On today's episode of 'Your Business Greatness,' host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach at "Your Choice Coach," speaks with Bernadette Smith. She is the Founder and CEO of the Equality Institute and an IBPA Benjamin Franklin booksellers Gold medal award-winning author of three books on LGBTQ inclusion. She has been featured in places like USA Today, the New York Times, Washington Post. She has appearances on, CNN, Today Show, BBC, and NPR. She's been named one of the Chicago's notable 2SLGBTQAI+ Executives.
Episode Highlights
- Bernadette started her first business back in 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state in the country to have marriage equality for same sex couples.
- Equality Institute is a small DEI consulting firm, a small boutique firm. Bernadette is the visionary leader of the company and primarily what she is really excited about is what they are doing i.e., the inclusive 360 assessment.
- Bernadette consulting work did not provide her clients with enough detail and clarity to have like a very tangible roadmap and what she has found, not only with herself personally but in so many other conversations with folks is that when they lack clarity, they don't do anything.
- Simone and Bernadette discuss the importance of having a support system and how helpful it can be in the entrepreneurial journey.
- Bernadette's proudest moment is being able to really build a team of people who come from underrepresented backgrounds that she can give opportunities to.
- Bernadette was raised with a scarcity mindset. Her parents were immigrants. Even though they had a business, she was always given the message that they couldn't ask for money.
- The most important lesson for any entrepreneur is that you have to learn how to sell because it no matter how good you are at your craft, whatever that craft happens to be, if you can't figure out the sales piece or the piece of getting buyers or hiring someone who can, then you are not going to have a business.
- Curiosity and a willingness to learn and put yourself out there are going to take you really far. And there will be lots of folks who give you grace along the way, but just get started and just ask a question.
- The way our brains are programmed for comfort, safety, security, what's easy, what's familiar, all of that it does require intention to be to get started on this journey, says Bernadette.
Three Key Points
- Bernadette shares her career journey and how she ended up writing a few books and doing speaking and training about LGBTQ weddings. Then how she moved away from weddings and into diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
- 360 assessment tool is a 300 question DEI organizational assessment for an organization. It is not an individual assessment. It's not an employee engagement survey. It is the organization across 16 functional areas for gaps of equity and inclusion.
- The DEI conversation can be overwhelming. There can be a fear of judgment, a fear of getting it wrong a fear of making a mistake that then people call you out for and then it could get nasty or viral or being canceled or all of that. Bernadette advices to just start, and if you don't know what to say in any given situation, ask a question.
Connect
Simone Sloan: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
http://www.BernadetteSmith.com
