Last December, we introduced you to Dr. Kiki Anderson Ramsey ’02, the CEO of the Positive Psychology Coaching and Diversity Institute, a group of 30 coaches who work with women, especially women of color, who sit in high positions in large companies and organizations across the country.
Ramsey’s inspiring story has allowed her to thrive in a business where she has the opportunity to meet, coach and positively affect lives through both one-on-one coaching sessions and large group presentations.
In March, Berea College’s BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, persons of color) Staff and Faculty Advisory Committee partnered with the office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Labor Program Office and the Alumni, Communications and Philanthropy division to bring Dr. Ramsey back to her alma mater to lead a workshop on Empowering DEI with Positively Diverse LeadershipTM (PDL). In the workshop, Ramsey led participants through an energizing, interactive session that showed them how to apply their character strengths in leadership roles. Ramsey’s research-based methodology offers a blueprint for building meaningful organizational relationships and strengths-focused communications around issues of DEI and leadership. She was able to illustrate how PDL highlights the significance of embracing diversity and showcasing its tangible results.
Ramsey hosted two sessions, one for faculty and staff and a second for students. In her session for staff and faculty, she explored three areas on which empowered leaders should focus: purpose and belonging, relationships and communications. By asking a series of thought-provoking and self-
examining questions, followed by round-table discussion and large group perspective sharing, Ramsey helped the group figure out how to identify their purpose while supporting the purposes of others, learn to be their authentic selves in the workplace and seek to receive and provide healthy feedback.
Focusing on a healthy understanding of DEI, Ramsey reminded the group that “DEI is a human issue,” and it requires us to focus on all aspects of diversity, not just race. She pointed to ideology from Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste,” where she compares America to an old house; when we move in, it’s our job to help fix it, Ramsey summarized.
At the end of the session, Ramsey’s three main takeaways were:
1) Everyone wants meaning and
purpose and to belong.
2) Relationships matter over
everything.
3) Communication changes lives.
This leadership and DEI workshop is just one example of programming Berea’s BIPOC committee creates for members of the campus, specifically those who fall within the BIPOC community. The BIPOC committee has hosted events from bowling nights to trivia nights to outings at Comedy Off Broadway to support an alumnus comedian. These events work to increase belonging and build community among the Black and brown members of Berea’s faculty and staff.
For Ramsey, leading the workshop felt full circle. “I am so grateful,” she said, “for the opportunity to teach in a place that taught me so much.”
