One of the most powerful things about being a business owner is the ability to create a work environment according to your own principles. So many of us have worked within a company or organization and been disappointed by the way things were run, the way team members were treated. So, we wanted to ask some fantastic business owners and operators how they’ve gone about creating a more inclusive workplace.

Samah Damanhoori

I started my journey in Saudi Arabia in 2013 when I applied to the Saudi Scholarship and got accepted to study abroad and the government will cover the expenses for the school and living. My father refused to sign the paper agreement as part of the scholarship program until I find a male companion to accompany me on my journey. Read more>>

Dafne Tsakiris

Early on I made the decision that I wanted Launch Point to be a place where employees could come and thrive without giving up the way they wanted to live their lives. On top of that, Covid ended up being a catalyst in pushing women out of the workforce or forcing them to balance homeschooling along with a full-time job. I wanted to give these women a place where they could work on their terms and have a flexible schedule that provided them with the freedom and time they needed to care for their families. Read more>>

Lisa McClanahan

Creating a more inclusive workplace comes down to our individual abilities to do four things: 1. Encounter people with no pretense or judgment. A lot of times when we meet people we start formulating a story about them as we get to know them. What if we were willing to set that story to the side and simply lean in and listen to what they are actually saying? What if we set our judgments off to the side and replaced them with curiosity and started asking questions that were about seeking to understand as opposed to how to label them? Read more>>

Joshua Walker

Creating a more inclusive workplace is built into every fiber of my being. Diversity Equity and Inclusion has never been a nice to have. As I stated in my book “Venti Fried Chicken”, we are stopping Billions of dollars from entering the ecnomoy due to lack of diversity in the workforce. Read more>>