The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 13, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place virtually Dec. 8.
Next is Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Industry Executive of the Year finalist Arvenita Washington Cherry, who’s senior director of DE&I at Maximus. Here, she talks career turning points, learning from failures, proud career moments and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2020/2021?
In the middle of a pandemic and racially polarizing climate, heightened by the murder of George Floyd among others, I started in this new position with Maximus, and we have developed a DE&I Strategy where there had not been one before.
One example of what has been started is the institution of Community Conversations, where we discuss DE&I-related topics. These conversations are facilitated by a moderator and help demonstrate how individuals with different perspectives and opposing viewpoints can have respectful, insightful, and productive discussions together.
This employee engagement and education platform has been a critical piece in centering our DE&I work, and we have held 11 of them so far in 2021.
I also introduced a Cultural Heritage Recognition Program that highlights different groups each month and connects to our Community Conversation topic along with our DE&I First Friday Networking Event. At those networking events, we share stories, play trivia, encourage employees to make connections and meet someone new to increase cultural awareness and to build community across difference.
In short, the most important thing I accomplished is connecting our colleagues in this work by listening to them, learning from them and engaging them as partners.
What has made you successful in your current role?
I am an educator at heart, and that guides my approach. My goals are always to increase learning and understanding while connecting people. Because of those values, I am better positioned to support people across a continuum of understanding sensitive topics, which has allowed our DE&I programs to flourish this year.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
I am most proud of developing our company’s comprehensive DE&I framework from the ground up. Being able to engage our entire company around centering DE&I in everything that we do will lead us to do better in the future and there is a lot of energy and support to make this happen.
One aspect of that I’m very proud is the launch our first-ever unconscious bias training with a personal bias assessment for our U.S. employees. It’s one way that our managers and our employees can enter into a real, meaningful conversation about what unconscious bias is, and how it impacts our work place on a daily basis.
What are your primary focuses going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
I have three key areas of focus moving forward. First, to support our goals of increasing diversity, equity and inclusion through our recruitment, development, retention and promotion efforts. Second, continued support of the development of our Employee Resource Groups. Third, develop a cohort of company DE&I coaches.
Transformative and sustainable DE&I in the business world is critical. Diversity increases profit margin, increases innovation and productivity, and supports a positive workplace environment where everyone can show up as their authentic selves with ability to thrive in their career paths. This also increases the ability to attract and retain top talent, who also value diversity, equity and inclusion and want to work in a place where these concepts are modeled.
As I mentioned, I am an educator at heart and believe in supporting others with the tools to be successful and to ensure our work is transformative and sustainable.
These are the three areas that directly impact the overall success of our business and is vital from a social justice lens to our collective achievement as a nation. We can become the change we want to see in society as we prioritize DE&I as more than a check the box activity.
Looking back at your career, what are you most proud of?
Social justice is my life’s work, and I am most proud of taking people on this journey with me.
My career has spanned being a middle school teacher, university faculty and a practicing anthropologist with a long consulting career to my current role at Maximus. So, it’s fulfilling when I get notes from people who I taught, trained or worked with and they let me know that I have expanded their thinking and/or supported them.
Those kind words validate why I am here and the work I’ve done. More importantly, I am helping others make a difference and it shows this work is so much more than checking a box. As fulfilling as this work is, it is hard. But knowing others are taking up this work alongside me is something that keeps me going.
What’s your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
Make sure you understand how to listen, learn and engage and be prepared to have an ongoing commitment to this and increasing your knowledge.
Make sure you have a deep understanding of a range of DE&I topics, especially those that might not center you or your experiences.
Make sure you are collaborating with and learning from others, but also doing the work of your own learning.
Make sure you are taking coursework or content intensive workshops beyond a DE&I certificate program, which allows you to go deeper on topics of race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, etc. in addition to training on cross communication and community building.
Lastly, but just as equally important — make sure you are developing authentic relationships across difference.