An unexpected invitation to be encouraged about DEI in these times
An unexpected invitation to be encouraged about DEI in these times
Wow, I am reeling…. in a good way.
Last week, I attended Blooming Day 2025, a one-day conference focused on the future of social care.
As I shared last week, I became a bit of a hermit during the pandemic. Stepping back into live, in-person spaces like this has been a little more nerve-wracking than I’d care to admit.. and also healing and invigorating. I’m so grateful that Dorella Walters, one of the panel moderators and someone I’ve known since my pre-pandemic days, posted about this conference. I got far more out of attending that I expected!
What is Blooming Day?
Blooming Day brought together people across healthcare, social care, community-based organizations, philanthropy, and public policy to share insights and imagine new pathways for equity and improved outcomes for everyone. You can see the full agenda here.
A keynote that took me by surprise.
The opening keynote speaker, Dr. Archelle Georgiou, set the tone beautifully - at one point referencing Maybe Happy Ending!!!! I was NOT expecting that.
If you haven’t heard of it yet, Maybe Happy Ending is my favorite new Broadway show, and I had just seen it for the second time a few days for before the conference. It has TEN Tony nominations and I am completely in awe of Helen J Shen, an incredible Asian American female lead who is only 24. Watching her on stage has meant so much to me. I hate how much representation matters because in an ideal world it wouldn't - but here we are.
To hear that show referenced in this context was a beautiful and deeply unexpected moment of resonance. Dr. Georgiou used it to illustrate how seeing each other is part of the human condition - and that’s what social care is about.
Cross-sector collaboration in action.
The conversations - on and off stage - were rich with insight and strategy. I was especially struck by the depth of collaboration across sectors. Community-based organizations, healthcare providers, social care networks, government agencies, philanthropic funders, and mission-driven businesses were all in the room together - not just sharing space but clearly already in collaboration, building and implementing creative, innovative and integrated strategy.
It felt like a real-time case study of the kind of coalition-building we’re always encouraging our clients to lean into - because no single org, and definitely no single person, can carve a path out of the systemic mess we’re in alone.
Connecting the dots: social care and workplace equity.
As a workplace and culture consultant, I kept thinking about the gap between the external and internal. So many orgs are skilled at applying a systemic equity lens to the communities they serve - but haven’t yet turned that lens inward.
We’ve been working with clients to explore what it means to “walk the walk” internally:
to name the social determinants of work, not just health;
to ask not only how to prepare people impacted by systems of oppression to enter the workforce,
but how to prepare the workplace to receive them.
It’s one thing to want your workforce to reflect the communities you work in. It’s another to recognize that most workplaces weren’t built for systemically and historically marginalized (or really any) folks to thrive. And when you don’t address that reality, the very lived experiences you hired someone for can be the barrier to individual and org success, not because of individual shortcomings but because of systemic failures… just as it does in healthcare, education and more.
And then - this moment I will never forget:
Following a heartbreaking protest by a disability activist during the presentation by the NYS Department of Health, there was an unscheduled break. The MC ended up inviting volunteers to introduce themselves to the audience.
Still regulating myself after the emotional disruption, I decided to go for it and raised my hand.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick and my pronouns are she/her. I’m the founder of Co-Creating Inclusion and we are consultants formerly known as DEI consultants…”
People laughed in exactly the “lolsob” way I intended.
I continued:
“We remain as committed as ever to our mission...”
AND PEOPLE CLAPPED AND CHEERED!!!!!!!
Let me get this straight: I stood up in a room full of people in this, the year of 2025, and announced I was a DEI consultant - and people clapped and cheered.
This is not about me. They weren’t clapping and cheering for me.
THEY WERE CLAPPING AND CHEERING FOR DEI.
Now obviously this was a very particular kind of audience - folks who are deeply committed to addressing social and health disparities.
But I’m taking it. I’m taking it as data.
My interpretation of the data is that this is validation on top of other data points that tell me:
people (not everyone of course, but some) care deeply about DEI.
they understand how important it is.
they are not buying the bullshit about it.
People are rightly scared - about funding, about social services, about Medicaid, about jobs. But people (at least the ones who meant it in the first place) are not abandoning their missions and values.
What they are doing is regrouping and figuring out how to navigate the current climate.
Reading the room - not just that moment but the whole day - I am… dare I say it, encouraged?
There, I said it. I’m encouraged.
And I invite you to be encouraged too.
Banner photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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