I just had the privilege of participating in a LAVNCH and Learn panel with Hope Roth, Alexis La Broi, Dr. Shelby Hill, and Joé Lloyd, moderated by Megan Dutta. It was such a pleasure to learn from the experience and perspective of my fellow panelists, and I wanted to share a few of the top takeaways.

• Hope Roth shared a story of her experience with an AV company that denied her not only maternity leave but even PTO when she had her daughter. Not only did this drive Hope away from the company, but it almost drove her out of the industry. This is an extreme example, but illustrates how saving probably low five figures on salary paid during maternity leave created knock-on problems for the company. Roth departed, costing that company an experienced worker. Now too, if any person asks Roth about potentially working for that company, their recruitment will suffer. Even besides the morals of such harsh treatment of a parent, such decisions are often financial mistakes once all consequences add up.
• Alexis La Broi mentioned a great tip on recruiting, especially when working with limited funds. At her integrator, she works with local government job organizations to find talent. The workers those organizations connect with are motivated, often recently upskilled, and, since they're outside of traditional AV field, often more diverse. Definitely worth looking into considering how hard hiring is these days!
• Dr. Shelby Hill offered so many great examples of how DEI and leadership intersect, but one of his points that stood out most to me was about how your focus on internal retention and promotion of diverse workers contributes to recruitment of diverse workers. What impression do you create for a potential new hire when none of their interviewers look like them? Are you putting your best foot forward and giving your company the best chance of successfully attracting that worker? Obviously so much beyond representation goes into the final decision, but it's something to keep an eye on!

Overall conclusion: Great panel with a ton of actionable insight! If you'd like to learn more, check it out here: https://t.co/bNmtDJYnR0