Ja'Nay Hawkins & The Reimagining the Modern Workplace Panel | 2021 MAKERS Conference Finale

MAKERS’ Head of Partner Development and DE&I programming will acknowledge the Zoom fatigue we’re all feeling and talk about the impact the pandemic and The Great Resignation have had on our general well-being and the workplace overall. Kristen Hines, Managing Director, Accenture — Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Global Lead, moderates a panel conversation with Beverly Kim, chef, restaurateur, activist, speaker and mother; Josef Robinson, principal of Democracy Prep Harlem Middle School in New York, and Amanda Spooner, a theatrical stage manager, educator and parent, about the specific ways in which they’re fostering community engagement and respect in their industries. They’ll also explore how we can reimagine the modern workplace after COVID to become more inclusive, diverse and equitable.

Video Transcript

JA'NAY HAWKINS: Hello, good people. Look at you. In spite of being exhausted and zoomed out and completely over virtual events, you are here. Thank you for that. Listen, every single one of us has had to navigate a new world at a critical point in human history. And that's putting it lightly, right? We are surviving. Even me, hell, I struggled finding the words to say to you all from this virtual stage. This is literally the first time I've been in a loss for words because I no longer wanted to pretend to have it all together, and that's new.

And I know some of you have felt the same way too, especially as you work remotely, all while managing life. And that is tough. I get it. The space where you spent so much of your time is now a place where you are leaving completely, shifting and shaking it up, and the workplace is different. And I know you all have heard about the great resignation, right?

Yeah, well, all the articles I've read, the recurring theme is people's well-being is at stake. And that is scary. And what's worse, it's not just in corporate, it's in the restaurants where you've had amazing memories while breaking bread, and in our schools where your kids and their teachers and administrators, principals, are all adjusting in unimaginable ways. And it's in the art we love so much, with those folks that our local theaters and museums as well.

I've been thinking a lot about the word being well being recently. And I've grown to love saying this word now, in my workplace, because people, when they see you and they hear you and they show grace, I believe that makes the space in which you use your talents every single day worth it. And it's no different in other industries, right?

So shout out to my colleague, Allana Perez, for sparking the idea for this panel. And there's hope, y'all. We brought together a special group of folks who, in so many ways, are making small changes that improve the lives of folks and shift entire industries for the better. And we need that because people are tired. Their well-being is suffering because of the crappy atmospheres we have fostered and allowed to be toxic.

So what do we do? I believe we can all agree, grassroots efforts led by people on the front lines is vital to the success of our country. So let's remember that when we are in our egos and worried about self. It takes every single one of us to hold people accountable in our own orbits. Well, our hope is to have more panels like this where we can take off the armor, be present, and feel seen with the people that get it and want to do the work.

And I am really hoping you all want to do this and join us on that journey. I'm privileged to kick this off, y'all. This is just a taste of what we can do next. Here to share their perspectives on re-imagining the modern workplace are Kristen Hines, Chef Beverly Kim, Joseph Robinson, and Amanda Spooner.

KRISTEN HINES: Thank you, Ja'nay. I adore you. I appreciate you. And I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be here with you all today during this finale and with the amazing group of folks we're going to have a conversation with right now. As you teed up, we are just in a really dynamic and ever changing time. And I remember being around this time in 2020 saying, wait till 2021.

And here we still are. And what we keep saying is coming out of the pandemic. And at every layer, we learn more and more. And so what we're going to talk about today is, what's the impact of that? So I'm Kristen Hines. I am a Managing Director with Accenture. I lead our inclusion, diversity, and equity efforts.

And I'm excited to open up this conversation, what's been kind of dubbed as the great resignation, but really this reckoning of time of acknowledging the impact that the pandemic has had on people, on lives, on tolerance, and on what's expected in the workplace and what futures look like. And so the conversation we'll have today is around that, what those conditions look like, how people are taking opportunities into their own hands to reframe a future, and then particularly, also, as we think about the next generation, what we are doing to prepare them on this journey in this world that they are stepping into.

So with that, let me introduce the panel. We have Chef Beverly Kim, who is a chef, entrepreneur, mom of three, all-around awesomeness, and part of the husband and wife duo of some incredible restaurants here in Chicago. We have Joseph Robinson, who is a principal at Democracy Prep Middle School in Harlem, New York. And we have Amanda Spooner, who is a stage manager and educator.

Now I'm going to ask you all to introduce yourselves better than I have done here and give it true justice. And actually, Amanda, I'm going to come to you first. And I will ask you a question and then ask that you will give yourself an intro before you dive in. So Amanda, I would love to hear about the year of the stage manager, particularly, how you conceived that idea, how it got going, what it raised for you, and now what you hope for as well.

AMANADA SPOONER: Sure. So I'm Amanda Spooner, she/her/hers. I am originally from the East Bay in California. And now I live in New York State, where I split my time between New York City and Ithaca, where I run the BFA program in stage management. I also continue to work as a stage manager in New York City, which is what I'm doing today. That's where I'm at. This is not my house.

But Year of the Stage Manager was a grassroots campaign that I thought of in 2019. And it was born of witnessing the fact that stage managers, who are really the project managers in theater, they're really there before everyone else. And they're with the show or project until the very end. Because of the nature of their work, where they're actually operating in the background, had lost sight of and grasp of advocating for themselves and their livelihood.

So Year of the Stage Manager was conceived to be a year dedicated to stage managers, 2020, so that we could celebrate stage managers and educate ourselves and other people about what it is that we do because we actually exist, in some form, all around the world. 2020 ended up going the way that it did. I believe you all know what I'm talking about.

And really, there was no better year to be the year of the stage manager because stage managers are some of the most adaptable creatures on the planet. So in that time, we decided to cling to each other and get to know each other and to take advantage of the pause that the pandemic afforded us to audit what it is we do in our practice and what is our common practice. And it turns out a lot of common practice in professional theater and performing arts perpetuates harm.

It perpetuates a lot of harm to people of underrepresented races in the performing arts, frankly, underrepresented identities when it comes to gender identity and sexuality and religion and all forms of identity that we all carry around with us. So in that pause, we literally couldn't do what it is we do, which is congregate people and put on stories and moments for them.

So we had no choice but to look at each other and say, what is it you need? What can we be doing better? And how can we connect in a critical way to actually make change on a local level, as opposed to depending on institutions, both literally, and thought institutions to be the change for us. So I hope that covered your question, but that's where I'm at right now. The campaign did conclude in July of 2021. We gave ourselves six extra months because we deserved it.

KRISTEN HINES: That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing that with us. And I love the empowerment in creating the visibility to a group that is so important and so impactful. And actually, Chef Beverley, I'm and I'm going to come to you next. But some research that we did at Accenture, we talked about the importance of belonging, and that if you create a sense of inclusion and belonging, you can unlock up to five times the potential in a person.

And you are really putting that in action, as you you've created the abundance setting and creating inclusion and belonging for four working mothers in the culinary field. So could you tell us a little bit more about the abundance setting and how that came to be and what you're realizing through that?

BEVERLY KIM: Hi. Thank you. And thank you, also, Pamela, for that lovely introduction. I have huge respect for Pamela as a working mom, as well, who continues to inspire me as well to continue my dreams in culinary. Yeah, so really, the abundance setting is addressing the problems of the lack of women leadership and representation at the top. Oddly, more than 50% of culinary graduates are women. But only 6% to 7% actually make it to the top as head chefs or chef owners or lead positions.

And then the pandemic made it even more difficult. And more women were dropping out due to lack of child care as a crisis. And it was the biggest recession we've seen since the 1970s. And so we're finally coming to a reckoning of understanding that without support for parents, women are actually going to drop out at a rate that is is not OK. And these statistics really do need to change.

I am a working mom, owning two restaurants with three children under 11. And this pandemic has been emotionally and financially just really difficult for me. So the abundance setting was created in response to that because we needed a community that supported working moms, women, to support us as a community. And we did this through a meal relief program for the working moms in culinary. It was a mentorship program, as well, with the chefs who provided the meals. And it gave them exposure.

We also had a CSA program which provided local produce from women-led farms to the moms in our program and the mentees. We also created an easy, accessible way for, nationally, and women and moms across the US to access a mentor in the abundance setting through the James Beard mentorship portal. And we created some conversations, nationally, with the leaders and industry experts just to have these conversations of, how are we going to recreate the industry to be better so that more women can go to the top and more working parents and working mothers can thrive?

And it's especially difficult in the restaurant industry. We work counter-cultural hours, nights, weekends. We can't take advantage of daycare systems. We typically work in lower wages. We are front-line workers. Not having the support systems, not having benefits, not having family-forward policies really affect women in this restaurant industry so much, and especially women of color.

And so I'm really excited that the abundance setting has created this conversation as being a leader in bringing this to the forefront because without this conversation and without more of a network and community support, we won't see more women at the top. And it's that much at stake for us. So I'm really excited to be continuing the conversation. And we are looking to furthering our impact next year and for years to come.

KRISTEN HINES: Thank you for that and for the work that you're doing. You touched on something that's really important. And, Joseph, I'm going to come to you next. Because getting women to work and then thinking about their development and leadership is actually a multi-generational impact, what their children see and the opportunities they have. You know this all too well.

And so I would love to hear from you, as a principal of a middle school, Democracy Prep, how you're putting this into action? And I will tell you, you wrote a book with your students, I believe-- correct me if I'm wrong here-- of love stories for Black girls. And as a mom of a daughter and a daughter of educators, you're at the intersection of all these important things. So I'd love to hear how this comes to life in your role as principal.

JOSEF ROBINSON: Well, thank you so much. I'm going into my eighth year in education. Prior to that, I did spend a little time in corporate. And I'm so excited to really share this. As a self-proclaimed feminist, and also, my wife continues to push me every single day, it is super-important to feed into our young girls. And during the pandemic, which was super-hard for everyone, we wanted to continue to dig into the roots of civics and keeping our scholars focused on the fact that, even during a very trying times, things are still bigger than them.

And so being able to contribute back to the community is very important. We had an opportunity to partner with a wonderful organization in Columbus, Ohio. And it's called Black Girls Rising. They do some amazing work out there. One of our teachers saw this as an opportunity and we just wrote random love letters to young girls that are in the foster care system.

And we got over, I believe, over 60 scholars to participate in writing these letters. I don't want to take credit for this. I did not write the book, but our scholars did. And the wonderful organization, Black Girls Rising, actually published it and pulled it together for us. I have a copy here. It is just a varied assortment of young girls, also our young boys, feeding and sewing into the next generation.

And that's important because we're located in Harlem, but we're touching the lives of young women all the way in Columbus, Ohio. And so we're super-excited about being able to continue to partner and also to continue to stick to our roots of being a part of the community and giving back to it. And so we're in service, in partnership with the Harlem community. But we teach our kids that we have to give back, despite the challenging situations.

KRISTEN HINES: I love that. I can't wait to read it. So thank you for that effort and for writing it. And I will pose this back to you, Joseph, and actually ask all of our panelists in our final couple of minutes here as a quick answer, how do you build on this idea of community that you talked about? You're in Harlem, but you're touching kind of lives everywhere. How do we help others embrace this idea of a more equitable workplace and community? And what are the extension of the things that you're doing to help bring that to life?

JOSEF ROBINSON: To establish a sense of belonging, it's really critical to provide a level of interconnectedness. Over the last 18 months, I got an opportunity to know all of my teammates very intimately. Whether I'm in their living room, with their kids, eating with their dogs, whatever the case may be, we got an opportunity to know each other. And that was actually one of the benefits of being virtual for so long, is because we got an opportunity to just really hone in and get to know each other.

And that was critical to continue to build adult culture in my building, in terms of knowing each other. And also, that gives us an opportunity to show a little bit more grace because we do know them. Before, the interactions probably were more transactional. But now I see the needs. I see my teammates for who they are and for humans, in establishing and making sure that humanity is still brought into the workplace.

And I think if we continue to lead with grace and give each other some credit and even when we have those tough spots and hey, I need some downtime, because all of this is still relatively new for us to really ground ourselves in assuming the best and positive intent with all of our teammates. I have found that one of the benefits is our team has just really come together in an amazing way. And they lean in for each other.

And so we've had deaths. We've had scholars lose family members. And we're all coming together as a community to show support. And I think if I've learned nothing, it is to lean in and show grace to the entire community because we definitely need it.

KRISTEN HINES: Yeah. Chef Beverley, I'm going to try a rapid fire with you-- one quick thing that you're doing to continue to drive the sense of community and belonging.

BEVERLY KIM: Personally, I seek to be a mentor and to be persistent. And I think people have been let down many times in their lives. And people don't follow through. And I make sure to follow through and check in on my mentees and the community that we're growing, and also promote that it's OK to ask for help. It's OK to reach out. A lot of moms were the last ones to ask for help or to admit that, we're not in a good place, that we need some help-- and just promoting the fact that it's safe and OK to do that.

KRISTEN HINES: Great. Amanda, I know we're going to run out of time here. So 30 seconds from you or even 10, but tell me what that looks like for you.

AMANADA SPOONER: Yeah, I mean, the Year of the Stage Manager community continues. And there's 10,000-plus people in it. And really, it's about connecting with people and saying your experience matters and asking, what can we manifest together? And that requires work. And it requires showing up for it. So I hope that people continue to feel inspired by that.

KRISTEN HINES: Thank you. Thank you to this wonderful panel. The work that you are doing and action is creating that sense of belonging and community that's so critical and will carry us as we come out of this pandemic. So thank you for that and for the great discussion today.

BEVERLY KIM: Thank you for having us.

AMANADA SPOONER: Thank you.