WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.349 --> 00:00:04.932 (upbeat music) 2 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:14.250 It's such an honor to be here. 3 00:00:14.250 --> 00:00:17.040 I'm Aliya Bhatia, and I'm humbled and grateful 4 00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:20.670 to be one of the winners for the 2022 DEI BCG 5 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:22.170 North America Award. 6 00:00:22.170 --> 00:00:24.360 So I work for an organization called Vot-ER. 7 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:28.140 We help hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses, social workers, 8 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:30.450 health care associations around the country 9 00:00:30.450 --> 00:00:33.090 to integrate voter access into the work that they do. 10 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:34.620 And part of why we do that is because 11 00:00:34.620 --> 00:00:37.500 the American Medical Association describes voting 12 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:39.480 as a critical determinant of health. 13 00:00:39.480 --> 00:00:41.580 That it's so important that if we're going to impact 14 00:00:41.580 --> 00:00:44.190 people's health, we also impact the things happening 15 00:00:44.190 --> 00:00:47.040 around them including their environment, 16 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:50.220 their access to food, their access to good jobs, 17 00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:52.140 and voting is a really important way 18 00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:53.853 to move and shape policy. 19 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.410 So I remember being a young sprightly associate 20 00:00:58.410 --> 00:01:01.500 in the Atlanta office, and I had set up a meeting 21 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:04.170 with Alan Wise to talk about an interesting idea 22 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.720 for a workshop around diversity, equity, and inclusion. 23 00:01:06.720 --> 00:01:08.880 And as a young person I wasn't sure how 24 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:09.840 I was going to be received. 25 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.460 I was really new to the firm. 26 00:01:11.460 --> 00:01:13.830 And I sat down with Alan and presented this idea 27 00:01:13.830 --> 00:01:15.420 around bringing the whole office together 28 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:16.980 around topics of diversity. 29 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:18.540 And he was excited about it. 30 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:21.390 He offered me a mentor, he offered me resources, 31 00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:23.070 and he said to make sure to keep him in the loop 32 00:01:23.070 --> 00:01:24.570 as the idea progressed. 33 00:01:24.570 --> 00:01:26.730 That evolved into a workshop that we affectionately 34 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:28.230 called Harnessing All the Brilliance, 35 00:01:28.230 --> 00:01:29.640 which we did in partnership with 36 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:31.590 the National Center for Civil and Human Rights 37 00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:33.420 under the leadership of Doug Shipman 38 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:37.050 who is a BCG alum, and then also with Rod Garcia Escudero 39 00:01:37.050 --> 00:01:39.150 who ran training for the office and is now 40 00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:40.740 the head of the Atlanta office. 41 00:01:40.740 --> 00:01:42.660 And it was through that work that I learned 42 00:01:42.660 --> 00:01:45.630 the valuable importance of uplifting more junior voices 43 00:01:45.630 --> 00:01:48.300 on the team and making sure folks who may not have 44 00:01:48.300 --> 00:01:51.900 an obvious in to be able to give their perspective are given 45 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:54.570 the opportunity to bring new projects and new ideas 46 00:01:54.570 --> 00:01:55.403 to the forefront. 47 00:01:55.403 --> 00:01:59.103 And I think that's a really critical DEI area of expertise. 48 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:03.630 When I think about what organizations can do to support DEI, 49 00:02:03.630 --> 00:02:05.190 it's about constantly evolving, 50 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:06.960 it's about using some of the same things that we 51 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.860 teach and learn at BCG to set goals and to create strategies 52 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:13.320 that are integrated with DEI concepts, 53 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:15.660 and that we're measuring each touchpoint along the way. 54 00:02:15.660 --> 00:02:17.310 When I think about individuals, 55 00:02:17.310 --> 00:02:19.830 it's both about the inner work of developing and how we 56 00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:22.710 communicate around DEI and how we advance DEI 57 00:02:22.710 --> 00:02:24.180 in our everyday actions. 58 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:25.890 And it's also about something that we think is 59 00:02:25.890 --> 00:02:28.320 really important at Vote-ER, which is making sure that we 60 00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:30.870 cast our political voice through our vote and making sure 61 00:02:30.870 --> 00:02:33.120 that a part of what we're doing is shaping the policies 62 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:36.153 around us to support that DEI ecosystem as well. 63 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:40.002 (upbeat music)