We had the privilege to talk to Ayana Ledford on June 1st via Zoom. She is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion in CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, which makes her the perfect person to help guide the Girls of Steel for its 11th year and kick off the renamed Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) subteam.

Before the meeting, we sent her multiple questions to answer during the Zoom call. The questions ranged from how she got to where she is now, what interests her in DEI, and what challenges come with her job. For example one question was “How do you make sure that everyone feels represented and included?” Ms. Ledford answered that she hands out note cards to everyone so they can put their ideas down if they are not comfortable to say it out loud. She stated that that gives her the opportunity to hear everyone out so they feel involved.

Ms. Ledford responded with detail and with passion to thoroughly reply to every question presented. She gave us great advice on how to implement DEI on a regular daily basis and long term basis, such as encouraging participation as much as possible and staying in touch with the people we do outreach events with by talking to them every month and interacting with them as much as possible, perhaps by implementing a “pen-pal” program between Girls of Steel and the younger girls we meet at our camps.

Ms. Ledford was very intriguing and captivating with the way she explained her tactics, and she also gave us some helpful guidance, such as including an identity iceberg activity to help people understand what experiences others have had and how we can better relate to each other.