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.

Marcela Celorio

As Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles our main mission is to assist and protect Mexican nationals. To do so, we provide citizen services such as passports, birth certificates and even provide an attorney in case it is needed. But also, we are convinced that art and culture is an important element to take into consideration even if it is a bureaucratic office. In such regard, we have immerse ourselves in the world of producing, editing and writing our own products. Read more>>

Nicole Kemper

The most important mission of my production company, Critical Crop Top Media, is to create a more inclusive workplace for women in the film industry. This is not an industry where women always feel respected, valued, or safe. It is not always a space where women’s voices are heard and their stories are thought to be of value. It felt like the best way to change this was to create space where women are valued for their contributions and their stories matter. Read more>>

Tamica Sears

As a Black woman, inclusion, especially in the workplace, is very important to me because I have felt the sting of being made to feel like I don’t belong there, or was hired to meet a quota. Companies that continue to put robust diverse hiring plan in place without first focusing on inclusion are doing a huge injustice to the diverse people that they end up hiring. Psychological safety, being able to be yourself at work, speak up, give ides, and make mistakes without negative consequences, can’t happen without inclusion. Read more>>

Karen Hewitt

I want to speak to inclusivity in two directions. First, as a pansexual woman, I always felt like I had to hide who I was in the workplace because it wasn’t as obvious to my leaning as it may have been to others. When I was younger, I would get comments that if I couldn’t make up my mind on who I wanted, how could I make business decisions. So I hid that part of me for years, literally only feeling safe to bring it out into the open in 2022. What changed – being in charge of my own workplace, I realized that my team knew I treated them with respect and trust, and hiding part of who I am, made it so they may feel uncomfortable. Read more>>