LEIOC in the Field: An Interview with Alum Shawntal Mallory on Her Experience in the LEIOC Program
Please introduce yourself and share a little about your professional background before and after completing the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate (LEIOC).
I am a native of Omaha, Nebraska, where I currently reside and work. My career is a hybrid of several different important positions that encompass what I feel like I'm purposed to do. I am the executive director of a newly formed nonprofit organization called the Nebraska Legal Diversity Council. This is an innovative, collaborative, social impact model that brought together 19 founding partners in the State of Nebraska to try to move the needle on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession.
I'm also an adjunct professor and a special consulting professor at Creighton School of Law where I attended law school. For the last five years, I've taught a Race and Law class I designed that examines the intersection of racism and American law from colonial times to present. And then, on the side, I do some consulting, coaching, and training work, mainly in leadership development and human resources. I'm a mom to two adult sons, both in college, and I do a lot of community work serving on boards and advisory boards, including my historically and predominantly Black public service sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. I’m also very active in my church and community. I don't sleep much!
We have a lot of work to do. For example, about 5% of the attorneys in the profession are African American, but we're about 19% of the general U.S. population in general. There is gross underrepresentation by way of ethnicity and diversity. When we look at women lawyers, we're doing fairly well in Nebraska. Women are about 36.1% of our profession, which is great. But our law school classes are right around 50/50. So there's a drop off somewhere. About 14% of women don't go on to practice law after obtaining a law degree. Some of that might be family situations, child rearing, or maybe they're utilizing their law degrees in other ways. And while we've made some significant process progress for women in Nebraska, we want to look at what efforts we are giving toward women to stay involved and active in the profession that is driving better results compared to racial and ethnic diversity. Folks in the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, veterans, non-traditional students, etc.—we are comprehensively looking at diversity and inclusion in every area.
Those are some of the stats. And then, from my own lived experience as a Black woman, we are less than 2% of the legal profession. We're kind of the unicorns of the profession, so increasing our representation is super important because you have a diverse group of folks who are accessing the justice system. They're walking into courtrooms and law offices and law schools and not seeing enough people who look like them and understand their lived experiences. And that's across all of those identity categories I mentioned and more.
How has the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate influenced your career trajectory?
Having the opportunity in 2020, especially in the wake of everything that was going on in the pandemic and the George Floyd murder, to formalize my education and expertise around organizational change management, diversity and inclusion fundamentals, and how to really put that into practice, was so pivotal and so life-changing for me.
I've done several programs with Northwestern, and I keep coming back because the content is amazing. The folks who facilitate the content are amazing, and you can feel their passion for the topic. It was really energizing in a timeframe where we didn't have a ton of hope. We were all stuck at home, so it was a great time to be learning. I really enjoyed my time with LEIOC and I got to make some amazing connections. It was so interactive. I find myself referring back to my notes and my binders full of materials. My models for change management and all of the tools equip me to have a great practice in diversity and inclusion, and it equipped me with the confidence in my leadership that I could foster change around equity and inclusion specifically as it relates to organizations. You know I'm often asked in this work: “Well, are you trying to change hearts and minds, or are you trying to change policies and systems?” And I'm always like, “YES.”
I think one of the biggest mistakes made coming out of the pandemic, when everyone was really excited and energized around equity and inclusion work, was that oftentimes people went to the woman in the organization, or the person from the LGBTQ community, or the person with a disability, and said, “Hey, do you want to lead our diversity and inclusion efforts?” And they weren't necessarily credentialed or set up for success, it was more of a lived experience thing. Lived experience only does not a practitioner make. You must understand how you go about making change in an organization. The content gave me that foundation to feel confident that I had what I needed as a consultant to actually develop my expertise and go out there and do this, not just because I was a Black woman, but because I was a Black woman with the experience and education and credentials to do it. Because I think some of these positions tokenize people a little bit, and I never felt that way because I felt like I had the tools that I needed to make the change. It’s been great having this foundational understanding of the work.
How has being part of the community benefited you in terms of connections and/or collaborations?
It's been great. It’s adding tools to the box and adding folks to my network. People are so generous with information and expertise. When I was participating in LEIOC, I never felt like anybody was competing. We were sharing resources. And that's still going on today.
It's also nice to have other folks who are doing this work and understand the ups and downs of it. We can celebrate each other when we have accomplishments. The additional educational opportunities offered by the program are terrific. I'm able to jump on and get some great additional material and refresh, while I get to see folks that I haven't seen in a while. Diversity and inclusion work is definitely an area of practice that is evolving and changing, so it's really nice to have a base of folks I know I can come back to and learn from over time.
What advice would you give to current or potential students pursuing the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate
As a person who is a lifelong learner, I remember graduating from law school and sitting for the Bar and saying, “I am never going back to school ever again for anything in my life.” But now I would say, to continue learning, to add this to anything that you're doing, it can only make you a better practitioner. It can only make you a better professional. Now more than ever we need folks in these spaces to continue to move this work forward, to assist organizations with navigating these issues and to be supportive to each other as a community of practitioners. It's a great value-add to any professional’s education in this area. I can't even put a monetary value on it, because things come up so often that encompass leading equity and inclusion in organizations. I would encourage people to participate in the program. It's life changing. And it's career improving. And if I could do it again, I probably would. Just as a refresher. You can go out there and do so many things with it. You can use it in your job, within your organization. You can go on to do consulting.
There's a huge amount of collaboration available. It's people coming together to solve problems, and it’s such a beautiful and giving community to be involved in. I highly recommend it as an investment in in you as a professional. There's no way you can go through this program and not come out changed and improved.
MSLOC in the Field is a series where community members share perspectives on their professional journeys and the roles MSLOC has played in advancing their learning and career goals.
About Shawntal Mallory: Shawntal M. Mallory is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. She was educated at Creighton University and Creighton University School of Law where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and her Juris Doctor, respectively. A licensed attorney, over the course of her nineteen-year practice, she has specialized in adoption, juvenile, family, and employment law while serving in nonprofit executive positions as general counsel and in human resources. Recently, she became Executive Director of the Nebraska Legal Diversity Council, a newly formed nonprofit organization aiming to increase and support diversity in the practice of law and law school matriculation in Nebraska. Mallory also serves as an adjunct Law Professor at Creighton Law School teaching a Race & Law course she developed. A featured speaker, trainer, coach and consultant on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, justice and belonging, Mallory is certified in Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Leading Equity & Inclusion in Organizations through Northwestern University. She is co-founder of the Nebraska Association of African American HR Professionals, an Inclusive Communities LeadDIVERSITY Advocate and a graduate of Leadership Omaha Class 31. Mallory serves on the Boards of Girls, Inc., Voices for Children, and Lamp Rynearson. She is an active community volunteer, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and attends Salem Baptist Church. She is a 2009 TOYO recipient, was awarded the 2021 Nebraska State Bar Association Diversity Award, and is the 2023 recipient of the Creighton University School of Law Judge Elizabeth D. Pittman Award. Mallory’s favorite role is mom to her two sons.