After the success of our previous “Brown Girls Like Me” episode with Minaxi Mistry, we are very excited to share a new episode of this empowering series hosted by Keyonna Taylor, Executive Vice President of Customer Experience at Teleperformance!

This time, the episode focuses on allyship, with Sunil Jindal, Chief Growth Officer at Equality Leaders, joining Keyonna for another round of insightful and important conversation.

Practicing allyship is integral in creating diverse, equal, and inclusive spaces in and out of the workplace. Allyship means developing and nurturing supportive relationships with marginalized, vulnerable, or discriminated individuals or groups. To be an ally, a common goal is shared: to achieve equality and inclusion by finding various ways to help amplify the voices of underrepresented groups.

For Sunil, June 2020 marked a crucial point in his life – he found himself at a crossroads, thinking about where he would go next professionally. “I was at the stage of, ‘Should I just pack it all in and just retire gracefully?’ But it was also the time when I met a very prominent UK entrepreneur who so happened to be the champion of my daughter,” shared Sunil.

The meeting prompted certain realities surrounding gender parity and gender inequality for Sunil. The data doesn’t lie. “The stats are, for every one pound or one dollar of venture capital money invested in the UK, about 1p or one cent goes to an all-female founded team,” he explained. “An all-male team is 13 times more likely to get a warm introduction for investment than a female-founded team. As a father of two daughters, this isn't right. I've got to do something about this.”

Sunil then focused his attention on advancing equality and equal opportunities for women, doing everything in his power to change the current dynamic. “A few months later, I found myself at the epicenter of DE&I in the UK, globally engaging with investors who have trillions of dollars and pounds of investment.”

Expounding more on his work, Sunil mentioned that he mostly helps women by coaching them on how to be future leaders. When asked about what advice he would to brown girls who do not have a father figure or ally in their lives, Sunil said: “Put yourself out there, show your most vulnerable, best dream big, and don't let anyone take that away from you.”

Get to know Sunil’s full story, insights, and views on equality by watching the episode here.