Guest Interviews
16. Purple Coach Conversations' interview with Joyce Osei, Diversity and Inclusion Advocate, Author and Speaker
This month we are joined by diversity & inclusion advocate, author and speaker: Joyce Osei. Joyce is on a mission to inspire, impact and innovate Entrepreneurs and Senior Leaders in Tech and beyond through Diversity and Inclusion.
For over 8 years Joyce worked to increase the representation of women in male dominated industries by supporting leaders to attract, retain and develop their female talent.
Joyce is very passionate about increasing the representation of people from marginalized backgrounds through video content, because it’s vital that people have a safe space to share their lived experiences.
As part of tackling under-representation in Diversity & Inclusion, Joyce wrote and published her first book in 2020 'The Adventures of Amma and Kwessi in Barbados A children’s story inspired by her two children and her Ghanaian and Barbadian heritage.
She has also co-authored Voices of Hope, sharing her personal story of how she became an author to inspire and transform other people's lives; particularly women. Most recently Joyce co-authored Resilient Voices, true stories of resilience and positivity from a pandemic (published in 2021) where she contributes her lived experience.
Joyce continues to increase representation as she moderates conversations and creates a safe space for female business owners in Fempreneurs In Action, on ClubHouse.
In this episode we discuss:
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The importance of sharing lived experiences across all groups of people, as some will never understand them if they live, work and breathe one particular perspective. This can help breakdown the barriers and understand racism in ways that some people still do not understand.
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The lack of representation of Black children in children's books and how that affected her and her children. How this lack of role models in books is also a problem that is faced by many other non-White children.
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The power of sharing stories that are difficult to share, but given a safe space to do, can have a tremendous effect on ourselves and others.
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We discuss the various ways to share our stories, whether it's written, spoken, poems, dance, etc. and the importance of doing so in a way that feels most authentic to yourself.
Watch the full video interview below:
You can also listen to an audio version of our interview here:
Connect with Joyce on Social Media: