MONDAY MUSE: TIERNEY YATES, MONDAY’S DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION CONSULTANT
Tierney Yates is not just Monday Talent's diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, but an extension of our team. Although DEI is a core value, we understand the importance of expert guidance. Tierney's deep expertise helps train our team, broaden our perspectives, and foster an inclusive, equitable environment. His involvement spans across all of Monday, including content strategies, team activities, and ensuring our recruitment strategies, client interactions, and brand identity reflect an equitable approach. We lean on Tierney to ingrain DEI principles into every aspect of Monday Talent.
Give me a brief elevator pitch about yourself and your position.
I’m Tierney Yates, the Founder and Principal Consultant of Little Light Consulting Firm. What we focus on is diversity, equity and inclusion culture change – creating empowered staff and teams, crafting results-oriented campaigns, and elevating their vital mission driven work.I have been doing DEI work professionally for 12 years and I launched Little Light in 2018. I have been able to curate and create some amazing partnerships that illuminate why DEI work is important and how inclusive communications and equitable policies create positive social change. I am so excited for what 2023 has to offer because I am jumping into a lot of new partnerships!
What part of your job and the work you do are you most proud of?
I’d say the biggest thing I am proud of doing is guiding organizations to understand their “Why?” and their “How?”. This is extremely different for every organization and once they figure out the “Why?” we co-create the “How?”. I always say I am different when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion work. I am not the typical consultant. All of my partners would attest to that LOL. I’m not the “by the book” consultant. I am educated in that “book” and have a certification for this work, but I started in this work in a volunteer capacity with an organization called PACT (People Acting in Community Together) before this work really became monetized. Systemic inequity is real, bias is real, we all have it and we all deal with it in some capacity. Some of us have privilege(s), some of us don’t and really just understanding the intersection of that is why I do this work. Intersectionality is a key component to understand in DEI work. A lot of times I am going into these organizations with individuals who have had little to no interaction with DEI topics/resources because they have lived in their own bubble of privilege, whatever that may be. It is in viewing those things(intersections) that we’re able to identify and create infrastructure that uplifts the individual, the team and the organization.
What or who is your biggest inspiration?
I honestly don’t have a “biggest inspiration,” I have a whole bunch of people who have poured into me in a way that has really set my purpose in life forward. One is Melissa Perez. She was the Director of Development when I worked at the We Teach Science Foundation. She is coming up for me because she is a person who always allowed me to do the work that I did there in how I saw it should be done - which was fundraising with an equitable lens. Second is Masharika Prejean Maddison, who was Director of Training at Coro Northern California while I was their Development Manager. This is a person who continuously has affirmed me in the work that I do - not only in fundraising but also in training and facilitating. The third person that comes to mind, is someone who ended up becoming what I like to call “my adopted mom.” Her name is Minister Virginia Groce-Roberts, and she was my music college professor. I name her because she is consistently a person that allows me to view humanity in such a way that allows me to give grace and empathy to people. I would say those are the three people who really kind of encapsulate how I move through this work.
How did you realize that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion work is what you love?
I am still realizing that. I won’t say it is what I love, I want to be very frank about that, I do not love this work. This work is hard and this work impacts me as a person. I do this work because I’ve been called to do it. I’ve tried my hardest to step away but every time I have taken a step away I’ve been pulled back because it’s what I’m supposed to be doing. I do love the way I do this work. My firms tagline is “ People-centered values light the path to transformative outcomes”. I really believe we have to center people FIRST! If we’re not doing that then who is this really benefiting… Not the person or community that has been historically disenfranchised. I’ll love this work more when it’s not just seen as a benefit or additional resource but as a necessity to the health and wellness of our work structure, culture and people.
Where do you see the work you do leading you next?
I see myself continuing to do what I do and impacting future generations - collaborating with younger individuals who want to do consulting. Not just diversity, equity and inclusion consulting, but really understanding the impacts and effects of what consulting has on you as a person while doing the work. Like, I don’t call my partners clients, I don’t believe in that. Are they hiring me? Absolutely! But I call them partners because this work is based on partnerships, collaboration and shared ownership. It would be great to help the new wave of consultants see themselves in that and innovate practices that deepen their partner interactions.
What advice do you have for people trying to get into your field? Or maybe for people who are already doing similar things to you.
The first piece of advice that I have is to make sure that this is something that you are prepared to do. That means you have to do a lot of research. Understand the history of socioeconomic inequality in the US. Understand the psychology of human emotion, specifically joy and fear. When there is a deep understanding of what the work takes in addition to an eagerness to dismantle and create, then I think individuals have positioned themselves to be able to do this work in a successful way. Second, I’d say create your decompression mechanisms early. I run four miles every day. I do that because I want to really allow myself to shake off whatever I might be holding on to. Build in these things quickly because this work is going to impact you in some type of way. Third, partner with other people doing this work who are like-minded. You might not agree on everything, but invite that position you don’t agree with in, and you may have a shift in perspective. I feel like if people do those three things, then they will really be able to set themselves up for success.
What do you love to do when you aren’t working, when you’re allowing yourself to unplug or unwind? Maybe share what a perfect weekend would look like!
I love eating out. I love trying new restaurants. I love trying new rooftops. I love trying new cuisines, whether it be in my backyard in downtown LA or going out. I also love craft drinks! I’m an espresso martini connoisseur. Shoutout to Joey's DTLA, they still have the best one I’ve ever tasted. Mastro’s Ocean Club is a close second. Secondly, in the vein of food, cooking! Cooking and hosting my friends. I love cooking for two reasons. One, I know it’s going to taste amazing LOL. And secondly, because I really like the community aspect of food. I have to mention it because I do it every day, singing. Singing is something that will always be a part of my life and truly something that continuously keeps me grounded. I typically start all of my meetings, whether it’s a training or some type of facilitation, with music. I just feel like music is one of those universal languages that brings us together. So yeah, eating out, drinking, cooking and singing.
