Candace Byrdsong Williams, once nearing the pinnacle of her career as a DEI professional, now navigates a hostile job market following her layoff. Filled with inspiration at her North Carolina home, her hopes for advancing to a chief diversity officer role seem dashed due to a deteriorating political climate that stigmatizes DEI work. Employers, spurred by executive orders against DEI practices, are retrenching from diversity initiatives, evidenced by major firms like Verizon scaling back their commitments to equal representation.
As she approached her 50th birthday last summer, Byrdsong Williams was pretty close to the top of her chosen field; her most recent job title was 'global director of diversity, equity, and inclusion.' But now, 'chief diversity officer' seems like a promotion that will never happen for her, and for thousands of U.S. workers.
The anti-DEI 'political climate' Byrdsong Williams refers to has been slowly bubbling up for years... Now scores of employers are in all-out retreat from anything adjacent to the word 'diversity' including the experienced DEI specialists who were once in high demand.
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