Claire L. Babineaux-Fontenot

"If you start with a fundamental premise that diversity is good, as I do, that unique perspectives are so powerful in solving problems, as I do, well, then it necessarily follows that you're going to invest energy and resources into equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging."

"So in every role I've ever been in, I've moved into teams that are not nearly as diverse as they could be. While I was in role, the team became more equitable, more diverse, more inclusive, and I hope that people felt a stronger sense of belonging on those teams. And then whatever the metric is, when I was in the for-profit world working at Walmart, and the metric was around saving money for the company so that the company could then have lower prices so that people could live better. Whatever the metric was, we did more of that thing."

"when we're talking about why equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging is important to this work… I alluded to at least, but maybe didn't emphasize enough the role that people with living and lived experience must play in creating solutions. Well, that's part of what makes me hopeful too. I want to be a part of breaking wheels. I say if I have a legacy, I want my legacy to be that. I built bridges and broke wheels. Built bridges, broke wheels. And one of the wheels I want to participate in breaking is around how we approach philanthropy in this country, how we approach solving for challenges in the country, and how equity is fundamentally important to doing that."