As the workforce continues to more closely reflect our actual population demographics, diversity and its sibling, inclusion, are becoming even more important to learn about and understand. “Diversity” is shorthand for the mix of employees when it comes to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and so on, while “inclusion” is making the mix work.
This week’s episode is all about speaking up and speaking out for diversity and inclusion. I discussed extensively with Meryl Afrika how newcomers, immigrants, and international students can master the art of speaking up for diversity and inclusion.
Meryl is the current President of CAUFP, a non-profit organization that provides a link between corporations and the Black community, through innovative programming that increases Black talent pipelines, provides educational opportunities, and fosters economic growth.
Meryl’s career within Canada’s Financial Services industry started when she emigrated from South Africa and began working at Mogo Finance Technology Inc., an emerging Fintech company located in Western Canada. After 3 years within the start-up space, Meryl embarked on a sales career in Commercial Banking at CIBC where she managed the sales portfolio for Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Meryl transitioned from Sales to Product Management, where she leveraged her client experience to develop and manage payment products for clients within the Small Business, Mid-Market and Large Corporate segments.
Meryl currently works as a Payments Expert, Marketing & Innovation at Peoples Group, where she is responsible for representing the organization’s interests in working groups and task forces related to payment policy and by-law review in the Payment Modernization Program led by Payments Canada, Bank of Canada and the Ministry of Finance.
Meryl holds a Bachelor of Information Technology with a specialization in Business Systems from Monash University.
I invited Meryl Afrika here to discuss practical strategies that immigrants can use to speak up for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This is one episode you should not miss and share with everyone you love.
Thanks so much for joining me again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!
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Special thanks to Meryl Afrika for joining us this week. Until next time!
