Innovation Showcases
(Re)Learning Identity and Leadership Amongst Pipil Indigenous Multinational and Multigenerational Women: A Participant Observation Study
Innovation Case Studies Tanya Erazo
This study explores the author’s experience of integrating traditional Indigenous practices with a Western model of leading a conflict-resolution retreat. It reports how, by joining a Nawat Pipil language revitalization program, I (a Latinx, U.S.-born woman) was able to re/claim language, identity, and communication with my ancestors thanks to Nahnantzin (female Pipil elders) and nukumpas (colleagues). This re/claiming led to connection with Pipil women who asked for my help resolving conflict amongst their tribe (of various generations of Pipil women). This discussion explores strategies for new and/or "outsider" participant-observers to utilize when providing services to oppressed populations with different customs, worldviews, and perspectives than "leadership" possesses. It also considers the importance of acknowledging intragroup as well as intergroup differences. Moreover, I discuss the transformative practices rooted in Pipil culture (i.e., healing sessions, prayer, Mayan cosmovision, and community interaction) and non-Native practices (e.g., Western style leadership, communication and conflict-resolution practices) that allowed me to address the root causes of the Pipil women's stressors and healing. This discussion servea as a reminder of the resilience many communities, organizations, and groups we "lead" and encourage collaboration and guidance as opposed to traditional forms of Western leadership.
DEIB Was Broken Anyway: Why We Can't Fix Systemic Issues through Individual Actions
Innovation Case Studies Emily Witko
We cannot solve systemic inequities in tech by asking individuals to behave differently. Despite years of well-intentioned effort, traditional DEIB strategies, like unconscious bias training, mentorship programs, and diversity hiring targets, have failed to meaningfully shift outcomes for underrepresented groups in tech. These approaches focus on changing individual behavior, rather than redesigning the systems that perpetuate inequity in the first place. This session challenges the status quo of DEIB programming and offers a practical, systems-oriented alternative. We’ll explore how performative efforts often create the illusion of progress while reinforcing existing power structures, and unpack why relying on personal “aha moments” or good intentions isn’t enough. Drawing from lived experience in tech and years of hands-on DEIB strategy work, I’ll share specific, actionable ways to embed equity into the core processes of your organization—from rethinking hiring and promotion practices to building structural accountability into decision-making. We'll also discuss what to do when your DEIB efforts are deprioritized or under political scrutiny. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of why past efforts haven’t worked, a roadmap for what to try instead, and renewed energy to build inclusive workplaces that actually work—for everyone. Whether you're in HR, engineering, leadership, or community governance, this session will help you shift from checkbox inclusion to transformative change rooted in process, power, and people.
