How do you work with people to create or foster diversity in the workplace?

For me, the first step is respecting others by listening to what each team member brings to the table and understanding how they behave at work without any biases or pre-judgement.

Everyone has their own background and perspective, so having an open-minded attitude to respect others is a critical component to fostering diversity in the workplace. These differences can lead us to come up with solutions beyond our own limitations.

I continuously do self-assessments to see if I have any biases or stereotypes when it comes to job titles, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc.

How have your past experiences influenced these efforts and how you approach your work, your colleagues, and the world as a whole?

When I got my master’s degree in Human Computer Interaction, I learned the power of diversity. Most courses required team-based assignments or projects and each team had members with different backgrounds such as computer science, psychology, information visualization, human factors, etc. This experience taught me the power of diversity by showing me how understanding and respecting others to work together can deliver optimized outcomes.

From this point on I always tried to prioritize diversity in my work by respecting my colleagues without any biases and continuing to create an environment of understanding.

Has diversity played a role in your leadership style or how you approach your work?

As a UX researcher, empathy is key to leading a successful project. I need to understand people’s differences to fully understand their pain points, needs, and expectations as a customer, user, stakeholder, client, etc.

Respecting and understanding others greatly benefits me in helping to build my empathy at work.

What does it mean to you to have a commitment to diversity and inclusion? How do you think we can continue to support the need for social change?

Diversity and inclusion is like air. Without it, I can’t live, nor can others. It is not a goal to be checked or assessed. It needs to live everywhere. To create a better society, we need to walk forward together.

Ventera has a great atmosphere for this ideal world. Everyone respects each other and listens to each other’s voices. The organization shows a clear commitment to DEI through providing educational opportunities, the DRIVE employee resource group, and prioritizing diverse hiring practices. I am happy to be part of these initiatives.

What does it mean to you to be Asian American/Pacific Islander?

I identify myself as a Korean who lives in America. As an Asian American, I want to share more about Korean culture with people here and explain how all countries in Asia have their own lifestyles. Contrary to popular belief, China, Japan, and Korea are not the same.