Downing Street, Death Threats and DE&I with Baroness Oona King

“When I lost my seat in parliament, as devastating as it was, I genuinely felt relieved that I got out with my life.” We’ve officially reached our final episode of Series 7, but we’re definitely finishing on a high with today’s 40 Minute Mentor - it’s none other than Baroness Oona King. Oona has worn many hats throughout her career - from becoming the second black woman elected into British Parliament, becoming a Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister on Equalities, to ultimately pivoting into tech working within Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Channel 4, YouTube, Google and currently Snap Inc. Based on our own commitment to help build more diverse and inclusive companies, we couldn’t think of a better person to finish off this Series of 40 Minute Mentor with. In this episode, Oona shares some incredibly candid mentorship and advice, including: What her path to the House of Commons looked like and how her mum ultimately inspired her to go into politics [07:15] What it was like for a black woman in British Politics and the lessons she learned from that environment [10:10] How she lost her seat in front of millions of people watching and why there’s a part of her that’s really glad it happened when it did [16:32] Why she pivoted into Tech and her advice for anyone else looking to pivot careers [21:54] What a typical day in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion looks like [27:51] Oona’s advice for any business leaders looking to improve their DE&I efforts and how you can measure impact [31:55] What the murder of Georg Floyd has taught her [36:18] 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more. ⛳️ Helpful links: ➡ ️The ACT Report - https://newsroom.snap.com/en-GB/introducing-catalyze-tech/ ➡ ️More about DE&I at Snap Inc - https://citizen.snap.com/diversity ➡ More about Baroness Oona King - https://www.linkedin.com/in/oona-king-sheher-00ba8414/ ➡ Find out more about our sponsors and their rocket ship journey - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices