#209 Data, Stories and Identity with Sathya Bala

Welcome to the 209th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast, to finish off our series on Telling Your Story, I have a really special guest for you, Sathya Bala.

About my guest

Sathya is an energetic leader, business owner and community builder fueled by building a more equitable world through her work. She brings her experience as a senior influencer and on-the-ground changemaker starting at Deloitte in Risk and Audit, and moving on to Data Governance at Sainsbury's, Barclays, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Sathya then moved into diversity, equity and inclusion sponsoring these initiatives in her last role at Chanel as Head of Global Data Governance. Now Sathya is a consultant entrepreneur, thought leader, board advisor and speaker focused on using data and stories to make organisations more equitable.

She is the founder and community organiser for My Skin My Story which empowers women of colour all around the world, and in three years she has run 30 events and built a membership of over 500 people.

Sathya also sits on the board of a national cancer charity and dance company and speaking she demystifies identity bias intersectionality inclusion and how to champion equity by tapping into stories and humanising data.

Sathya embraces her lived experience as a Sri Lankan Tamil woman born in Singapore, who grew up in Sydney and moved to London as a young adult. She inspires others with her story and is proud to amplify underrepresented voices, and was awarded top 100 ethnic minority executives by Yahoo Finance and has been recognised by the UK National Diversity Awards, and Juno Freelancer awards.

In today’s show

• About Sathya, and what she's working on at the moment [02:15]
• Her career journey to becoming a diversity and inclusion advocate. [04:56]
• What the term "embracing identity" means to her. [13:27]
• What workplaces can do to create safe places for employees. [22:03]
• Her top three mental health tips. [29:23]

Quotes

• I've had to be a bit more intentional about taking care of my mental health.
• The number one thing is to find places that are safe for you to be vulnerable in.
• We subconsciously hide parts of ourselves.
• I remember trying to distance myself from my brownness.
• For me, it's about carving out time when you are able to switch off from work.

Resources

• Connect with Sathya on Linkedin.
• Visit her website
• Checkout My Skin, My Story on Instagram
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-Book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Work with me

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

One hour focused Sessions £150 1-2-1

Power Hour Sessions for Organisations

Complete the form to discuss your training needs: https://forms.gle/hgnYtmTu33Zeem489

Check out my FAQs here: http://diverseminds.co.uk/solutions/coaching/

You can learn more about the coaching I do to support your wellbeing here. 

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Remember to tune in next week, where I’ll bring you more insights on mental health and inclusion.