Michelle Kim Wikipedia, Wiki, McCoy, Age
Michelle Kim Wikipedia, Wiki, Mccoy, Age – Every week, in 6 questions, we ask the same six questions to great Asian Americans and give them the opportunity to ask additional questions.
This week Michelle Kim is featured. Kim co-founded Awaken in 2017, where she and her staff help empower digital businesses, non-profits and other groups to move beyond mere “checking boxes” and expand. This entails replacing outdated, superficial diversity and inclusion (D&I) training with a more participatory one that examines inclusive governance, identity, bias, and power and privilege. On March 27, 2018, we spoke with Michelle on the phone.
Could you introduce yourself briefly before we start with our six questions?
That! So in 2017, I helped co-found the company Awaken, which offers interesting workshops on diversity and inclusion. Our main clientele are developing technology startups, but we also work with non-profits and other organizations to actually bring inclusive leadership skills to the organization so that everyone in the organization can lead and create an inclusive culture. As for my past, I’m not sure how much you are aware of. If you want, I can tell you my origin story.
I grew up in South Korea before moving to the United States at the age of 13. I was traveling through San Diego in the US to be with my dad, who had been living there illegally for over ten years. I was a small child when my parents separated. Additionally, I attended high school in San Diego before moving to the Bay Area to attend UC Berkeley.
During both my high school and college years, I was very involved in the social justice movement community. My experience as a queer woman of color and my coming out while in high school had a significant impact on my pursuit of social justice. I spent a lot of time organizing youth and participating in the grassroots movement in the LGBTQ community. Additionally, I did a lot of grassroots organizing when I was in college to help low-income gay youth of color who were undercover.
I always imagined myself starting my own non-profit organization or joining an existing one. I intended to major in international relations or a related humanities field, but for some reason, while attending Berkeley, I completely changed my mind and chose to major in business. (laughs) And I ended up going into business consulting, not into the humanitarian sector.
Although it was completely out of my comfort zone, I chose that course mainly because of financial need. My dad was an undocumented immigrant for a long time, and I grew up in a low-income household. I believed that the only way I could have that kind of independence was to make money and be successful.
The work was excellent. The pay was great and you basically got to enjoy the party and get paid at the same time. My position title was “party pumper”.
Despite the fact that it’s not listed on my LinkedIn, it’s a fun fact that I often share when people ask me, “Tell me something I don’t know about you!” and I’m like, “Okay, well, I bet you’re not familiar with party pumping.” It’s real work.
I worked a lot and always believed that I needed money to be able to make certain decisions. So I believed I needed a job in the for-profit sector to do that. I believed it was my only option.
I majored in business, started consulting, and experienced severe cognitive dissonance after leaving the field of social justice. In addition, it seemed as if discussions of diversity and inclusion (D&I) were only scratching the surface.
And I’m left wondering, on many levels, what kind of very superficial conversation some people are having that somewhat resembles social justice. In reality, it was not equal to raising social or cultural change. As a result, I experienced cognitive dissonance when I entered the corporate world and felt let down by the awareness there – or lack thereof.
I left the company and joined several different tech companies, where I worked as a founder and team lead for two separate tech startups. In addition, I had the opportunity to work as a manager who hired and developed employees.
Additionally, I encountered a lot of toxic culture while working in tech, which I’m sure many people are learning now thanks to the #MeToo movement and other recent developments. So even though there was a lot of hype about D&I, I kind of saw it first hand and I was left pretty drained and disappointed.
So I believed there was a disconnect between actions that truly change people’s perspectives and those that enable individuals to change their behavior. change the culture. This is the reason why I co-founded Awaken, because unlike the industry, we have a completely different philosophy. I want to dig deeper and transform the workplace so that no more people experience cognitive dissonance when they first start.
Categories: Biography
Source: newstars.edu.vn