Welcome to “embodied diversity” & The High Cost of not investing in a mentally strong workforce
Hello and welcome to Embodied Diversity! My name is Heather. I am a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Thought Partner and Transformational Leadership Coach.
It is my mission to empower personal and professional embodied transformation of deep cultural programming and conditioning and shifts to higher levels of consciousness for a more just, peaceful, and compassionate world.
My life experience as a trauma-informed facilitator of healing circles for women across all lineages and backgrounds (specializing in Women of Color, Filipinx, and Multiracial), embodied empowerment coach, transformational leadership mentor, ancestral healing guide, multiracial woman of color, and extensive training as a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging practitioner allow me to serve and hold loving, compassionate space for my clients.
I specialize in creating customized intensive workshop series that activate and change you, 1-1 transformational leadership coaching, inclusive talent attraction, engagement, and retention, speaking/keynotes, and DEIB strategy consulting.
My maternal ancestors are from the Visayan islands of Leyte, Samar, and Iloilo, in what is now known as the Philippines. My paternal ancestors are from all over West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, to name a few), and the British Isles. I was born on unceded Piscataway/Powhatan/Monacan/Cherokee territory (Washington, DC) and currently reside as a settler on occupied Tongva/Chumash land (Venice, CA).
In the past 2+ years, the world has changed dramatically. Enduring an unrelenting global pandemic, economic uncertainty, racism, violence, misogyny, the erosion of rights, and mass death are taking a cascading toll on workers. People are traumatized, burned out, exhausted, and “emotionally constipated” - to put it bluntly. The world, which was already unsafe and unjust for so many people, specifically BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), women, LGBTQ, and other marginalized groups, has fundamentally shifted, and so has the workplace.
The future of work depends on the workforce being more creative, more adaptive, and more resilient than in years past. People’s priorities and capacities have changed. As such, demanding an increase in performance without supporting employees with what they need to thrive, so they can do their jobs is counterintuitive.
While there is a cost associated with investing in employee mental health and well-being, an integral part of DEIB, the reality is, it is more expensive to do nothing. Workers that feel seen, heard, respected and appropriately utilized will stay loyal to their current organization, engage, innovate, support, and grow a business. In contrast, an unsupported workforce negatively impacts company culture, productivity, creativity, performance, absenteeism, and retention.
From my own lived experience and working with many different clients over the years, true transformational healing happens in relationships. With most of our time spent relating to those in our workplaces, I bring a holistic, embodied approach to building teams and leaders that have tools to address trauma and toxic stress, practices that support connection and belonging, as well as individual and team regulation. In this way, people are empowered to bring their authentic selves into the workplace with purpose, for fun, and with the ability to set healthy boundaries that benefit everyone’s mental health and well-being, and as a result, business outcomes.
Going forward, I’ll be using this space here to share my thoughts and reflections on whatever speaks to me when it comes to DEIB related issues and world events. Stay tuned for more and thank you so much for visiting!
All the best,
Heather
PS - If this content resonates, I would really appreciate it if you would share this blog and/or my website with your networks. Thanks!