We should all know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” — Maya Angelou
I’m Vanessa Davis, U.S. Outsourcing Leader, co-chair of the Black Leadership Council, and a proud member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Council that’s working to evolve our culture of inclusivity across Buck through so many of our initiatives. And I’m sharing my story in honor of Black History Month,
After the death of George Floyd on May 25th, the world reacted with overwhelming support of social justice which took on many forms. As a Black woman at Buck, I knew we could be better within our own company walls and our executive leadership agreed: Like many other organizations, Buck recognized this and this day not only marked a change but also challenged us as an organization to educate, grow, and reflect on how we move forward together.
DE&I has been core to who we are as a business since we became Buck in 2018, and with the Black Lives Matter movement underway, I knew it was time to organize and focus the efforts of our DE&I Council. Last summer, several Black colleagues and I formed the Black Leadership Council (BLC) as a way to bring the grass roots needs of our Black colleagues together to create a greater sense of inclusion and also as a way to create a singular voice for communicating our collective concerns and considerations with executive leadership as we worked together to create change.
We all know change doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m so proud of who we are and I’m so very hopeful for what we will become. In just the last seven months alone, the BLC has been a driving force for change: As an organization, we’re evolving our recruiting strategy to ensure it’s fully inclusive and we’re creating a formal DE&I training program that will be mandatory for all employees. And as the BLC, we’re sharing our personal stories and perspectives with our colleagues to better educate them on how history has gotten us to where we are today.
With our shared passion, and when we work together with the same end goal in mind, anything is achievable. I’m honored to have been asked to lead our BLC and co-lead our DE&I Council. We’ve transformed this moment into a movement that I’m so passionate about in an organization that understands and values the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.