In the first episode, Bharat Sagar, ambassador at large at AE3 Media is joined by trailblazers PMS head of strategic partnerships Richard Goppy, and Lloyds Banking Group managing director of intermediaries Esther Dijkstra.
The trio explain some of the key challenges and moments that have helped define their career paths and how the industry is evolving in its approach to diversity.
In a career spanning four decades, Goppy reveals the shocking story of how a customer racially abused him and slammed their front door in his face.
He also faced more covert and less explicit racism while being the only black person managing a bank of 60 staff, along with the challenges of being denied promotions despite outperforming colleagues.
However, Goppy believes that after several false or partial dawns, the action seen over the last year has been a real seminal moment for racial equality in the UK.
Meanwhile, Dijkstra explains the importance of having colleagues recognise that she was being discriminated against in career progression and how that helped her move forward.
“The recognition helped me because you get so angry sometimes that you might actually then show some counter-productive behaviour,” she said.
“Because it doesn’t feel fair, but when someone recognises that it helps a little bit.”
The Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF) is produced and organised by AE3 Media, publisher of Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions.
The DIFF series of podcasts is aimed at helping people from under-represented groups get into and get on in the mortgage and protection industry.
It also seeks to help everyone understand why genuinely prioritising diversity is good for all of us individually, good for business and good for the mortgage market as a whole.
