Romero: Come with solutions

In Wednesday morning’s session with Iliana Limón Romero, we had the opportunity to listen to Romero speak about her experience in sports journalism and her experience as a sports editor.

An intelligent and authentic person, Romero’s stories about her career and tips for becoming an editor were helpful and enlightening; but her comments on raising issues about diversity and inclusion in the workplace were some of my favorite conversations we’ve had thus far.

Romero told the class that the best way to raise issues about diversity and inclusion is to come with solutions. Anyone can reach out to an editor or boss and say they are uncomfortable with the company’s diversity or hiring practices, but if you just raise the issue without providing a solution, you can often put people in an uncomfortable position that won’t encourage them to make changes. But if you raise an issue with your boss and then provide a list of concrete, viable solutions, they’re going to be much more likely to hear you out and help make those changes.

The advice sounds simple enough, but as a young journalist, I can often let my emotions take over me without fully knowing how to temper them and make changes. It’s ok to be emotional -- and I’m still going to be -- but now I’m going to come prepared with a long list of solutions to those kinds of problems. I’ve always wanted to use my privilege to help make changes with my BIPOC and LGBTQ+ colleagues, and now I can.

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