591: Equity with Minal Bopaiah

As Told By Nomads

In today's episode of the As Told by Nomads Podcast, join me and Minal Bopaiah as we talk about the goal of her book, Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives. Minal is a naturally born and raised New Yorker and is a daughter to both immigrant parents. The stories she learned from her parents and the experiences she grew up with helped her find her current field that she now sees as something she can spend the rest of her life and work on. In this episode, Minal talks about her journey, what equality and equity mean to her, model minorities, and mainstream media's role in society. Tune in to our fired-up discussion in this episode!

The System You're In

When Minal was in her 20s, going to her 30s, she found herself in a stage where she became more open to how the system works for people of color. For her, the system is rigged. And this is the reason why she's so obsessed with it. Even though Minal grew up in a family and culture where self-improvement is given a big focus, she realized that improving oneself will always be challenging when you're in an environment or society where the system works against you. Most minorities and people of color are likely to connect with this sentiment. This reality motivates her to talk about the issue in all her endeavors—no matter how much people shut her down—something she's no longer new to either. Through her book, she envisions achieving the same purpose; to continue to put the spotlight on the issues behind the curtains.

Outline of the episode:

• [03:54]Minal Bopaiah – on how she began her journey
• [04:54]Is diversity not important to other people?
• [08:33]A culturally specific medical device designed to fight hypothermia in Indian premature babies
• [12:08]I am not the DEI consultant if your question is 'why?;' I'm the consultant if the question is 'how?'
• [18:30]"If racism is the language, caste is grammar."
• [20:30]Equality is not bad, but is it what we need?
• [24:19]Minal Bopaiah – the stories of immigrant parents working in the medical field
• [28:03]Divide and conquer is the tool of white supremacy.
• [32:22]To media: it's not just commercial success; what is your actual impact on society?
• [37:31]Content creators need to know their message and take responsibility for it.

Resources:

Website: https://brevityandwit.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbopaiah

Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives, Book: https://theequitybook.com

Connect with Tayo Rockson and the As Told By Nomads Podcast on:

Personal Website: https://tayorockson.com

UYD Management: https://uydmanagement.com/

UYD Collective: https://tayorockson.com/uyd-collective

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayorockson

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TayoRockson

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