Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaya Mallik

Hi Jaya, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I started my journey into diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership in an unlikely way! My career began as a middle and high school Social Studies teacher, working in Southern Maryland and Washington, DC, where I had the privilege of teaching brilliant students in Title I schools. For those unfamiliar with Title I schools, they are schools where a high percentage of students live in low-income households and may experience challenges meeting state academic standards due to generational poverty, homelessness, or lack of access to adequate resources and funding. I loved my time as a teacher, but eventually, working in an environment with a chronic lack of support and resources led to my burnout.

However, I was still committed to finding ways to create opportunity and access for my students in other ways, even if it couldn’t be in the classroom. During my time as a teacher, I had discovered my love of integrating technology in the classroom because it didn’t rely on tools that were often in short supply (pencil, paper, etc) and I decided to further explore that love by transitioning into a career in technical training in a corporate setting. I initially transitioned into the startup world and eventually made my way into larger Fortune 100 companies like Liberty Mutual, Amazon, and Meta.

When I started at Amazon, I began to make the full transition into my DEI career. I was running a large global program called Learn AWS, which supported 65,000 developers in learning how to build on AWS technology internally. Being embedded into the technical side of Amazon, I quickly saw the glaring inequities between people of different identities and favoritism towards white male “bro” culture. Being a leader in a larger program allowed me some positional power where I could speak up if I saw the inequitable treatment of others, and I made my thoughts known while in this role. I was still in this role when 2020 came and we all witnessed the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Many people around me seemed shocked that these murders were possible in the United States. Being a Woman of Color who had grown up in DC, I was all too familiar with police violence, particularly directed at the Black community. It was at this point that I became very vocal about my views on societal injustice and racism.

Shortly after I became more vocal, Amazon decided to begin addressing some of the systemic inequity that existed within the company through a series of time-boxed goals they would run at the company-wide level. I was approached by Jeff Bezos’s team to run one of these goals to stop the inflow of racist code language into the Amazon code base—terms like master, slave, whitelist, and blacklist. I would be given six months to complete this goal, which felt impossible, but I was determined. I worked tirelessly with a team of over 40 people over the next 6 months to stop the inflow of this racist language into new code packages while also educating developers on why it was problematic. I also created a new program at Amazon called Inclusive Tech, which would continue to work on similar technical issues in the future for Amazon. That program still stands today.

After this goal was complete, I continued to work at Amazon for a short time and then moved to Meta for a period, helping them create more equitable and inclusive onboarding experiences for their developers globally. Eventually, I moved on from there to Tandem Diabetes Care, where I had the opportunity to build a DEI function from scratch for the organization. During this time, I restructured the DEI Council to create practical business solutions that were equitable and inclusive, created an Employee Resource Group Program that thrived, built a cultural competency learning series, brought guest speakers to educate the employee population, trained leaders and employees on numerous topics, and did so much more during my time there. I am so proud of the function I created and how community-focused and employee-driven it is designed to be.

At the end of 2023, I decided to finally take the greatest leap of all and bet on myself. I said goodbye to my role at Tandem and went full-time into my coaching and consulting practice, Jaya Mallik Coaching & Consulting. I chose to make this change for a variety of reasons. First, I wanted to be able to speak from a place of authenticity and as an individual, something you’re not always able to do as a leader representing an organization. Second, I am passionate about helping as many organizations as possible move towards equitable and inclusive cultures as possible. Many want to but aren’t sure how to get started. I want to spend as much time with them as possible. Last, I have two little girls who are growing up way too fast. I only get this period of time once with them and I want to savor it as much as possible.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Starting my own business has been anything but a smooth road and that is OK! I did not enter into this journey with rose-tinted glasses, thanks to watching many of my wonderful entrepreneur friends who have gone before me. I had to learn how to set up a foundation for a scalable business, which was an entirely new skill set for me. Which applications did I need? How did I want to communicate my brand? What did I need coaching on? What could I teach myself? In the beginning, I had more questions than answers!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

At Jaya Mallik Coaching & Consulting, we’re dedicated to a people-centric approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. We offer tailored resources for companies, community organizations, and individuals from all backgrounds, empowering them to harness their innate potential and foster positive change within professional cultures.

Our focus is on cultivating collective power for change, nurturing inclusive communities, and providing skill development opportunities through personalized programs.

We believe that true progress arises in environments free of perfectionism. Our core mission revolves around fostering inclusive spaces where care, kindness, and mutual support flourish, without room for shame or blame. Join us in our compassionate commitment to uniting and embracing diversity, propelling us collectively further, faster toward an inclusive world.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?

I love the following resources for learning:

Dear White Women by Misasha Suzuki Graham and Sara Blanchard (Podcast & Book)
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (Book)
Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Tawwab (Book)
The First, The Few, The Only by Deepa Purushothaman (Book)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jmallikconsulting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmallikconsulting/