Co-conspiracies
Finding allies, accomplices, and co-conspirators with Oscar Delgadillo
As more and more DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) efforts get underway at workplaces, what are the steps to gathering accomplices and allies? How does company culture mean not just getting along, but also change and healthy conflict? We talked with Oscar to understand the many ways culture shift can happen.
Yindi Pei:
Could you introduce yourself?
Oscar Delgadillo:
My name is Oscar Delgadillo. I also go by Ox. Pronouns he/him/his. I am a software engineer, and I've actually just been promoted to senior software engineer for Mastery Logistic Systems in Chicago, Illinois.
Yindi:
Congratulations on the promotion! So what brought you to the Logic School space?
Oscar:
I saw it as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about how I can get involved, potentially as an activist, potentially as someone who can create community in that intersection between social justice and tech.
When I arrived in the Logic School space, I brought the part of me that definitely feels that I could be doing more for others, for people, for the world, for whoever needs help and support. I brought my curious self. In terms of who I thought of—it was ultimately marginalized folks, people who can't defend themselves, people who don't know that they need help, and people who are currently in systems that oppress them.
Yindi:
What was your project during Logic School?
Oscar:
My project, it was a lot of things. Initially, the idea that I proposed was to create an internal podcast for the company that I work for. We're currently still struggling with ways of diversifying our DEI efforts. So I thought about getting the organization and the leaders into caring more about people by introducing this internal podcast where I would basically just interview different folks and really try to get their stories out there, at least internally, within the company. We don't have many women engineers, and so, for example, I would highlight a woman engineer on the podcast.
Previously, I've created podcasts [Editors note: Ox co-hosts the Casual Viernes podcast.]. I had some health problems early on last year, so that kind of halted things. It's been a little slow trying to get it back up, but that's basically where the internal company podcast comes from. I definitely have the technology, the software, and the equipment, so I figured that it would be an easy way to use what I'm already learning in this other podcast to make another edition.
I’ve recently brought my internal podcast project back up to several people in the organization. Something that very much came from Logic School was learning how to navigate these types of conversations and trying to leverage other people's knowledge, their privilege, and also their curiosity. Trying to find my people, even if they themselves don't know that yet. I figured that one of the steps I had to take was, first of all, identify people who would be great allies and supporters of this project. That’s taken a little bit of time and some more effort than I anticipated, mainly because of how busy and overworked our employees are. I feel like I’ve had some breakthroughs within the last couple of weeks. One step that I took toward the project is that I took over this group that we have at work called the Technical Professional Development Group. Initially, it had very low participation, but I tell people it’s really just a space that we hold for them to come in and even learn together, if that’s what we have to do. Sometimes people think it is a group that is going to be prescriptive. But I think this space is a way to figure out some ways that we can support each other, things that I’ve learned from Logic School—how to identify ways to support and the next steps we can take. It’s been great these last couple of weeks that more coworkers have joined the group and people have revealed themselves as potential allies. I’m thinking, I’m gonna engage them in this manner first, and then once I get comfortable, let’s do a podcast.
Yindi:
Were there other challenges that you've encountered or you're encountering during the project?
Oscar:
It just feels like it's overwhelming—having to juggle my work and different responsibilities. I was actually telling someone at work that we have the opportunity to share knowledge. But I feel a little bit guilty taking time during work to do these things, even though they’re technically still related to work. The expectations and responsibilities that have been laid out for us don’t include these other things, and it creates an internal conflict. Maybe the expectations should include time for these things—why do technical roles, like myself as an engineer, have to do only engineer things to be seen as an effective, productive member of the organization? So there’s that.
Yindi:
That's real. I know a lot of folks feeling through that same thing. How are you working through these feelings and these challenges?
Oscar:
That's a tough one. You're gonna make me cry… Just getting emotional.
Yindi:
If you cry, I’ll cry!
Oscar:
It’s almost like an identity crisis in a way, where you’re trying to cope and also potentially let it go. And just, well, if this isn't the place for me to do this, I have to come to terms with that as well. But I think ultimately, while I'm still trying to do this, I still have to keep an eye out for opportunities within the organization for change and potential co-conspirators. When I talk to certain people, they are very much in line with what I’m talking about, with this kind of space holding for people. I just have to chip away at these little things that I do, and it'll snowball into something bigger.
I hope that someday the podcast runs itself. While I love to host and interview employees, it would be really great if it had a life of its own, and we could designate different hosts. Ideally, because of the podcast, more people would be receptive to increasing our DEI efforts. Because we have diverse backgrounds to begin with, we need to hold space for that and also for ways of keeping the company accountable. For example, our culture is split. It’s so fragmented right now. There are people who are trying to be inclusive. Then you have people who think culture means just getting along, and they say they love the culture. But it’s like, “What culture are you talking about? Which culture are you saying you love?”
One of the things about Logic School is how all of y’all changed my mind and the way I view the world. I know it sounds kind of cliché, but it changed my mind, my viewpoints, and I feel like there’s a filter that has been placed on my mind. Now when I see things, I immediately think about how accessible is this thing. Is it harming people? Just the amount of stuff that happened on a daily basis, which I don’t think would have happened before like this. It’s making me more aware of people having these kinds of conversations, especially certain friends who are community builders and having conversations with them.
Oscar ‘Ox’ Delgadillo (he/him) is a senior software engineer in the supply chain management field hoping to create a culture of safety and empathy by creating community spaces.
Listen to Oscar’s podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casual-viernes/id1551448826
Find Oscar at www.instagram.com/countaightblah
www.twitter.com/countaightblah