Racism is Real with Y-Vonne Hutchinson

Y-Vonne Hutchinson wants us to cut the bullsh*t and talk openly and honestly about racism.

That's why she wrote her new book, How to Talk to Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down, which equips readers with a framework to think about race at work and prepares them to have frank and effective conversations with leaders.

Y-Vonne is the CEO and founder of ReadySet, one of the country’s biggest diversity, equity, and inclusion training firms that helps tech giants, political leaders, media outlets, and Fortune 500 companies speak more productively about racism, and turn talk about change into real action. 

A graduate of Harvard Law, Y-Vonne worked as an international labor and human rights lawyer for nearly a decade in places like Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and along the Thai/Burmese border in Southeast Asia, before founding her company in 2015, which was inspired by her own experiences with racism in the workforce as a Black woman.

In this interview, Y-Vonne joins us to discuss...

• The insidious ways in which racist policies, attitudes, and cultures can make BIPOC people internalize marginalization
• How a former employer tried to silence Y-Vonne's new book—by attempting to enlist her attorney to turn against her
• The overlaps between historical exploitation of labor and modern-day racism in the workplace
• Considering The Great Resignation as The Great Renegotiation (Planet Money)

Y-Vonne’s work has been featured across CNBC, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Wired Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and beyond. She has spoken at Harvard Law, Yale School of Management, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and MIT Sloan.

Thank you to Y-Vonne for joining us on the podcast!

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