Break the Bias

In this episode, we dive into the world of fashion, beauty and inclusion with our guest, Megan Ixim, also known as “Ms. Gigggles”—she is a Marketing Director and the founder of Socially Deviant Media and Plus Size Thrift. Evolution of the Fashion Industry We journey through the shifting sands of beauty standards in America from the Marilyn-Monroe-1950s, to the rise of the Kardashian era, exploring how national economic conditions have sculpted society’s view of the ideal body type. Megan shares her own battles with body image and the harsh realities of 'body privilege’ in healthcare and the workforce. Breaking Rigid Beauty Standards As we move into the broader implications of these beauty norms, we discuss how New Jersey and New York lead the way with new anti-discrimination laws. We’ll also touch upon the growing concern of eating disorders and the essence of self-acceptance. Championing Diversity and Inclusion Inspirational and brave, Megan recounts her life's journey and how she became a driven entrepreneur and a vocal fat activist. And our host, Bindu, also shares some of her own personal cultural encounters with beauty standards. Together, they advocate for room-making in leadership for marginalized voices in the fashion industry, grapple with the power of personal branding and the imperative of clothing as empowerment. This episode is a juicy one, so tune in, and share with those who you think may learn something! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

This episode features the dynamic Adriana Carrig, founder and CEO of Little Words Project. Ten years into her business, it's been a beacon of growth and influence, especially after icons like Taylor Swift and Lance Bass featured her bracelets live at the VMA’s. Adriana brings us into her journey of dealing with initial worries that quickly transformed into a burgeoning brand presence, inspiring partnerships, and an adorning celebrity clientele. We're diving deep into more than business growth, as Adriana courageously leads the charge in shattering the silence around breastfeeding in the workplace and on social media. She recounts her experiences and the importance of supporting women's choices and pushing for a corporate culture of understanding and empathy. We'll also delve more into workplace equity, civic engagement, and the personal stories that shape us. This episode is truly centered on self-love, resilience, and the power of positivity to transform not just our inner lives but the communities we're part of. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

In this episode, we're excited to share a conversation I had with Daisha McDaniel—Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Talent Acquisition Advisor at Activision Blizzard, one of the world’s most successful standalone interactive entertainment and gaming corporations, delighting hundreds of millions of monthly active user with games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Tony Hawke, Candy Crush, and more. She shares her story—how her softspoken start in life as a self-described introvert evolved into finding her voice through her passion for DEI, and advocating for a sense of belonging. Tune in to hear her valuable insights on dealing with nerves surrounding public speaking, embarking on difficult conversations, and her unique approach to a respectful, empathetic, and inclusive workplace. Further, she describes how Consciously Unbiased DEIB learning experiences have helped her grow her DEIB efforts at her company and sparked change for the better. To learn more about our custom learning experiences you can check out our page here or send us a note here! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

In this episode, we're delighted to have the extraordinary Bea Arthur, a Columbia University-trained psychotherapist, award-winning entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and pioneer in the e-therapy space. As the first African-American female founder accepted by Y Combinator, Bea was named an Entrepreneur to Bet On by Newsweek Magazine and one of the 100 Most Inspirational New Yorkers by Bumble. She is the founder and CEO of The Difference, the first on-demand therapy service for in the moment issues. Bea takes us on a fascinating journey of resilience and transformation, from being a rebellious young person who got kicked out of school, to becoming an influential therapist and founder of a tech company. She shares candid narratives about her personal struggles, including clashes with authority and her journey towards embracing her blackness. Bea talks about navigating the tech industry as a black woman founder, dealing with VC funding challenges, and her innovative company - The Difference - that offers a unique form of therapy. We'll touch on topics of mental health stigma, the power of human connection, diversity and inclusion, and the importance of laughter as a form of relief. We hope you enjoy the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

In today's episode, we are privileged to have Dee Poku, the founder, and CEO of The WIE Suite, a marketer, community builder, and communication leader. Dee, who was born in the UK, but raised in London and Ghana, now raises her son in New York. She shares with us how the experience of straddling two different cultures growing up has significantly shaped her work today. Dee discusses the unique challenges women face in business, from feeling insecure as an entrepreneur to dealing with fewer opportunities and a perception of competition. She shares her personal journey and the mindset shift she had to make. From microaggressions in a predominantly white school to facing challenges as a woman of color in the fundraising process, Dee's experiences are undeniably valuable. She emphasizes the importance of women supporting each other in business, the power of personal stories in creating change, and the need to use one's platforms to uplift other women. So buckle up for this inspiring conversation with Dee Poku, whose story will have a profound impact on us all. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

Host, Bindu Lokre, sits down with Consciously Unbiased's Director of Marketing & Partnerships, Sara Munjack. They dive deep into the importance of understanding the "why" behind information, and how it can break biases and foster meaningful conversations. Sara shares her personal journey of questioning their own identity, the challenges of navigating different spaces and opinions, and the complexities of being mixed. They also discuss the impact of social media, the current crisis abroad, and how to respectfully disagree while respecting others. Tune in for an insightful discussion on conscious conversations, tools for productive communication, and the power of taking a pause in research and understanding. Plus, stay tuned for an inspiring poem by Hanif Abdurraqib and the inside scoop on a ground-breaking organization promoting meaningful dialogue, NewGround. So grab your headphones and get ready to break the bias! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

Host, Bindu Lokre, sits down with ⁠Reshma Saujani⁠, activist, author and movement builder. Reshma is the CEO and Founder of ⁠Moms First⁠, a national movement to expand choices for women, value mothers’ labor, and to remove barriers to equality. She is also the founder of ⁠Girls Who Code⁠, which aims to close the gender gap in tech. Reshma is a powerful mobilizer, and, in this conversation, she shares how being bullied as a child because of the color of her skin was a catalyst for her to find her true calling of fighting for equality for all. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

If you’ve ever faced the challenge of having a difficult conversation at work, today’s episode of Breaking the Bias is for you. Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal has a candid conversation with Quinne Teske, Global Director of DEI & Employee Experience at Allegis Global Solutions. The DEI leaders offer invaluable insights on having difficult conversations at work with a focus on empathy. Learn how to navigate workplace polarization, social media misinformation, and empowering quiet voices in meetings. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

In this episode of Breaking the Bias, Consciously Unbiased co-founder Bindu Lokre sat down in a studio in New York with special guest Aliza Licht, founder of Leave Your Mark and author of the amazing book On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception. They dive deep into the world of personal branding and overcoming fears. They also cover how to keep your job title from becoming your identity, why a career change starts with changing the way you think about yourself, and how identifying and understanding our fears is the first step to breaking through them to help grow your confidence at work. Get show notes at ConsciouslyUnbiased.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

We’re shaking things up on this episode of Breaking the Bias by exploring issues surrounding mental health, motherhood and conscious communication. Consciously Unbiased co-founder Bindu Lokre sat down in a studio in New York with Sandrine Marlier, a meditation teacher, Reiki master practitioner, model and author of the new children’s book “Odette’s Alphabet,” a story about handling big emotions. Bindu and Sandrine keep it real by diving into Sandrine’s journey of the tools she uses to manage her anxiety and how to identify your triggers and create healthy boundaries. Their conversation also covers how Sandrine’s daughter inspired her to write a book about mindfulness for children, and the biggest lessons adults can also take away from the story. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

What does it mean to be a white ally? What are microaggressions exactly? What can I do to help create an inclusive culture? To get deeper insights into these questions and more, check out this episode of Breaking the Bias with Mita Mallick, co-host of the Brown Table Talk podcast, author of the upcoming book, Reimagine Inclusion and head of equity, impact and inclusion at Carta. Mita is saying all the quiet parts out loud of what holds us back from building real inclusion at work. Mita’s candid conversation with Holly Corbett, VP of Content for Consciously Unbiased, dives into: How being bullied as a child led to her lifelong search for inclusion. The most common myths about inclusion we tell ourselves that stop us from making meaningful progress. How to meet people with kindness and grace when they make mistakes. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

Michael Perry, a father of two and the founder and CEO of Maple, an app that helps parents take the stress out of planning and organizing your home, is making it his mission to help normalize caregiving in the workplace for all. The research shows the majority of caregiving duties continue to fall on the shoulders of women. The truth is that a lack of gender equality is not a woman’s problem or a man’s problem; this is everyone’s problem. That’s in part because most men don’t want to live in a world where they have to live up to the always-on ideal worker norm and feel guilty taking paternity leave or going to their child’s game. In this episode of the Breaking the Bias podcast, Holly Corbett, VP of Content for Consciously Unbiased, sits down with Michael for a candid conversation that dives into how Michael’s journey to fatherhood changed him, the regrets he had being a leader at Shopify who didn’t consider caregiving duties because he wasn’t yet a parent, and how cis men in heterosexual relationships can help advance gender equality in the home. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

It’s 2023, and still only 33% of women are in tech positions—with representation for women in leadership being much lower. In this episode of the Breaking the Bias podcast, Holly Corbett, VP of Content for Consciously Unbiased, speaks with Jill Stelfox, CEO of Panzura—the only woman CEO in data management. Jill stepped into this top leadership position during the pandemic when the company suddenly went remote. In this conversation, Jill shares how she successfully navigated pulling her new team together during a crisis and turned the company around, why she encourages her employees to “bring your weird” to work, and why she thinks companies who lack radical transparency are set up to fail. RELATED: How Technology Can Help Us Close The Gender Gap At Work Beyond The Numbers: A DEI Leader On How To Create a More Inclusive Workplace How To Diversify Your Network, According To A Super Connector --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

In honor of Women’s History Month and Gender Equality Month, Holly Corbett, VP of Content for Consciously Unbiased, spoke with Nina Simons, author of Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership, for this episode of Breaking the Bias. Nina is also the co-founder of Bioneers, a nonprofit she started with her husband, that focuses on innovative solutions for some of the planet’s biggest social and environmental issues. In this behind-the-scenes interview, Nina talks about her personal journey to embracing her own power and leading from the heart, the history of a time when women were prosecuted in the thousands or even millions for using their voice, and how joy is a bigger motivator than guilt when it comes to advancing equity. The 34th annual Bioneers conference is happening in Berkeley, CA from April 6 to 8, 2023, and Nina is offering the Consciously Unbiased community a 20% discount on registration by using the code: Nina20. If interested in attending, you can register here. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

Did you know the U.S. incarcerates Black people at a nearly five times higher rate than white people? This is part two in our Breaking the Bias series for Black History Month, where we are highlighting people and organizations who are creating alternatives to incarceration. Today we’re speaking to Brian Stanley, Court Advocate for Avenues for Justice, an organization that’s been around for more than 40 years and that has successfully kept thousands of African American and Hispanic youth and young adults in New York City out of the criminal justice system. In New York City, it costs about $450,000 to incarcerate a young person for a year, but to put them through Avenues For Justice’s program, it costs about $6,000. Brian Stanley has some fascinating insights about this. In addition to serving as a court advocate, he also works with youth as a writing tutor, basketball coach, and art teacher with a focus on hip hop. Here is what he has to say about lowering incarceration rates, and new paths forward. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

Our justice system is broken: The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world, in part because other countries do not use prison as a one-size-fits-all solution to crime. This Black History Month, Breaking the Bias will be highlighting the change agents who are building career paths for the formerly incarcerated, or who are creating alternatives to incarceration, as the U.S. incarcerates Black people at a nearly five times higher rate than white people. In this conversation, Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal sat down with entrepreneur and CEO of Flikshop, Marcus Bullock, and his mother, Reverend Dr. Sylvia Bullock. They share how Marcus’ personal story of being incarcerated at just 15 years old in an adult prison reflects larger systemic issues related to our justice system, and how daily letters sent to him by his mother paved the way for him to launch Flikshop, an app that connects family members to their incarcerated loved ones. *You can donate to the Flikshop Angels program here: https://www.flikshop.com/flikshop-angels --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

As we kick off 2023, many of us may be reflecting on the past year and thinking ahead about how we want to show up and who we want to connect with in the new year. This topic may be especially important, given that research shows that loneliness increased for Americans during the pandemic. In this episode of Breaking the Bias, Holly Corbett, VP of Content for Consciously Unbiased, spoke to Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships, to find out how we can use technology for good to reverse the growing trend of disconnection, build more meaningful relationships and authentically diversify our networks and overcome similarity bias. Relationship building takes time, but Susan shares practical advice for how we can focus on making connections and expand our networks without feeling overwhelmed. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

As we head into 2023 and economists are saying we’re on the verge of a recession, the impact this will have on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives remains to be seen. Yet companies can’t afford to let DEI fall to the bottom of their priority list if they want to remain relevant and survive during an economic downturn and beyond. In today’s conversation, Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal sits down with Christopher Bylone Van Sandwyk, who was named one of this year’s top 15 Diversity Champions by Diversity Global magazine. They cover everything from the privilege Christopher has when he steps into the room as a white man and how he talks to other white men about DEI; why DEI leaders have to be more comfortable with data, and the DEI conversations leaders really need to be having in 2023. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

We are almost to 2023, and we’re still having conversations about how to make gender equity happen. In the U.S., women represent 48% of the entry-level workforce; but only 24% of C-suite executives. Men are promoted at a rate of 21% more than women. We still have a gender and racial pay gap and a motherhood penalty. Yet closing the gender gap is not only the right thing to do; it’s good for the economy and would increase the U.S. GDP by $3.1 trillion. In this episode of Breaking the Bias, Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal sits down with Katica Roy, a gender economist and founder of Pipeline, a company that uses analytics to quantify unconscious bias within an organization. Katica also has an extraordinary story as the daughter of a refugee and immigrant on why she is so passionate about advancing equity. They cover everything from the difference between equality and equity, how gender equity helps men too, and whether salary transparency policies are truly effective. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message

For the first time ever, we have five generations together in the workplace. When we talk about DEI, it’s important to also talk about ageism and generational diversity. In this episode of Breaking the Bias, Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal sits down with Chip Conley, founder & CEO of Modern Elder Academy. Just a little about Chip: At age 26, Chip grew a successful boutique hotel company and later became a best-selling author. Then, at 52, he joined AirBnB as the Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, where most of the employees were half his age. Today he is promoting the idea of a “Modern Elder,” with his latest book, Wisdom at Work. He defines an elder as someone who is as curious as they are wise, and is helping to reframe aging as an opportunity for growth. In this episode, Chip shares how a near-death experience changed the way he lives his life, how his work at AirBnB helped him bridge generational divides, and how to hold on to a beginner mindset in midlife and beyond. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consciously-unbiased/message