Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Civic Cipher. I am your host.
Speaker 1: My mother calls me quentin Ward, but my friends called
Speaker 1: me q. I appreciate you guys tuning in with me today.
Speaker 1: I have a esteemed I think I'll say esteemed. Try
Speaker 1: to try to push my boy's pedestal up because he
Speaker 1: deserves it. Esteemed friend of mine, friend of the show,
Speaker 1: and pioneer in the medical health and equipment industry from
Speaker 1: you know, friend of mine from Bowling Green State University.
Speaker 1: Member Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, an area vice president
Speaker 1: of women's health Sales for Nitara. Mister Michael Malone Junior,
Speaker 1: what's going on?
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me man, appreciate you having me on
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 3: Thank you for making some time for me. Mike.
Speaker 1: You know, don't get to see my brother as often
Speaker 1: as I would like, but you know glad he was
Speaker 1: able to take some time away from the family. Tell
Speaker 1: them thank you for me, and apologize to them for
Speaker 1: me stealing you away on the night where you guys
Speaker 1: could be hanging out and relaxing. But I really thought
Speaker 1: that it was important for us to talk to people
Speaker 1: about your company and about what you do. So before
Speaker 1: we get into what you do specifically with relation to
Speaker 1: diversity and inclusion. Tell us a little bit about NATA
Speaker 1: in general.
Speaker 4: In general, we help women have healthy pregnancies. So we're
Speaker 4: a genetics company that looks at the fingerprint of the
Speaker 4: DNA to see what is different between the baby and
Speaker 4: the mom, to see if there's anything that's causing the
Speaker 4: baby to possibly have a chromosome abnormality. That's the basis
Speaker 4: of our business, and then of course from there we've
Speaker 4: expanded into oncology, cancer or as plans and even to
Speaker 4: the point where people have ad losses, we can look
Speaker 4: to see possibly.
Speaker 1: Why And do you guys work directly with clients or
Speaker 1: do you go through healthcare providers or hospitals. How do
Speaker 1: you guys have that interaction from your company to expecting mothers.
Speaker 2: Most of our interaction happens with the physician.
Speaker 4: We're essentially the educator of the provider, so a lot
Speaker 4: of the information gets funneled through them to the patient
Speaker 4: the same along with the feedback. So it's our job
Speaker 4: to educate the physician so that the physician can educate
Speaker 4: themselves on the best way to provide the best care
Speaker 4: and treatment.
Speaker 2: For their patients.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you guys teach the doctors and the medical
Speaker 1: staff that they have about your technology, and then they
Speaker 1: present that as an option for clients who are expecting mothers.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: Okay, how long have you been in this industry, Mike.
Speaker 2: Man the industry about fifteen years with this company. This
Speaker 2: is my tenth year.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: How recent did you guys split off into those other
Speaker 1: areas outside of just pre natal.
Speaker 4: We would really the last two years, so we've been
Speaker 4: doing a lot of research and developments.
Speaker 2: We kind of kept it.
Speaker 4: Secret for a while and then publicly announced it two
Speaker 4: years ago for signatory on collegey side, and then this
Speaker 4: year or in twenty twenty, we announced our organ transplant.
Speaker 1: Okay, and you guys do this across the entire country.
Speaker 2: We're global even overseas overseas as well.
Speaker 3: And you are where are you located now?
Speaker 2: I live in Atlanta?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: So are you are you specific to the East Coast?
Speaker 1: Are you do you personally get to travel, you know,
Speaker 1: around the country and around the world or is it
Speaker 1: do you have an area that you're assigned to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I feel.
Speaker 4: Like I have one of the best jobs because I
Speaker 4: have the southern half of the United States. So you know,
Speaker 4: my counterpart likes to joke with me and say I
Speaker 4: have the best and most expensive real estate and not
Speaker 4: the coldest of real estate. And then the ongoing joke
Speaker 4: is where do you live or where are you staying
Speaker 4: at today?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 4: Because I've moved throughout the Southeast ever since i left
Speaker 4: Bowling Green, I kind of stayed put mostly down in
Speaker 4: the South Southeast during Corridor, spent some time in South Florida.
Speaker 4: Currently live in Atlanta. It's my second stint back in Atlanta.
Speaker 4: Lived in South Carolina. My wife was in Mississippi, so
Speaker 4: kind of had different spots throughout the Southeast.
Speaker 2: But luckily my job is.
Speaker 4: Because I have half the country, I can essentially live
Speaker 4: anywhere that I want to. In the US, I don't
Speaker 4: have the opportunity to go overseas like I have volunteered
Speaker 4: to do Blush every time something comes up. I'm always
Speaker 4: trying to rub evos with the people that on the
Speaker 4: organ fans plant side because they do a lot of
Speaker 4: traveling overseas.
Speaker 2: But one of these days, hopefully I can take advantage
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 1: With the choice of living anywhere, it's really interesting that
Speaker 1: you chose Atlanta, Georgia that's kind of the epicenter for
Speaker 1: people that look like us in this country. Did that
Speaker 1: have anything to do with why you picked Atlanta?
Speaker 2: No, man.
Speaker 4: Actually, the interesting thing is when I had when I
Speaker 4: met Cheyenne, and we had more intimate conversations and we
Speaker 4: started dating. The first time I actually met her, she
Speaker 4: was coming back from a family.
Speaker 2: Reunion from Atlanta.
Speaker 4: Okay, And that's part this conversation, because this is when
Speaker 4: we're okay, yep, this is when we're still in BIGI
Speaker 4: is her senior year, she was about to graduate, and
Speaker 4: it was going into my junior year. And we met
Speaker 4: at uptown. She was coming up the steps. I'm sitting
Speaker 4: there chilling like a like, I think I'm too cool,
Speaker 4: you know, and we just kind of hit it off.
Speaker 2: Out of conversation. She told me she just came.
Speaker 4: Back, you know, the previous week from a family reunion,
Speaker 4: and we sparked that. Our conversation got sparked because I
Speaker 4: was like, hey, you know, my cousin goes to Spilm,
Speaker 4: and what did you think about Atlanta? And she would
Speaker 4: not stop talking about Atlanta.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: And so luckily after college, you know, I had the
Speaker 4: opportunity to play professional football, and as I was going
Speaker 4: through that process, just so happened to land a contract
Speaker 4: down in Georgia. It was initially with the making nights,
Speaker 4: and after you know, things didn't work out, stayed in
Speaker 4: stayed in my butt in Atlanta because I liked the ore.
Speaker 4: I loved the feel like to see, you know, us
Speaker 4: black folks doing well.
Speaker 2: And I remember telling my dad, I said, you know, being.
Speaker 4: Down in Atlanta reminds me that nobody should have an
Speaker 4: excuse not to be able to make a little bit
Speaker 4: of money. Because everybody down here, especially the black folks,
Speaker 4: have found some way to monetize something, and that should
Speaker 4: keep everybody motivated. So that's why I really love and
Speaker 4: that's what I love about being in this city because
Speaker 4: you see young black folks doing, you know, some good things.
Speaker 1: You know, I actually forgot that you weren't making because
Speaker 1: my mom's from making, so I forgot that you're writing
Speaker 1: down there. You know, my family still has a restaurant
Speaker 1: downtown making it's a historic site now. So if the
Speaker 1: next time I come to Atlanta, hopefully this year, I
Speaker 1: can come and see you and the kids. I got
Speaker 1: to take you guys down there to get some food. Man,
Speaker 1: I want to speak to you a little bit about
Speaker 1: our show and why I felt like when you mentioned
Speaker 1: to me what you were doing that it would be
Speaker 1: perfect to have you on. Ramses, who is my co
Speaker 1: host and co producer of the show, went on a
Speaker 1: cross country road trip with me. We started in Tampa
Speaker 1: and drove back to Phoenix, but as you could imagine,
Speaker 1: we had to stop in Atlanta. And he's from Compton, California,
Speaker 1: and it never been to Georgia at all, but specifically Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and for all the reasons that you just named, we
Speaker 1: saw black doctors, black lawyers, black business owners, you know
Speaker 1: you driving through really nice neighborhoods with really nice cars,
Speaker 1: and all of the people were black. And he never
Speaker 1: seen or experienced anything like that, Mike. So he was
Speaker 1: caught off guard. And the best way immediately start talking about, man,
Speaker 1: how do we figure out how to get back down
Speaker 1: here for something? Do we need to move the show
Speaker 1: down here? Do we need to move our families down here?
Speaker 1: Like this is just really really different, and similar to
Speaker 1: what you said, the aura just really really rubbed off
Speaker 1: on him. But Atlanta is a very very unique black
Speaker 1: city in the South. I think people sometimes misinterpret that
Speaker 1: all of Georgia looks and feels like Atlanta, and that
Speaker 1: is kind of far from the truth. So, you know,
Speaker 1: after a really tumultuous twenty twenty, especially the summer, the
Speaker 1: summer of George Floyd, there was some tension that rose
Speaker 1: up in our country and really around the world, and
Speaker 1: you know, put a microscope on race relations, police brutality,
Speaker 1: racial injustice, and a lot of things that our people
Speaker 1: have been dealing with for a long time. And we
Speaker 1: had this idea, since we worked in radio, that we
Speaker 1: should shine some light on things that are important, specifically
Speaker 1: to black people. So that was kind of the brain
Speaker 1: child for this show. And I remember when I sent
Speaker 1: you the press release about the show and you read it.
Speaker 1: When you messaged me and you sent me the information
Speaker 1: about what you were doing. I was excited, Bro. I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I really hope that we do
Speaker 1: have time to make this happening soon because I think
Speaker 1: what you're doing is important. So I just wanted to
Speaker 1: give you a little bit of scope and context as
Speaker 1: to why I thought it was so perfect, and I
Speaker 1: think you did as well. So can you tell people
Speaker 1: a little bit about what it is that you're doing
Speaker 1: at in the terror with regards to inclusion and diversity.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, first of all, I want to commend
Speaker 4: you for having this program to talk about that, because
Speaker 4: I think, you know, we've been suppressed too long to
Speaker 4: not have the voice as strong, as as.
Speaker 2: Powerful as we can be to make a change.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what even you know, for me
Speaker 4: moving to Atlanta has showcased that even if you're a minority,
Speaker 4: and it's like, as you mentioned, it's very easy to forget,
Speaker 4: like you go even twenty miles outside of Atlanta Radius.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the redneck of the rednecks. They act
Speaker 4: like they've never seen a black person before. But nonetheless,
Speaker 4: I think, you know, when all that happened with my
Speaker 4: organization that I'm with now in a terra, you know,
Speaker 4: I sat back because I wanted to see organically how
Speaker 4: they were going to respond.
Speaker 2: I didn't want it to seem like it was forced.
Speaker 4: I didn't want it to seem like, you know, it
Speaker 4: was a me too type of response. I would just
Speaker 4: you know, laid back, just kind of waiting to see
Speaker 4: if somebody was going to approach me, how they were
Speaker 4: going to approach me, and as an organization, how are
Speaker 4: we going to respond.
Speaker 2: Now before I kind of get into how I responded, and.
Speaker 4: I was thinking that I think is very important to
Speaker 4: you know, executive leadership teams. So these are the CEOs,
Speaker 4: the CFOs, the CEOs and all these c's, the C
Speaker 4: suite individuals. Yeah, you know, I have an opportunity to
Speaker 4: present to them all the time. And you know, when
Speaker 4: you're on a zoom and you're looking at the boxes
Speaker 4: of faces that don't represent how I think, how you
Speaker 4: think what we've been through, right, but yet the community
Speaker 4: that we serve mostly are communities of color, and it's
Speaker 4: very interesting that you know, sometimes some of the initiatives
Speaker 4: that we put in place don't necessarily take that into consideration.
Speaker 4: But I do got to commend to the company, you know,
Speaker 4: even though that they don't have somebody of color or
Speaker 4: black I should say, you know, sitting on the board,
Speaker 4: I do think that they do, you know, respond to
Speaker 4: feedback very positively because we are an innovative company and
Speaker 4: it showcases in the organization of that I've been able
Speaker 4: to find. So essentially, you know, I started getting those emails,
Speaker 4: started seeing you know, Instagram, you know, different companies responding
Speaker 4: and showing support for black lives matters. And then just
Speaker 4: out of the woodworks, like individuals within the company just
Speaker 4: reached out to me like, I can't believe the company
Speaker 4: is not doing this.
Speaker 2: What do you think of being silently? What does this mean?
Speaker 4: Just all kinds of different emails, and I was like, hey,
Speaker 4: you know what, just let's just see how Natara handles it.
Speaker 4: And I had one of the executive leaders come to me,
Speaker 4: called me on the phone early in the morning.
Speaker 2: It was like eight o'clock East Coast time, so I
Speaker 2: know it was what at least five five something, you know,
Speaker 2: three hours back.
Speaker 4: In La the Bay Areas where we're located, and you know,
Speaker 4: the conversation was, Hey, Mike, I feel really embarrassed to
Speaker 4: have to call you and ask you this, but I
Speaker 4: think it's my duty to at least, you know, get
Speaker 4: your insight. But I want to know from you by
Speaker 4: given the situation that's you know that we have in
Speaker 4: our environment and black lives matter, how can we help
Speaker 4: How what should we do?
Speaker 2: Can you help us get you know, the.
Speaker 4: Support for our own individual employees and start an organization
Speaker 4: so that we can support them in any way, shape
Speaker 4: or form. And you know, I was kind of thrown back,
Speaker 4: and they said that my name had come up a
Speaker 4: few times in the board meetings, and so I responded
Speaker 4: by saying, hey, you know, I'm more than happy to
Speaker 4: do this. As a matter of fact, I was waiting
Speaker 4: for you to or somebody, uh to to reach out
Speaker 4: to me to just ask me, like what we thought,
Speaker 4: because we felt like nobody had reached out to any
Speaker 4: folk of color to get their you know, opinion or thoughts,
Speaker 4: to see what they're emotionally, you know, going through based
Speaker 4: on you know, everything I've seen in the news.
Speaker 2: And uh.
Speaker 4: He said, yeah, so tell me what what we need
Speaker 4: to do. And I said, before I start anything, I
Speaker 4: really have to give your support that you're going to
Speaker 4: give me full ring. I got full support and anything
Speaker 4: that we need to make sure that we support the individuals,
Speaker 4: especially the black community in our organization, to continue to
Speaker 4: diversify our organization so that we can continue to be,
Speaker 4: you know, as powerful as I know we can be.
Speaker 2: I'm on board. But as soon as I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm being.
Speaker 4: Dictated or that you know, this is for show or
Speaker 4: a marketing ploy, I'll be the very first person out
Speaker 4: of here. And they said, look, that is not going
Speaker 4: to happen, you got full.
Speaker 2: Reign, you name it what you want.
Speaker 4: I mean, they literally gave me the keys to the
Speaker 4: bins instead go drive and go do your thing. And
Speaker 4: so that's what I've been able to do. So we started.
Speaker 4: You know, it's kind of a generic name. We call
Speaker 4: it Diversity and Inclusion Group acronym DIG. But actually it's
Speaker 4: become very catchy within the organization. You know, we got
Speaker 4: what can you dig in? Let's dig out, digging.
Speaker 2: Forward, marching out, you know, so we have all.
Speaker 4: These different plays on that particular word which has been
Speaker 4: very catchy. And so essentially this group is really founded
Speaker 4: for two things. So one is to bring more visibility
Speaker 4: amongst US minorities with the emphasis on the black individuals
Speaker 4: in our organization, so that they can be represented and
Speaker 4: have a voice, so that they have an opportunity to
Speaker 4: continue to grow within the.
Speaker 2: Organization into leadership roles. Right.
Speaker 4: I think you know, when you look at a lot
Speaker 4: of companies, the ground level or the entry level positions
Speaker 4: are historically or you know, mostly minorities or even blacks,
Speaker 4: but as you start going up the ladder, you start
Speaker 4: seeing less and less black folks. And so the main
Speaker 4: vision is to try to get more people of color,
Speaker 4: more minorities into these higher positions.
Speaker 2: The second piece is that.
Speaker 4: We really and this is more so in the mission
Speaker 4: without all the various jargon that we put into the mission,
Speaker 4: the basis audience workplace. You know, we don't want people
Speaker 4: to be walking on eggshells and feeling like, hey, you know,
Speaker 4: am I saying something that's racist? But I want you
Speaker 4: to be aware about what you're about to say, right.
Speaker 4: I want you to understand what I've been through, and
Speaker 4: you know, I haven't been living through a privileged life,
Speaker 4: and my life is not like yours, right, And I
Speaker 4: think the biggest thing that I've learned is like when
Speaker 4: people say I don't see color, like, to me, that's
Speaker 4: very irritating, right, because if you don't see color, that
Speaker 4: means you don't understand there's a difference between what I've
Speaker 4: been through versus what you've been through.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: I get the concept that you're trying to treat everybody equal,
Speaker 4: but you can't treat everybody equal if they haven't been
Speaker 4: through the same process that you have in right.
Speaker 2: And so I think it's.
Speaker 4: About educating, you know, all of our people at the
Speaker 4: organization and especially starting from the higher ups down.
Speaker 2: And so I'm very proud.
Speaker 4: To say that I have this big initiative and this
Speaker 4: training program that's already getting ready to launch next month.
Speaker 4: But that training program starts with the executive leadership team,
Speaker 4: and it's only geared towards them about what they're thinking,
Speaker 4: how they view things, what their perspectives are, and to
Speaker 4: get their feedback. And then from there we're going to
Speaker 4: launch a company wide and this will be an ongoing program, hopefully,
Speaker 4: you know, beyond my time.
Speaker 2: Here at Materia.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting you already spoke to something that I
Speaker 1: was going to ask you later about the pipeline to leadership.
Speaker 1: A lot of times, like you said, your ground level,
Speaker 1: your entry level positions will be people of color, will
Speaker 1: be black people, Hispanic people, but all of your executives
Speaker 1: are typically white. And even when it comes to hiring
Speaker 1: and training people for those higher level positions, a lot
Speaker 1: of times companies will reach outward and pull people in
Speaker 1: instead of reaching down and pulling people up. So I'm
Speaker 1: glad that you understood that it was important to have
Speaker 1: something in place to train, build, and empower people of
Speaker 1: color that are already in the company to move up.
Speaker 1: Into those you know, higher level management, middle management, executive positions.
Speaker 1: I knew you before they reached out to you thought
Speaker 1: it was important to do what you're doing. Give us
Speaker 1: a little insight as to why you waited to let
Speaker 1: them present it to you instead of you presented it
Speaker 1: to them, and why you questioned or not questioned, but
Speaker 1: made it clear to them that you didn't want this
Speaker 1: to be something we were doing for public relations, but
Speaker 1: something that was authentic and genuine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a really good point because because at first
Speaker 4: I didn't know. I think, let me back up, I
Speaker 4: think all of us when you're a minority in an organization,
Speaker 4: especially when you have some people come look at as power,
Speaker 4: you can call it influence influence, so you know, so
Speaker 4: I think there's like different things that you but when
Speaker 4: you're a minority in a certain position, what you say
Speaker 4: and what you do has a big impact on a
Speaker 4: lot of people. And not only that, I was also
Speaker 4: trying to think about what I could do if something
Speaker 4: were to if they felt otherwise right, if the organization
Speaker 4: didn't agree with what I was going.
Speaker 2: To stand for.
Speaker 4: I wanted to make sure I had a backup plan.
Speaker 4: So I was actually thinking about all of these things together.
Speaker 4: But the main thing that I really wanted to see,
Speaker 4: as I mentioned earlier, is I wanted it to be
Speaker 4: organ I wanted them to be able to go to
Speaker 4: town hall without having anything or anyone come directly to
Speaker 4: them and answer some of the questions.
Speaker 2: I knew was going to come at town hall.
Speaker 4: I wanted them to because I think it wasn't about
Speaker 4: like trying to say I told you so or now
Speaker 4: what kind of thing. It was more about you don't
Speaker 4: know what you don't know, right, And I wanted it
Speaker 4: to be organ I wanted them to feel inadequate in
Speaker 4: a certain area because a lot of times we're so
Speaker 4: focused in unspecific you know, dimension or division, uh you know,
Speaker 4: in this case obviously women's health and genetics, but a
Speaker 4: lot of times we forget about investing in our own
Speaker 4: people that have helped us get to that particular point.
Speaker 4: And so the reason why I waited because I was
Speaker 4: still trying to contemplate how I wanted to do things,
Speaker 4: how I was going to respond, and even if they
Speaker 4: didn't come to me, I still had a plan that
Speaker 4: I was going to do and leverage my influence amongst
Speaker 4: you know, my my people are people, right, and my
Speaker 4: organization that I have influence over. But I was just
Speaker 4: waiting back because I wanted to see who was gonna
Speaker 4: because I think those that didn't say anything, those that
Speaker 4: did say something at that point, and that those that
Speaker 4: haven't said anything since or that are now coming out
Speaker 4: to me, tells the whole story about some of the
Speaker 4: things that I had already been thinking about. Uh, you know,
Speaker 4: tells the story about some of the things I didn't
Speaker 4: know now I'm it's you know, very clear, and some
Speaker 4: of the things that are magnified. Any the only person
Speaker 4: that can really change that as that person. And there's
Speaker 4: things that I can do to help, and I think,
Speaker 4: you know, these training programs and these educational resources that
Speaker 4: we're providing can help in that respect. But you know,
Speaker 4: I think ultimately I wanted it to be very organic.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be genuine.
Speaker 4: I wanted people to know that, you know, when I
Speaker 4: start this and had this movement, that it was truly.
Speaker 2: Coming from the heart.
Speaker 4: It was not coming from you know, the CEO that
Speaker 4: was telling me to do this, or I was trying
Speaker 4: to force him to do something. I've really wanted to
Speaker 4: be genuine and organic and grow and have some momentum
Speaker 4: around that.
Speaker 1: You know, you brought up something that I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't even consider, especially in the position
Speaker 1: that you're in. What if they don't feel the same
Speaker 1: way as I do with regard to minority inclusion, diversity
Speaker 1: with regard to what's going on in our country right now,
Speaker 1: Like what if when they do finally say something thing
Speaker 1: it's totally against my principles and what I stand for,
Speaker 1: And that you were in a position where you had
Speaker 1: to consider, Okay, what are my options if we're on
Speaker 1: the opposite side of this thing. Was there a sense
Speaker 1: of like like an exhale when they did finally come
Speaker 1: to you and they did express what you hope that
Speaker 1: they would.
Speaker 4: Interesting, you know, you bring up another good point. I
Speaker 4: actually felt like there was a little bit more. I
Speaker 4: hate to use the word pressure, because I feel like
Speaker 4: pressure is like you get, you know, pushed into something
Speaker 4: that you might not necessarily feel comfortable, or you feel
Speaker 4: like you're forced to do something that you really.
Speaker 2: Don't want to do. But I felt like there was
Speaker 2: a lot more weight added to my back now.
Speaker 4: And why did I feel that is because we've never
Speaker 4: done anything like this in the organization they're counting on
Speaker 4: one person to have this vast majority of influence to
Speaker 4: make a change in certain individuals or the culture of
Speaker 4: the company that's been there for years, decades, right, and
Speaker 4: that now was put on me.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 4: We're you know, a market cap of over ten billion dollars, right,
Speaker 4: So a lot of these things to come with. You know,
Speaker 4: as I mentioned, some people could call it extra stress
Speaker 4: or pressure, but I welcomed it. I really wanted to
Speaker 4: take it on because I knew I was going to
Speaker 4: be able to make an impact. If it wasn't just
Speaker 4: in just one person's life, it was going to be
Speaker 4: well worth it.
Speaker 2: And so I was like, okay, fine, you know, now
Speaker 2: I got to develop all these resources.
Speaker 4: I got to make sure we have the funds, we
Speaker 4: got the right people in place, and I need to
Speaker 4: build my infrastructure.
Speaker 2: Mind you, I got to do all.
Speaker 4: This while still managing a sales team of over one
Speaker 4: hundred people, right with the company goals as a public company,
Speaker 4: you know, and make sure that the investors, you know,
Speaker 4: those that have equity, are also being rewarded. So it
Speaker 4: was a it was a burden at the time, but
Speaker 4: it was something I was welcome for. Welcome to do.
Speaker 4: And you know, I knew that if I took the
Speaker 4: right steps like I have been throughout my life, I
Speaker 4: would meet the right people. You know, I always keep
Speaker 4: God first, so I always always had faith. I just
Speaker 4: knew just by genuinely being myself and doing the right thing,
Speaker 4: that things were going to.
Speaker 2: Take care of itself. And you know, it's been an
Speaker 2: amazing journey so far. And we just started this, you know,
Speaker 2: back in August. And the type of.
Speaker 4: Individuals that I met, especially you know, minorities, black men,
Speaker 4: black women, lesbian and gay individuals, you know, the Asian community,
Speaker 4: like just everybody that I've met on this journey. The
Speaker 4: vendors that I've been able to partner up with has
Speaker 4: just been amazing. And I think these type of networks
Speaker 4: that I've been able in relationships that I've been able
Speaker 4: to develop, shows how powerful we as a minority group
Speaker 4: can really be if we just stand together and don't
Speaker 4: divide each other, you know, don't fight against each other,
Speaker 4: but really you know, embrace us right diversly essentially. And
Speaker 4: I think that because I've been able to develop those
Speaker 4: relationships and if they see my work ethic, I don't.
Speaker 2: Really think of twice about what would happen if.
Speaker 4: I had to leave or you know, from the tear,
Speaker 4: because I don't think anything would change from the lifestyle
Speaker 4: or anything else that I've been able to do.
Speaker 2: But I think I would continue to still be able
Speaker 2: to make.
Speaker 4: The impact and influence others and continue to motivate people to.
Speaker 2: Be the best that they can.
Speaker 1: You spoke about, and everything that you just said is
Speaker 1: super important. A lot of the things that you're touching
Speaker 1: on are super inspiring to Michael. So I'm really really
Speaker 1: glad that even though it could have been a burden
Speaker 1: because you do already have so much on your plate,
Speaker 1: that you still welcomed it. You still saw the value
Speaker 1: and you still thought it was important so that you
Speaker 1: pursued it anyway, you know, even though it added a
Speaker 1: lot to you, it was something that you welcome because
Speaker 1: you knew how important it was. But you mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: somebody or not somebody specifically, but just the idea of
Speaker 1: someone not seeing color and wanting to treat people equal.
Speaker 1: But we all know treating people equal, treating people fairly,
Speaker 1: and treating people the same are not synonyms, right, you know,
Speaker 1: as a person. Really, I think they think they're saying
Speaker 1: what's right when they say I don't see color, because
Speaker 1: it's impossible not to. I think it's important to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that you do see color and to still treat a
Speaker 1: person right and fairly even though you do. When you're
Speaker 1: dealing with inclusion and diversity within a culture that already exists,
Speaker 1: and inclusion in diversity and hiring. What are some of
Speaker 1: the challenges that you saw then that you've already mean
Speaker 1: some some growth or some progress from since you guys
Speaker 1: started the big program.
Speaker 2: So I think we still have a long way to go. Man.
Speaker 4: You know, like this whole suppression and racism, as they
Speaker 4: call it systematic. There's a reason why they call it systematics,
Speaker 4: because it's built in either that individual's way.
Speaker 2: Of thinking from their parents or.
Speaker 4: The system that they grew up in the community, you know,
Speaker 4: the village, if you will. Right.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna take a while.
Speaker 4: And but what I've seen is, you know, previously to
Speaker 4: starting this organization, this group, there wasn't as much discussion
Speaker 4: about the lack of diversity. You know, every now and
Speaker 4: then you would hear, you know, us black folks talking
Speaker 4: amongst each other. You know, you know, why don't we
Speaker 4: have more black people here, why don't we have more
Speaker 4: Indians and so on and so forth. But now that
Speaker 4: we've kind of developed this employee resource group, a dig like,
Speaker 4: people are really expressing how they feel about all kinds
Speaker 4: of things within the organization, and you would never know
Speaker 4: that had we I've been here again almost ten years
Speaker 4: I've been this is the first time I've seen all
Speaker 4: these people talk openly now about the various things that
Speaker 4: they want to see change.
Speaker 2: So I feel like that if there.
Speaker 4: Was anything that showcases, you know, the baby steps that
Speaker 4: we're taking. You know, we had a big program last night,
Speaker 4: and you know, we had some people that really were
Speaker 4: engaged in interacting and again very vocal about certain situations
Speaker 4: that they experienced that or certain perspectives they.
Speaker 2: Have about the company as well.
Speaker 4: And you know, we've recorded it and we're putting that
Speaker 4: on the internet so everybody in the company can hear
Speaker 4: and see it. And I know it's going to build
Speaker 4: some momentum because you know, a lot of times people
Speaker 4: get afraid of their job security and aren't vocal, and
Speaker 4: I think this is a platform where people can feel
Speaker 4: secure and safe and speak what's on their mind without
Speaker 4: any negative repercussions. You know, given that we're the resource
Speaker 4: and the support group dedicated for them.
Speaker 2: So I think.
Speaker 4: That that is what's going to really start this culture
Speaker 4: of embracing diversity.
Speaker 2: A little more. I think where we.
Speaker 4: Didn't also think more about think about before and that
Speaker 4: we think more about now is even the individuals that
Speaker 4: we are that we have in our candidacy pool for
Speaker 4: various openings.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: I don't think that that was something consciously on their mind.
Speaker 4: It was, as you mentioned, you know what, I know
Speaker 4: this person, I worked with, this person, bring them on.
Speaker 4: At least that's what I appeared from the outside, right,
Speaker 4: So they hired the people that they work with or
Speaker 4: that look like them for the most part. And I
Speaker 4: feel like, now you know, consciously people are really trying
Speaker 4: to have a diverse pool of candidates and where we're.
Speaker 2: Also helping them in that capacity.
Speaker 4: It's that you have a couple of partnerships that I've
Speaker 4: already started, you know that I've linked up with where
Speaker 4: we're going to be calling candidates and internships and mentorships
Speaker 4: from the HPCU community.
Speaker 1: What you just touched on I think is super important.
Speaker 1: I think in a lot of cases, nepotism is passive
Speaker 1: and I mean that in a way where if I
Speaker 1: worked in your field as one of your close friends
Speaker 1: at this point, we're, you know, twenty two years friends
Speaker 1: at this point, if I worked in your field, it
Speaker 1: would just be top of mind.
Speaker 3: I do this.
Speaker 1: I know that that Quintin is good at this let
Speaker 1: me speak to him about a position that we have opened.
Speaker 1: That's what I'd like to call passive nepotism. It's it's
Speaker 1: natural when you care about somebody, you respect them, and
Speaker 1: you know they're good at their job. If you're in
Speaker 1: the same field, you look out for each other in
Speaker 1: that way. But then there is built into that systemic racism,
Speaker 1: a level of exclusion where you automatically disqualify some candidates
Speaker 1: based on things that have nothing to do with their
Speaker 1: talent or their resume, and only to do what they
Speaker 1: look like and how they speak. In your case, I
Speaker 1: think it's important that as a person who works in leadership,
Speaker 1: that you've made employees feel supported and empowered to express
Speaker 1: themselves about concerns that they have, because typically leadership leaves
Speaker 1: that to HR, you know what I mean, Like they
Speaker 1: just kind of push that off to human resources, let
Speaker 1: them deal with it, and we're going to continue to
Speaker 1: uphold the status quo. So I think it's important and
Speaker 1: necessary that not just yourself, but your leadership understood that
Speaker 1: support and that empowerment was just as important, so that
Speaker 1: the people on your team and within your organization can
Speaker 1: be honest about how they felt and the things that
Speaker 1: they needed without feeling like they would exclude themselves or
Speaker 1: put themselves in a position where their jobs were at
Speaker 1: risk somehow. So, you know, I'm glad that you touched
Speaker 1: on that because I think that's something that's, you know,
Speaker 1: excessively important.
Speaker 2: It's something interesting that you just mentioned about HR.
Speaker 4: As I mentioned, you know, it was announcing in August
Speaker 4: that I was going to you know, start, this did grow,
Speaker 4: and from August until now, so September, October, November December,
Speaker 4: about five months, I've been able to do more from
Speaker 4: the HR perspective than HR has done since I've been
Speaker 4: in the organization, from the diversity recruitment, from the partnerships
Speaker 4: to help get diversitydate diverse candidates, to linking up with
Speaker 4: various individuals so that we can.
Speaker 2: Get more exposure.
Speaker 4: You know that more people are more likely to apply
Speaker 4: to a position in a company if they know the company,
Speaker 4: and these various vendors that I spoke to that link
Speaker 4: up and partner with HBCUs, they didn't.
Speaker 2: Even know who Natara was. And you know why that's disappointing.
Speaker 4: The the reason why it's very disappointing for me is
Speaker 4: because the entry level position people can make over six
Speaker 4: six figures, right, and for us as a black community
Speaker 4: not to be aware of that and think that we
Speaker 4: have to be pigeonholed to be only in this sector
Speaker 4: of certain industries to be able to hit six figures
Speaker 4: coming straight out of college or possibly even before you graduate.
Speaker 4: You know, again, it's the same systematic process of trying
Speaker 4: to keep us where we are instead of growing. And
Speaker 4: those things are eye opening to me as I continue
Speaker 4: on with my research and encounters and building my relationship
Speaker 4: with various individuals.
Speaker 2: On this journey. And you know the other thing that
Speaker 2: sticks out to me too is I.
Speaker 4: Remember when I got promoted from the sales rep we
Speaker 4: call them Clinical film Specialists aka CFS's, and when.
Speaker 2: I got promoted to regional director.
Speaker 4: You know, the first thing I was tasked to do
Speaker 4: is essentially hire some folks.
Speaker 2: Essentially to replace me because we were expanding, So it.
Speaker 4: Went from me going to manager and I need to
Speaker 4: hire five people, and you know, each one of I'm like,
Speaker 4: not even being conscious. I just wanted to have the
Speaker 4: best people on my team so we can work collab
Speaker 4: collaboratively to.
Speaker 2: Crush our goals. And you know, when you.
Speaker 4: Look back at it, I had a black woman, I
Speaker 4: had a white male.
Speaker 2: I had a white female.
Speaker 4: I had another white female and a black male all as.
Speaker 2: My first hires.
Speaker 4: And you know, the comment that was made to me
Speaker 4: at the time, it was, are you trying to, you know,
Speaker 4: have the most diverse team award? Are you trying to
Speaker 4: get the most diverse team Award? I said, are you
Speaker 4: kidding me? I said, no, I'm going to show you.
Speaker 4: We're going to have the best team award. We're going
Speaker 4: to be the MVP. And I don't care who's on
Speaker 4: my team. I'm picking the best people based on giving
Speaker 4: my interview process.
Speaker 2: And even you know, at that case, some of them
Speaker 2: I didn't know. I had some background and some experience.
Speaker 4: But you know, those type of comment you reflect back
Speaker 4: at the time, it didn't really like it was interesting,
Speaker 4: and you know, didn't really hit home until I've replayed
Speaker 4: it a few times.
Speaker 2: But you know that those types of.
Speaker 4: Comments suggests certain things, right, and again that's like a
Speaker 4: passive way as you were just talking about. And I
Speaker 4: realized that now, you know, all these years, as I,
Speaker 4: you know, started moving up in my various roles, how
Speaker 4: different I've been thinking about diversity and inclusion versus my colleagues.
Speaker 2: And that's the reason why, you know, not only in the.
Speaker 4: Last three years I've been the best performing leader, but
Speaker 4: really the last seven years and not to mention, you know,
Speaker 4: before getting promoted the top rep. And the reason why
Speaker 4: I wanted to bring that up is because I think
Speaker 4: that's why diversity is very important.
Speaker 2: The recent diversity.
Speaker 4: You get experienced levels, perspectives, skills, and responses so that
Speaker 4: we collectively can be powerful. And that's why we've been great.
Speaker 4: And I've inherited other teams that are all vanilla. When
Speaker 4: I say vanilla, I'm not saying mostly why. It's just
Speaker 4: the same, like that team's the same as that team,
Speaker 4: as that team, and they all were hired by you know,
Speaker 4: a same.
Speaker 2: As you know, one individual.
Speaker 4: And it shows why they've been where they are right
Speaker 4: why they're stuck where there are is because they have
Speaker 4: no diversity. They have no different viewpoint or perspective to
Speaker 4: help us get to the next level.
Speaker 2: And so that's why I think.
Speaker 4: That this is important because as an organization, I think
Speaker 4: it's going to make us a lot more effective and
Speaker 4: efficient and a hell of a lot more productive because
Speaker 4: everybody's going to learn.
Speaker 2: From one another.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I remember nineteen ninety nine when we first visited Bowling Green,
Speaker 1: and I remember meeting your dad. And your dad might
Speaker 1: not remember this, You might not remember this, but one
Speaker 1: of the simple thing that he said to me, because
Speaker 1: we hadn't decided we were going there yet, and I
Speaker 1: think we were kind of I think you me pinch,
Speaker 1: and I think Jeremy, not Jared, but Jeremy. We're kind
Speaker 1: of looking at each other like, Yo, if you come,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come, and if you come, I'm gonna come,
Speaker 1: kind of thing. And your dad says something to me
Speaker 1: that was very very simple but that I never forgot,
Speaker 1: and it was just simply, if you guys come here,
Speaker 1: look out for each other, like he said it, and
Speaker 1: he said it with the tone and the attitude he
Speaker 1: said it with was very serious. It wasn't like some
Speaker 1: like flaccid comment to just throw out there as some
Speaker 1: random dad advice. He said it to us like it
Speaker 1: was important, you know what I mean, Like it is
Speaker 1: vital that if you guys come here together, that you
Speaker 1: make it your business to look out for each other.
Speaker 3: And I don't think he knew that.
Speaker 1: You know, twenty years later we would still not just
Speaker 1: be in touch, but you know, be the best of friends.
Speaker 3: Coming from where we come from, Michael, and.
Speaker 1: You know, being a part of a really good group
Speaker 1: of guys playing football, a really great group of guys
Speaker 1: in our fraternity. Moving on as educated men from you know,
Speaker 1: college students to working professionals. I know you experienced this
Speaker 1: because I do. Where people kind of assume your background
Speaker 1: is way different than what it actually is. We're from Detroit,
Speaker 1: Michigan and Portsmouth. We're not from Beverly Hills in bel Air,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But sometimes when you present yourself,
Speaker 1: will your articulate your professional people assume that you've been
Speaker 1: coddled and you come from this silver spoon background and
Speaker 1: that life has been you know, a privilege for you,
Speaker 1: not understanding that not only did you have to work
Speaker 1: super hard, but you have to overcome to get where
Speaker 1: you are. Do you ever encounter colleagues that make that
Speaker 1: mistake of thinking that your background is way different than
Speaker 1: what it actually is.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 5: So the interesting story around that is, as we continue
Speaker 5: to expand, we had somebody one of the reps that
Speaker 5: was covering Portsmouth, Ohio as part of their territory Wow,
Speaker 5: and they found out I was from Portsmouth, you know that.
Speaker 5: I got a text message It's like, hold on, are
Speaker 5: you from this Portsmouth? Because I mean it was one
Speaker 5: of those areas that she didn't really go too much
Speaker 5: because it was high medicaid, you know, it was it
Speaker 5: looks like a ran down because it was the heavy
Speaker 5: metal industry, right, A lot of the stuff got moved
Speaker 5: from Port Ohio up to Pittsburgh and to Detroit back then.
Speaker 6: And so she was like, this is where you're from,
Speaker 6: and it's other than a small pocket, there's not really
Speaker 6: that many you know, black folks either.
Speaker 4: And I was like, yep, he probably drove right by
Speaker 4: my high school sportsman high schools where I went. And
Speaker 4: and she was just completely caught off guard because you know,
Speaker 4: most of the time when people see me, I'm in
Speaker 4: my you know, nice suit, got the tie on.
Speaker 2: Other than down COVID, I usually have a nice little
Speaker 2: shape of going. You know, I look like I spent.
Speaker 4: A little bit of money on my grooming, but but
Speaker 4: they just couldn't understand. And also the way that I speak,
Speaker 4: you know, a lot of times when we do have
Speaker 4: various you know, not only company meetings.
Speaker 2: But if we're talking to a vendor.
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of times I'll keep the camera
Speaker 4: off just because it's interesting how when I end up
Speaker 4: turning the camera on ten to fifteen minutes later into
Speaker 4: the conversation to see their faces because they just did
Speaker 4: not expect to see a brother, you know, talking to
Speaker 4: them and asking, you know, certain questions that I may
Speaker 4: be asking, so let alone being genetics and then talking
Speaker 4: to lingo like a genetic counselor so it's it's very
Speaker 4: interesting how that you get these assumptions just because either
Speaker 4: the way you speak, the way you walk, or even
Speaker 4: the color of your skin, and some a lot of
Speaker 4: times even where you consider your hometown. And that's what
Speaker 4: makes us us right like this, if I didn't go
Speaker 4: through all of that, like I'm not embarrassed, I'm not
Speaker 4: shy to say where I came from. I'm not going
Speaker 4: to continue to embellish it, you know, like it's the
Speaker 4: best thing that you know that happened to me, but
Speaker 4: I grew from it. I learned from it, and you know,
Speaker 4: that's why I've been able to be able to get
Speaker 4: to where I am now.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 1: And I knew that specifically the way that you speak
Speaker 1: and the way that you articulate would be the key
Speaker 1: reason why people would misjudge you immediately. And it's it's
Speaker 1: really cool to have as much time as I've had,
Speaker 1: you know, with you as a friend and as a brother.
Speaker 3: Knowing where we come from and where we are now.
Speaker 1: And I almost laughed when I asked you because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I go through this, so I know for sure Mike
Speaker 1: goes through you know, people completely misrepresenting their idea of
Speaker 1: where they think he started and what they think his
Speaker 1: background is. Like you spoke earlier about HBCUs and about
Speaker 1: students that come from those universities having never heard of
Speaker 1: the company. What are some of the initiative initiatives that
Speaker 1: you guys are trying to put in place to change that, because,
Speaker 1: like you said, people will never apply to a company
Speaker 1: if they don't even know that the industry, the company,
Speaker 1: or the positions exist.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a very good question.
Speaker 4: I want to showcase the company because we you know
Speaker 4: a lot of people know that they can make a
Speaker 4: lot of money in tech, and we are essentially a
Speaker 4: technology company. We were re basing the Silicon Valley that
Speaker 4: in the Bay Area, but we happen to leverage our
Speaker 4: technology in the diagnostics world or in my case, women's
Speaker 4: health and genetics.
Speaker 2: And what I want to be.
Speaker 4: Able to do is showcase our organism as a matera,
Speaker 4: as a place where people can come feel welcome and
Speaker 4: learn and grow and make a lot.
Speaker 2: Of money while doing that. And you know, we partnered
Speaker 2: up with HBCU.
Speaker 4: Twenty by twenty, who is embedded with all of the
Speaker 4: HBCUs throughout the country, and we're going to have some
Speaker 4: webinars to showcase our organization.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: They've asked me, you know, to sit on some of
Speaker 4: their conferences where they talk about leadership and what does
Speaker 4: it take to get to certain positions VP levels and above,
Speaker 4: which I'm very excited and honored to be part of.
Speaker 4: But I think, you know, these are some of the
Speaker 4: things that I want to be able to highlight, you know.
Speaker 2: For others, so that they don't have to feel like.
Speaker 4: I have to be an athlete to make six or
Speaker 4: seven or eight figures, I have to you know, start here,
Speaker 4: you know, going door to doors selling you know what,
Speaker 4: magazines or whatever the case, the vacuum cleaners to eventually
Speaker 4: get the opportunity. I want people to know straight out
Speaker 4: of college there are some opportunities out there that you
Speaker 4: just have to do a little bit of research.
Speaker 2: And I think it's our job to.
Speaker 4: Try to showcase our organization and show that we are
Speaker 4: welcoming diverse candidates into our organization because you know, we're
Speaker 4: we're just continue to take off and continue to expand,
Speaker 4: especially you know, in this environment of COVID, we've been
Speaker 4: doing massive hirings and yet people in the HBCUs and
Speaker 4: the alumnis other than the ones that I know that
Speaker 4: you know that we've been talking to.
Speaker 2: You know, we've been able to bring on board, and
Speaker 2: we need to have you.
Speaker 4: Know, more visibility amongst all of our folks so that
Speaker 4: we can continue to be as empowerful, you know, powerful
Speaker 4: as we possibly can as an organization and as a community.
Speaker 1: If you are just tuning in, this is Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1: I am your host, q Ward, I have my esteem
Speaker 1: guests from the Tara mister Michael Malone Jr. Man I
Speaker 1: hate if you're just two nick because you've missed a
Speaker 1: lot of really good information. But you know we are
Speaker 1: available on all your platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google Play, and
Speaker 1: a bunch of your your local FM platforms as well.
Speaker 1: Michael and I have been speaking about diversity inclusion, specifically
Speaker 1: in the medical and tech fields and why those things
Speaker 1: are important. So again, if you're just tuning in, we
Speaker 1: still got a little bit for you. Follow us at
Speaker 1: Civic Cipher on Twitter and Instagram, Civiccipher dot com. You
Speaker 1: can get any information that you need about the show.
Speaker 1: You can get past shows, visit us on YouTube as well.
Speaker 1: So you get to this position where it is important
Speaker 1: to you that diversity and inclusion be as important to
Speaker 1: you as if they are the company you work for.
Speaker 1: They bring you this opportunity where they've now put you
Speaker 1: in a position where you are able to influence the
Speaker 1: lives and careers of people that come from very, very
Speaker 1: diverse backgrounds. It felt like pressure at one point you
Speaker 1: understood though that it was a privilege. You're a few
Speaker 1: months into it now it's starting to grow wings, it's
Speaker 1: starting to take the shape that you wanted. Is it
Speaker 1: something that you look back now and you're like, while
Speaker 1: we did that, or do you know that you still
Speaker 1: have so much further to go.
Speaker 4: I always reflect back and I'm like, not only why
Speaker 4: we did that, but damn, how did we do that?
Speaker 4: You know, given all the constraints and the timelines that
Speaker 4: you know, we were trying to push everything into. Even
Speaker 4: back when I was playing football, pledging military, you know,
Speaker 4: it was like all these things I looked by my
Speaker 4: how did I do that? And I think all that
Speaker 4: built me to be able to handle and showcase myself
Speaker 4: here and I think what the biggest thing that, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm proud to say is, look, we as a minority,
Speaker 4: the minorities in the organization have helped me launch this
Speaker 4: program that we've never had. You know what's interesting too,
Speaker 4: is like, you know, when you work in the corporate world,
Speaker 4: every year, you have compliance training. Every year, you have
Speaker 4: a sexual harassment training. Every year, you have a national
Speaker 4: or global sales meeting, and then there's training there. But
Speaker 4: give me one instance where you've had a mandatory diversity training,
Speaker 4: even just one time a year. I know we don't
Speaker 4: have enough time to wait, but I'll tell you not
Speaker 4: too many people have it, but alone most companies they
Speaker 4: might have as an option.
Speaker 3: It's almost in almost right.
Speaker 4: And so to be able to have a mandatory diversity
Speaker 4: type of program. And the reason why I like the
Speaker 4: diversity like titles because it can be we can maneuver
Speaker 4: based on the environment, the situation, and the culture.
Speaker 2: Et cetera, to you know, cater to a certain situation.
Speaker 4: But like we have the opportunity to start with the
Speaker 4: mandate mandate of training with the executive level team and
Speaker 4: then mandated to the rest of the company.
Speaker 2: And to me, that's amazing.
Speaker 4: That we're able to do something like that starting from scratch,
Speaker 4: like with nothing, no foundation.
Speaker 2: I've never had it ever.
Speaker 4: And you know, the CEO mentioned it, like he's embarrassed
Speaker 4: to even say that there was no not even an
Speaker 4: optional training, right that we had to discuss uh, you know,
Speaker 4: leadership or I'm sorry, diversity amongst even.
Speaker 2: The leadership team. Right.
Speaker 4: So, like, no wonder why certain teams look the way
Speaker 4: that because we like to call it unconscious biased, like
Speaker 4: they're biased towards what they know, right and who they know,
Speaker 4: thinking that they're doing the right thing because nobody has
Speaker 4: ever told them, really that they were wrong. And it's
Speaker 4: not that they were wrong, it's just that they were
Speaker 4: feeding into the same systematic process over and over and over, right,
Speaker 4: And I think, you know, I have a problem when
Speaker 4: somebody says that it's not the system that's causing racism.
Speaker 2: Like I can go on and on and talk about that, but.
Speaker 4: We know that certain things are built in because certain
Speaker 4: people are either threatened or.
Speaker 2: They want to stay at the top. We know that.
Speaker 4: And the crazy thing is that we as a black
Speaker 4: community have more power than we give our credit give
Speaker 4: ourselves credit for, and we could definitely do a lot
Speaker 4: more if we all collectively work together. And I think
Speaker 4: that's what we've showcased here, you know, at a dig
Speaker 4: at Ntara, because my whole my team is diverse, Latinos,
Speaker 4: you know, women, gay, men, gay, it's very diverse. And
Speaker 4: you talk about the power that we have on some
Speaker 4: of the things we've been able to move in just
Speaker 4: in the last five months. It's just been extraordinary.
Speaker 1: It's so incredibly important listening to you describe your team
Speaker 1: that we support one another, and that's the thing that
Speaker 1: you touched on and I think is so important that
Speaker 1: you have this very diverse group that understands the power
Speaker 1: of unity and of understanding, having empathy for and support
Speaker 1: for each other's struggles, because all of our struggles aren't
Speaker 1: the same, but they're all very real. And to accept
Speaker 1: and respect the struggles that others have to deal with,
Speaker 1: and to be able to support each other in that way,
Speaker 1: I think adds to what you said with regards to
Speaker 1: the power that we have when we're together. I've been
Speaker 1: having conversations and I think, even if it wasn't our
Speaker 1: last show, the show before that, where there was a prominent, articulate,
Speaker 1: educated black man on a cable TV news show saying
Speaker 1: that diversity training was counter productive, that systemic racism didn't exist,
Speaker 1: and speaking for all black people, he said that black
Speaker 1: people were tired of being the subject of diversity training
Speaker 1: and being looked at as victims and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And it's just like, man, we misplace our pride sometimes
Speaker 1: because I think this, I think this man was attempting
Speaker 1: to appear, you know, proud. I don't need your sympathy,
Speaker 1: and I don't need your you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't need you to feel sorry for And there's
Speaker 1: no such thing as white privilege, and there's no such
Speaker 1: thing as systemic racism, and you know, companies need to
Speaker 1: do away with diversity training because it adds to the racism.
Speaker 1: And it's like, we have to educate ourselves more. We
Speaker 1: have to educate and help and support each other more.
Speaker 1: Have you had any instances where you had kind of
Speaker 1: that counter culture presented to not tear it down, but
Speaker 1: be against what it is that you're trying to do.
Speaker 2: You know, right now, it hasn't been brought to my attention.
Speaker 4: In that fashion where it's been like blatant, I should say,
Speaker 4: But I think those that, as I was mentioning before,
Speaker 4: those that haven't responded. Not that I'm expecting everybody to
Speaker 4: send me an email, text, phone calls, pat me on
Speaker 4: the back, but I think that says a lot about
Speaker 4: an individual's character of what you.
Speaker 2: Know, what you say, and what you don't say.
Speaker 4: You know, people that are appearing or not appearing on
Speaker 4: some of the events. You know, people that are providing
Speaker 4: feedback or not providing feedback.
Speaker 2: You can you know, you.
Speaker 4: Have a feeling of certain individuals that are looking for
Speaker 4: you to fail, not merely because they're jealous and they
Speaker 4: feel like they're competing against you as an individual, but
Speaker 4: because you're black, because you're you know, Latino, because you're
Speaker 4: you know, gay, whatever the case, it may be right,
Speaker 4: and it shouldn't.
Speaker 2: Be like that.
Speaker 4: And the reason I disagree with you know what that
Speaker 4: individual was saying that you were mentioning.
Speaker 2: And I'm not going to give credit to.
Speaker 1: The person's name, but exactly I said it before, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say it again.
Speaker 4: The reason why I disagree with that man is because
Speaker 4: it's not just a psyche of an individual feeling like
Speaker 4: they're being that somebody being racist towards now, it's the
Speaker 4: physical act of somebody doing something or verbally saying something
Speaker 4: to somebody that's racist.
Speaker 2: You know, they may not necessarily know it, or sometimes
Speaker 2: they do.
Speaker 4: But the reason why I call it systematic, Now what
Speaker 4: people have their own version of what systematic means. But
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, the system means it's
Speaker 4: a process. There's a start and then there's a beginning.
Speaker 4: Somebody had to do some teaching, right, And that's why
Speaker 4: we have even the you know, a reform that we're
Speaker 4: trying to do with even the criminal justice system, right
Speaker 4: because there is a system that's in place that kind
Speaker 4: of outlines and targets mostly black people, right, And I
Speaker 4: don't care what you want to say or just go
Speaker 4: to your local jail or prison in that area and
Speaker 4: you're gonna easily see that the population is mostly black
Speaker 4: in Latinos and most of them are because of petty
Speaker 4: crimes that they probably shouldn't even be locked up, you know,
Speaker 4: for what they did.
Speaker 2: But that's a whole different topic in conversation.
Speaker 4: I just think that, you know, when people make comments
Speaker 4: like that, especially when they are supposed to be very intelligent,
Speaker 4: I feel like is that a marketing ploy to try
Speaker 4: to get more you know, visibility or of some sort,
Speaker 4: because there's not one black person that has at one
Speaker 4: point felt like they've been treated racist or unfair because
Speaker 4: of the just merely because of the color. Vers If
Speaker 4: anybody feels that way, that, to me, that person is
Speaker 4: a wire.
Speaker 1: Unless they've been incredibly sheltered, you know, never left their
Speaker 1: hometown or their neighborhood and only been around their family
Speaker 1: and people that look like them, you'd have an impossible
Speaker 1: time trying to convince me, you know that you've never
Speaker 1: experienced any type of inkling of being treated differently, viewed differently,
Speaker 1: looked at differently, like the first time I got on
Speaker 1: the shuttle at Bowling Green, it was very very clear
Speaker 1: that there were some people in there that had never
Speaker 1: seen anybody that looked like us before.
Speaker 3: And you know.
Speaker 1: When I got into my Black Studies class, I had
Speaker 1: a classmate who was from BG who had actually never
Speaker 1: seen a black person in real life before, and he
Speaker 1: expressed that we were in doctor Jack Taylor's class, and
Speaker 1: he expressed that to me, and our first conversations were
Speaker 1: really contentious and not cool. We ended up being really
Speaker 1: cool by the end of it. But he was sincerely
Speaker 1: ignorant of some things to say some things out loud
Speaker 1: in class where you would just be like, dude, you
Speaker 1: couldn't have just said that out loud. So, like you said, Mike,
Speaker 1: we could talk about this stuff for five more hours,
Speaker 1: but you know, I don't want to keep you from
Speaker 1: the family for too long. If people want to learn
Speaker 1: more about what you're doing or support in any way,
Speaker 1: we're some places they can go find some more information
Speaker 1: and be supportive of the cause that you guys are
Speaker 1: pushing forward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we we do have a Facebook, you know.
Speaker 2: Natara dot Com is our website for the company.
Speaker 4: We do try to have some different social postings on Facebook.
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of the things that I'm doing
Speaker 4: now is mostly for the employees internally, but we will
Speaker 4: showcase like external speakers that are coming in to motivate
Speaker 4: or you know, provide their perspective. I think we're also
Speaker 4: will not think I know, we're also on LinkedIn. Look
Speaker 4: forward to Tara Inc. On LinkedIn, and you know, definitely
Speaker 4: follow us because we always have some real exciting news
Speaker 4: that's coming out with the technology that we have as
Speaker 4: proprietary only to us. And on top of that, you know,
Speaker 4: one of the things that I wanted to do, as
Speaker 4: I mentioned the vision, was to showcase our employees of.
Speaker 2: Color, and we are going to be posting, you know.
Speaker 4: Different individuals throughout the company on our Instagram or on
Speaker 4: our at least Facebook and LinkedIn. Some of the partnerships
Speaker 4: that we have, especially with the HBCUs in that community.
Speaker 2: They'll be posted on both Facebook and on LinkedIn. But
Speaker 2: by all means, please continue to forward.
Speaker 4: We're public companies, so you can see us on the
Speaker 4: stocks as our stocks continue to rise, and I think
Speaker 4: it's going to rise even more as we become more
Speaker 4: diverse and embrace diversity and inclusion. For the years to come,
Speaker 4: so it's a very exciting time for me and for
Speaker 4: the organization.
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, it means the world to me that
Speaker 1: you were able to take some time away from the
Speaker 1: family and make some time to talk with me.
Speaker 3: Mike. I'm super proud.
Speaker 1: Of you, brother, and the things that you are doing
Speaker 1: within the terror and within the community are super important.
Speaker 3: They're vital.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you saw the value in it, that
Speaker 1: you saw that pressure and that responsibility as necessary, and
Speaker 1: that you took that on your shoulders.
Speaker 3: And please keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: For everybody that tuned in, we appreciate you tuning in
Speaker 1: the Civic Cipher again. I'm your host q Ward. Check
Speaker 1: us out Civiccipher dot com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram at Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1: There are ways to donate and give back and support
Speaker 1: the show. You guys are are our lifeline. We do
Speaker 1: this for our community. We are funded and upheld by
Speaker 1: the community as well. Until next time, Peace,