Representation Matters: A Personal Perspective on Black History Month

Black History Month is a time to commemorate, honor, and pay respect to the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Since 2021, we have worked with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.) as their consultant to both stand up and guide them on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) journey. Today we hear from Sabrina Mays-Diagne, DEI Officer at Otsuka about her experience at Otsuka and her views of Black History Month.

Interview by Ana Gema Monge, Impact DEI Consultant.

Ana: It’s great to be here with you today, Sabrina. Please tell me more about yourself and your role at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc (Otsuka).

Sabrina: As you know, I am Sabrina Mays Diagne, and I am originally from Washington, DC. I attended all Black elementary and middle schools growing up, and even my high school was majority Black. For high school, I went to Benjamin Banneker High School, which is one of the city’s college prep schools where educators wanted to prove the following concept to DC:  if you give kids the opportunity, and prepare a positive learning environment for them, they will excel just like anyone else. I say all this because looking back, the opportunities I’ve had were quite amazing and allowed for this whole diversity, equity, and inclusion thing to come together in adulthood for me.

I graduated from the School of Business at Howard University and went on to start my professional sales career. Four and a half years later, I started law school in the evenings while working full time as a pharmaceutical sales representative. In law school, I was the Vice President of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) as well as the representative from the evening division.

I started as an attorney at Pfizer, Inc. and later joined Otsuka’s Legal Department. As an attorney, I co-lead a grassroots employee organization which held a  Lunch and Learn series. It came about because our CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Development and Commercialization Group (OPDC) at the time, Dr. Bill Carson, was a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC). He would encourage employees to go to the ELC’s Recognition Gala and to attend a Mid-Level Manager Symposium, and then come back to the organization to share what we had learned with everyone else. It was a wonderful exposure to Black leadership. I remember running into Carla Harris, Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley, and being greeted with a welcoming smile and words of encouragement. Being in that environment with Black leaders who were just showing up as their authentic selves was inspiring.

So, the Lunch and Learn series was created and we started having monthly meetings to get together and talk about what we learned, and we became a support system for one another to navigate the Otsuka environment and our careers. And eventually that turned into the Employee Resource Group that we know today at Otsuka as BeOne, the Black Employee Otsuka Network for Engagement.

You know how people say you never know who is looking, right? At the time of all this, I was still an attorney in the Legal department organizing the Lunch and Learn series in addition to my day job. With that, one day I was tapped on the shoulder to be the D&I Officer at Otsuka. I knew there were practitioners in the D&I space so I thought “Why me?” But the company thought I was the right fit since I was already doing some of the work, had been with Otsuka many years, and understood the culture and the people. This is how I stepped out of legal after 14 years, and stepped into the DEI Offer Role and established the DEI Office in 2021. I think my advocacy around ensuring there is an even playing field, open access, and that everyone has an opportunity to excel started early on, and that it is just a part of who I am. My role as DEI Officer with Otsuka just feels full circle.

Ana: It’s great to hear your story and how you transitioned into the world of DE&I. Now that you are the DEI Officer, what is Otsuka’s vision and priorities for DE&I?

Sabrina: We honestly believe that our current and our future success is grounded in science and innovation. And that science and innovation is fueled by diversity of thought. That diversity of thought manifests itself through diversity of backgrounds and experiences.  When we think about Otsuka’s mission: “Otsuka People, creating better health products worldwide,” it’s people from all backgrounds and lived experiences coming together doing research. And that research leads to the innovations, treatments, and cures that we bring to the market. We want to ensure that everyone has access so we can service those unmet medical needs of communities and our patients.

We also have a tagline, “Creating an inclusive and equitable today and tomorrow for our people, patients and communities.” In a nutshell, that's our vision. We also have DE&I Core Pillars. In layman’s terms they are:

1. Patients: We are patient-centric, constantly focused on understanding the unique needs of our patients.
2. The Workforce: That's the Otsuka people. We want to have diverse representation to have diversity of thought.
3. The Workplace: We help ensure that we foster a nurturing and inclusive work environment because to have diversity of thought, you must be inclusive of the unique perspectives and contributions of your people.  
4. The Marketplace: We want to make sure we have an equitable impact when we take our products to the marketplace. We also want to make sure there is access to our products and the services we are developing.

Ana: Thank you for putting your vision and the DE&I Pillars into perspective for me. It’s great that Otsuka looks at their DE&I work wholistically. As a company, how does Otsuka commemorate Black History Month?

Sabrina: Our employee resource group, BeOne, is taking the lead and working in collaboration with the DE&I Office to commemorate Black History Month. We like to tie our Black History Month celebration to our day-to-day work. This year, we're hosting a discussion panel featuring Dr. Ruth Shim. Dr. Shim is a Professor of Cultural Psychiatry and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis. During this round table, we're going to discuss the actions that Otsuka and others can take to combat the mental health inequities that minority populations face based on The Economic Burden of Mental Health Inequities Report in the United States. There has also been an effort to highlight and to commemorate Black pioneers in mental health to help to raise awareness with our colleagues because a lot of that history has not been told. It’s important for Otsuka people to know this because we want to reflect the environments and communities that we work with. We are also sharing this content externally through our social channels to bring further awareness outside of the company. Additionally, our Corporate Social Responsibility team has launched an internal Black History Month educational campaign. I participated in the campaign this morning by listening to a podcast by the Black Mental Health Alliance and learned some new information around the importance of recognizing cultural differences when providing counseling to patients who have mental illness. The Corporate Social Responsibility campaign has a points program, and the person with the most points will have a donation made to the charity of their choice. This is a great opportunity for some friendly competition, learning something new, building community and prioritizing mental health and wellness.

Ana: Thank you for honing in on mental health because many Black and Brown communities don’t take mental health into account as a priority. There are negative stereotypes for going to see a therapist, for example. So, educating folks internally and externally is key.

Sabrina: Right. The podcast also mentioned the cultural nuances around communities’ approach to mental health. Some folks will go see their pastor, priest, or imam before even seeing their doctor. This is why it’s important to educate religious and community leaders on how to recognize mental health issues. And when they recognize them, giving them tools to help link people to the resources that they need.

Ana: Absolutely. That is a great combo. I’d love to focus on you a little more. I feel like you do it all and you’re Superwoman. Tell me, as a black female leader, attorney, and mom, what is the significance of Black History Month to you personally?

Sabrina: Black History Month is important because representation matters. I remember being in elementary school during Black History Month, the teacher would have all the different Black icons on the wall, and they would tell you the story for each person. By the end of the month, you would know the names and history of a whole host of Black leaders.  Being exposed to this gave me the sense that I could also make a difference in the world. I could see myself in those history makers. I knew that African Americans have made major contributions to shaping the United States of America, and I wanted to be like that too. It really put me in an environment where I could look towards the future and see myself in it. As a kid, it felt great to see people like me who were national and community leaders in various industries. Now, as an adult, seeing representation in the workplace, it really makes a difference. It makes it possible for me, Sabrina a professional peer, or the student in elementary school, high school or college, to not only dream of being a leader, a professional, a history maker, or a homemaker for that matter, but to become it. And so that's why I think Black History Month is so important. It's so important to our children, our people, and our future. And when I say “our” I’m not only talking about the Black community, but the United States of America as well.

Ana: I appreciate your thoughts in representation and exposure to other cultures, historical figures etc. My son is in Pre-K 3 and he is always getting exposed to all the Heritage Months. This month we are creating a project together on a Black musician(s) and we’ve been listening to various artists to pick the one we will do his project one. He’s been jamming to Earth, Wind and Fire so I think we may go that route. (laughs)

Sabrina: Wow, he is three years old and getting that level of exposure to the musical and lyrical genius of Earth, Wind & Fire. As he continues to mature, he will have no walls or boundaries. Good music with an uplifting message like, Keep Your Head to the Sky will just be good music for him, no matter who the artist is.

Ana: That’s right! Now, for one final question: What advice would you give other organizations and leaders for driving inclusion during this month and beyond?

Sabrina: I would give the following advice:

1. Make sure that all employees understand “the why” behind creating a culture of inclusion. Why it's important and what it means for the organization and for employees. We know that inclusive and diverse organizations and teams are more productive and more profitable than homogeneous organizations and teams. So, from a business perspective, it's a business imperative. It’s also a human imperative. It's just the right thing to do. You must have a culture of inclusion.
2. Ensure you have the foundation and infrastructure to support a DE&I program. Gather the necessary data to really understand the makeup of your organization based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, veteran status disabilities, etc. All those characteristics will help you understand your employee population. Then update and create policies and processes and provide training that gets reinforced repeatedly. So, it doesn't seem like a one and done but it's actually baked into the DNA of the organization and how the organization operates. At Otsuka, a good customer experience starts with a good employee experience. We must treat our employees right for them to deliver in the marketplace for us.  
3. I would say also having measures and goals because what gets measured, gets done. And it allows you to establish accountability. So again, we drive inclusion because it's a business imperative.
4. Keep your ear to the ground by conducting employee surveys and focus groups. Make sure you're open to the feedback, that you share it, and that you show proof you're acting on it. This ensures that you know the work is being done to make any cultural shift that needs to be made. Ensure that your leadership (CEO, the executive leadership team, senior leaders) within the organization is thriving from the culture of inclusion that is necessary for business success.
5. Have diverse recruiting resources. Ensure your HR teams are trained and ready to represent the company to attract diverse talent. Then once you have diverse talent in the organization, retain it and encourage the development of inclusion and growth mindsets.  We believe our current and future success is rooted and grounded in science and innovation. And with that, you have to have an open and growth mindset.

Thank you, Sabrina, to you and Otsuka for all the great work you are doing in the medical field and in the diversity, equity and inclusion space. The Impact team really values our relationship with you.