At KPMGs Inclusion Week event last night, Dont Touch My Hair explored what it means

to be black and mixed race in majority white environments.

Our impressive panel shared their insights from childhood, academia, society, the
media and the workplace. Guest speakers included writer-broadcasters Johny Pitts
and Emma Dabiri, Head of Financial Planning & Analysis at Willis Towers Watson,
Netsai Mangwende, and KPMG People Leader in the Office of the General Counsel,
Phyllisea Peltier.
In my experience most people dont like talking about race. They definitely dont like
talking about racism. I have a white British dad and a black Jamaican mum. Growing
up, it wasnt hard to see the huge gap in how individuals would speak to, treat or
judge my parents differently.
The truth is, most people who dont experience racism think of big acts or nasty
comments. But often it is the small everyday acts from others which psychologists
call micro-aggressions that bring race to the fore and over time can have a lasting
impact on a persons self-esteem.
So why on earth are we talking about hair at KPMG? And black hair in particular?
Black or mixed race people often have a story about their hair. Usually this starts in
school with teachers, parents, other children finding it impossible not to fixate on the
different textures and appearances of black hair.
Like our amazing panellists, I grew up dodging uninvited invasions of my personal
space. The Dont Touch My Hair event I curated for Inclusion Week was a way of
explaining that, for some black and mixed people, their hair is a source of concern,
conflict, shame or (dramatic as it sounds) identity crisis that comes from growing up
in a white world.

And as adults, shaving your Afro off or spending a fortune to chemically straighten or
hide your real hair to fit in or to look professional as two of our panellists
explained isnt ever just about looking smart. Just as Johny wondered if growing
an Afro at 16 was about reasserting his identity, or Phyllisea questioned whether
having natural hair would look bad at work, I think shaving my head at 9 years old
on the Isle of Wight was an attempt to appear less black and minimise my difference.
These unconscious thought processes travel with you into the workplace and can
impact how confident you feel, how able you are to build rapport with others and how
safe you think a workplace culture is. Its a voice saying You automatically stand
outDO YOUR BEST TO ASSIMILATE!

And thats exactly why its more important than ever that we continue to make
progress on inclusion and build a workplace as free from bias as possible.
Unconscious bias in all its forms impacts extraordinary people even after theyve
made peace with their hair.