Breaking Boundaries: Recent Episodes
Umesh Lakshman
Hello Everyone, I am super stoked and proud to release the first episode of breaking boundaries. An interview-style videocast and podcast. The goal of #breakingboundaries is to interview everyday heroes to share their learnings, wins, and struggles in the search for a more diverse and inclusive landscape, both within and outside the workplace. My hope is that through these discussions, all of you can see that each and every one of us can do something to be a part of this journey to a more inclusive tomorrow. We would love your support and feedback as we embark on this journey. Everything about this video is off the cuff, no scripts, just a conversation. Because more of us need to have conversations to promote diversity and an inclusive mindset.
In this episode, I am honored to host Nilu Rafsanjani, an accomplished artist, personal trainer, and activist. We get into a lot of "red zone" topics in this episode- mental health, depression, hormonal imbalances such as PMDD, suicide, religion and atheism, beauty, sexism, objectification, body dysmorphia, and being the other. We also talk about the fitness industry, bodybuilding, powerlifting, Performance enhancing drugs, and also how social media affects our perception of what good is supposed to look like.
As a first-generation Peruvian American, Jennifer Boicic, has over 14 years of advocating for and opening doors for the next generation of Latinx talent into the tech space. Throughout her many roles as a sales engineer, management, and now Director of Strategic Alliances at ServiceNow, Jennifer mentors and develops Latinx talent into reaching and fulfilling their own professional goals. She is the founder and co-leader of ServiceNow’s first-ever global Latinx ERG and spearheads several culturally relevant professional and personal development opportunities for her fellow colleagues. When she is not directing and managing multi-million partnership deals, she travels the world, celebrating the richness of different cultures.
Jennifer Boicic has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University of Southern California (USC) and an MBA from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her fierce, yet very loving, family.
Alejandra Hernández-Montaño. Alejandra is dedicated to sharing her journey as a LGBTQ+ professional and parent and was recently named one of the LGBTQ+ community’s most influential leaders in Mexico by Expansión Business Magazine.
Alejandra is a Customer Delivery Leader by day but an activist full-time.
In 2018, she founded and co-led the Mexico Pride Chapter, through growth into a flourishing community. I am proud to have a friend in Alejandra and her a guest on Breaking Boundaries.
Soundbite clip from Episode 3: Diversity Hire→ the term and how it marginalizes good talent
We are back!
Our featured guest for Episode 3 is Sara Saihati
I am super happy to bring a speaker with a different perspective around diversity, inclusion, and a journey for a woman in tech to all of you. With herself being bi-cultural and Muslim, we get into some very interesting topics through the discussion on perception. She is a list of firsts in her domain and am proud to have Sara Saihati who is one of the board members on the young professional's board of Colorado technology association as my next guest.
Our featured guest for episode 2 is Claudia Santamaria.
She is the legal counsel in charge of Cisco Mexico for the past 8 years and currently leader of Women of Cisco Mexico and Community impact Mexico.
On personal note she is a wife, housewife and mother of Twin girls 3 years and a half.
We talk about her journey prior to taking on leadership role in the DEI space and some of the key impetus points for that shift to lead. We discuss stories of allyship and how to develop allies as well as common challenges women face in the corporate world.
Claudia is a phenomenal leader and truly does not hold back any commentary. Transparent and Thought provoking.
thank you for tuning in!
The value of having an employee resource organization around allyship and building male allyship is crucial to a companies journey to a more diverse and inclusive future. On this clipI explain how such an organization can bridge organizational priority and actionable steps.
Sound bites from discussion with Antonette:
Sound bites: Organizational value of an ally ship resource organization
Impostor syndrome. A very well discussed topic in the public domain but we chat here about how its not just a gender issue but also could be due to cultural calibration and could hop over the gender line.
To launch off the program/podcast we interview Antonette Ligons who I had the pleasure of knowing during my tenure at Cisco. Antonette was the original founder of an employee resource group called "Men for Inclusion" within Cisco.
We talk through Race, her journey being a woman of color, her struggles, and tipping points as well as other cultural stereotypes and how it drives discussion around privilege and power.
You can find more information on both me and the program at www.breakingboundariesonline.com. If you know anyone or would like to be featured on this podcast, please drop me an email to umesh@breakingboundariesonline.com
The goal of #breakingboundarieswithumesh is to interview everyday heroes to share their learnings, wins, and struggles in the search for a more diverse and inclusive landscape, both within and outside the workplace.
My hope is that through these discussions, all of you can see that each and every one of us can do something to be a part of this journey to a more inclusive tomorrow.
We would love your support and feedback as we embark on this journey.