The British Blacktrepreneur Podcast
Welcome to 'The British Blacktrepreneur' My name is Jason Lazarus
This podcast aims to promote black businesses, in the UK, educate entrepreneurs on all things business, and inspire you on your entrepreneurial journey. Growing up, business was just foreign to me, I knew nothing about it, I was taught that being a consumer and working a job was the only way to really succeed in life. My West African would preach ‘Education, Education, Education’ which I hated at the time but have grown to appreciate how invaluable knowledge is. My goal is to curate conversations with Black Entrepreneurs in the UK to find what their ‘WHY’ is. Furthermore, I’m on a mission to get black entrepreneurs podcasting! I’ll be dropping in my expertise about podcasting whilst bringing on inspiring guests to keep you going on your entrepreneurial journey.
The British Blacktrepreneur Podcast
Exploring the Unique Journey of Black Create Connect with Founder Alicia Richardson
Ever thought about the potential power of authentic connections with the black community in the professional world? Our enlightening conversation with Alicia Richardson, founder of Black Create Connect, explores just that. We dive deep into how this innovative platform acts as a bridge between black professionals and prospective employers via content creation, community engagements, and events. Alicia unravels her profound insights into diversity, equity, and inclusion, emphasizing the crucial role content creators play in shaping the future of advertising for black individuals.
Moving forward, we probe into the pressing need for organizations to actively scout for and hire black talent. Alicia decodes the stumbling blocks black professionals have historically grappled with and underscores the compelling business case for DEI. She spotlights the importance of black representation in leadership roles, explaining how diverse viewpoints can shape crucial policy decisions, procedural choices, and financial allocations. We also touch upon the potentially harmful effects of a lack of diversity in domains like AI and healthcare on the black community.
Wrapping things up, Alicia imparts valuable strategies for fostering inclusivity in workplaces and curbing racial discrimination. She underlines the importance of investing in black employees, spearheading accelerator programs, and nurturing a culture of allyship and support. We also delve into the significance of self-care, setting boundaries, and the imperative of being gentle with ourselves. To top it off, our chat with Alicia Richardson from Black Create Connect provides insights on becoming part of their community and the advantages it poses for black professionals. Join us for a powerhouse of a discussion filled with invaluable insights and advice.
One of the things that I found when I was working in recruitment and also working in DEI is that a lot of companies didn't know how to truly build relationships and connect with the black community. There was a lot of tokenistic, I guess, advertising or hiring, and there wasn't any true connections being built.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the British Black Entrepreneurial. This podcast exists to promote black businesses in the UK, to educate black entrepreneurs on all things business and to inspire you on your entrepreneurial journey. Here is your host, Jason Lezoros.
Speaker 1:I am tired, but I keep it 100%. But I'm in good spirits. I feel really grateful and I'm happy. Thank you for inviting me on.
Speaker 3:It's a pleasure, anna, and a privilege on my part to have you on the show, looking forward to podcasting with you today and just diving into your business and all about what you do. So, firstly, because, for our audience, just giving them a little background into yourself, what you do, and a little bit about your business would be fantastic.
Speaker 1:Cool. So quick whistle, stop, tour my background and have a background in recruitment. For those that don't understand the recruitment landscape, I've worked agency side, so working with multiple clients at one time. I've worked consultancy side, so working with one client at a time. Some of the clients I've done that with include WPP agencies, spotify and more. I've also worked in house managing recruitment teams and diversity, equity and inclusion partnerships for, again, big agencies and for companies such as D-POP. I am also the founder of my own company, black Create Connect, which basically connects black professionals to employers through content, through our community, through our podcast as well, events and so forth. I'm also a full time diversity, equity and inclusion consultant and I also do a lot of, I guess, talks, workshops with various clients. The list kind of stops there, hopefully, but hopefully that gives you, like, a quick background.
Speaker 3:No, that's phenomenal. That's really, really good, and I can't wait to dive into more about your company, about what you do. Could you explain to me how Black Create Connect connects black talent with employers and fosters diversity in the workplace?
Speaker 1:Sure. So, talking about the connecting piece, one of the things that I found when I was working in recruitment and also working in DEI is that a lot of companies didn't know how to truly build relationships and connect with the black community. There was a lot of tokenistic, I guess, advertising or hiring, and there wasn't any true connections being built. So what we do that's slightly different is, first of all, let's start with the podcast. Right, a podcast is a great way to connect with the black community because we're consistently having conversations. If an employer comes on there, they're able to kind of share what it's like to work for them, how they look after black employees. They're able to more connect with them through content. That's one of the ways.
Speaker 1:Another way is we actually advertise jobs through content creators. So when I used to look after DEI partnerships, a lot of the partnerships have job boards, so we have a job board as well. But that's not the most effective way to reach candidates black candidates anyway. You need to go to where they are. So we actually reach them through content creators that they already follow and engage with, which is another way that we connect them, and we also do it through, I guess, our community.
Speaker 1:So we will share job opportunities and then also events and networking opportunities as well. So we consistently have events where the community can kind of come into offices where employees are, meet with some of the hiring managers, ask all the questions you want to ask, really get in deep. So, for example, one of our events with D-POP this year we had a panel discussion, but actually after the panel discussion we broke out into breakout rooms where people could ask deeper questions, more bespoke questions to each hiring manager, and then they were able to build up their own connection, build their own relationship, so that if there was something that comes up in future they don't always have to go through black, create, connect, but they've built up a relationship via us that is more sustainable. So those are kind of the main ways that we connect employers to black talent.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's phenomenal. And you mentioned their content creation and content creators. So why do you think content creation and having content creators is sort of the, would you say, that's the future of advertising for black people? Do you think it's really useful for them to get jobs and gain employment?
Speaker 1:100%, 110%. I think if there's companies that are not thinking about advertising through content creators, they're going to get left behind because at the moment, it's what people are engaging with. There was a time and period for everything. So there was a time where bus ads were a thing and there still are a thing. They're not completely extinct, but we have to roll with what's current and what's really really works. So again, once upon a time, tv ads were a thing, but companies are moving a lot of their spend to social ads because they're realizing that that is where most of their traffic is and they can be a bit more targeted and social.
Speaker 1:And what I've noticed is that there's rising content creators black content creators that are giving real advice about careers, how to get into tech, how to get into creative industries, so they're becoming trusted voices. So, typically, if they're becoming a trusted voice and trusted opinion they're advocating for a company then that's gonna be a more likely or stronger referral than just putting a job ad on a job board. Also, when you think about wanting to reach diverse pools in general, you don't wanna always go for candidates that are actively looking. The best candidates are always slightly open, they're passive and they're not gonna be looking on job boards. So to actually reach them you need to interject and come in front of them as to you know as to where they are active on social. So I definitely think it's the future of kind of how jobs will be advertised and, mark my words, you're gonna see more and more companies investing in that way of advertising.
Speaker 3:That's phenomenal. Why do you think it's important for companies to actively seek out and hire black talent in their workplaces and for black people to be part of their workforce?
Speaker 1:How much time do you have? We have a long we have. I mean, that's a massive, massive, massive issue and I'm gonna break it down into many different segments. So let's talk about the business case first of all. Everyone knows that the business case for DEI and for having more diverse teams has been proven over and over again. We don't need to have that conversation longer than a minute. We know that companies that are more culturally and ethnically diverse in particular, are 36% more profitable. That's the first thing. But I don't like to stick on to the business case thing because that's it should be a given that everyone should have access to opportunities.
Speaker 1:Now, where there's been a problem historically is that black professionals have been seen as less capable than other professionals in when it comes to the workplace. They've literally been held back because from education, from days when your teachers are telling you this is what you can amount to and this is what you're not capable of. So you have them barriers potentially in university. So then you have an employment barriers just getting your foot into the door and it's taken. Maybe it might take Jane for her, hypothetically speaking, six months to get into a job after uni, it might take about professional two years. That means you're two years behind potentially. And then when you're in the job again, jane, she might be promoted after a year. You might be waiting five years. Again, you're behind.
Speaker 1:So the reason why companies need to actually actively go out and hire back talent is because opportunity for us has been limited historically. If we look at our leadership teams now, and even our middle level management teams, they're not ethnically diverse. There isn't a lot of black representation. It's across board across all industries. So we need to open doors and accelerate back talent so they are able to actually get into leadership positions. That's the key thing.
Speaker 1:If there's not enough black talent in leadership positions, then it's pretty pointless just focusing just on getting in interns, getting an apprentice or grads, because you have impact when you're at the top. You're able to make crucial decisions on policies, procedures, benefits, where money is spent, and then, furthermore as well I mean it depends on your organization, but a lot of the companies that I'll work with that are in media, creative and tech a lot of their consumers are largely gonna be black consumers as well. And if you have non-black voices and non-black perspectives feeding into products and services so, for example, ai the other day I was talking to Alexa and there's certain things Alexa doesn't know because Alexa's witness. True, this is really basic and sometimes I was like why can't Alexa have a voice that I can really?
Speaker 1:vibe with why can't she talk like me? It's because of who actually fed the information into Alexa to make her who she is. It's not a bad thing, it's a great start, but all these different things affect our different touch points in society. If there's not the right people feeding into different areas outside of Alexa, there's other things such as like with healthcare. There's certain machines that don't pick up cancer in darker skin right, and these machines are actively out there in the world, which means that there's a lot of misdiagnosed going around for black individuals which can cost them their life. So that's another example.
Speaker 1:There's so many to kind of draw from. But either there's not to go into to, I guess, just be in black. But also, if we go a bit further and look into intersectionality and look at okay, what black women? The barriers that women have to go through, or if you're black and disabled or black and neurodiverse, there's are so many more barriers that we have to kind of go through. So I mean, I've kind of completely gone off with your question, but it's important for employers to understand that the barriers that are in place and open these doors and create an environment where we can actually have an equitable experience, where we're given opportunities to thrive in our career. So that's a blanket answer. I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 3:It definitely did fantastic. We're really going to see you really enjoying this. I'm learning lots, too, even from listening to your responses, so this is phenomenal. Now, what advice do you have for black job seekers looking to navigate the job market and stand out to potential employers?
Speaker 1:It's a good question, you know, get up to sky low. I think people need to not rely on applications online. Some people might get lucky and get a job from an application online, but that's a longer route. I think you should hone in on your current contacts. Whoever they are, your current contacts don't need to be the CEO or the higher manager or head of HR. They can just be someone that trust you enough to introduce you to someone in their organization for a conversation. That's the first thing. So look at who is around you. Even actually, before you look at who's around you, identify within yourself. What is it you want to do?
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, I've had a lot of conversations like one-to-one chats with them, like professionals, because they always say oh yeah, I want help, help me find something else. But then when I get into the depths of a conversation, they don't know what they want to do and I can't help you. That's not my job, but anyone else's job. To find out what you want to do. That's your job. Yes, you might have conversations with me and feel inspired to do something. That's completely fine, and if that's the conversation you want to have, then have that and say I just want to have a conversation to understand what you do, to see if it inspires me or see if I get any ideas. That's fine. So you need to understand, okay, what position are you? Are you someone that definitely knows what you want to do and definitely knows why you want to get into what you want to do? Are you someone that's trying to figure it out? Are you someone that's trying to do a career pivot? There's so many different approaches to break it down. If you, if you know 100 what you want to do and you're still not finding any like, connect with people that are within the same job role as you and ask them if you can have a conversation about their journey and any advice that they'll give to your approach. There's going to be someone that will speak to you, personalize your messages, but do not have crazy high expectations. Just just reach out to people. Some will get back, some won't. It's not personal, it's because of time. Do that. That's number one. Number two get out to events.
Speaker 1:I've built most of my relationships from online communities and networks and also in person events. As a matter of fact, I've never applied for a job online and got it. Ever in my career, all of my jobs have come through referrals someone meeting me and speaking to me um or a LinkedIn message and speaking to someone on LinkedIn never got a job from application. In fact, there was one job I applied for when I got declined but I had a referral and I managed to get that. So that tells you that their power of people talking and advocating for your behalf, on your behalf. So for people to advocate for you, they need to see that you're like for me. If I, if I'm going to advocate for someone and introduce them, I need to see your commitment, I need to see that you've really done the work on your end and a massive thing that can help you stand out.
Speaker 1:People say all the time about personal branding you do not need to have a qualification, you don't need to have years of experience, you don't need to have anything for personal branding. Personal branding is personal and you grow with your personal brand. So wherever my personal brand was two years ago, it's going to be in a different place. It is today and I'm expecting it to be in a different place next year in the year after. People admire that authentic growth.
Speaker 1:But you see, with a personal brand, when you're out there, companies will gravitate towards it, respect it, because you're making the effort to have conversations or share insights or knowledge or share your own experiences surrounding whatever job it is that you're trying to do. So at least if you approach me and then I go and check you out on LinkedIn or look at your personal website or look at a podcast you've done, I'd be like actually there's some consistency here that actually they've actually wanted to be in this or talk about this. That will give me confidence to do an introduction because you have back in there. So your personal brand is so important. Build upon that, then leverage on your connections as well and make sure you get out there, meet different people. Those are the key things initially to get your foot into the door.
Speaker 3:The interview process is a is a whole nother game, but that's initially to get noticed brilliant, outstanding and just speaking on personal brand and making connections and going to events and things of that nature, you have a podcast and obviously you've made connections. How did the podcast come about and what would you say?
Speaker 1:the ultimate goal or purpose of your platform is for people yeah, so I think with my podcast, if I'm being totally honest, I was meeting so many incredible black leaders and entrepreneurs and I'm someone that I can meet. You have a dope conversation, whether it's at an event or you might have drinks or dinner and that's it and I'm like no, this conversation should have been recorded. It was so good like there were so many gems that were dropped. There was so so much information and a lot of the time some of the people I was meeting, because of how busy our schedules are, I'm probably not going to see you for another year, really and truly, like you know, unless we bump into each other at an event, but schedules are really, really crazy. So I thought to myself what is the way that I can have this converse, have these conversations and there for life in a way that's gonna inspire, educate and also open up, I guess, our journeys and experiences to the world of people that don't understand them.
Speaker 1:I also thought about how can I contribute to black history? Because that is black British history, in fact, because that is important we, when we look back at our black British history, it's very light, like we see we know different people that were game changers, and like. When I researched black changemakers in history, a lot of the things was fighting for race, fighting for race and or someone that had gone through slavery, you know, fought slavery but there wasn't any like stories of like great, great, great success that was recorded Like it's like our black British history. It probably exists, but it's really difficult to find. So I thought we need to make it accessible. I need to make sure in a hundred years time and I'm not here there can be black, our black generation can look back and say XYZ person done this and they have something similar to me and I know I can get through that situation because of this right. So that's another big reason for it.
Speaker 1:And, of course, it's another avenue for employers to connect and reach black professionals. If an employer creates a podcast, it's unlikely that professionals are gonna really listen to it Unlikely they might. But because I'm a black platform, it's easier for them to tap in to my market and network through the podcast. So it's a great monetizing strategy, great branding strategy as well, and it actually has substance to it. So that was my logic behind creating a podcast in itself and outside of things. I think my ultimate decision was I love having these conversations Like if no one else listens. This conversation has been amazing and I'm inspired, like every single conversation I'm not just saying that like it keeps me going because things can get so hard and so lonely on this entrepreneurial journey. So when you consistently have that network of people around you sharing their stories, you just know you're not alone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's brilliant. I'd love to resonate a lot with what you said in terms of being a podcast on myself, so really good, just pivot in back now to you know what you do for Black Create, connect, what strategies or initiatives are effective in addressing and combating racial discrimination with organizations and fostering a more kind of inclusive workplace?
Speaker 1:So what strategies am I doing or what would I recommend to companies?
Speaker 3:What would you recommend to companies?
Speaker 1:I think companies need to invest in their black employees. Like there's a lot of talk about them wanting to, we don't know what to do. What should we do? Black lives matter and all the rest of it, but are you investing in your black employees? I think when I say investing, when, if there's an accelerator program that you can potentially do, are you paying for them to go on the accelerator program? And for those that don't know what an accelerator program can do, I've let out in quite a few, for women in particular in organizations, and what they do is give you the tools and skills that you need to accelerate within your career to get into a leadership position. So some of the things that accelerator course might cover is personal branding, is how to network, engaging with mentors and sponsors, how to sell yourself and telling your story, how to be decisive different things that will contribute towards you being a stronger leader. Those are the things.
Speaker 1:Now, naturally, a lot of white males have acquired these skills from their networks and from their experiences, and because black individuals are usually alone in the workplace or there's a small amount of them, they may not have the level of confidence to even activate the inner decision maker, the inner storyteller or the inner person that needs to talk about themselves a lot. So, for example, in one of the accelerator programs that I run, I tell women you need to talk about what you've done outside of performance reviews, because often you wait for a review and then you say I've done this, talk about what you've done uninvited. That is how people know what you're doing. That's what I've learned actually brings on opportunities externally and internally. You need to just say by the way, I've done this, by the way, I've put in this right, if you don't talk about it, no one's gonna know. So I think it's important for companies to invest in their employees in that sense and they accelerate a sense so they can actually have someone helping them to look after them. They need to have sponsors. They need to have and not again, not a program of, oh, we're going to assign this person to this person. If you are a senior leader, look out for a black employee and sponsor them. What does sponsorship mean? It means physically opening the door, inviting them into the room, asking them to take over that project, asking them to actually meet with that client, getting them to do things that's going to physically develop them.
Speaker 1:Sometimes there are some of the things that organizations also need to do. It's great to hold safe spaces, but don't limit the budget on what those safe spaces can do. People tell me all the time we've got ERGs, but companies not giving us any money to do anything and it's limited. I understand that there has to be a budget because it's commercial, but don't limit it to a point where they can't celebrate themselves or they can't go to events or they can't do cultural things. Don't just do that. Also, don't limit black activities just to Black History Month. Keep it throughout the year, embed it throughout the culture, and those are some of the things that you can be doing.
Speaker 1:Also, identify that black professionals probably need more than just potentially a one-to-one every month. They might ask them, but they might need not even an additional sponsor, but people to just have their back, active ally In a workplace. Teach employees about what allyship looks like, what that means, how you can actively be an ally, those things. If I'm in a workplace and I notice that people have my back, they support me, they show up for me, I'm going to feel confident. I'm not going to have this imposter syndrome that a lot of us face. I'm going to feel like I can show up as my best self. When companies realize that they're enabling an environment for black professionals to show up as their best self, they get the best version of them, which means they get the best result that they need for their business as well. That has a knock on effect with motivation, employee engagement and how a company is high performing.
Speaker 1:Those are some of the key things I would say In regards to what we do. First and foremost, before a company partners up with us, especially for next year and going on, we have to audit them slightly, not a deep dive audit, but we need to talk to some of your black employees. We need to know what's really good. What's everyone saying about you. Before we advocate for you as an employer, we need to understand who you have a leadership team, why your black employees have left. These are things that companies should do anyway.
Speaker 1:Understand how black employees perceive your organization. If you don't understand, you're not going to know what to change. It's important to understand how black candidates perceive you as an employer as well. What's the word on the street? What are people saying about you? Because if you don't understand what that is, then all of your efforts, all your tokenistic efforts. They're going to be wasted. And then you're going to turn around and say I'm not getting any applications coming through, alicia, it's because your employer branding is absolutely not appealing. So again, look at your employer branding. Understand how you're perceived by external black candidates. Your internal community Also run, I guess, coaching sessions as well.
Speaker 1:So the coaching sessions are for leaders that don't know how to best manage, believe it or not, black employees there are some leaders in organizations that just don't know have had confidential conversations with me and said, alicia, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to say, and it takes coaching. At first I was thinking how can you not know how to talk to a black person? This is crazy. There's a lot of white employees, white leaders, that have only encountered black people in the workplace. They've lived, believe it or not, in a completely different place. They've lived, you know, they've gone to all white schools, been with their family in their surrounding. As much as it sounds ignorant, they don't know how to build genuine relationships with black employees. So it's that coaching as well, working on that side too. Hopefully that gives you a nice breadth of things to do and how we help in everything.
Speaker 3:No, it certainly does, and I think some of the things that you're doing and obviously in helping employees, help and working with companies is phenomenal and really will benefit lots of black employees trying to get into the workplace. So, no, this is good stuff, really helpful. Just before we kind of wrap up, I want to ask you a little bit about failure challenges. Have you experienced a failure in your business, or some challenges, and how have you been able to? How did you rather overcome a particular failure or challenge within your business?
Speaker 1:Even now I'm terrible with my emails, like you know. It's something I'm trying to overcome. The thing is about business that people don't realize is that you need money to run it. So and people say, money for like what? For Some people might say that, just the simple employee resources, because if I run out of time but things still need to get done, someone needs to do it. I can't do everything, and also I've had to learn that I'm not an expert in everything. There's certain areas that I'm just not great at. That's not my strong areas. So it's about understanding and learning that along the way that at least you are. This isn't your thing. You need to delegate this to somebody else for them to do and for them to, you know, for them to take responsibility over. So I say, one of my, some of my key failures, I would say, is just burning up, burning myself out, doing things, doing way too much, and then doing activities that didn't really matter, like I used to care about clearing my inbox and that doesn't matter to me anymore right now, like what I do care about is just what is what needs to get done, day by day and taking one day at a time. At one point. I was completely neglecting myself and sometimes I slip into lack of self care and I've had to find that balance. So, whether it every Sunday, I'll go to the spa, once a month I get a massage, you need to realign yourself and make sure that you yourself is able to run the business. Otherwise it will scull, consistently fail, and you need to have a clear mind so you can reflect and think oh, that actually went well, that can be improved. If you're going to have a reflection time, then you're going to keep running like in circles and making the same mistakes over and over again. Luckily, I haven't made any mistakes with people that have joined the team. I've had a really, really great run with my team. Everyone's just been thank listen. I'm a praying woman, so whenever I make any big decision, I pray before and that is people in the team. I pray about it and I think, okay. I say, okay, this is fine. So everyone's been really, really helpful so far. I've got an incredible team. Also, I've had to pivot how the business makes money.
Speaker 1:When I first created them job board, I thought, yep, going to be a millionaire job board to make. No, no, I'm being honest. Build your credibility amongst employers as to why you should even be a job board in the first place, and then, because I had a low budget for my website and my job boards, there was a lot of technical difficulties. So I'll take. I remember there was like a week where about six clients had problems with uploading jobs, seeing stuff, and I was literally. I was literally, I think I cried because I was like, oh my gosh, what's happening? It was so hard to get these clients to come and use my job boards and it's not working. And now they're going to think I'm just chatting rubbish and I'm not going to look credible, so that in itself I had to then go back to the drawing board and think, okay, is this?
Speaker 1:I even said to my word developer I canceled the job board, I don't want it anymore, and he was like, no, be patient, let me try to fix it, let me look at the bugs.
Speaker 1:So again, patience, being patient, that these things are going to happen and you have to just learn from them, because if I just stop there and say cancel it, then what? So it's about being patient, understanding that things are going to go wrong, knowing that it's not the end of the world. I've missed so many meetings by accident I have like I'll be honest with you because I've double booked myself or been at an event and it's overrun or something. I have to learn from myself that, okay, you can't be doing that, but at the same time, don't beat myself up, life happens. Be honest and say I'm sorry I double booked. Do you know what I mean? So it's just about being kind to myself, being real with myself and knowing that things take time. I hope that gives you again a good answer. That was a bit of a chopped up answer, but hopefully that gives you something.
Speaker 3:No, that's brilliant. It gives me everything I need in terms of what I was looking for for your response. So thank you so much for your time today. Before I let you go and we end the recording in the podcast, which I really enjoy, would you mind showing my listeners kind of your website, your social link, so if people, or if there are black entrepreneurs, black people that want job or want to look for employment, where they can go to find out more about your wonderful service?
Speaker 1:Sure, so they can find Black Create Connect. So it's spelled in a very simple way black and then create and then connect. All like no K's, no, i's no, nothing. That's the website. So dot code at UK and all socials where black create, connect. And if you want to connect with me personally on LinkedIn, it's Alicia A-L-I-C-I-A Richardson, and if you want to get a sneak peek into my personality from Instagram, alicia L-D-N. But yeah, connect. If you want to join the community, just drop us an email at hello, black create connect dot code at UK and then we'll send you the WhatsApp link to join. It's over 700 people in the group, so beware, it's active, but welcome.
Speaker 3:So that's phenomenal. Like make sure you have the Instagram. I did have one that actually pre-engined. I was like it's great, you're having a good time on holidays, business with people, good, good stuff. Alicia Richardson of Black Create Connect, thank you for joining me today on the British Black Group.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thank you anniversary.