In Conversation: Shana Gujral

We’re back with another In Conversation feature. This time we’re with Shana Gujral, founder of Lila, a platform dedicated to improving diversity, equity & inclusion in workplaces. Fuse talks to Shana about how the platform began, the developments that happened within its founding and advice to follow for any business-minded people who may be reading.

Hello! Introduce yourself. Who are you? What do you do

My name is Shana and I’m a social impact entrepreneur, public speaker and innovation specialist. I founded Lila, a digital diversity and inclusion workplace platform in 2020 to create inclusive cultures where everyone can thrive. Having spent years across different 9-5 workplaces, I never felt a sense of belonging and found myself frequently on the receiving end of microaggressions in the workplace. Lila was born to change that and provide everyone with the confidence and know how to make long term inclusive change. I was recently nominated as the Dot’s 100 Rising Stars 2021 and I’m on mission to help 1 million people lead inclusively and live confidently in their own skin.

You're obviously someone who's very passionate about creating positive social impact, when and where did that need originate from?

I’ve always wanted to help others and my experiences have certainly shaped that.

At University, I experienced the gender gap in the music industry as a budding DJ. After reluctantly being let into a club by the bouncer due to the fact I was female, I knew something had to change. I wanted to challenge the stringent music industry in the East Midlands and create a night which helped spotlight up and coming female DJs, empowering them to never feel the way I felt that night.

I have also felt barriers as an entrepreneur. I’ve had experiences of male investors acting inappropriately right before I signed the dotted line to work with them. There is so much work to be done in levelling the playing field within business and work, and I’m completely dedicated to making real change.

You run Lila - a diversity, equity and inclusive-minded platform - tell us a bit more about it! How did it come about? Why?

Diversity has become such a buzzword over the past couple of years.

And since the tragic death of George Floyd, we have seen many businesses react by running surface level ‘one and done’ workshops and proclaim how much diversity means to them. The reality is that there is limited behaviour change from a one off workshop. In fact, 90% of corporate workshops are forgotten in one week.

Lila was born to equip each and every employee with long term inclusive behaviour change (and was the solution I wish I had when I was in a working environment!).

We work with world class experts to facilitate DEI learning programmes and have a platform full to the brim with actionable and inspirational content for employees to watch. And what’s great is that we use gamification to spice up the learning so it doesn’t feel like homework. We also build collaborative and safe spaces with our network of vetted coaches through live group coaching.

With an innovation background, it was really important to me to bring a much needed fresh approach to diversity and inclusion and I’m so proud of the change in confidence and behaviours after using the platform!

There's a ton of similarities with your values and ours. How important has it been, to create a community that's truly inclusive? Were there any struggles you had to contend with in making it happen?

There certainly is! It’s so important to build an authentically inclusive community.

In my old job, I would always stray away from working with the same white-washed creative agencies and instead roll up my sleeves to find the best up and coming underrepresented creatives. Having grown up without being reflected in the media, this has meant that it’s so important for us at Lila to reflect diversity amongst not only our experts, but our team and in front and behind the camera.

It hasn’t been easy to find intersectional diverse experts beyond gender and race but using social media, I’ve worked really hard to vet and work with a diverse mix of speakers from all walks of life. Lila would fall flat if we claimed to be diverse and inclusive when in reality, we weren’t. It is so important to create a truly diverse and inclusive business that goes beyond the surface and we’re really proud of our ever growing community.

Anytime before the development of Lila, did you ever think it'd become as successful as it has?

This is a really great question. Being an entrepreneur and serial side hustler has certainly helped with the success of Lila. I spent over a year testing ideas, going out there and speaking to people and pivoting the business until we landed on where it is today. Looking back, it hasn’t been an easy journey at all but as a result of the hard work, I know that the business is the best it can be.

I truly believe in the power of people. There have been so many mentors who have taken the time to hop on the phone with me and share advice and I am truly grateful for it. Whilst it may feel like a success on the outside, we have big ambitions to scale so we have a long way to go! At the moment it just feels like putting one step in front of the other until we help 1 million people.

For any emerging entrepreneurs and business-minded folk reading this, what would be your quick tips and advice to help elevate others to get them to where they want to go?

My top tip is to look back. And whilst this sounds completely counter intuitive (bare with me on this one!), I would encourage everyone to turn around and look back.

Who can you help who is a few steps behind? How can you give back to those who need it? This may be as simple as a quick phone call for advice or donating some money to a community. The power of your network is unrivalled. Use it to your advantage and ensure there’s a healthy amount of give and take. This way, people will be so much more open to favours when you need help.

Finally, what are your personal plans for the future and your plans with Lila? How can people get involved?

We are solely focused on the growth of Lila at the moment. We want to work with lots of businesses and help as many employees as possible, no matter where they are on their journey with diversity, equity and inclusion. Feel free to follow us on Instagram and sign up to a 30 minute demo if you are interested in using us for your business!

Make sure you check out Lila here: instagram.com/thinklila & thinklila.com

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Image credits: Shana Gujral