Women Of Influence

Early on in Robbie Banks' career, she grew used to being in rooms where she was the only woman, the only young person, and often, the only person of color. Banks, the new program director for diversity, equity and inclusion for the Columbus Partnership, is now helping Columbus' private sector build more racial equity inside their organizations. "My job essentially is to shepherd the work that is being done with our members that are the CEOS of our region's employers who have a strong interest and passion in moving our community toward being anti-racist," she said on our latest episode of the Women of Influence podcast. Banks said that she decided early on to embrace the role in which she found herself. "I soon recognized how valuable (it was) being in that space was and how I needed to embrace that," Banks said. "Not to look at it as a negative. How do I make sure that I speak up, that I advocate for things that are important to me and my work? I wanted to make sure I was listening more than anything, taking it in and being ready to add any input, ask questions when appropriate, so that I could make sure my demographic or my gender or whatever it may be, had a voice at the table." She comes to Columbus Partnership from Leadership Columbus, where she served as the program director for more than two years. She also spent five years before that working for Experience Columbus. Previously, she also served as the leader of Columbus Chamber's young professionals program. Banks said when she was younger, she decided to "just be a sponge in any room that I was in," soaking up leadership lessons. Now, as the result of her experience, she has realized the value of speaking up. And she feels much more confident doing so. "There was a time where I would kind of sit back and more or less listen," she said. There's a time and place for that. But now because of my experience people look to me to speak up. I don't always need to, but that is certainly the expectation that comes with being a leader and helping to advance this important work." She said that advancing diversity, equity and inclusion will require her to build a "sustainable strategy" that is executable over several years. It's not a quick process, she said. "My hope is for myself to continue learning to be a continuous learner and educating myself and being more aware," she said. "Self awareness is key in any leadership position, any position period. ... We need to work toward being at the forefront of having this be a sustainable strategy. That is something that takes a lot of learning and listening on my end."

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