Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

I’ve been involved in women advocacy groups throughout my career, and I’ve found that three themes are concurrent through all of that work: courage, empathy, and equality.

I’ve been fortunate in that lots of people have given me advice over the years for my professional development. I’d like to pass on three things that have helped me, and I hope at least one or two of them will be useful to you.

This year, Women of Cisco is celebrating throughout the whole month of March with their Women of Impact program! YES, that’s 31 days of inspiration, giving back, developing and celebrating women!

On International Women’s Day, we have an opportunity to celebrate the women who’ve given us inspiration. The day is a gift – it’s the perfect time to remember the progress that’s been made on gender equality, to shed some light on everything that still needs to be done and to recognize those who’ve helped to inch the bar to benefit everyone.

Cisco #2 on Fortune’s 100 Best Workplaces for Diversity list for 2019! While we still have more work to do,, we are proud to be named among the top 10 best workplaces for diversity in the U.S.

At Cisco, we are committed to a culture where all people feel welcomed, valued, respected, accepted and heard. We also believe it’s important to be transparent about our diversity, which is why we publicly release our data annually in our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report.

It’s time for more women in tech. But it can be challenging for women to make themselves heard in a male-dominated field. Let’s inspire women to choose careers in IT!

At Cisco, we know true inclusion can’t happen without inclusive leaders. That’s one of the reasons we partner with HITEC to develop and support senior Hispanic business and technology executives and rising leaders.

Each of us has a personal responsibility to create the culture we want to see. Here are a few ideas about how to foster inclusion and diversity in the workplace.