At AIWN, we have been hosting conversations about race. For December’s event, LaToia Burkley will facilitate an informal conversation on how you can recognize your own unconscious bias and be a better bystander when you see it happening to someone.
“Yeah, but where are you really from?” to the Pacific Islander employee who answered “Seattle” the first time.
“Is that your real hair?” to the Black female sporting a new look.
“Wow, English must be so hard for you guys” to the new Pakistani EVP.
There’s a name for what’s happening in these situations, when people’s biases against marginalized groups reveal themselves in a way that leaves their victims feeling uncomfortable or insulted: microaggressions.
They’re the kinds of remarks, questions, or actions that are painful because they have to do with a person’s membership in a group that’s discriminated against or subject to stereotypes.
Microaggressions are the commonplace verbal, behavioral, and environmental slights that communicate hostile or negative racial, gender, sexual orientation and religious preconceptions. And a key part of what makes them so disconcerting is that they happen casually, frequently, and often without any harm intended, in everyday life.
But the reality is that even though they’re often unintentional, they can be the building blocks of creating workplaces that feel unsafe and unwelcoming for some employees.
LaToia will facilitate the conversation on how you can recognize your own unconscious bias, as well as how to be a better bystander when you see it happening to someone else.
About LaToia Burkley
LaToia Burkley of Your Big Debut is a goal-oriented, certified diversity coach, as well as a highly skilled, innovative, and energetic business professional
In her work with clients, she draws on her background identifying, prioritizing, maximizing opportunities, and orchestrating solutions in the Human Resources and Business Operations space. LaToia’s specialties include Diversity & Inclusion, Networking, and Professional & Leadership Development.
In a corporate environment, LaToia guides leaders as they put together engagement and coaching strategies designed for the call center world. When she’s not helping clients with professional development, LaToia dedicates her time to volunteering in a faith-based foreign language ministry centered in Rhode Island. She’s called New England home since November 2019, having traded in her Georgia Peach status for the Ocean State. LaToia is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, is a travel pro and loves to take in new sites and cultures. She is known to devour books, is a self-proclaimed foodie, and enjoys having a good time with friends.
Important Event Details
This is an online event. In order to attend, you will need to:
1) Follow the “Register” link to register on EventBrite. We use your registration information to send you the link to the meeting.
2) On the day before the event, look out for a Zoom meeting link in your email inbox, OR visit the event page on EventBrite (while logged in) to find the link. For security reasons, we cannot post the link in the public event description. If you don’t see an email, please check your junk or other email filters. We will send the email to whatever address you registered for the event with.
3) Attend! We encourage you to join via computer for best experience, although phones work too. We recommend keeping your video turned on, to better connect with the other attendees.