Game Changer
If there’s something that needs to be started from scratch—be it a new state cabinet agency, or a corporate diversity program—there’s one person who comes to mind for a large cross-section of leaders and influencers in the state of Wisconsin. 他们来自公共部门还是私营部门并不重要, 他们知道该招谁:安吉拉·莫滕·罗素99届.
“There’s a theme,” she says, when relaying the timeline of her career and accomplishments. “Creating things.”
作为一个对带领别人进入未知领域并不陌生的人, 罗素对自己的生活有敏锐的眼光, knowing that in order to successfully create and propel a new program or department, her initiatives have to speak to her core personal values of promoting social justice and seeking out parity for the various populations of a given community.
That need for an alignment of her personal and professional values is something that made her pause when she was approached about her current role as vice president of diversity, equity, 和CUNA互助集团的包容. The company provides insurance and insurance products to credit unions and credit union customers.
“Honestly, I was a little skeptical, 因为我从来没有进过公司——我是伯洛伊特学院的毕业生, we don’t do corporate,” she jokes. “I had to think about it, and think about how this organization was going to be consistent with my values in terms of social justice. Because that’s a big deal for me.”
If she needs a wayfinder, though—a map of her own personal credo—she doesn’t have to look further than her own forearm, 去年她在哪里用草书写下了“人类共享”几个字.
“Having this is a reminder to me,” she says, holding out her arm to display the tattoo. “As long as we are so divided, 我们看到的只是你有多坏的盾牌,而没有将它与我们所经历的破碎联系起来, how we all experience shame, 以及我们其实是多么需要彼此.”
Many in the business world are starting to recognize the need for expertise like Russell’s.
“CUNA really didn’t have a diversity and inclusion program before Angela started,11岁的校友戴安娜·列夫赛说, 组织的内容顾问. “As much as D&我被认为是一件重要的事情，是我们应该做的事情, 安吉拉的工作把它带到了公司的最前沿.”
She’s had such influence in a short amount of time—she’s only been with CUNA Mutual Group for a few years—that at last year’s all-employee forum, the company’s CEO cited diversity and inclusion as one of his top two personal priorities for 2017.
“Structural and institutional racism hadn’t been deeply examined at CUNA Mutual before Angela came, 现在人们开始寻找它，看到它,” Lievsay says. “We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re on the road for change because of Angela’s work.”
从张伯伦到道尔内阁再到库纳互助银行
他自称是“张伯伦老鼠”，这个词用来形容那些
在伯洛伊特以前的科学大楼里蹲了下来, Russell took a path to founding a corporate diversity and inclusion program that was not at all what she had imagined for herself. As an undergraduate, she studied biochemistry, 参加过艾滋病教育特别小组吗, and Black Students United, served as a peer career advisor, 并计划成为一名儿科医生.
“I used to think, 我要做这个，做这个，做这个，做这个, 但事实证明，生活不是这样的. Who I am today, 我的兴趣是健康的社会决定因素, that started at Beloit. That was ground zero.”
-Angela Russell’99
What the Peoria, Ill.然而，本地人立刻知道，伯洛伊特是适合她的地方.
“当我去伯洛伊特学院时，我感觉就像在家里一样，”她回忆道. “And you know what it was? 我看到一个留着紫色莫霍克发型的人走在某个地方，我就说，‘是的! This is where I need to be. These are my people.’”
在她大二和大三之间, 她在麦迪逊的州卫生部门实习, focusing on the disparity in mortality between black and white women with breast cancer, 是什么点燃了她对公共卫生和流行病学的兴趣. 而不是去申请医学院, she earned a master’s degree in population health sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Marion Field Fass, one of Russell’s Beloit professors, says her drive was always apparent. “她擅长‘攻进’一个新领域并发展专业知识, 然后设计一个有组织的干预或研究计划,” Fass says. “作为一名大学生，安吉拉非常有条理. 我仍然记得她的小红色笔记本, in which she kept her lists, 仔细地划掉了她的成就.”
Besides creating things, her Beloit education and critical-thinking approach to problem-solving has been another through-line in her professional experiences.
“The value of a liberal arts education has come in handy throughout my entire career,” Russell says. “我在张伯伦以外上的那些课, like economics, medical anthropology, 社会学对我帮助很大, 只是能够深入挖掘其他学科, and quickly learn things that you need to learn in order to do your job effectively.”
“他(道尔)想创建一个新的国务院, the first department in the state’s history to have an exclusive focus on the well-being of children and families in Wisconsin. So I was a member of this small team he appointed to create it,” Russell says. 她的职责范围是国务院的对外事务部门:通讯, government relations, congressional relations, constituent relations. This all occurred in 2008, in a matter of months, 当时她正准备生下两个孩子中的第一个. 后来，她的工作得到了州长的表彰.
Dan Schooff, 十大菠菜台子的参谋长兼秘书, was working with the Doyle administration as secretary of the Department of Administration, the same time as Russell. He describes her as “a star.” It’s a common refrain; in 2016, the publication Madison365 named her one of the “44 Most Influential African-Americans in the State of Wisconsin.”
“Angela and the team she led tackled difficult issues while staying true to their mission—better outcomes for children and families,” Schooff says. “了解安吉拉就是了解一个非常有才华的人, 也是一个用这些才能去帮助别人的人.”
转换与交易
With experience in county, municipal, 州政府也在她的管辖之下, Russell is in a unique position to compare and contrast efforts at achieving equity and diversity between the public and private sectors.
“In the government setting, 这是关于种族平等的, 看看公平和平等的区别, and getting a real sense of having an understanding of the history of how we got here,” she says. “在企业界……最重要的是底线、盈亏. 所以对我来说，我对待工作的方式是:我怎样才能把两者结合起来? 我希望能够帮助库纳互助银行, the company, 就其整体业务而言, 但我不想以剥削社区为代价, which is sometimes that happens.”
归根结底就是做功 transactional—“Here are the things you need to do to have a diverse and inclusive organization. Check these boxes and you’re good to go, do these trainings, and blah blah blah”—versus transformational. 这种转变需要更多的时间和痛苦, she says, 有时会极具挑战性, but it’s the way that these values get truly woven into the fabric of an organization. 她努力向人们展示系统性种族主义的历史背景, 深入研究抵押贷款行为的红线等问题.
“I remember our CEO saying: ‘I know you’re going to tell me there’s no code, but what’s the code?’ And I said here’s the deal, Bob, there’s no code for undoing centuries worth of oppression. 你必须了解我们生活的世界的背景，’”她说. “我们可以在库纳互助银行做出很多伟大的举动, and we are and we continue to, 但理解我们是如何以及为什么走到今天这一步真的很重要.”
Maybe there’s no code, but there are some key ingredients for any organization looking to really work, transformatively, on its inclusive practices, she says: curiosity, humility, and commitment.
“I feel like that’s the secret sauce,” she says, especially for those in leadership positions. “对于那些愿意说‘好吧，我不知道，我愿意感到不舒服.’ It’s fascinating. 我从来没见过这样的东西. 这太棒了，我很幸运能成为其中的一员.”
By all accounts, those who have had the opportunity to work with and learn from Russell feel the same way.
林恩·沃尔布雷希特，06年 开发和营销经理 社区卫生系统公司. 她在伯洛伊特也有一个自由职业者 writing practice.
