Isabel Alvarado, Systemwide Title IX deputy director; Calvin Turner, executive director, UCPath; and Junna Ro, managing counsel for strategic legal initiatives, UC Legal.

Thank you to those who joined us for our second Leading Toward Equity session of 2024. Hosted by the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Department with Internal Communications, this award-winning series presents unscripted conversations with leaders across UCOP on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and our efforts toward becoming an anti-racist organization.

The series’ central premise is that becoming an anti-racist organization requires time and continual effort. No single group or office within UCOP is solely responsible for that journey or for advancing a culture of EDI at UCOP.

Our Oct. 25 session, the sixth in the series, featured Isabel Alvarado, Systemwide Title IX deputy director, and Calvin Turner, executive director, UCPath. Junna Ro, managing counsel for strategic legal initiatives, UC Legal, moderated.

Calvin, Isabel and Junna shared who they are, how they identify in life, and how their identities influence the way they show up at work. Calvin and Isabel shared perspectives on navigating the assumptions they have encountered as leaders, facets of privilege, subtle acts of aggression, and how to integrate and prioritize EDI efforts while dealing with the ongoing demands of competing priorities and booked calendars.

Watch the recording here (Box login required)

Session highlights

On who they are and how their identities influence them

Junna: I’m a second-generation Korean American. My parents came to the U.S. in the 60s as grad students and I was born in San Francisco. I’m the first lawyer in my family and have over 27 years of work experience as a lawyer. Throughout my career, I’ve been the first and only Asian on my department and company leadership teams.

As an Asian American — particularly as an Asian American woman — I have often been underestimated and have not felt, seen, heard or valued. Within the legal field, Asian Americans, and Asian American women specifically, have some of the lowest representation and leadership ranks across the country, as compared with their representation in law school and the profession overall. People assume that I’ve thrived because of the Asian model-minority myth, but I’ve had to work hard to find my voice and be heard.

Isabel: Both my parents are from Mexico and English was not my first language. I am first-gen and all the challenges that come with that. I very much identify as queer and from within the disability community. Because of these identities, I am sensitive to making sure that I bring my whole self to work and that I allow others to show up as their full selves. I respect that all people are experts on themselves and their experiences. I make space to hear and learn what others bring and contribute, and how they experience things. Rather than trying to “fix” people, I empower them to tell me what they need.

Calvin: I am an African American male from New Orleans. I grew up in a Catholic, two-parent family and my mother didn’t work. I grew up in a neighborhood that was, in the beginning, integrated. Later, most of the whites moved out, and it ended up being a primarily Black neighborhood. My friends did not have two-parent families.

My father worked for the post office, which was a prestigious position at that time. Most of the dads who lived in the community had laborer and had longshoremen-type roles. I was a little bit different from most people in the neighborhood to have a father who had what they considered to be a professional role. My siblings and I are first-generation college graduates. My father insisted that we go to college. He and my mother were big influences on me and my siblings.

My work ethic comes from my first job as a paperboy. They dropped the newspapers off at my house, and my brother and I folded and delivered them. Rain, snow, sleet, hail or whatever. No matter what. We did it without prompting and our dad would not drive us. We rode our bikes with our baskets, and if it was raining we’d slip the papers in a plastic bag, but we would deliver those newspapers. That is at the heart of my work ethic, that you do your job. You don’t complain about it, and you do what you need to get things done.

On people’s assumptions about them

Isabel: Because I do compliance work, folks assume I have a lack of empathy or compassion. They expect, perhaps, that my approach to work and people will be bureaucratic and by the book. I think folks are taken aback or disarmed by the fact that I’m a whole person and that I am warm and empathetic. Assumptions — whether positive or negative — rob us of wholeness. Even when they come across as a compliment, their implications can have an unintended impact on people’s sense of belongingness.

Calvin: In the early days of integration, when I attended a primarily white school, the assumptions were united: “You are not going to be able to cut it. You won’t be able to compete.” In preparation for us to go into junior high, the elementary school teachers told us, “When you get to that school, you’re not going to be as smart or as sharp as the other kids. You are going to have to work hard.” I went in with the presumption that I was substandard, but once I met people of different ethnicities, I realized they were just like other people I knew. Some were smart, some were not so smart; some were rowdy, some were nice; some were mean, some were not. This started to open my eyes to some of the presumptions that I was told.

On the importance of integrating and prioritizing EDI efforts while dealing with the ongoing demands of busy workloads, calendars, etc.

Calvin: We don’t have time to not prioritize EDI work. Many individuals in my life have stepped out of their cultural norm because they saw something in me, or were at a point in their careers where they had the ability to transcend stereotypes, and gave me opportunities, coached me, mentored me and provided me with challenges that became opportunities along the way. I don’t think we have the luxury of not being able to replicate and provide talent development opportunities for underrepresented future leaders.

Isabel: I like to think about EDI as an outcome and a goal, but also as a process. Folks who don’t feel like they have the time or resources to add EDI to their existing deliverables can incorporate equity, diversity and inclusion values in the execution of their existing goals by thinking about the equity impacts of the work that they’re doing and finding opportunities for improvement.

Junna: I think it’s in everyday actions that we can also be leaders for inclusion.

On being authentic

Isabel: It’s hard to be authentic if you don’t know yourself. Spend a little bit of time getting really grounded: Where are your boundaries? Who are you at your core? Then you’ll know when someone is making a request whether it constitutes a compromise for you and whether you can do it as your full self. Another important thing is honoring your limits. Sometimes showing up is an achievement in itself. Make space for that and be willing to not make assumptions about others who do the same. Invite others to honor your capacity that day, in that moment, in that space.

Calvin: Align yourself with people you trust, people who you believe are looking out for your best interests. Empower yourself to not just believe what the news cycles are feeding you, but to find out the truth and what really is going on. Don’t be afraid to buck the tide of whatever group society seeks to confine you to: “This is the way you’re supposed to behave. This is the way you’re supposed to think. This is the way you’re supposed to act.” Be willing to break free from that and say, “You know what, I disagree with that, and I’m going to move in a different direction.”

On psychological safety

Calvin: There are sometimes instances in which people choose to be their authentic selves and do the right thing, and they face negative consequences. These situations deter people from being their authentic selves. When you know what the right thing to do is, and you shy away from doing it because of peer pressure, fear of retaliation or whatever else, that is a very real obstacle to being your authentic self.

Isabel: Fear and consequences are real, and choosing a course of action that acknowledges that is authentic. Don’t let other people’s framing of your behavior make you feel like it’s less authentic. Centering your safety and making choices that align with that is an authentic choice. Know yourself, have a strong sense of self and be honest about your capacity for the part of yourself that you’re willing to share, or are able to share. Choosing to protect yourself is authentic.

Watch previous Leading Toward Equity conversations. For questions, please contact lalitha.sankaran@ucop.edu or michelle.simms@ucop.edu.

About

View all post by