A Somalian-born Muslim woman making it her mission to help Wisconsin companies change how they address diversity and inclusion.
Nasra Wehelie — a UW-Madison grad with an MBA — spent the last few years developing her new consulting firm, Empathy 4 Equity. She said her new empathy-guided approach can help ensure everyone feels valued.
"So my hope is, people like my daughters who wear the headscarf or other you know immigrants who come and work so hard, can be able to be given the opportunity to excel and the work that they do in the workplace," she said.
She said from the top down, her firm offers corporations and nonprofits cultural competency and humility training, while teaching managers to deeply listen to their employees’ problems and find solutions to wide-ranging issues from social injustice to mental health concerns.
"Providing that space that someone can come to me actually and tell me what they're feeling, and also providing them with the space that they can be able to say what the challenges that they have," she said.
The mother-of-four said the empathy lens is critical and can lead to success in any company.
"It will provide you the space to talk about any issues,” Wehelie said. “Because you suspend all judgment, stereotypes and all.”
Wehelie is already piloting her program with one Madison company. Those interested can learn more about Empathy 4 Equity here.
Sourced from Spectrum News1 - written by Katherine Larson