Dia Simms

"Very much to this day, I’m often and almost always the youngest person in the room, in my early 40s, and the only woman. And the only reason why I’m not the only minority ... is because Sean is often in the room with me"

"Sean goes out of his way just to level-set the room. There are so many times where he will introduce me and say, ‘She is the president of Combs Enterprises,’ and the men in the room will say, ‘Are you going to get some coffee?’"

"“I look for information everywhere I go. I really believe that everybody has something to learn and something to teach. So I probably have less, like, formal relationships, whereas I’m seeking out information with every relationship that I encounter."

"I have something I call a clipboard effect. I used to be a party promoter in my 20s, and you could imagine if you’re a young woman and you’re going into nightclubs — I’m like 24 years old — and we used to do these big events, like a thousand people every week. It was something that — not for myself but for all the women that I worked with — I would say, ‘Carry a clipboard.’ And the way that you are carrying yourself to a certain degree — although it shouldn’t matter, is a little bit of a signal to say, ‘I’m here for work.’”"

"“And I have always mentally thought through — What is my theoretical clipboard? — in the conversations I’m having in every room to make it very clear the level of value I bring to the table."

"Were at a little bit of a period of urgency to make this change, so we need beyond mentorship. We need real sponsors. People who are going to put their own name on the line. People who are going to say, ‘Nope. I’m looking at this payroll distribution and I see that Kay is not making as much as John and Jake. That’s not right. We know how much she works; we need to level-set this"

"In over 20 years of working, there’s not that much that has changed. All that we can continue to do is loudly and proudly and unabashedly share the level of value that we bring to the table. There’s a lot of conversation around people understanding that there is a value to it. But when I speak to people, there’s a thought that diversity is some type of charitable activity. Its no"