Episode 27: Erryca Robicheaux DEI Leader: Visibility and Acceptance, with a side of Joy

Fiftyfaces Focus 2024 Pride Special

Erryca Robicheaux describes herself as shaping the future of Diversity and Inclusion through technology. She is a certified DEI leader and strategist as well as a Neurodiversity ERG lead.

Erryca grew up in Louisiana in a deeply religious household where attending church multiple times a week was common. She describes some of the belief system and backdrop to that time, and then how she was “outed” at church which was when she had to tell her parents that she was gay. Her journey back to the church is one that we discuss, as it reveals the complex, intersecting, aspects of that relationship that many members of the LGBTQ+ community have to navigate.

We move then to her career and discuss the intersectionality of her neurodiversity with being gay, and how this is actually quite a common area of intersectionality, particularly for lesbians. This requires a particular kind of inclusion that is in tune with the individual’s needs but just because it requires effort, Erryca’s view is that it is an effort worth making.

Erryca is an advocate for better visibility and acceptance on LinkedIn which is where I came across her profile, and she talks there about sometimes being forced to lead a double life and suppress a side of herself for corporate acceptance. She also discusses the pushback that something like a social media post can attract, in particular a recent one in which she was pictured with her jeep and a rainbow flag on Instagram in a joyful image that was actually grabbed by Jeep for their own post.

You can find some of Erryca’s social media posts here:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7067926967219597313?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7067926967219597313%29
including the famous Jeep Instagram pic that effuses such joy.
The 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:
Linked In
linkedin.com/in/lauralatourette
Twitter:

• LauraLaTourette