We are proud to announce that Rodney Louis, Director of Risk Services & Senior Consultant, has been selected as one of South Florida Business Journal’s Diverse Voices for 2024!
This award honors outstanding business leaders in South Florida who are diverse, successful in business, and making a difference to advance diversity, inclusion and equality in the business world. Rodney leads the Culture of Inclusion committee at Gehring Group, which was awarded the D&I Initiative of the Year Award at the Business Insurance 2022 U.S. Insurance Awards. You can read more about the committee and the recognition here.
Read an excerpt from the South Florida Business Journal’s Meet the 2024 Diverse Voices below.
Rodney Louis was born in Massachusetts to parents of Haitian and Dominican descent, and raised in an African American neighborhood. It didn’t take long for him to witness racism, though he didn’t realize it at the time.
The first instance was in first grade, when a white girl gave Louis a kiss on the cheek. The mortified teacher reprimanded the little girl. On the playground, white parents sent their kids to the other corner to play. It was when Louis was 12 and his family moved to Palm Beach County that racism hit home. He attended Jefferson Davis Middle School and was called the “N-word” for the first time in his life.
Black locals questioned his and his sister’s accent.
“‘Why are you always talking white?’” they’d demand, he recalled. “To this boy from Massachusetts, now I know I’m in the South.”
It happened more recently, when local police confronted his family about shooting a group portrait on the beach. Louis was able to defuse the situation. But it was clear: His extended family – whose roots include African American, Puerto Rican, Jewish/Puerto Rican, Dutch/German,Cuban/German and Guyanese – aren’t always welcome.
Louis sees DEI as a way to help. It’s not just about educating and raising awareness of others “who are not in a minority or oppressed class,” he said. It’s helping them see the difference.
“People will say, ‘I don’t see color,’” he said. “Then you’re not seeing me and the differences in our upbringing.”
Any advice for diverse executives hoping to rise in the professional world? If you’re someone from a diverse background, you have to accept that there are going to be inequities. You have to work harder, and that’s OK. There’s no place for envy or covetousness. Accept it, be your authentic self, and genuinely respect other people. If you can do those three things, it helps with your rise and makes you a great leader.
What’s holding DEI efforts back in the workplace? Predominantly it is this feeling that there’s not anything I can do or I’m continually running into roadblocks. It’s disheartening after a while, and people give into it. I go to a conference and, of 600 people, there’s eight Black people there. When you see that and you’re trying to work your way through that and other people are going forward faster, you have to work harder and be yourself. Always respect and be kind to other people, and that will always be seen. One day, you’ll hit that place, and you’ll skyrocket.
How can a company “bake” DEI into its mission? It has to be something that is participated in, advocated for and appreciated by leadership. If you have a C-suite that’s involved and champions it, it becomes your culture. Your culture is defined by your leadership. If you’re the president, then people are going to listen. If your DEI efforts are full of minorities, it’s already failed. If you look at women’s suffrage, they needed men to be part of their fight. Even with the Civil Rights Movement, until those photos of white northerners saying, “that’s atrocious,” traction wasn’t happening. In any culture or company, DEI needs that leadership.
How can we get more organizations on board with DEI? Celebrate it more. Talk about your accomplishments. Share it – on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. “Here’s what our company did, and here’s what we got from it.” We’re a copycat society. The more people see and respond to it, the more they’ll see how companies are celebrating their employees. They’ll do the same. It’s like a wildfire that catches.
Read more about the award and hear from all of the 2024 Diverse Voices HERE.
Check out our other blog articles HERE.