Aerica Banks: That One Time When Standing Up Meant Stand Out and Moving On To Launch Her Own Thing

How do you safely allow your identity to inform and impact your work life as a person of color? This week Shelly talks with Aerica Shimizu Banks, a technology policy expert, inclusion innovator, and advocate for women entrepreneurs. They talk about merging personal identity and work, dealing with discrimination in the workplace, and how to safely address it.

Key Takeaways:
0:00 Intro
0:24 Shelly shares the Shelly Brief about Fabletics and about body positivity and why you should not let anyone laugh at you because of how you look
8:28 Aerica shares a little history of what made her decide to do inclusion and tech as a career business
15:32 Aerica shares her thoughts on what she think about the separation of personal identity and work and her journey after the awakening and embracing her race and who she is
20:14 Aerica talks about the importance of not separating your identity from work such as being in relationships that are so real
25:07 Aerica talks about equity and accountability and why people in an organization should treat their colleagues equally and her experience at Pinterest
31:12 Aerica talks about how her manager at Pinterest discriminated them because of their gender and the fact that they were women of color
36:28 Aerica also talks about how she felt after sharing with her bosses how they should be treated in the organization as equal
39:32 Aerica also advices all people out there thinking about coming forward with the issues of discrimination or harassment
42:29 Aerica talks about her company Shiso, what she’s doing next in the future and consistent empowerment
44:41Aerica also talks about what she does and also the individual coaching that she does for women who are up against a unique set of challenges when they're looking to advance their careers

Shows Mentioned:
Shiso: a consultancy that applies an intersectional equity lens to tech, policy, and business solutions.

Fabletics is an American online subscription retailer that sells men’s and women's sportswear, footwear and accessories, commonly referred to as "athleisure". The company is known for its e-commerce business approach and also has over 50 brick-and-mortar stores.

Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, a search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.

Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information on the internet using images and, on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboards.

BEACON was designed as a campaign to support women entrepreneurs and to catalyze change in our community.

TED Conferences LLC is an American media organization that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was conceived by Richard Saul Wurman, who co-founded it with Harry Marks in February 1984 as a conference; it has been held annually since 1990.

Ignatius of Loyola, venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Basque Catholic priest and theologian, who together with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus and became its first Superior General at Paris in 1541.

The Jesuits are an apostolic religious community called the Society of Jesus. They are grounded in love for Christ and animated by the spiritual vision of their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, to help others and seek God in all things.

Casey Newton is The Verge's primary source for Silicon Valley news, reporting on the people and products shaping the future of technology and culture.

Quotes Mentioned:
“Your body is great the way it is shaped.”
“Speak out for yourself, speak out for others and know that your voice matters and know that your shape matters and know that it is completely okay to have that voice.”
“We should always be walking in our purpose.”
“If we can do good, we must.”
“The purpose of being here in this world is to do right by each other and to live well and in harmony.”
“The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice.”
“It’s all of our responsibility to get involved in restoring equity in every space we occupy.”
“We do not get justice without accountability.”
“Your story is all you have.”
“No one can tell your story but you.”
“If you have something on your heart that you need to say, if you have something about yourself that you have been hiding, that you need to share, do it.”
“It is always the right time to do the right thing.”
“There is no greater liberty than letting yourself shine.”
“Equity is both denied and deferred in every single field.”

Guests Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.aerica.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aericashimizubanks/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikashimizu/
Twitter: erikashimizu