“Finding Joy and Staying Alive: Maintaining Balance in the Push for EDI” with Ky Sargeant

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is hard work. Harder than most give it credit for. Though the mandate for EDI has grown across both public and private institutions, the gap between what is asked and the resources provided regularly places the burden of change upon those most affected by its absence.

In the wake of the tech crash of 2023, we saw how EDI budgets were often among the first to be cut. A 2023 report by Revelio Labs found that EDI-focused roles “experienced a nearly 40% churn rate at companies engaged in layoffs, as compared to about 24% for non-DEI roles”, with hiring for Chief Diversity Officers now declining after the rapid uptake in 2020. However, the need for EDI remains ever-present, as many initiatives continue to be led from the ground up by passionate individuals and Employee Resource Groups, often doing so in addition to their typical responsibilities.

The question for those passionate about EDI and practitioners in the field is how do we maintain the sustainability of our efforts in spite of these setbacks? And, How do we begin to inspire those around us to take the small steps needed to build our collective capacity to make inclusive change?

This workshop will draw on frameworks from a range of general management and social psychology literature to explore the challenging nature of work that puts your passion on the line and how we take care of ourselves to find the capacity to keep doing it.

Topics that this session covers:

• What is “our job” when it comes to EDI work and where do we draw the line
• The importance of building personal and professional support networks
• Finding joy and staying optimistic amidst challenging circumstances

EDI Scholar-in-Residence

Ky Sargeant is a professional EDI consultant and educator who brings an empathetic human-centred approach to all of her work, driven by an international lived experience. Having lived and worked in multiple cultures, she has developed a keen ability for compassionate communication and a critical eye toward the structural impacts felt by people of diverse identities. They believe in fostering deep connections with the people they work with and co-creating innovative solutions for inclusion.

As a student, they led numerous grassroots inclusion efforts to support the experiences of LGBTQ2+, BIPOC, and neurodiverse students at the UBC, before joining the EDI committee at the Sauder School of Business to assist senior administration. She has a great appreciation for academic scholarship and is passionate about teaching. She strives in her work to build safe environments for the discussion and learning of EDI topics. Outside of the university, she has supported a range of corporate and non-profit organizations. Her projects include regularly leading workshops on inclusive culture, conducting facilities audits, providing coaching, and building professional training curriculums.

Her skills as a facilitator shine most through her communication skills, where she strives to combine her love for performance art and comedy to make EDI concepts accessible to all learners. She has over 8 years of public speaking experience and has performed at events such as Vancouver Pride and TEDx UBC.