Making Human Resources Human: Sinaya Surla on Inclusive Excellence, Firsts, and Future-Ready Workplaces

In this Season 3 episode of The North Star, Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder talks with Sinaya Surla—Oberlin College’s inaugural Human Resources Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—about what it means to make HR truly human. Sinaya reflects on her journey from Multicultural Resource Center staff member to policy shaper, sharing how seven-generations thinking, employee resource groups, and clearer conflict-resolution pathways are helping center staff voice, equity, and belonging across campus. She also lifts up her doctoral research on writing retreats for women of color and the power of doing “less” as a strategy for sustaining long-term social justice work at Oberlin and beyond.

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Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group

Transcript

Framing Oberlin’s Legacy

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the North Star, space for candid conversations on leadership, equity, and justice. This season we highlight the people and practices shaping Oberlin's 200-year legacy of inclusion, justice, and excellence. And today we have my colleague as we turn our attention to the people side of institutional change with Sinaia Serwa, my colleague and Oberlin's inaugural human resources director of diversity and inclusion. Sinaia leads efforts to foster a culture of inclusive excellence and advanced strategic diversity hiring, drawing on years of experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion work at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and in previous roles here at Oberlin. Welcome, Sinaia.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Okay, so let's jump right in. So you and I have been colleagues. We collaborate together very closely on a number of our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. But as I mentioned in the open, you have deep experience as it relates to a wide variety of roles in inclusive excellence and diversity, equity, and inclusion. But this is your second stint at Oberlin. Okay. You've held multiple roles at Oberlin, including Asian Pacific Islander, DS4, Community Coordinators. Did I get that right?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Yes, that is correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

And also you served as the assistant director in the Multicultural Resource Center. So if you could tell us how did those earlier experiences shape your understanding of this community and what our community needs?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah, so I first came to Oberlin in 2013 as the Asian Pacific Islander Diaspera Community Coordinator, which was a part of the Multicultural Resource Center. And at that time, it was a period of our higher education landscape where one of the models of intercultural,

Early MRC Years And Coalition Work

SPEAKER_00 2:10

multicultural student affairs support was focused on certain identities. And so being the Asian Pacific Islander diaspora community coordinator, I was able to delve in strongly into a specific racial identity community alongside my colleagues who are also in their own respective communities. So at the MRC, which is what the Multicultural Resource Center is short, like the shortened term, there was the Asian Pacific Islander Community Coordinator, the Latino-Latina, Latina Community Coordinator, LGBTQ, and Africana. And what working in that kind of office at that time enabled me to do was to really understand what it meant to show up in intersectionality and allyship in intentional ways and actionable ways. And so for me, it looked like a lot of cross-programming with my colleagues. We're able to do amazing events that were not only for our campus community, but really showcased the impact that Oberlin has and reach that Oberlin's legacy of social justice has beyond our campus by doing things like we hosted the Miss Midwest Asian American Student Conference, as well as something called the Asian America Arts Collective, where we brought in other students and artists from across the country on a variety of topics. And I was able to collaborate with some of my colleagues, whether that was around like Asian American and Pacific Islander LGBTQ identities, Asian American and Black Solidarity. And so I think that being a part of that programming allowed me to see the importance of coalition building to this larger social justice mission and see how the interests and the creative thinking that was driven by our students on this campus was really going to help propel them into what they were going to do in their future careers. And so that was really exciting for me to witness and experience for the first time, like, oh wow, the things that happen at Oberlin don't just stay on our campus. And many of the connections, the students that I had during that time, I've been able to collaborate with again in other facets of my life, creatively, around justice-oriented work, around alumni engagement. And I've worked at and attended so many different institutions, but the Oberlin connection in particular is one that even though it's such a small liberal art school, like it keeps on giving.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Absolutely. So you worked in the MRC within the student affairs division back in 2013. You left and then you came back almost, or was it almost three years ago? Have we met? Have you got to the three-year three-year mark? Almost, almost. Yeah. Yeah, almost three years ago. So you went away and you came back. What and then you come back in this. So what drew you back to Oberlin to serve as the inaugural HR

Returning To Oberlin In HR

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Director of Diversity Inclusion? And how does it feel to be in this different type of role? Right. So you're occupying, you're you're in a completely different area and a different division, a different function. And so how does it feel to be back at Oberlin now, occupying a new role? Because you and I both know when you occupy an inaugural role, it's very different, right? There's some really great things about being the first in the role. But then there's also some, you know, some interesting challenges, if you will, about being the first and, you know, occupying that role. So talk to us a little bit about what it's like to be back now, occupying this new role inside of an HR function and how it feels to be doing this work from a different vantage point.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yeah. So about my background, I am an educator at heart. I received my master's degree in higher education. I'm completing my PhD in higher education. Within that, I feel like my specialty is around curriculum development, adult learning, pedagogy in all forms, and then a little bit of organizational development, which is how I started getting interested in human resources or what attracted me to this role is how do I translate the skills that is that naturally come from being an educator to transforming policies, practices, systems, ways of thinking that ultimately uphold how our structures function and how well they function to serve the people, the and the institution. Because I think that's something that's important to remember when you work in human resources is that you have a dual function to meet the institutional, operational, workforce-related needs, and then also the the needs of the people that are always emerging as we continue to understand more what it truly means to be inclusive, diverse, accommodating to the different identities that people hold. Something that I always like to begin and end with is gratitude. And being an inaugural role is unquestionably difficult because you are the person who is assessing the landscape. You are the person who is speaking the truth of perhaps here are some gaps, here are ways that we can get better. Are we willing to try and take the risk that is needed? What do we need to let go of in order to take that risk? Whether that's rooted in ego, whether that's rooted in this is our policy as it is right now, and we're not able to do that, whether it's finances, whatever it is. But going back to gratitude, I think about the fact that so many people from Oberlin were the first. And there are still people who are living today and working here today that are the first in their position. Yourself,

Leading As The First In Role

SPEAKER_00 9:20

myself, other leaders here on campus that are the first. And when I think about that larger historical legacy and how it's continuing, I remember to just be grateful that ultimately what I'm doing, it didn't start with me, it didn't end with me. And really delving into this idea of seven generations thinking of like you think about the thing that you're doing now is healing seven generations past and seven generations forward. And so when I think about it that way, it gives me a sense of groundedness and also like remembering my humanity that there is so much that you can accomplish in an inaugural position and you're here for a certain function. And so for me, that function, being an inaugural position as anyone is, is okay, let's assess the landscape. Let's look at the data, let's create it if it didn't exist yet. Let's figure out what partnerships are valuable for making this work sustainable, and then letting go of the partnerships that perhaps are not going to continue to make that work sustainable. So it's a lot of kind of like determining what the priorities are. And I think in higher education, if you look at, if you you look at certain positions and why people are hired, there are some people that are hired to continue on a legacy. There are some people who are hired to start that legacy, et cetera. And I feel like that's a lot of what I'm doing is like when we think about Oberlin and DEI, we focus it so much on what the students do, what is what the faculty do curricularly. But for my vision of this work within human resources and thinking about the larger Oberlin workforce of faculty and staff, I think about the fact that my colleagues are experts in their fields no matter what they do. And how can I bring what is more commonly done at like research one institutions amongst staff members of like, I want to showcase and elevate the conferences you're presenting at or the models that you have developed informally and or formally of how you lead your team or approach your work. How can we elevate that? So I feel like Oberlin is starting to get to that place where we're like, we're great not only because of the academic mission and the students, but we're also great because of the legacy of educators that are here, no matter what position you occupy. It reminds me actually of like a story from Miss Barbara Kirby, who is, I call her my Oberlin mom, but she was the administrative assistant in our office in the multicultural resource center. And I look to her as like one of my greatest teachers, too, about like workplace boundaries, about what it means to occupy the identities you have in the workplace and still have a job outside of it, et cetera. And I think that I want to elevate not only the people who are like publishing and doing all this great work, but those people who are occupying and demonstrating leadership in quiet ways, because oftentimes they're the first people that students see or that staff see. And that shapes, that can shape your entire existence and your time on this campus.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Gosh, there's so many good nuggets in there that you talked about. I love the idea of seven generations past and seven generations forward. And I think that Oberlin itself, just given the history of Oberlin, legacy is such a core value of this institution. Um and, you know, Oberlin was founded in 1833 and it's 2026 now. And you know, you blank, and we're going to be celebrating

Elevating Staff Expertise And Quiet Leaders

SPEAKER_01 13:40

200 years. And when you, which is actually seven years from now, right? So when you think about that seven years forward, that's actually not too far from now. So when you think about seven years forward to 2020, 2033, specifically as it relates to our legacy around equity and justice, what does that mean to you personally and professionally to be part of innovating that legacy today?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

It means to show for so personally, I think it means to show up with integrity and to know who I am responsible to. And ultimately, for me, that is all the answer to that is always for the social justice and social good of all people. And so showing up with integrity and showing up with focus, because I think like especially now we're inundated with a lot of media, everybody is busy in the workplace. Like I listen to a lot of podcasts and interviews and things about like how to, and I I'm a big fan of Harvard Business Review. Even since I was teaching leadership at Michigan State University, I would always use their their articles. And the biggest topic, I think I just read this the other day. The biggest topic that people are always talking about when it comes to occupational wellness and work is overwhelm. And I think about a lot how can I really be present in what I am doing now, in the trainings and conversations I'm doing now, in the ways that I'm influencing process and policy, in the ways that I'm treating other people, so that that can have an influence on the future. And then I think professionally, when I think seven years forward regarding equity and and justice, oh, there's so much there, especially given where we're at middle, right? In our country. But I'm really encouraged by that because we always talk about in policy, it's a pendulum swing. And when I think about seven years forward, I think about what are the creative ways and brave ways that employees, that students in higher education are going to continue to move forward, what social justice can look like, so that we can correct a lot of the restrictions that we have now. I think, like, as you probably know, in your own career in higher education, there have been so many iterations of restrictiveness and expansiveness and innovation

Legacy, Seven Generations, And Focus

SPEAKER_00 16:40

when it comes to DEI work. And right now, even though we're in a moment that feels more politically restricting, what that means for me is that there's always going to be creative people who are thinking in the future about when the time is right, how are we going to run with the ideas that we have? And because now we're under a period of so much restriction and you're doing things with less budget, perhaps less support within the infrastructure at Oberlin or governmentally, et cetera, there will be a time where that's gonna open up more and then the possibilities are endless. So it's kind of like the idea of like, oh, okay, stay ready so you don't have to get ready type thing. That's inevitably what's gonna happen. So thinking about the future makes me really encouraged because that's what we hope, whether it's like in our professional roles or with our own children, is like, okay, you're gonna do much better than me. You're because you're gonna have more opportunity than was there at my time.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Absolutely. One of the things I've always appreciated about you, Sinaya, is the your ability to, and this is gonna sound really obvious, but one of the things I've really always appreciated about you is your ability to make human resources human, right? You have this innate ability to bring the humanity into human resources, and when you think about human resources, it is stereotypically inhumane, right? It is it we you typically think about human resources being devoid of any humanity, sort of distilled of any type of emotion, it is incredibly objective, like to a fault, like to a weakness. And one of the things I've always appreciated about you is like there's a softness about how you approach things that you sort of center humanity and you center justice and fairness and equity in a way that is really sort of counter to a traditionalist perspective or a traditionalist approach to human resources, and I think that is a great sort of segue into, and it's also a very innovative way, and it's probably a very multi-racial, intersectional approach to, and it's it's grounded I know in your training, right? So it's like you bring that training into an age, you bring that lens into an HR sort of function. But it it really, you know, we think about we you and I, right? We are a part of two really important committees on campus. Uh we are we spend a lot of time working in our equity and diversity committee, which is a college-wide community or college-wide committee comprised of faculty, staff, and students. And we also spend a lot of time in our diversity, equity, inclusion executive council, which is comprised of the senior leaders on campus whose jobs, day-to-day jobs, are responsible for implementing and executing various aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our day-to-day.

Humanizing HR And Process Change

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Um, and so when we think about inclusive excellence or sort of embedding a culture of inclusive excellence and leading strategic diversity HR initiatives, I think about the way in which you do that is really it's very, it's very anti-HR, right? But it's through the lens of this inclusive excellence. And it would be really great if you could walk our audience through some very specific innovations or changes or things that you're excited about right now. Any like signature initiatives or or or programs that you're working on, because I I think it it really does speak to a this inclusive excellence, but also it really is about innovating Oberlin's legacy within within really internally, within one of our functions on campus. That's really, really important. So it's almost like you're really putting the humanity back into something that traditionally, and this is really isn't, and and again, you know, the folks in our human resource office are all great, but when you think about human resources sort of writ large, it really isn't humane typically. So if you could kind of tell us a little bit more about some of the programs, initiatives that you're working on.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Laughing because I think that I'm so glad that you named that kind of stereotype or perception of human resources writ large in society or in higher ed as like not being very humane. Because I think like ultimately human resources was created to manage the workforce, decrease liability, establish processes. And that for people who take more of a traditional, like hierarchical approach, because perhaps that's what was needed for various industries, like to do something that really centers the person means that you have to be okay with a little bit of unpredictability. And so much of diversity, inclusion, belonging, social justice work is unpredictable. Like, so I think the reason why I think you you also talked about it is the reason why I approach it with such a rootedness in like humanity is because of my training as an educator, but then also goes to my other identities as being somebody who was raised very working class. And my dad was a postal worker, and which is like such a tough job because, similar to human resources, you are the butt of every joke, and you're also like the frustration of people's day, even though there's things that you have to do that you can't control. And ultimately, what I witnessed him do that has taught me a lot professionally is that when you're working for justice and you want to work for people, you have to relate to people by any means necessary. Like when we say by any means necessary and justice, it can also be that relational seeing somebody for the human aspect because we it's never too late and we always need people to join us in social change, no matter where you're at. And so I see every opportunity, every training that I am in, whether I'm working with campus safety, whether I'm working with faculty from any department on the search committee trainings that I do. This is all an opportunity for them to change a process so that it can expand opportunities for as a diverse pool of talent that we can bring to Oberlin as possible. And how I navigate that as a person is going to set a big impression on whether or not they implement that tool. I'm a big believer in the saying that people don't remember what you do, but they remember how you make them feel. And when you treat people, when you balance how you treat people with the rigor of what you are teaching them. So for me, with the search committee training, when you balance, like empowering people to see that they have an impact in how a process unfolds and that they have unique skills that will be able to recruit widely and the person that they want. When you combine that with, okay, these are the technical aspects that will help you do that better, whether it's reaching out to professional organizations for minorities or identity-based organ professional organizations, whether that's establishing personal relationships with PhD candidates, whether that's looking at the data from the survey of earned doctorates to match up, like, am I really meeting the benchmark of who is my potential workforce? When you when you match those two things, like empowering people to use the skills that they have, the technical piece of it, and giving them the tools, I believe that it doesn't require me to always be there. Because ultimately, like that's the thing that I that I also want to emphasize about being a DEI practitioner, that I think perhaps more in our kind of

Conflict Resolution And Clear Pathways

SPEAKER_00 26:20

climate where propaganda or stereotypes around DEI work have like misconstrued us to be like an enforcer of like, this is what you're supposed to do, this is what you're like, etc. It's like, no, it's not about that. It's about expanding your mind so that you can also increase opportunities for people who look very different from you, who because ultimately like that makes our workplace better. I I think I I well, I didn't mention this, but I'm also somebody who in my own identity of faith and spirituality, like I I draw a lot from like our natural world or like nature to help me understand how to move, like even in my professional world. And so when you're thinking about biodiverse environment, the sign of its health is based upon can these plants, animals coexist together? Is there a diversity of different types of plants and animals that are functioning together in order to support and sustain the environment and to weather the storm? And I feel like for me, another thing that grounds me in my approach to HR, that I also try to share with people is the strength of an organization is seen in how we navigate through conflict and like how we do that with with grace, with thoughtfulness, with data, and with the people in mind. And so when I think about certain processes, for example, whether that's like conflict resolution on campus where you have a supervisor, employee, two employees, whatever, that have a conflict, to do people understand what the process is and what their options are for like going through options for conflict resolution and what does it look like to feel that you have a voice, autonomy, and that you feel okay with whatever the resolution is. That might not always mean that you agree, which is a difference with the resolution, but you feel like, okay, I feel like the process provided me the justice that I felt like I deserved. And so it's been like continuing ongoing conversations with myself, the chief and deputy HR officer, the legal counsel, Title IX, and other DEI collaborators on campus to be like, okay, the first starting point and one of the most confusing things about HR is like, and Oberlin is like, what is the process? And so let's just let's just start there. And then once we understand what the process is, like that gives people a lot of autonomy, right? Like when you one of the things like that we hear about education and reading is like education is the key to your liberation. So if you don't even know what a process is, then you already don't know what the rules of the game are. And so what I see as a part of my role is giving that people that knowledge and then figuring out what is the opportunity in order to create that process to be more equitable. And then let's get into a period of testing where we see if this works for both the employees and the institutions. So I think that developing clear pathways to like conflict resolution and policy is helpful, or one of the things they've been trying to

Employee Resource Groups As Engines

SPEAKER_00 30:16

do. And then also one of the other kind of flagship initiatives that I have done on campus that I feel like my colleagues in higher ed, it kind of feels like one of the few and only things that we're able to do right now in this political climate is like supporting employee resource groups, which are professional groups based upon shared experience, identity, or interests that are self-organized by employees and then also supported through my role in human resources to come together. And my approach to employee resource groups is that this isn't just a place for like social connection and professional resources, like delving into employee resource groups is also an opportunity to show like what is the wealth of our community. And so, like, I'm really influenced by Tarayoso's concept of community cultural wealth. And so when I say to employees who are leaders of this group, you are already skilled in learning how to navigate the institution, you are already skilled in mentoring, you are already skilled in leadership. What are the unique things that you're bringing through the topic of your employee resource group that can teach everybody else? And how are you using these resources that have been allocated to you creatively so you can really demonstrate to other people on campus what's possible when you're like, okay, we have X amount of funds. Like, how can we use it to purchase something, create an event that practices more cooperative economics that gets people the things that they they need or that they want? I think HR or a lot of organizations will always buy people stuff. Like we'll give journals, we'll give out swag, we'll give out scarves, whatever it is. And I'm like, I love a free, I love a freebie, but also like, can we use that funding more creatively to be like, okay, we're gonna sponsor people from our employee resource group to get a certification, or we're gonna give them a startup fund to like purchase books or like something, like, oh, we're gonna donate, or we're gonna allow them the opportunity to use their funding to do like a charitable event or cause. Like there's so many opportunities there. And so that's another program that I'm like, okay, this is something where we still have control and we still have opportunity to show that the work continues even under harsh political conditions and restrictions.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Well, let's shift gears a little bit because you've already mentioned this.

Doctoral Journey And Retreats For WOC

SPEAKER_01 33:20

So let's let's dig a little bit deeper. So you are a you work at Overlin full-time by day, but you're also a doctoral student working on your PhD. So tell us a little bit about your doctoral journey. I know that you are at the end or nearing the end. So tell us a little bit about your doctoral studies, what you're writing your dissertation on, and what you hope to find through your doctoral research.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Yeah. Gosh, ask a doctoral student how's it going is like the most triggering thing. But honestly, let's see. It's been really humbling to be a doctoral student who also is working full-time because you have to be very hyper-focused on what matters to you and find alignment in the things that you're doing. So my research is on writing retreats for women of color, adult learners. And that topic evolved out of like several years of like figuring out what I what is the message that I really wanted to give.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

And you're your dissertation or your studying at Michigan State University, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

So I'm in the higher adult and lifelong education program at Michigan State University, the number one ranked higher ed program in the country. Right now. Okay. Just to let people know. Okay. Now I'm yeah, which I didn't even pursue it because of that. You know, usually you go to to study at a school, hopefully. I mean, in this day and age, I feel like people do look at rankings, but for me, what is most important is like, okay, is it a supportive environment? Is the person that I want to be mentored by there, et cetera? So anyway, within my dissertation, it first started off as like focusing on the experiences of women of color PhD students. And what I started to find as I was doing my pilot study is like how how much the narrative was shaped by the struggles that women of color academics and PhD students would go towards. And I was like, I don't want to do this conversation for the entirety of my dissertation study because that's not gonna make it something that I feel like I have the energy to keep momentum with, is if I tell the stories of struggle. Instead, I wanted to focus on what are the stories and the counter spaces or like the spaces that we create that fuel us to live out the reasons why we started or pursued the goal of going to get a PhD or to be in academia in the first place. And so throughout the course of my time in education from undergrad to doctoral studies, affinity groups, women of color retreats specifically have been huge for that because it's a time to, it's like a protected time and space, which we never get as academics. Yeah. It's a protected time and space to reset and explore and identify what is it that I actually want. When you eliminate the stressors of maybe other people in your cohort, the pressures of your academic institution, and you're able to be around people who have the shared goal of like refining their vision to complete their writing and to do that creatively, there's so much more possibility. And I come from a I I come from a Jesuit education. So I went to undergrad at Loyola University Chicago, and we have a big culture there around like contemplative education or retreats. And to me, the way to get to change, which is probably an unpopular opinion in today's society, is not to do more, but it's to do less. And with the limited time that we have here, like I'm gonna invest in community, I'm gonna elevate the work that other women of color are going to do, and I'm gonna put myself in the spaces where we're able to do that in our most more fuller version of ourselves. And so right now I'm writing my dissertation proposal about that, and I'm focusing a lot on right now. It feels like I'm I'm focusing a lot on the theory aspect of it, of why it's matters. But I think that that's like that's so much of the work when you're an academic who's doing work that serves historically marginalized community, or like you're doing groundbreaking work, is like you have to set the worldview. Like there is no other, and that's really hard as a doctoral student and like as a professional, when you have an unpopular opinion in our very like busy-driven world, it's like you're creating another, you're creating another world that is possible for other people. And that goes the same for being in this inaugural position and being in DEI work, is you're always creating another world that we don't know yet or that might have existed in the past, but we've

From Struggle Narratives To Nourishing Spaces

SPEAKER_00 39:10

forgotten it because we've been too busy. And so that work has been really, really nourishing for me because when you're able to to be when you're be you're able to be surrounded in like sisterhood and you're be able to surround it in creativity and you're not in a rush, it's it's a luxury. It's a luxury. So I am really thankful for that. And then it has a lot of alignment in other aspects of my work. My partner and I host retreats and like conference wellness spaces as a part of his organization called Chosen Collective Consulting. We believe that we can't continue the work of doing movement building, social justice work if we're also not tending to ourselves. And I've seen so many people, especially women of color, have chronic illness, pass away too early, be really unhappy, irritable, et cetera, because we are not taking care of ourselves. And so I share that journey to show the shift of like my own thinking from when I was a beginning PhD student to be like, oh yeah, I'm gonna share these narratives of like what it means to experience the be a woman of color, PhD student, women of color academic. But I also have agency to focus my attention, to be like, okay, but I'm not gonna focus it on the struggle. I'm gonna focus it on this instead. And that's been really powerful for me to continue sustaining myself in in my dissertation, to continue sustaining myself in this work as a DEI professional because let's be honest, like it's not all it's oftentimes, especially now, not attractive to continue to do this work. It's stressful. Things are changing every single day. And some a lot of times we don't have the power or resources to leverage the change that we know that we can see. And so I'm just like, okay, well, if I can't control that, I'm gonna control what I can and how I focus my attention and community and my writing practice.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

That's so powerful. And you already know this, but I would be remiss if I did not share with you, like I have shared with many of my other doc students, the best dissertation is a finished one.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

So it is a finished one, yes. So there's definitely lots of I'm thankful to have people who remind me that and are just like, just do what needs to be done because this is also not the end of your career. And I think again, I think about other women of color who I look up to a lot, Gloria Saldua, June Jordan, who did not finish their terminal degrees. And I'm like, academia is really stressful, work in life is really stressful, and I need to be able to do it as a healthy whole person. And part of that is like just getting it done and forgetting.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Yeah. And, you know, I was actually having this conversation with a good friend of mine who is in the very tail end of her her doc program at the University of South Florida, you know, and was, you know, pretty ill recently. And, you know, we had a really tough conversation, and I had to ask her, you know, who and what are you doing this for? Right. Yeah. Two more questions as we wrap our our episode. When you think about um, as we look forward, we think about the future. Uh, what kind of workplace do you hope for the future of Oberlin's employees? So, what kind of future do you envision uh for future Oberlin employees? And given the the the groundwork that you are, the foundation that you're laying right now. So the workplace, the Oberlin workplace of the future, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 43:29

The Oberlin workplace of the future continues to be innovative. It continues to be a model for what the workplace can be in terms of what its policies and processes look like, whether that's regarding paid time off, accommodations, conflict resolution, et cetera. I would love for people to look at Oberlin Human Resources as a model for how to really.

Vision For Oberlin’s Future Workplace

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Do HR with inclusive excellence in mind. And for us to be, maybe we're one of the features of Harvard Business Review in the future, of like, okay, this is a model of a higher education institution that's really balancing professional wellness and personal wellness. And I think the Oberlin workplace of the future continues to ground mentorship. Speaking of the firsts of Oberlin, something that I have witnessed within many of the stories I've heard from other people who were the firsts is that is their their care and consideration and their service to mentoring others. Because ultimately that's how the work continues, is through sharing what our wisdom is. So I hope that we can continue those two things innovation and mentorship at Overland.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Love it. And finally, uh, what is your own North Star in this work? What keeps you grounded and hopeful as you push for systemic change from within?

SPEAKER_00 45:14

What keeps me grounded and hopeful in this work? Yeah, I think it's my faith. Um, faith has always been central to the social justice movement. There's a reason why there were so many reverence, faith leaders. We see the Buddhist monks who are traveling across the country right now. When you are rooted in a purpose that is higher than yourself and rooted for the goodness of all people, like nothing can touch you. And you know that this is temporary. So I would say that that really roots me in knowing that I'm a part of a larger cycle and I'm gonna make an impact and it will continue after me as well.

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All right. Well, Sinaya Sarla Aldridge has shown us how human resources can be human, how thoughtful hiring practices, learning, and commute and collaboration can bring Oberlin's commit commitments to equity and justice to life in very tangible ways. Her story reminds us that the next century Oberlin's legacy will be shaped not only by big milestones, but by the daily decisions and practices that make this a place where people

Faith, Purpose, And Enduring Hope

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can truly belong and thrive. Until next time.