March Featured Author | Maleah R. Jackson
Welcome to our featured author series where we share different points of view on advancing social justice and DEI+B efforts through the ever evolving fields of multicultural organizational development, human resources, implementation science, equitable evaluation and applied research, improvement science, learning science, performance measurement, and team science.
Each month we highlight someone in this work we admire and have learned from in the past. Our hope is that you find new perspectives, ideas, and insights to inspire and challenge the way you live and work.
Maleah R. Jackson
Principal & Managing Consultant,
Makari Consulting
Maleah R. Jackson is a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion consultant. Maleah’s specialty is providing and developing tools to advance racial equity across programs, policies, and practices. She has been guiding organizational progress and accountability of DEI goals for over 15 years. For the last 5 years, she has bolstered her tools and training to intentionally center on equity. While her work always centers on equity, it is important that leaders understand and model their commitment to equity to improve their organization. Working with BIPOC leaders, she has honed the conversation beyond racial equity, to intersectionality of gender, religion, sexual orientation, and physical ability.
Why do you do the work you do?
As a Black woman, it’s important for me to fight for and foster equity and belonging to ensure that Black and Brown people are treated justly and fairly. I believe that companies can influence the way society goes. Because the majority of society works in a business, these companies have major reach and influence. So I do this work to change those organizations to be more fair and just, to create cultures of belonging and understanding so that future generations of black, brown, indigenous, and people of color do not have to endure the hardships, trials, and discrimination that I and many others before me have endured. Also, so that they get to live and be fully themselves at all times without carrying the load of stereotypes, allowing for freedom to innovate and create major changes in every part of society.
What technique, method, tool, theory or practice would you like to highlight that is promising and/or proven for advancing social justice?
The tools Makari Consulting uses include the Multicultural Continuum of Organizational Development, culture and engagement surveys, as well as policy and practice reviews. Our goal is to fix systems of inequity while also increasing the human connection. It is important for us to go beyond creating a roadmap towards being more equitable, but also to provide employees and leadership of organizations with ways of genuinely listening and connecting with one another. The goal in listening should be towards understanding, not necessarily agreement at all times. Creating an environment of support and openness always transforms culture and influences people. Transforming policies and practices advances equity within organizations and can work the same in communities.
What is one book you wish everyone would read?
I feel there are a number of books across my life that have meant a lot to me including Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B DuBois, MisEducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson and Why We Can’t Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’ve been very impacted by biographies of Phyllis Wheatly, Sojourner Truth, Paul Robeson, Shirley Chisolm and Barabara Jordan, to current writings such as the 1619 Project by Nicole Hannah Jones.
To pick one is difficult, but I’ll say to get the broadest swath of information on the culture that created the America of today read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. Understanding the oppression in policy and societal norms will help us understand what we need to fight against, resist, and change to create a future that is rooted in belonging and understanding.
What one or two practices, resources, and/or tools help you live more into your values on the daily?
A few things that I do in my daily life to live my values are:
Always be a learner: read, watch documentaries, talk to wise people, etc.
Surround myself with people who aren’t afraid to challenge or be challenged
Take a breath and allow myself to respond instead of react, to better understand someone's point rather than assuming
Practice grace toward myself and others
Stay grounded in God's word
Try my best to be who I am at all times in every situation and every location
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