Welcome to episode 1, season 1.

Catalyst founder Felice Schwartz embraced a vision for the future of the workplace in her 1992 book Breaking with Tradition based on “fulfillment, both personal and professional,” where everyone is “able to define and pursue their goals freely, regardless of gender.” 

From this initial vision, the Catalyst of today strives for “workplaces that work for women.” This is the future of work we at Catalyst seek to create at workplaces everywhere. This is our why. 

How an organization communicates its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work makes an impact—both to the outside world in this moment of anti-DEI pushback, and internally to employees who want to know their company cares. 

For this first episode of Breaking with Tradition, hosts Lucy, Victoria, and Erin sit down to set the stage and discuss both the Catalyst “why” and why it matters that we talk about it. And as can be expected from a research organization, we bring in some evidence-based insights to back us up! 

Hosts

Lucy Kallin, Executive Director, EMEA, Catalyst

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Victoria Kuketz, Director, Corporate Engagement, Canada, Catalyst

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Erin Souza-Rezendes, Vice President, Global Communications, Catalyst

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In this episode

• 1:07 | The origin story. The inspiration for this podcast, Catalyst, founder Felice Schwartz and her 1992 book Breaking with Tradition.
• 4:28 | Building a human-focused workplace. Women are half the population, but they're also not a monolith. Victoria, Lucy and Erin discuss why gender equity is critical to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• 9:35 | Finding your voice. Why it's important for companies to talk about equity and what it looks like.
• 15:35 | World-class employers. Why some companies are building workplaces that work for women despite the DEI pushback.
• 19:35 | Modern-day rebels. How our hosts break with tradition.

Favorite moments

• 1:41 | Erin: As someone who works in communications here at Catalyst, you know, I think about our work as breaking with tradition all the time. Because really, what we're focusing on is our shared humanity.
• 2:18 | Victoria: From a productivity crisis, AI upskilling and adoption across industries, we're constantly facing new and emerging challenges. So this breaking with tradition theme really resonates with me because we need to innovate and from a DEI perspective, upskill and leverage the entirety of the workforce to meet these challenges...
• 10:32 | Lucy: 76% of employees want their companies to take action. And I think that's where Catalyst comes in. I'm leaning forward because I'm getting too excited now.
• 12:33 | Victoria: DEI is for everyone. And...