My name is Avil Beckford, and I started The One Problem Podcast because it's a way for us to learn from each other. In most cases, I have some prior relationship with the people who come on. One of my friends from Ellevate Network recommended I bring on my very special guest today.

Ashley Brundage is a leadership and empowerment expert. Over to you, Ashley?

Ashley Brundage

Thank you. Hi, I'm excited to be here and present my one problem. And today my one problem is diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I say, it's a problem. Because what happens is a lot of people get very polarized about those words and they get scared and they immediately put up their guard and they don't want to hear what's coming next.

They want to run from what is this problem. I have some solutions to drive real change. I came up with a four-step Empowerment process that anyone can do to navigate this diversity, equity, and inclusion problem without ever saying diversity, equity and inclusion. And so I call it empowering differences.

Empowering differences is a four-step process to live by as a solution for diversity, equity and inclusion. It applies to everyone because let's break this down first. Empowerment is of course, authority and power connected to people. It's important to everyone on this planet. Even Jeff Bezos wants more empowerment.

And then we have differences hanging out over here, and differences are also something that every single person of the 7 billion different people on this planet has. And so when we have empowering differences as a construct, a leadership construct that anyone can do, you realize this with step one, which is to know yourself.

So I actually published an empowerment assessment to help you categorize where empowerment lives for you by isolating the authority items. That emotional confidence building driven section of your world from the power items, which is, of course, all the tracked measured resources, which is of course sometimes money. It's sometimes power elements like contracts, business wins, business gains, business losses from a non-inclusive environment.

Have you read or watched?

1. Sandra Folk, How to Deliver Effective Presentations
2. Dorothy Vernon-Brown, Marketing Automation Strategist
3. Tessa Drayton, The Importance of Having a Crisis Management Plan
4. Safiya Robinson, Writing Coach, Editor, and Author
5. Robin Sacks, Confidence Coach: How to Flip the Switch on Negative Self Talk
6. Diane Darling, Professional Networking Strategist; Speaker, Instructor & Coach
7. Rosie Yeung, Founder and President Changing Lenses
8. Nancy Ynchaustegui, Health and Fitness Coach
9. Carol Walkner, Life Guide, Energy Healer, and Clairvoyant
10. Mariett Ramm, Founder, the Powerful Woman, International Bestselling Author
11. Sarah Elkins, Storytelling and StrengthsFinder Coach
12. Debbie McKiver, Founder of the Strong and Healthy Temple
13. Hedieh Safiyari, Founder, Prompt Health, Healthcare Solutions
14. Benita Lee, Trade Consultant, Founder, Benita Lee Professional Corporation
15. Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
16. Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
17. Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant

Ashley Brundage

But also it very well could be time, the most powerful of the empowerment elements that exist in this world. And so then you're going to work on this empowerment journey by seeing step two is to know others and learning about the 10 most common differences that we hold as humans, because we all have them.

Race, ethnicity, religion, gender, social-economic class, ability, age, educational background and language. All of those are the part of the 10 most common differences that we have as humans and how you use them, how you have them. You live on access in this world of privilege, or dis-privilege in relation to the 10 differences.

Engaging on my platform, we really helped the user better understand how to navigate empowerment as a construct, which will lead you to understanding step three, which is to develop your strategy for empowerment and being strategic means which differences of yours to empower in which setting. But also which differences of the other 7 billion people on the planet and how to empower them in every setting as well.

Ashley Brundage: Leadership and Empowerment Expert

Which will then lead you to the fourth and final step of my four-step empowerment process, which is empowering actions. And so I call them empowering actions because it's a leadership action that you can do. Ultimately, these 10 empowering actions connect to diversity, equity and inclusion without ever saying that in the initial discussion.

So of course the 10 actions are lots of things like inclusion and providing access for people and enlightenment, but you navigate how you can drive empowerment through each of these actions is literally what will shape our future together and solve DEI without ever saying DEI.

Avil Beckford

This is so interesting because when a lot of people hear DEI, in whatever shape or form, they want to run for the hills. It's been overused, but how you have presented your framework, it's very accessible. And as you are talking about knowing yourself, and knowing others, the first two steps of your framework, what struck me was that it has so much to do with being emotionally intelligent.

Ashley Brundage

Yeah. EQ is a big part of empowerment. You can't actually drive empowerment for other people until you have yourself ready to do that. And that's being consciously aware of where you fit into the world. And I had to overcome harassment, discrimination and homelessness as an out transgender woman living in Florida.

And I had to find employment and figure out how I fit into the world. And then I realized that while I had all these 10 differences. Some of them I had with lots of privilege still. I could see, I can move, I can hear, I can walk. I could talk.  I have white privilege since I live in America. That's a huge advantage.

And I could utilize the empowerment in those settings to drive change for me, but then realize that I had to connect it to people in general. And then that's when I started thinking, wait a minute, I have an empowerment model that actually can work for anyone on this planet. If they use this same principle of empowerment, using the four steps, there's nothing ‌we can't accomplish.

Avil Beckford

Thank you so much. This has been very enlightening.

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