006 Identifying your niche and purpose with Michelle Hakata

My guest on today’s show is a dear friend Michelle Hakata. Michelle is an independent public health communications expert working in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. She is passionate about public health issues relating to sexual and reproductive health rights of women. Michelle has significant experience of working with non-governmental organisations, diaspora groups and the private sector on development, analysing trade and investment flows to Africa and remittances. In this episode Michelle reminisces about her journey as a journalist in Zimbabwe, her work with British Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Business Council and finding her niche as an expert in public health communications👇🏾 👉🏾 Being guilty of pretending there was no elephant in the room and that it was ok to not be paid what she was worth or to be passed over for promotion 👉🏾 How COVID-19 had brought conversations of race into the living room. The impact of subtle and considered racism as opposed to overt racism. 👉🏾 What individuals and organisations can do to be more inclusive 👉🏾 Her work with Citizen’s Health Watch on quality and access to quality healthcare for maternal and reproductive rights of women in Sub-Saharan Africa 👉🏾 Disruption of traditional business models in a post covid world and the role of purpose within business 👉🏾 The role of technology in outreach with marginalised communities and the opportunity for innovation 👉🏾 The importance of Ethics in communications Memorable quotes from the Podcast: 👉🏾 It has been heart-warming to see so many people standing shoulder to shoulder on matters of racial inequality. The issues under the spotlight are issues that have been known for a long time. There have been studies/surveys all across the world about racial inequality. Often those who have spoken out about these issues have been vilified, and they’ve been punished and not been given work. So it's not it wasn't a sexy subject to talk about inequality. Many before Black Lives Matter movement quietly kept their heads down. And I must plead guilty myself, we quietly kept our heads down, pretended there was no elephant in the room, pretended we were okay to be paid what we are not worth. And many people pretended it was okay to be passed over for promotion, past of recognition. So this thing really did bring a seismic change. 👉🏾 I mean, the movement brought issues of racial inequality into our living rooms, issues of racially constructed barriers, issues of institutional racism, for the first time, this was conversation that you could have around the coffee table. Yet, these are issues that people of colour have been living with all their lives, issues that people pretended not to see. I mean, organisations like the police have been called out about racism. But there are many huge corporates, hugely influential non-profit organisations who do not have diversity. Their employment practices will tell you this. The composition of their board of directors will tell you this. How many company's since Black Lives Matter movement looked at their employment records, look at their employment records looked at their diversity, I can assure you that not many have done so. Will the Black Lives Matter movement make a difference? In the short term, maybe yes, maybe one or two people of colour will be appointed to key positions. But in the long term, these companies and these institutions will go back to their usual settings. You know, sadly, there are many companies, many people are comfortable with racism, who are comfortable with the lack of diversity. So this has been a simmering problem that has ravaged many communities you know, and many people have failed to follow their dreams because of racism because of racial inequalities. So many people have failed to fulfil the potential because of racism Sudha. What makes me sad Sudha is what lies beneath. You know, there's a kind of overt racism that we see the inequality that