Helping immigrants thrive in the workplace

In a time when inclusion efforts are under pressure and immigrant communities are too often misrepresented, Dr. Lola Adeyemo is leading with courage, clarity, and heart. As founder of Immigrants in Corporate, she empowers first-gen and immigrant professionals to thrive by building meaningful careers, connecting to mentors, and creating communities of belonging inside and outside the workplace.

In this episode of SoCal Voices, Dr. Lola shares how Southern California’s unique diversity offers both challenges and opportunities, and why community, allyship, and storytelling are key to navigating today’s climate. Whether you’re an immigrant professional finding your place, or a SoCal native who wants to build stronger bridges of understanding, this episode will remind you that resilience grows when we stand together, and that thriving in SoCal means no one has to do it alone.

Resources: Immigrants in Corporate

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Transcript

ROSS: I'm Angela Ross and this is the award -winning podcast SoCal Voices. Authentic stories and local wisdom to help you thrive in Southern California.

In a time when inclusion efforts are under pressure and immigrant communities are too often misrepresented, Dr. Lola Adeyemo is leading with courage, clarity and heart. As founder of Immigrants and Corporate, she empowers first-gen and immigrant professionals to thrive by building meaningful careers, connecting to mentors and creating communities of belonging inside and outside the workplace. 

In this episode ofSoCal Voices, Dr. Lola shares how Southern California's unique diversity offers both challenges and communities, and why community, allyship, and storytelling are key to navigating today's climate. Whether you're an immigrant professional finding your place, or a SoCal native who wants to build stronger bridges of understanding, this episode will remind you that resilience grows when we stand together, and that thriving in SoCal means no one has to do it alone. 

In today's climate of political and legal pushback against inclusion efforts, how are you reframing your mission to support immigrant professionals without compromising your own values?

ADEYEMO: Thank you for that question. I think that's a question I've had to ask myself a couple of times since last year. And I am so happy, so relieved to find that the mission remains the same. And what I've really changed and tightened is the people that I'm approaching. It's been very open about what we do,
what we stand for. The mission remains empowering immigrant professionals to thrive in the workplace. Immigrant professionals being just a fraction. The other side of my work coin, I partner with companies to build communities within their organizations.

And I didn't see communities for immigrants and first gen, which is kind of where
the nonprofit curves itself out. So I'm still all about inclusive workplaces through
community -based efforts, understanding that individuals we are all unique, we all have multiple things that we bring to the table that makes us us. And a lot of times
it has nothing to do with our skillsets, but how can we accommodate all of the
differences that we have and leverage that as opportunities for the walk and the
career that we want. So I think rephrasing, re -targeting the right people,
a lot of times is HR. I've always primarily talked to HR and the company
leadership. I didn't necessarily partner directly with DEI teams because if you have
a DEI team, we're probably doing the same thing. So, you know,
so So, what I found is there are organizations that have had to restructure things,
but they're still doing the work. Where did the work end up within their
organization? So now I'm trying to find the right people within organizations. 

On the other side, with immigrants and first gen, it's the same. These people, a lot of the people that are part of a community, they are doing the work. They want to
develop their career. They have a lot of stakes in making sure that they're
advancing their growing because there's a lot of responsibilities, right? So they are
still very much interested. Maybe some of the things that I've changed will be
making sure that people also have legal support and resources because there's just such a variety of spectrum where people sit as far as legal papers.
So I mean, I'm a professional at work I mean, I don't have a whole host of things
going on with myself or my immediate family. 

ROSS: So what does support look like right now? Are you finding that some of the companies, the businesses that you work with, are trying to ride both sides of the fence in the current environment? On the one hand, they're getting a lot of pressure to sort of push back and sort of put their inclusion efforts and they're really committed to the idea of having a diverse and equitable and inclusive workplace. But they're having to kind of put it over here because they're scared of attracting attention in the face of all this pressure. And at the same time, they still want the richness, the vastness, the breadth and depth and all the benefit they get from having such a richly diverse workforce. What are you seeing in that realm?

ADEYEMO:  Absolutely. And I think the first half of this year, there was a lot of pauses. You know, companies kind of halted different
things. Like, okay, we're trying to see what's going on. Things were changing every
day. But this is where the sifting is kind of happening, right? Because I think if
your inclusion initiatives were so embedded and a part of your culture already,
it's not something you can just do away with overnight. And so there are companies that have been, we remain committed, but how? There's been a lot of reassessing, "How do we do this?" Because depending on the industry you are, of course, if you're in the government, you probably have a, you know, more at risk. 

Depending on the industry you are serving, I was listening to a conversation with a company that is employee -owned. As you can imagine, that organization is going strong in every way, because all the employees are shareholders, right? And so it's not a leadership, it's not an employee at the bottom. It's everybody has a stake in this organization, so we remain committed to our work. So it's business as usual. 

And so I think a lot of companies have been forced to reassess, but there are people that are very committed and just having to figure out how do we keep doing what we want to do.

ROSS: Talk a little bit about how you work with people individually, you know,
you have people who come to you and say, "Dr. Lola, look, I'm new to this country.
I'm on my path to maybe permanent residency. Maybe they're just here for a short
time for a specific work. Maybe they really want to stay in the US." It could be
any scenario, but talk about how you help them navigate the environment right now so that they achieve whatever goals they have and still feel secure and welcome in this environment.

ADEYEMO: Yeah, absolutely. So I think most of the people that are part of the
community that are coming to me, to us, they are immigrant professionals,
immigrants or first year professionals, meaning they're already in the workplace,
they're already in the workforce. Entry level, mid-level, and so part of coming is
I am underemployed. Underemployment is a big deal within the community that support people knowing that I have all these qualifications but here is the only job I could find which is minimum wage. How do I even break into corporate America, right? So having to start from scratch and then people that maybe came in through the academic routes and now it's like well now I have my degrees most times advanced degrees but I don't even know how to get a job nobody would give me a chance I can't find the companies that are sponsoring I have all the skills I have my internship experience but I can't find a job right so it's it's it's the
qualifications are there but the connections and the skills are not there. So a big
part of it is connecting people to mentors, people who work in corporate America
already. 

We have experts who are specifically focused on job search, career search, how to leverage LinkedIn, how to specifically leverage visibility opportunities to find the right job, right, how to what platforms do you need to be looking at. What's your industry? Yes, somebody who is in your industry that can immediately give you some guidance. So a lot of the challenge with this community of
immigrants first gen is not having the connection to corporate America,
especially for people that want corporate jobs. I don't even know how to navigate, I don't know how to make my application stand out. I don't have a reference within
the space, being a reference, finding our members who can be references, who can be mentors, and then we can help review job applications and do interview preps for people. 

ROSS: Are you finding that folks are able to get the help that they need, and I
ask that in the context of Americans, all of us actually, we're all constantly being told that the problem in the United States is all these immigrants, and if all the immigrants would just stay away, that all these other people, all these problems would disappear, which is preposterous. It's outrageous. But that's what we're hearing. And so how do the folks that you work with, your clients, how do you help them navigate this environment? Is it that SoCal is a little bit more open and accepting of folks? What is it that makes this journey doable. And again, from the federal level, at least, we're constantly hearing why our lives are terrible because all these other people are here.

ADEYEMO: Because of all these other people. Yeah, and I think that's, so
three big pillars for Immigrants in Corporate. The first one is professional
development. So it's a nonprofit with kind of a focus on professional development for immigrants. And first gen is like your career, your decision, the tools that you
need, advancement opportunities, how to say yes, how to navigate. But the second piece of that, of course, is educating HR and these companies. And I think you touched on the third part of that, which is the advocacy. The thing is, there are so many immigrants and first-gen professionals that are working in corporate. But a lot of times, and I'll use myself as an example, but I know for a fact a lot of
immigrants don't like to get involved in stuff. Just do my work, keep my head down, get things done. And so the advocacy piece has been really huge for me,
not because, not as a priority for us right now, but for me personally to lead, by
example, 'cause I was one of those that, even though I have my citizenship, I
didn't vote. I didn't even get involved with the city affairs, 'cause I just felt
like, oh, it's not for me, I want to stay away from politics. 

We're trying to change that. We're trying to get people to share their stories, volunteer, pay attention, you know, there's a lot of negative narrative that is so wrong. We want to show people that immigrants are law -abiding citizens as well. Immigrants are professionals, immigrants are leaders. And so I'm always like encouraging people to share your stories, share your stories, your experiences, your skills, your accomplishments, celebrate your milestones, right? This cultural thing of staying silent and just working hard. It's a cultural thing. It's all in our mind. 

And we, we, you know, I grew up in Nigeria and we don't need to do, we stay silent and cover up everything because you'll find people that will celebrate you. Your neighbors will celebrate you. Your parents and your parents' friends will celebrate you. You have a community that naturally celebrates you. But when you're talking about a corporate career, a professional career, especially in a country where there's so much negativity around the world, immigrant, around foreign names, around accent, we have to change that narrative by showcasing to people that beyond what you're hearing in the news, right? Like immigrants are people who are law-abiding, who are great, like they are your neighbors. And so we need to stop this media storm that is giving us wrong narrative. So encouraging people to share their stories, encouraging people to get involved, right? Even if you can't vote, there are roles that require volunteers in the city. Pay attention to your council meeting, pay attention to policies, right? There's so much that that kind of representation can do. 

ROSS: That is a very powerful statement and I thank you for sharing that.
Sharing stories is what we're certainly all about and it makes a difference in
people's lives. It really can. When others hear about the experiences of others. 

I do want you to talk a little bit about your personal experience and how you are
seeing things unfold in, in the nation. And as you continue to work toward your,
your mission, how are you doing? Znd How is your family that you have in Nigeria or elsewhere? They're hearing and seeing a lot of the stuff that's going on. How how are you doing in your day-to-day and how are you reassuring folks who may be in Nigeria at home that -- your other home -- that you're okay?

ADEYEMO: Yeah, I mean I have a large family back in Nigeria I you know, I spent the first four years of my life in Nigeria. So again, it's home. I wasn't brought here as a baby. I was born and raised there. But America is also where my husband and my three kids are. So this is home. My kids say Nigeria is mom's home. They don't call Nigeria their home. And I think that's also another reason for my drive, because I look at my kids now and I'm like, to them, we're born in California, we're Americans. And, you but he's going to see them now and start to stigmatize them and see your immigrants. And they have no idea what that word means. You know, 'cause they are thinking, I was born here. I was born in California, San Diego, and this is my country.

So I wear three different hats. I have a business that is government contracting and I have my consulting and then I have the nonprofit. And I will say it was all hit
differently. And the first half of the year was a bit tough, and I think it was
more of a mental and emotional fatigue, being in that position of kind of feeling
like I stepped away from a lot of things, not quit, more like pause, and just
reassess. Where do I want to focus my energy? What's my goal this year? What would be my win? What would this year be like for me? It's been very interesting, but it's also been a season where you kind of find you do have community. I have a
lot of all immigrant professionals that are friends here, that are like sisters to
me, and just being able to lean on each other, reduce social media consumption.
I think people at home are on the news and social media more than I am. So they
hear some things. 

We had a plane crash in my neighborhood and I didn't even know.
And the people from Nigeria were calling me, that that's your part of San Diego,
right? And I'm like, what? I'm not even listening to the news. I'm getting ready
for work. So I think people, you know, we are in the age of social media and technology, so people get the news a lot more. And so it's been, you know, important to continue to check in with people, make sure they see the kids, make sure that, you know, your video call, like let people see that hey, you know, the news might look all, you know, dreary and gloomy. We're surviving. We're fine.

But knowing also that day to day, you know, there's changes, right? When the
government contractings phase, there's certain things that we put on hold. So, in a
different industry there, we have employees, we are, you know, based on contracts, federal contracts so a lot of that is moving along grateful for that a lot of the consulting was a pause right outside of things a lot of pause because it's dependent on companies and companies were pausing so that stopped and I think we've also had to within non -profit also had to pivot on just focus on community for now focus on community for now survey what do people need and increasing our monthly programs to be more focused on networking and expertise. We also have a local event and we expanded that to not just corporate professionals, but immigrant businesses. So we started spotlighting immigrant businesses. So starting to reassess what does our community need right now, you know, not being necessarily stalking. Yes, our mission is to empower immigrant professionals to thrive, but sometimes you can help more people in community by bringing people together just so that we know that you're not alone. And all those resources are available. How do we give people access to it?

So I think we've had to pivot, reassess, kind of reduce goals, instead of having
like five things that we want to do these years. Like, okay, what's the two primary
things we can do this year that will be a win for everybody and the relief that
he needs right now. So yeah, overall been great. Today is the first day of school
for all three of my kids. And I was definitely thinking of that, that we're
definitely doing really better, better than last year. And very grateful to God,
I'm a person of faith. And so I think that also has been a big part of it for
me personally. That's been something that has, a thread that has been a foundation for me from Nigeria up to here, like that never changes, you know, I have my faith and so that's been a key part of it as well. 

ROSS: How do you help the people you work with navigate conflict that they might be feeling? They're in the United States, they've been here for a while, maybe, you know, working in the corporate world, but still have ties to what you describe as a home as as home. Do you ever hear stories about people who feel conflicted about their efforts to pursue their professional goals in the US and still remain connected to home? How do you help them navigate that? I know that's not your your primary mission, but because of your personal experience, you're certainly someone who can speak to that issue and help people work through that, that conflict, if and when they experience it. 

ADEYEMO: Yeah, and I think that's a very interesting question
because one of our board members was asking me recently that, "Have you encountered people that maybe want to go back or want to leave US?" Because what people don't realize is part of the gratitude feeling, especially for older immigrants that chose to come to the US, you know, there's different level of immigration, there's refugees and asylum. I mean, that is a negative experience. You only want to think that that's not like home for you. I mean, you still have nostalgia when it comes to home, but it's not a place you are trying to go back to. 

But there are different categories of immigrants. So people like me, Nigeria is home. You know, U .S. is home, but Nigeria is also home. And but the decision, the conscious decision to come to the U .S. means I recognize the opportunities. Now when you begin to get treated in a very different way, it hurts. You know, people, they want to work hard, they want to contribute and they are trained their best and then you get stigmatized. But there's also not a lot of things, it's not that easy to say I'm not, I'm done, I'm going back. Going back also means so much. There's so many people that you, you represent hope for them when they think about what you're doing. And so there's all that weight and pressure on you that I've got to make it here. I've got to succeed here 'cause I've got people depending on me back home. And a lot of immigrants have that. So there's that navigating that because over there you're looked at in a different way. Here you're looked at in a different way. And immigrants, we talk about the third culture presence of immigrants a lot is sometimes you're kind of stuck in between. And I think that's what having communities as a foundation for immigrants in corporate was really important. It's not just immigrants from Africa, it's immigrants from different parts of the world. Because we are united in that is where this somewhere in between where we need each other to thrive. 

And it's, you know, the people are come, there's a different expectation, you
don't fit in there, you don't fit in here. Where do you feed? And so I think
it's, it's part of why connecting each other to each other, like within our
community. If you're in Chicago, hey, this person is in Chicago, people are traveling and they're like, hey, you're in San Diego connected Lola, we're meeting each other, we're building micro communities, and then we're connecting each other in community.

ROSS: That's really, really powerful. Yeah, then managing the, the multiple identities is a real challenge. And it sounds like you've got some great ideas on how to help people navigate that. Lola, I do want you to touch on a couple of other things in terms of helping Southern Californians who find themselves in this unique spot right now because we're there so much pushback on the type of inclusion work that you are that you are doing and helping people feel at home and comfortable and welcome and so that they can thrive. 

You talked about the importance of community and networking. What are a couple of other things that people listening to this conversation should
put on the list of their things to do to help them navigate this time and also
continue to thrive and nurture with the home community and also new community of Southern Californians who embrace folks coming in and want to build community with them?  What can the folks you serve do? And then what can those of us who are born and raised here from birth do to help foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment? 

ADEYEMO: Yeah, I mean, I think beyond what we can do for each order as
immigrants to connect, you're right. The allyship piece is also very important. The
people around you is acknowledging and listening, asking questions to really
understand, not just assuming that you know. Again, people come from different
political perspective. I tried not to come in from a political perspective, going
more from a person, you know. I really appreciate you asking, "How are you and your family doing?" Because I think a lot of times just, "Oh, how are you? Oh, I'm
good." And we move on. I think asking people genuinely, "How are you and your
family doing?" And I've had a couple of people ask me that this year, and I
remembered somebody asking me that in February, like, "How are you doing?" And I spent a couple of minutes just confused 'cause I couldn't figure out what she meant. 'Cause I was like, "Is she talking about all my kids? "Is she talking about all my work?" There was so much going on that I was like trying to understand what how are you doing meant. And so I think keeping asking questions when you get in spaces even where there are no immigrants, asking questions from a place of awareness to make sure that people can, you know, there are certain questions that an immigrant might not ask because they feel like it's exhausting, you know, having to ask that, but being able to ask that question on behalf of minority populations like immigrant, when you are in a scenario, either at a store or at a public place, asking questions to break the norm, the things that we see as the norm in an attempt to be inclusive for people, ask questions and also educating ourselves and volunteering. 

Now we see getting --  but there's a bunch of organizations out there, one of the things that we've been doing too is partnering with other organizations, interfaith, give back community, refugee. There's so many organizations that are out there right now. And so even though our focus is on immigrant professionals on their corporate career, but what about their families? What about their families families, right? Everybody is a part of this story somewhere. And so connecting with other organizations, we're connecting with a youth organization here in San Diego that has a lot of kids from first gen families, right? How can we help? Because a lot of the people that join our communities actually find that I want to give back, You know, we think they need things, but they are like, I am actually in a good position to give back as well. So what can I do? So I think the people that are
more willing to give are the people that have so much to lose and have been
impacted a lot. And so when they have a little, they want to give back.
And so I've seen that a lot from our members saying, I can volunteer my time, I
can give my money. Where's the, would you see the most needs right now. 

ROSS: Thinking about your time in California, San Diego, what have you seen that has perplexed you the most about SoCal and what do you love most about the region?

ADEYEMO: What has perplexed me most is because a lot of people are not from here. It still amazes me. Every time I And they're like, I've born and raised in San Diego. I'm like, you mean you're actually from here?
And every time I ask people, they laugh. And they're like, yeah, there are some of
us that were born and raised here. - That's right, that's right. - I've met so many
people from all over the world in California. And so that has been very confirmed.
Like, who is a native Californian? Like, what are they like? 'Cause it's like,
California is such a rich melting pot of culture, foods and languages.
And so I love that. I think that has been the perplexing part.

But what I love of course is the weather. I think I love snow in pictures and I
don't love it in person, except when I can drive one hour, which is the fun part
of California is I can drive to the snow and come back home.

ROSS: That's right. You can go to the mountains and ski and then go to the beach later, you know?

ADEYEMO: That's what I told people back home that when I sent pictures of going to ski, they're always confused. Like, I thought he never snowed in California. I was like, yeah, somewhere in Howard from my house, he does snow and I love that. But I love being able to choose, you know, that to be where we live, being grateful for the weather we have and then if you want some cold you go up there and then you come back.

ROSS: Yeah well Lola really good to speak with you appreciate the the work that you are doing bringing community together helping build understanding helping people to feel comfortable and to thrive even in the midst of what is right now a very challenging period. Where can people go who want to learn more about the work you're doing? How they might contact you for some advice, assistance,
or to bring you on to do some things for their company? 

ADEYEMO: Yes, absolutely. I'm very active on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my primary platform. I put out a lot of content, resources, and events and I usually share them on LinkedIn. I have some communities there, so my personal LinkedIn but then also for Immigrants in Corporate if you go to Immigrants, that's Immigrants, then IN and then Corporate, so all one word, ImmigrantsInCorporate.org, that's a non -profit website. You can become a member, you can show interest in becoming a corporate collaboration partner or a resource partner and all of that is free becoming a member just means you have access to a lot of resources if you ever need it and becoming a partner is the first step to having a conversation on collaboration opportunity with your organizations. We have workshops that lead at companies around intersectionality and also offering our community to their members and we have weekly newsletters and also podcast called "Thriving in Intersectionality" that would love to share your story and
would love you to share your feedback about it. 

ROSS: Excellent. Great to speak with you. Thanks so much for joining me today. Really appreciate your time.

ADEYEMO: Thank you, Angela. Thank you for what you're doing. 

ROSS: Thank you.

ROSS: Thanks for listening.  Stay up-to-date on all things SoCal Voices. Subscribe to the free SoCal Voices newsletter for episode highlights, behind-the-scenes updates, and tips on where to go, eat, and thrive in SoCal. Link in the Show Notes. And remember, follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn at SoCal Voices.