QueeHR Leader Spotlight: Joseph Levin-Manning
“Everyone's identities impact them so differently in ways that I see and don't see. If I can always start from a place of empathy, I'm going to have a much more enriching and productive interaction in that moment.”
This month, I’m excited to share the unique insights and experiences from Joseph Levin-Manning, DEI Program Manager at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. We talked about community, the unique challenges of being mixed-race while holding other identities, how and when to bring parts of your identify forward, equitable benefits, the importance of empathy, art as a connecter, and more.
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“I have been living in DC for about five years. I ended up here after spending a semester abroad in Copenhagen during my MBA where I was working part time doing a lot of LGBTQ outreach and engagement. With a lot of friends in DC, the vibrancy of the culture here and the way the various international cultures blend together, it was so appealing that I figured, why not settle here? In many ways, a lot of things have come full circle for me.
Immediately after college, I started working in the Jewish community on college campuses doing a lot of outreach, education and leadership development. I ended up expanding that to university leadership, as well; the professors, the staff and just learning how to be more inclusive of religious minorities. And now some of those same students that I took through leadership programs are on immersive trips to Israel or in the community that I'm building now in D.C. as an adult.
One of my favorite memories was when I brought together about forty-five people in my large apartment in Baltimore. Everyone came together for a Shabbat dinner, and it turned into a nice little party. We cleared the tables afterwards to create space for a dance floor. It was a moment of realization for me that this is what I am meant to do. I just can never sit still, and I always find meaning and enjoyment in bringing people together.”
Did you grow up practicing Judaism with your family, or is this something you fell into later in your life?
It's something I fell into later in life. I'm adopted and my adoptive family is actually not Jewish. It’s my biological family’s history. I did what a lot of adoptive children do at some point during their teenage years and said, I want to know more about my biological family. So I reached out to start talking to my biological grandfather who knew a lot of the family history. When he was telling me about it, I was eager to get involved when I got to college, and it just kind of clicked.
I love the connection and reconnection with family roots and how you've made it part of your life in a much more meaningful way.
Yeah, definitely. I think going back into all the different aspects of my identity and being a mixed race or Black individual (depending on the day) and also being gay, it's something that I've always looked at differently. In some capacity, I'm always different or the only one in the room. But I am used to the idea that if there's no one else that's like me in a space who’s willing to be open about their identity, people aren’t going to know that we even exist. And that's just not okay. I think it's important for people to know and understand the richness and diversity of all of our communities because I definitely won't be the last person that they meet like me.
Tell me more about what you mean by “depending on the day.”
One of the things that we don't often understand or acknowledge is that there are some elements of our racial identities that are transient or salient depending on the situation. I am a mixed-race individual; part of my family is White, some of my family is Black. But, in some spaces, bringing that up is going to be divisive, cause more confusion or detract away from being present and being able to be heard and seen. There's also times when I need to use that as credibility. And sometimes I'll lean into my Black identity. Most of my experiences in my life are because I'm Black, and when you look at me, you read me as Black.
It's very different when I go abroad and work with people of non US nationalities. That's when I often do lean into my mixed-race identity because people will look at me and notice I’m different and have trouble placing me. I use that as a great opportunity to teach people about the intersections of identity, and the way that interracial relations, marriage and developments are happening here in the U.S. in a way that many people abroad aren't as conscious or aware of.
What is the experience like for you to choose when, where and how you bring parts of your identity forward?
I would say it's confusing. Going into a space I never know which identity is going to need to be more present and/or which way I need to position it. So sometimes I feel like I generally try to be open as gay because that's the easiest for people to understand. It’s the one that's going to cause the least amount of questions. But I’ll try to understand what kind of safety exists in the space, assessing what knowledge and awareness people have. And sometimes trying to gauge what they haven’t seen in a way that might be helpful for them to learn about or get exposure to.
What would you say for other folks who are in a similar situation trying to navigate various parts of their identity as they show up into different settings, particularly in the workplace?
I would say as much as you feel safe, to lean in and experiment. You're always going to meet different people, especially in a larger organization, so try putting one identity first versus another. See what kind of reactions that you're getting, what feels more comfortable, what feels safer for you. As much as the way people are reacting towards you is important, it's also really important to make sure that you're feeling safe.
I'm curious how you weave the various parts of your identity into your leadership, and what the experience has been for you as someone who is mixed-race and Jewish and gay?
The first thing that comes to mind is identity-based leadership. But what does that mean? I think what it comes down to for me is empathy and being empathetic first.
Everyone's identities impact them so differently in ways that I see and that I don't see. If I can always start from a place of empathy, I'm going to have a much more enriching and productive interaction in that moment.
For me, going back to my identity, I find it is really important to be out because I want someone who looks at me and says “Oh, that's me, and I can be that person when I get to that stage of my life” and I'm already starting to hear that.
I love what you shared about empathy, and I’m curious if practicing empathy is something that comes naturally to you. Have you had to build that skill, or is it just a byproduct of your experiences?
I think the initial onset of me having empathy is one hundred percent a byproduct of my upbringing. As I got to high school and into college, it really started to show itself more externally. I’ve always been someone who wants to help other people and genuinely wants people to be their best selves. I used to joke that I was an informal college advisor. Someone would come to me and say “I’m thinking about changing majors and considering this career path” and I’d invite them to sit down and map out their trajectory and really understand what’s driving them. I think for me, that was really how it started. Thankfully, it's just naturally developed for me.
How do we bring empathy when it’s so easy to hold judgment?
We all make judgments of other people. But you have to make sure that you're thinking about the action you're taking. That's when real prejudice and real inequity can occur. It's the action that you take based on that judgment. And if you can say that you thought and acted with a genuine mindset and showed up with good intentions, that can go a long way.
What are other leadership qualities do you think are important?
The other piece that I stress a lot not only with myself is the honesty and power that comes from admitting when you're wrong or made a mistake. I think that is really the hallmark of being a true leader, especially one who is fighting to make more equitable and humane environments.
We're never going to be right and perfect one hundred percent of the time, despite our best efforts. And that's okay. If we're not making mistakes, are we really learning and growing? I believe it's really important to be honest, and show people it’s okay to make a mistake. You don't have to hide it or be ashamed. Take the opportunity to learn, grow, teach and move on.
Where do you see the biggest breakdowns in leadership, particularly when it comes to advancing DEI for organizations, or in general?
What I think can be detrimental in the space of leadership is a lack of self-awareness. Not just in traditional terms like having emotional intelligence. But in the context of equity, thinking about it from the systems perspective, the institution's perspective, the beliefs you have and how you’re reinforcing those values.
Maybe pay equity is something that we find important and we do analyses internally to find there's no discrepancy based on race or gender identity. But you have to go one layer deeper. Where do these standards come from? When we're thinking about benchmarks and wanting to be competitive in the workforce, those measures have histories of being systemically limiting and oppressing of different groups of people.
What are you most proud of?
One of the things that I'm really proud of is my ability to bring people from very different places together. I’m consistently bridging connections between my work life and personal pursuits, which helps bring diverse perspectives to the work I’m doing. And I’m really committed to understanding and bringing together different communities. I actually created my own young professionals, queer Jewish group, and even that has some tie into the different groups and connections to my work. So yeah, it just really feels great when you're able to have those distinct circles have some ties of connection.
Tell me more about the group you created.
We have quite a large queer Jewish population here in D.C. and there haven't been as many institutions or groups who are dedicated to specifically engaging queer young Jewish professionals in the area. And my group is also gender expansive, which is one of the things that makes us different.
It first started with a Shabbat dinner with about 10 people, and then people kept inviting more friends who they knew would want to be part of the group. After a while someone said why not just create a Facebook group, so I did. In the span of six to nine months, we had 100 people in the Facebook group. Some we knew, some we didn't. We had people coming down from Baltimore, which isn’t that short of a drive. So it just proved the need for this. This started in 2018 and we're still going pretty strong surviving the pandemic, thankfully, and still finding ways to create connections between people.
Wow, that's beautiful. It makes me think about the power of community. I know you're also involved with employee resource groups at work, so I'm curious about all of your experience building community outside of work and how you bring that into your job.
I would say this is another time where I really focus on empathy, leading by example and also leveraging the intersections of identity. One of the things that I have been emphasizing lately with our ERGs is knowing what each group is doing. You have to understand and see how you can complement each other. And it's not always necessarily having to do an event together. For example, if you're moving from Black History Month into Women's History Month, think about the types of programming that the Women's ERG is going to do. Can we tailor some of the programming with the Black ERG at the end of the month to set up and hear what people can expect for the next month? And when it comes to Pride Month, it's an opportunity for us to lift up the voices of people who aren't necessarily always the center of conversation in that community.
What opportunities do you see for leaders in the LGBTQ+ community in the year ahead?
Part of my personal agenda is to really focus on having equitable benefits, not just having parity. Parity is important, but when we're talking about equity, it should go a step further. So when we’re thinking about adoption, for example, are we taking into consideration what the real cost of adoption is for people? The explicit costs like agency fees and hotels and the implicit things like what’s involved in setting yourself up for the adoption process. You have to really look into the fine print of your medical insurance policies. There are seemingly simple things we don’t always think about. Are you covering the costs of a donor egg or donor sperm? Not only same-sex couples, but even different sex couples who might be having trouble getting pregnant. Sometimes you need a donor, which can be expensive. I think there's a huge opportunity to do a deeper dive and to look much more closely at the benefit offerings that we have to get to the next level of equity.
Is there any other message or something you’re passionate about that you’d like to share?
Sure! One of my other hobbies is singing. I am a huge advocate and supporter of the performing arts of all varieties. As you're thinking about ways to bring communities together of varying identities, don't underestimate or forget about the power that comes from art. It’s a shared language, it’s a way to create a shared experience for people and can be a really great catalyst for making change and getting buy-in from others.
What would you like to be acknowledged for?
I’m very much unprepared for that, but I think at this moment I would like an acknowledgment for our continuing the faith and continuing the work. I think it's really easy to get burned out or disillusioned and afraid. Thankfully I have not done any of those things yet and I hope to continue this work for many, many more years to come.
Anything that I didn't ask that you wish I did, or anything else on your mind?
The only other thing I would want to offer is just a general acknowledgement, to remember that you're not doing the work alone and shouldn't be doing it alone. Find partners, find people that you can lean on. I think that's one of the ways that you can continue to do the work and continue to move forward.
