Afua Hagan

My personal journey

In this talk I will let you into my personal journey as a broadcaster and journalist and the impact the events of 2020 had on my career. On a really personal level it was tough, being a Black woman living in a world that seemed to hate Black people. What happened afterwards, was also tough.

It was great to be offered platforms to speak about what happened and what I felt should happen next in terms of talking issues of diversity and inclusion in the UK. But I often felt like a token. And I often wondered to myself, am I on this channel because I am a Black, dark-skinned female journalist who can talk about race and ticks a box or am I on this channel simply because I am a good journalist?

I still have those questions today. Lots of companies came out to support the idea of Diversity and Inclusion in those days and weeks after the death of George Floyd. They rightly recognised the need for change. But it’s much more than – let’s hire more Black folks! It’s not just inviting Black people to have a seat at the table, but asking them to be part of the decision-making team on who’s at the table in the first place. That’s real inclusivity.

You might have a lovely working culture and a great office environment but are you truly inclusive? Do you have Black people in the upper echelons of the organisation making decisions?

On race, ethnicity and culture

In this talk I look at difference between race, ethnicity and culture and how that affects the way that we interact with people. Now, you would be forgiven for thinking that race and ethnicity and more or less the same thing. But they actually mean very different things.

We sometimes use the words culture, ethnicity and race interchangeably, and whilst there is some overlap between the terms, it’s important to know the differences between them, and to use them correctly.

When you distinguish what separates race from culture and ethnicity, it becomes apparent that racism, apart from being hurtful, just doesn’t make sense. Both race and ethnicity, it’s argued, are socially defined. Neither is biologically valid.

But even more than that, when we examine the genetics of different racial groups, there’s more genetic difference within any one racial group compared to the average between them, and yet amongst all of us, we are so remarkably similar (99.9% alike in fact). Yes, there may be some value in grouping people into racial groups, but at the end of the day, we have much more in common with each other than we don’t.

Inclusivity in the workplace

In this talk I will outline how workplace diversity is currently a very hot topic amongst businesses right now – even more so since 2020.

The modern workplace considers workplace diversity a crucial element of success and happiness in the office and are advocates for social improvements. Building a diverse workforce can be a challenge for some businesses, but there are solutions to create a sense of harmony and unity among different people and teams.

Organizations should aim for inherent and acquired diversity. Inherent diversity is biological traits such as race, gender, and sexual orientation, while acquired diversity is things you gain from experience like religion, cultural experiences, and situations that make an impact on your thought-process.

The benefits of workplace diversity greatly outweigh the barriers you may have to cross to get there. There are many benefits to workplace diversity, and many studies that prove the positive impact that diversity will have on your office.