@jessicabantom

Jessica Bantom - Author|Speaker|Coach

Jessica Bantom – Blog on Medium

Order my award-winning book 'Design for Identity' today!

Check out the new Design for Identity digital workbook!

Identify an action you can take to continue advancing social justice

Reflect on your design work in 2024 - challenge #3

Reflect on your design work in 2024 - challenge #2

Opinions: Facing a Crossroads and Assessing the State of EDI in Design - officeinsight

Reflect on your design work in 2024 - Challenge #1

Ask yourself what action you’re willing to take

Consider your role in relation to the lived experience of others

Practice asking how you should be involved

Look up how cultural observances are celebrated

Try one new type of cuisine and learn its origins

Listen to music from 3 different cultures

Reflect on your identity and celebrate what makes you you

Objectively evaluate your environment

Research Black history makers in your industry

Be intentional about showing up

Consider starting a shared holiday calendar

Dear white men: Ditch “I’m just a white guy”

Ask yourself what stories you tell yourself about “others”

Create a Google Alert for DEI news in your industry

Ask yourself if you would choose to be a Black employee in your organization

Gauge the sense of inclusion you create by the depth and frankness of the dialogue you engage in

Aim to practice Platinum Rule DEI

Re-evaluate your definition of “qualified”

The Lived Experience Quotient: The Most Overlooked and Undervalued Set of Strengths

Interrupt your bias by asking “What do I know to be true?”

Learn about what’s happening in your industry in another country

Be mindful of the toll of identity-related tragedies on people you know

Make space to discuss people’s lived experience

Think about what holds you back from discussing DEIB issues

Think of ways to activate DEIB in your day-to-day work

Commit to building meaningful relationships

Research Black history makers in your industry

Think about one way you’re privileged and what that means

Identify a bias you have and challenge it

Evaluate whether you’re setting your DEI committee up for success

Think about how you’re gauging your organization’s DEIB progress

Find out about a holiday you’re unfamiliar with

Expand “work-life” beyond “work-family”

Ask yourself – am I causing someone to cover?

Dig deeper into your employee engagement survey results

Revisit your DEI “why”

Adjust your expectations about how other people will embrace DEI

Evaluate the financial resources you’re putting toward advancing on your DEIB journey

Set a DEIB goal for yourself for 2022

Make an introduction that could potentially lead to a mentoring relationship

Challenge what you associate with the term “diversity"

Identify and connect with 3 leaders in your industry who are people of color

SPECIAL BLOG - The Lived Experience Quotient: The Most Overlooked and Undervalued Set of Strengths

Select a bystander intervention method you’d be willing to try out

Expand your awareness of holidays and cultural observances

Give credit for the work completed by your black colleagues

Document your praise for a high-performing black colleague

Interview: Work Wider Newsletter - The Wider View

Start with the basics: Who do you truly see in your day-to-day work interactions?

Register for DC Design Week: Designing with Cultural Competence

Evaluate who you’re assigning grunt work to

Real Conversations in the Future of Work

Ask your manager for statistics on promotion rates across demographics in your organization

Take note of your reaction to people’s use of language

Ask your black employees and colleagues whether your workplace is one they would refer friends to

Identify ways to properly pronounce people’s names

Start Where You Are Blog

Assess the fairness of the decision-making processes you’re involved in at work

Ask yourself whether you value your comfort over progress

Ask yourself what YOU are doing to demonstrate your organization’s commitment to DEIB

Contemplate the weight of the burden of knowing

Consider the diversity of the people you ultimately serve

Approach your employee resource groups (ERGs) about serving as advisors on cultural topics

"For us, by us:" How Black designers are combating inequity in an overwhelmingly White industry

Ask yourself if you would choose to be a black employee in your organization

Practice saying “Tell me more” when you encounter resistance, opposition, or correction

Identify a diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging accountability partner

Think about the macro effects of a microaggression

Consider sponsoring professional association membership dues for one year for a young black professional you know

Evaluate how you judge black people outside of work versus the black people you work and engage with regularly

Put yourself in the place of the “only”

Pledge to become a promoter of others

If discussing race in the workplace makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why (and a few other questions.)

Take note of whose performance you’re tracking more closely and who you’re advocating for

On every call this week, greet someone who you don’t usually interact with directly

Introducing the Start Where You Are Challenge