#BLM | Has Anything Changed? | @BlueHairdDodo on The #SocialRecruiting Show

#BLM | The Internet is FOREVER!

If you are familiar with our guest this week, the fantastic human being that is Madison Butler.  You will know she is a passionate advocate for #BLM Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and human rights for everyone! – this is the very reason we invited her on the show because we wanted to know her thoughts on BLM 2-months on and she gave us her unfiltered thoughts about this and much more!

We open by asking Madison the title question and she says,

“No – I can still get murdered in my bed and not have the person that did it, arrested” and “every couple of years we have this catalyst that becomes a hashtag, but then it stops trending and then you repeat the cycle every couple of years”. “It’s this repetitive cycle of conversation, but not actually change”.

We very quickly get onto the subject of social media and Madison reveals the level of abuse that she experiences on certain business social media platforms and she tells us, “I’m happy to chat with anyone who wants a clearer perspective or just wants to understand more – but what I’m not going to do is let you berate me constantly comment after comment”. On this point, I would encourage anyone to view a few of Madison’s LinkedIn posts and then read the comments. 

Valuing the person and their whole self

We ask Madison what she advocates for in the workplace and she says, “outside of my regular role and inside my regular role, I’m always going to be motivated for both – I’m always going to create spaces for queer black women, I’m always going to make space for Black Trans women – that’s who I am as a person”.

When talking about the companies she’s worked for and how she approaches the hiring process Madison tells us about a story of a company that wanted to hire her, and then asked her to completely change the way she looks, she says,

“I had this realisation that, if I’m expected to set boundaries in my personal relationships, I should also be expected to set boundaries in my work  – because this is also a relationship – and I don’t want to work for a company that values the money I can make for them, but not the person I actually am”. 

If that wasn’t enough, below you’ll hear Madison talk about:

• Is your company Code of Conduct racist-proof? 
• What are microaggressions?  
• Navigating the workplace and being an advocate for change
• Companies should take responsibility for their employees’ psychological safety 
• The different D&I lens’ for different parts of your business  
• What next for the USA? 

Thank you to our fabulous sponsor EnterpriseAlumni