Encouraging Diversity and Inclusion: The Vibrant Colleague Resource Group Mariana Rivera, Senior Human Resources Business Partner, Clarivate, discusses her long-established career in HR, her role in the formation of Vibrant, and the part that the group has played in encouraging racial and ethnic diversity at the organization.

The Vibrant colleague resource group is focused on racial and ethnic diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging. In this article, Mariana talks about her career journey so far, the inspiration behind the creation of Vibrant, its alignment with the values of Clarivate, and the initiatives colleagues have been involved in during Vibrant’s first year of existence.

If I were to sum up my experience so far at Clarivate, I would say that the dynamic nature of the organization has meant that every day brings a new and exciting challenge. In 2018, when I applied to join Clarivate, a key driver for me then was the opportunity to work closer to my home, having been born and raised in Philadelphia. Upon meeting the Clarivate HR department, however, I was struck by the vibe and energy of the team and knew immediately that they were people that I wanted to work with in my career.

While I’ve been involved in HR for fifteen years, I’ve found that Clarivate has helped me develop both professionally and personally, in every respect, due to the close communication with the great people who work here. While the Covid-19 pandemic has created unique communication challenges, technology has played a big role in facilitating my support to our global technology, marketing, finance and commercial performance teams throughout Clarivate during a challenging time. Shaping workplace cultures and developing leadership programs have been proud accomplishments in my career so far, and the creation of Vibrant has proven to be no different.

From initial spark to reality

From what began as an initial spark in my head in March 2020, Vibrant has now developed into a fully formed colleague resource group which focuses on racial and ethnic diversity and encourages discussions around it. I was delighted to discover that my colleagues felt the same when I initially discussed the idea with them, and many colleagues have played a big role in helping it come to fruition.

While the onset of the pandemic last year slowed our progress in forming the group in the Philadelphia office, social unrest and increasing awareness of injustices taking place in the United States highlighted the need for action, and we formed a global group that was not tied to a particular office. While we now have an amazing small team in place, we’re always looking for more colleague volunteers to help us make a greater difference!

Impactful initiatives

The difference we make is driven by our three pillars – community engagement, cultural awareness and representation.

With community engagement, our CEO Action Fellowship representatives Aaron Fitzgerald and Dani Mazzarella focus on improving the lives of Black Americans through advocacy and advancement of public policies that will root out and end systemic racism. Colleagues work with relevant third parties on developing initiatives to address that in the United States. In the future, we plan to work closely with the Clarivate Volunteer Network on regional initiatives that can make a genuine difference.

We’ve also been involved in helping charitable causes. For example, Clarivate gave us the opportunity to donate to a charity of our choice, and we picked Code2040, a non-profit organization that supports young and ethnic-minority people to access opportunities in the innovation economy, a combination of knowledge, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and collaboration that fuels economic growth.

In furthering cultural awareness, we celebrated Black History Month in February with initiatives including an interactive blog and asking colleagues to share who their black history heroes are with the wider organization. This offered the opportunity for colleagues to learn about people that they may have not had knowledge of before. We concluded the celebration activities with a virtual coffee break trivia game where we had a little fun and learned a lot! Similar further activities are planned for Hispanic Heritage month in September-October 2021.

Our third pillar, representation, reflects our aim to promote the professional development of racially and ethnically diverse colleagues at Clarivate. We embrace an unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion. These principles are integral to our core values and Sustainability@Clarivate.

We do this by prioritizing recruitment and providing mentorship to empower the upward mobility of diverse colleagues. Diversity is our strength, making Clarivate an ever-more creative, innovative and competitive company.

Getting in touch

I think that the Vibrant colleague resource group perfectly reflects a core Clarivate value in ensuring that every voice is heard and that every person has a seat at the table, regardless of their racial or ethnic background. I’m also incredibly proud that the group and its aims have resonated with people of different cultures and has had a global reach well beyond its origins in the United States.

It’s important to keep having conversations about diversity and inclusion, which is why I encourage our colleagues to get in touch with us. I’d like to hear from our readers, too, with your thoughts on encouraging diversity and inclusion in the workplace. What experiences can you share? What can we learn together?

Whether it’s a comment on one of our articles or attending one of our informal discussions, every experience that we’ve had and can share is an opportunity for others to be educated.

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