Given the state of the country, it may come as no surprise that the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee has been very busy. We would love to highlight a couple of the projects we are working on. 

Women of Color Brunch

The Women of Color brunch was originally to be an in-person event held in spring 2020. After the March tornado and the COVID-19pandemic, that plan became unfeasible.

Then our Events Chair, Keila Sherrell had a brilliant idea. She asked, if social media can connect us during this turbulent period, why can’t cooking? She then set about identifying an appropriate chef to lead a virtual cooking class. Understanding that representation is important, and after many interviews, she selected Chef Jaya. Hailing from North Carolina, Chef Jaya is known as the “French Toast Queen.”  

Having this event on Saturday, 10/31 is great because it allows both the women of our League and their families to participate!  Attendees are welcome to wear costumes (it is Halloween, after all). Chef Jaya will be raffling off some of her sample boxes after the class.

Membership Experience Survey

Earlier this year, the Membership Experience committee set the objective of surveying current JLN members in Fall of 2020 to evaluate how the League is “meeting members where they are.” Ideally, the survey will be a tool that can be used annually to measure our members’ feelings about their League experience year after year. Ourrelated DEI goals were to ensure that this survey produced an accurate representation of our members from a demographic standpoint and measured how inclusive and welcoming our members–irrespective of cultural background, life/work stage, personal preferences, etc.–perceive our League to be. 

Data and Statistics Chair Elise Russo worked with the Membership Experience team to adapt a similar survey from a similar league and collaborated with  DEI Council members La’Kishia Harris and Andreall Moore to augment inclusive content and questions on the survey. We hope to use the responses to better understand our members–what they like (or don’t like), what they are hoping to get out of their League membership, and how they generally feel about being a member of JLN, especially as it relates to diversity, inclusivity and equity. We are hopeful that the results will lead to more tailored and helpful programming, both from DEI and other councils and commitees. 

If you are interested in learning more about our DEI council, events and activities, please reach out to La’Kishia Harris, VP of DEI, at lakishiaharris@gmail.com.