Embrace Diversity by Tamera Love, CMP

My journey into the world of corporate diversity & inclusion began in the fall of 2011 when a colleague invited me to attend an OUT@NBCUniversal Event being held at the Los Angeles LGBT Center in Hollywood. It was there I fell in love with the energy of the group and was happy to have had the opportunity to meet so many amazing colleagues from our Film, Television, and Theme Park divisions. From that day, I found myself volunteering for AIDSWalk fundraisers, professional development workshops, networking events, and annual tentpole events such as the Los Angeles Pride Parade held in West Hollywood and the OutFest Hosted Filmmakers’ Reception held at the DGA (Director’s Guild) on Sunset Boulevard. I was all in as an ally, and it gave me an opportunity to not only learn more about the LGBTQ+ community but it allowed me to get to know managers, directors, and VPs from various Comcast NBCUniversal entities such as E! Networks, Focus Features Films, Universal Pictures, Fandango, and Bravo TV. To this day, I’m still an OUT SoCal member, but I stepped down from the Steering Committee at the end of 2018 to join the Black Employee Network (aka BEN) @ NBCU as a 2019 Community Outreach Co-Chair and 2020 Event Chair.

I share this with you to encourage you to embrace diversity. You can join a group of your peers to help educate others about your culture or you can join a group of people whose culture differs from yours to expand your views on various cultures, lifestyles and ideologies. Together we can learn how to support one another, embrace our differences and become cognizant of what it takes to plan more inclusive events.

In addition to October being Global Diversity Awareness Month, this is also National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and LGBTQ History Month. Notable dates include 10/11 (National Coming Out Day), 10/15 (Spirit Day – an LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign www.glaad.org/spiritday#what), and September 15 – October 15 are the 2020 celebration dates for Hispanic Heritage Month.

It’s a lot to take in but we can do it and we’ll make it fun, engaging, and educational.  #EmbraceDiversity, #MPISCC