In this intro to Diversity Be Like, host Sequoia Houston gives listeners an idea of what to expect from the podcast when it launches on February 4, 2021. 



Episode Highlights:



  • Sequoia briefly introduces herself and the podcast. In 2017, she started mochastock.com due to a lack of stock photos featuring Black people. She hopes that people will understand different ways they can foster diversity, equity, and inclusion from listening to the podcast. Not every guest’s views will align with her own. Her goal is to share her guests’ views without judgment. 





Tweetable Quotes:



  • “Inclusion is far more than just throwing a person of color at it.” - Sequoia Houston





Resources Mentioned:







Show Transcript

Hi everybody and welcome to Diversity Be Like. I’m your host Sequoia Houston. I just first want to thank you for joining me on this journey. I’d be lying if I said I knew exactly where we’d end up but I’m looking forward to learning from different perspectives and understanding how different people handle – or believe we should handle – diversity across different industries and spaces.

 

I guess I should start by telling you a little bit about me. Then I’ll share my objectives for the show…and I’ll end by inviting you to listen to the first real episode, which launches February 4th at 10am EST. You can find it at diversitybelike.com – and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

 

I am the CEO and founder of MochaStock.com, a stock media agency focused on images featuring diversity and people of color. I started the agency in 2017 after I got frustrated by working on a marketing campaign and, yet again, not being able to find diverse images.

 

I never intended to be a thought leader in the space of diversity. I was just an aggravated marketer who figured, you know what? I’ll just do it myself.

 

Since that time, I’ve had numerous conversations with people who view diversity and how we should handle bias and inclusion in many different ways….and I thought it would be interesting to share some of those conversations. I also wanted to get away from the idea that diversity is limited to hiring practices – since that’s where we tend to hear it most. I also think there’s a real danger in the idea that we should just do it because it’s the right thing to do. It is, however, there are real implications from bias and I want to explore that and show people that inclusion is far more than just “throwing a person of color at it.”

 

My hope is that as people listen to this podcast, they’re able to take away new ideas and thoughts about how they can foster authentic inclusion , equity and respect in their lives. I want it to be known, that I’m simply facilitating conversations and exploring diversity of thought and that not every guests’ views represent my own. I think that there will be some really fun conversations, interesting conversations and even uncomfortable conversations and my goal is just to share them – not judge them.

 

So, I hope you enjoy Diversity Be Like. I hope you’re able to be open-minded, I hope you’re able to share your mind with me, with people around you and most importantly, in the spaces where it matters most. Bias is a hell of a problem to solve but, I truly believe that it’s something we can solve together…..so…..let’s do it.