Business Leaders Unite to ‘Expand Equity’ at TIME’s Martha’s Vineyard Event

"We could cultivate a future where everyone has a place at the table.” 

In the walk-up to a historic election season and a time where republicans have repeatedly labeled Vice President Kamala Harris as the “DEI candidate,” TIME and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation hosted a dinner and panel discussion on Martha’s Vineyard called “Expanding Equity: The Power of Purposeful Leadership.”

Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs interviewed three women of color in leadership roles at prominent businesses about how they promote a culture of inclusion, and how they are trying to help other people and businesses make the same kind of impact. The evening, held at a private home, also included a moving performance by Deon Jones.

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Chef JJ Johnson, founder of the fast-casual chain Field Trip and the mastermind behind the dinner menu, kicked off the event by reminiscing about how he grew up having deeply personal conversations at his grandmother’s dining room table. He pointed out that dinners are the perfect time to talk about equity because food is a great equalizer: everyone has to eat. “Let’s contemplate the power of food to unite people,” he said to a room of about 50 people. “We could cultivate a future where everyone has a place at the table.” 

Sure enough, the panelists got personal right away. La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the company that presented TIME’s event, said she’s one of 10 children and the daughter of an auto industry worker who moved from Clarksdale, Miss., to Detroit, Mich., as part of the Great Migration. Marissa Solis, senior vice president of global brand and consumer marketing at the National Football League (NFL), said she’s an immigrant from Mexico City who grew up in southern Texas, so border policy issues really hit home for her. And Arian Simone, CEO & co-founder of the Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm focused on helping women of color, said she’s inspired by her grandmother, who, as a domestic worker, asked her client’s financial advisor where to put her money one day and ended up with three homes and a robust stocks and bonds portfolio.

Jacobs asked Solis how the NFL measures its impact on society. Solis talked about the league’s efforts to help fans register to vote and then urge them to vote on Election Day. Internally, she talked about how much more diverse the NFL has become over the years, explaining that the league is majority diverse, that 51% of the company is made up of women and people of color, plus there are nine head coaches of color, eight general managers of color, and seven club presidents of color. She talked about how the league has programs that connect employees, mostly women and people of color, to powerful business players in the NFL, and that the efforts have resulted internally “in a transformation.”

Tabron chimed in that people of color make up more than half of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, an organization focused on propelling vulnerable children to success. People of color make up 60% of its board, and leaders of color make up 60% of its portfolio. A big focus of the foundation since the pandemic and the protests for racial justice following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer is recruiting, retaining, and promoting people of color—and helping other companies do that same work. “We now are working with almost 200 companies and over 800 executives who have all come together to say, ‘this work starts at home. How do we create environments of belonging within our own institutions?’” Tabron said.

The Fearless Fund, the nation’s first venture-capital (VC) firm run by women of color, has made national headlines recently. In June, a Florida appeals court said that one of Fearless Fund’s grant programs for Black women violates the Civil Rights Act. The case was brought by Edward Blum, the conservative activist behind the cases that led to the Supreme Court ruling unconstitutional any college admissions policies that consider race as a factor. When Jacobs asked her to comment on how the organization is doing amid the legal challenges, Simone emphasized that Blum wanted to get her whole fund shut down and did not succeed. In fact, the challenge only empowered her to make sure more of these kinds of funds can exist legally. There needs to be more “fearless funds,” she said. 

When Jacobs opened up the discussion for audience questions, Alicia Williams, head of diversity, equity & inclusion at Saks, asked the panelists how they stay motivated when DEI work is so grueling. Solis said her 19-year-old daughter is her guiding star: “I want this world to be better for her, so that’s what gets me up every day.”

The TIME Impact Dinner, Expanding Equity: The Power of Purposeful Leadership was presented by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.