In 2022-23 “Identities @ Work” emerged as a space where students, alumni, career educators and campus partners convened to explore the personal intersections that shape their work and career journeys. With a commitment to dialogue and reflection, this initiative fostered conversations that disrupted traditional workplace narratives.
Through engaging conversations facilitated by campus partners, participants were positioned as experts of their own experience. Each session delved into the diverse facets of identity and how that impacted the way students found and showed up at work. This sparked discussions on sexual and gender identity, the integration of religious values into careers, navigating caregiving responsibilities while job searching, identifying anti-racist employers, networking without privilege, addressing disabilities in the workplace, and the unique challenges of finding employment in Canada.
What set “Identities @ Work” apart was its innovative approach to session wrap-ups. In the final fifteen minutes, participants embarked on a co-researching and reimagining process, collectively shaping a vision of the world of work that resonated with their unique and intersectional identities.
After the session on “Reimagining race and work”, a participant emailed the facilitators, saying “thank you for seeing me.” This quote solidified the importance of programming that honours how identity informs experiences around work, academics and life.
This new offering discussed identity while fostering agency, hope and community through career learning.