash as well as an important and necessary evaluation of what was and was not accomplished in the past five years. It is both an incredibly exciting and challenging time to be working as a DEI professional.
How did your time at Wesleyan influence your career choice/journey?
Wesleyan shaped me in so many ways that I could write a separate essay about that alone. Suffice it to say that Wesleyan’s contribution to my professional life (and in many ways, my personal life) was to ensure that I would always approach any given situation, project, or endeavor with an incredibly critical eye. I can attribute much of my ability to write and speak effectively and persuasively to the course work, the professors, and my classmates at Wesleyan where I was rarely able to get away with anything. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I learned how to see things from multiple perspectives and even if I didn’t agree with a viewpoint, I could at least understand where someone was coming from which makes me as successful as I am in my current work.
Do you have any advice for students thinking about entering your industry?
There are two pieces of advice I would give:
1. Read and listen to anything and everything you can so you have exposure to lots of different ideas; guard zealously against staying in your comfort zone lest it become an echo chamber. Question everything, including your own assumptions.
2. Get involved in any capacity you can, whether you are leading or supporting, in some kind of community building or political organizing, participating in actions. Roll your sleeves and get involved in the work so you don’t remain stuck in the theory of it all.
Updated August 16th, 2024
