Mecca Mitchell, Senior Vice President & Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Burlington Stores, joins ChedHER to discuss how she created a robust DEI strategy for the company, and how other leaders can do the same.

chedHER

How Burlington Stores is Fueling DEI Success

joining us now, Mecca Mitchell, senior vice president and chief diversity equity and inclusion officer at Burlington Stores. So mecca going from entertainment to business when it comes to D. I. How do you approach developing D. I. Strategies at a company? Hello, asian, thank you so much for inviting me to join you today on your show. Um you know, I've been in the D. E and I space for over 15 years now and I've built successful programs across all professional realms, including education, government, healthcare, and now at Burlington, a nationally renowned retailer with over 860 stores in 46 states and Puerto rico. And what I I've learned is that there is no one size fits all when it comes to D. E. I work for each role. I had to be very intentional about taking the time to learn the business. When I came to Burlington, I took the time to learn about its history and 50 year legacy. I delved into the organizational culture. I needed to identify and understand the unique challenges we were facing. And I wanted to explore different opportunities for innovation. You know, organizations have a pulse. And by taking the time to actually take that pulse, I was able to successfully leverage my D. E. I. Knowledge and experience and wet it to the organization in a way that allowed for greater integration across all facets of the business, greater alignment with plans and priorities, greater buy in from our stakeholders and at the end of the, that's how we ensure that we're creating change that is both substantive and sustainable. You know, D. E. I. Is just good business. Yeah, absolutely. Mecca. Thanks so much for giving us a glimpse into your approach in terms of D. E. I. But I'm wondering also if you can break down some of the top D. Ei priorities for Burlington right now and also harkening back to what you had said, how you kind of communicated why those needed to be priorities. Absolutely. So, so R. D. E. I. Plan which was really informed by feedback from our associates. Our customers, we looked at industry insights has five key pillars. We started with leadership and workforce diversity and we did that for the very reason that you just referenced a moment ago, Representation matters so ensuring that we have diversity reflected throughout our hierarchy at all level when it comes to who's making decisions is critical that we represent the communities that we serve. So we target that under representation and leadership. We also endeavor with our second pillar to create inclusive and equitable environments for associates and our customers at Burlington. We want to ensure that we have environments where everyone can grow and thrive and contribute and by creating those work environ for Associates, they then turn around and ensure that our customers have welcoming and rewarding shopping experiences, people will vote with their feet and their dollars and so we want to make sure we're creating the best experiences for them at Burlington. Our third pillar is all about education and awareness. This is about raising the cultural intelligence of our workforce by promoting inclusive behaviors next wee folk. Because on product vendor and supplier diversity, we want to make sure that the vendors we engage with, the products that end up on our shelves really reflect again our diverse consumer base and that we're being responsive to their needs. And lastly we want to be good corporate citizens. So our fifth pillar is all about forging strategic partnerships with organizations that are about creating community empowerment. Those are our top priorities. And we communicate them on an ongoing basis, not just once a year, not just during black history month or global diversity awareness month, which is coming up. We do it all the time consistently. Yeah, it's really good to hear about all of these priorities. But something that stuck out to me was what you said about representation and having teams that reflect back the customer base. And I'm wondering how you build a team that reflects Burlington's values. Because we know so often one of the reasons why we don't see that representation is because pipelines are broken. Absolutely. You know at Burlington and and this is on our website, our values sent around concepts like trust and respect for each other. They center around collaboration and pride and driving results. But there really is one tenant that we espouse that really resonated with me as I was building my own team and that's at the heart of so much of the work we do in D and I. And it's the belief that at its core, we are a caring company. It's part of who we are. It's part of our corporate identity. Our actual logo is a heart. It's the embodiment of share humanity and love. It's about all those things that unite us on the inside, not the surface, not how we look or what color we are or what country we come from, how much money we have. It's about at the end of the day, our ability to find that shared humanity with each other and to create space and grace for each of us to live lives that are filled with dignity. That's what Burlington is about. So. Good to hear from you again, thank you so much for sharing this perspective on cheddar with us. That's Mecca Mitchell, senior vice president and chief diversity equity and inclusion officer at Burlington Stores.