Anna Taylor is the head Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for an online gaming and sports betting company. A self-professed community-nurturer who prides herself on relentlessly learning and campaigning for others to expand their own awareness. Anna strongly believes that the impetus to expand our empathy is on all of us as a larger human community.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
I think that it is a combination of a lot of little moments. Every time an employee from a marginalized community reaches out and says, “thank you for helping to amplify my voice,” or when an employee tells me they’ve had an “ah-ha” moment as an outcome of DEI programming, or when someone from my team says, “I’m always learning something from our conversations.”
I am energized when I can facilitate a seat at the table for everyone. I am energized when I can help to create equity that didn’t exist before. I am energized when I know that all of the little actions we do as an organization add up to a big impact for historically underrepresented communities.
What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?
I think being told “no” when I know how important an initiative or practice is to a marginalized community within the organization. In the DEI world, you get a lot of “no’s” until you get some “maybe’s” until you get a “yes.” You have to have grit; you have to learn to accept rejection and you have to get back up and keep fighting for what you know needs to happen.
If you could change one thing about how your given field operates, particularly with regards to women, what would it be, and why?
If I could change something with regard to women, it would be to think about them more intersectionally. We experience interdependent layers of discrimination and privilege, so it’s important to understand how we fully experience societal and organizational advantages in order to dismantle systems of inequality properly.
What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but are afraid or lack confidence?
Don’t give up – I know it can be discouraging. It will likely take you longer than it did to make a lateral homogeneous career shift, due to the nature of moving out of your area of expertise. So in the meantime, level up your skills by taking a class, meet people at industry networking events, join a board, offer your skills to a non-profit. Use the extra time you may have in the job market to bolster what you will bring to the table for your next employer. That way when you DO land your dream job, you’re going in confident with all you’re bringing to the table.
How do you make work work for you?
Do some soul searching and make sure you deeply understand your work motivation, whether that is salary, flexibility, passion, etc. For me, doing the work I’m passionate about, helps to provide the motivation I need from time to time when I get into a slump. Knowing that the work I do every day makes my organization more equitable and inclusive, is my North Star.
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