Knowledge sharing throughout Black History Month

"During February and to celebrate Black History Month I have a goal to wear a Black-themed tee each day this month and ensure I turn my camera on in all my virtual meeting," says Marie, Senior Merchandise Manager

Behind the Bricks cover

Hi my name is Marie Daughtry, I joined the team here at the LEGO Group in October 2011 as a Merchandise Manager in Direct to Consumer. I now moved into my current role as a Senior Merchandise Manager for LEGO® Brand Retail stores here in the United States.

Sharing knowledge

I sit as part of our Diversity & Inclusion taskforce in our Enfield Hub in Connecticut. The aim of the group is to drive local activities and global initiatives that support making the LEGO Group a more inclusive place to work. One of the events we celebrate is Black History Month which runs throughout February, not just in the United States but across the world. Celebrating it provides an opportunity to share what it actually means which helps educate other LEGO colleagues.

History facts

Learning is one of the 6 LEGO values (Imagination, Fun, Caring and creativity are the others) so when the task force team were looking at what we could do to help our colleagues learn I took inspiration from my social media newsfeeds where each year during February people would share Black History facts. I thought, It’s a great way to incorporate some quick history lessons into your everyday social updates. Last year I started with using the Enfield Hub communication board to share Black History Month facts each day with a game of Kahoot at the end of each week in the cafeteria on Friday. A fun way of sharing history and to end the working week.

Taking things virtual

We got great feedback and it felt like a big miss to not be able to do it this year, so I decided to use our ‘virtual’ bulletin boards on Yammer. It has been a great way to increase the viewership and discussion on our Diversity & Inclusion forum page. Another great benefit is reaching a broader audience. We’ve been sharing quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. through to the origins of Hip Hop with a different post every day throughout the month. In the post I always try and wear a black themed tee 😊 too. The response from everyone AROUND THE GLOBE has been encouraging, motivating and I’ve been able to share a little of my knowledge to help others learn so this is a good thing.