Abstract

Allyship in the workplace involves using your power, position, or privilege to uplift other coworkers.

Why should teaching ally skills be a core part of a modern workforce development program? This talk explains why focusing on teaching ally skills to people with power and influence is more effective than changing the behavior of marginalized people. It then describes a dozen specific ally skills such as listening, amplifying marginalized voices, and speaking up when it is uncomfortable. It ends with a 20 minute question and answer period.

Materials

Audio Transcript: Video:

This webinar was brought to you by the Exascale Computing Project (ECP) HPC Workforce Development and Retention Action Group, which organizes a webinar series on topics related to developing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture in the computing sciences.

Speaker

Valerie Aurora

Biography Valerie Aurora is the founder of Frame Shift Consulting, the leading provider of ally skills training for technology companies around the world. As lead author and a facilitator of the Ally Skills Workshop, she has taught practical, actionable ally skills to more than 4000 people in 11 countries. Her clients include software companies, biotech companies, and law firms, and span the range from small startups to large international corporations. Prior to founding Frame Shift, Valerie was executive director of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit for women in open source technology and culture, and worked as a software engineer for more than 10 years, specializing in the Linux kernel and file systems.