Racism can have many levels and take on many different forms. From micro-aggressions to colourism and from systemic racism to mass stereotyping, these can and do happen in workplaces everywhere. The 2016-2017 Racism at Work survey, “Racism Ruins Lives”, found that a shocking 70% of ethnic minority respondents had experienced racial harassment at work in the past 5 years. And with an average of only 1 in 10 employees in workplaces being from an ethnic minority background, it is clear more must be done to stamp out racism and support our colleagues from marginalised communities.
At our latest webinar we were joined by some amazing panellists who drew on their own lived experiences as people of colour and their professional careers in how they have helped to support and empower ethnic minority colleagues, ways they advise to educate and engage people in workshops and training on anti-racism, and how to approach allegations of racism or deal with acts of racism in the workplace if you experience or witness it.
Our speakers:
Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez, Founder and Principal Coach at GFK Coaching and Consulting
Gigi is an ICF accredited Coach, leadership, diversity, empowerment, and wellbeing specialist. Her focus is leadership and organisational wellness, and she is passionate about imbedding joy within leaders and throughout the workplace culture. In her private coaching practice, GKF Coaching and Consulting, Gigi’s clients range from individuals and professional teams to medium to large-size organisations across the healthcare, education, faith-based, government and corporate sectors.
She holds a BSc in Occupational Therapy (USA), MSc in Health, Population and Society (UK) and a Diploma in Personal Performance Coaching (UK/USA). She has almost 20 years of international clinical and management health and project management experience and holds global board appointments in the maternal-infant health sector. Gigi is an experienced international speaker, presenter, and facilitator. A native of the USA, she currently resides in London, England.
Viv Yau, Founder of Bee Influence and Co-Founder of besea.n
Viv is the founder of Bee Influence, an influencer marketing agency based in Manchester which stands for inclusivity. They work with brands such as Vista, Greenpeace, Emma Sleep and more. Viv is also co-founder of non-profit, besea.n (Britain’s East and South East Asian Network), where they aim to empower, educate and uplift ESEA communities in the UK. Outside of her jobs, she enjoys napping, eating noodles and trying to keep her plants alive.
Bola Gibson, Head of Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility at Osborne Clarke
Her current role covers a broad range of disciplines including diversity and inclusion, employee wellbeing, charitable giving, pro bono, volunteering, and environmental sustainability. She’s worked across a range of industries in her career, but has spent most of her time in financial services, running sustainability, volunteering and small grants programmes and designing CSR strategies. She made the jump across to the legal sector in 2020, joining Osborne Clarke. In her time at the firm, she has transformed the firm’s approach to D&I and seen the firm’s rankings rise considerably in both the Social Mobility Employer Index and the Stonewall index. Her love, apart from being purpose driven and making a difference in her day job, is designing and delivering programmes that deliver positive employee and business results, while supporting the wider community.
Rob, Chief Risk Officer at Beazley.
Having been global Head of Compliance for six years, Rob originally joined the group in 2012 as head of internal audit. Rob is the founder and now executive sponsor for BeazleyRACE, the group’s network focussed on race, culture and ethnicity. He also co-founded RATL, “Race, Action Through Leadership,” which focuses on amplifying the influence of senior insurance leaders of color, and works with insurance CEOs and Chairs to increase racial diversity and inclusion in the industry. He speaks regularly about creating an inclusive work environment and the importance of leadership accountability on this matter. Before joining Beazley, Rob held senior audit roles at the Financial Conduct Authority, Allianz, Zurich and Aviva. He also qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.You can read more from us on how to better support your BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) or ethnic minority peers here as well as how to encourage your whole workplace to engage in inclusion conversations here.
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