But, why?
An Inclusion Statement isn’t “one of those exercises” for us, inclusion and accessibility are everything that we do. It’s a verb not a noun. It’s so completely part of the DBCo., it isn’t a separate thing over and above the actual work we’re here for in our communities and with our clients.
We both have a VERY strong “that’s not fair” or “not OK” sense of justice and have noooo intention of keeping that out of our business. We strongly believe that politics and justice belong in our businesses and that our businesses can and must be a vehicle for change, no matter how small.
We’re not interested in any kind of “nice to have” BS. The DBCo.’s central mission is to fuck with the status quo and set fire to the invisible business rulebook. The same goes for the BS status quo that values some humans over others in day-to-day life.
We have zero interest in performative inclusion (saying “good” things to appear to be “good” people) and in all of this, we believe it’s important to acknowledge our own identities which collectively include business owner, home owner, autistic, ADHD, anxiety, white, fat, queer, non-binary, gender ambivalent, as all of us inherently carry some degree of privilege and we recognise ours in setting out this statement.
We don’t do “nice” or petting-egos, and we don’t need to be seen as “right” or “good.” We are interested in the safety and the joy of the folks that travel with us, so we commit to do what it takes for them to feel respected and that they can create their own safety by being brave and honest in our spaces, regardless of their identity(ies).
…is for this space to feel as safe and nurturing as possible whilst also acknowledging that there is no such thing as a truly safe space as no one human (or collection of humans) can control all the variables or moving parts. Courage, consideration, radical self-responsibility and respect underpin everything.
Our Goal
We’re committed to that radical self-responsibility. If you’re a Black, Brown or Indigenous person of Colour and feeling cautious about joining us in whatever capacity, please DM Pippa on WhatsApp (all messages stay between us). We’ll share openly about our spaces, and, if you’d like, connect you with a current participant who can speak to their experience.
Black, Brown and Indigenous People of Colour’s lives matter, all love and gender expression deserves equal care, protection and rights by the law, gender is a construct, diverse brains are valued, all bodies are beautiful and we’re far less interested in how you look than we are in who you are. ALL humans are valuable and kindness and respect is everything.
If you don't believe that business is inherently political and would rather avoid the tough conversations about the state of the world and doing the work to help dismantle the systems that harm so many of us in it, then working with us is definitely not for you. Please see yourself out.
We know that in many so-called “inclusive” spaces, often led by well-meaning, predominantly white people, racialised folks still feel unseen, unheard or tokenised. As white founders, we recognise how deeply our whiteness shapes our experience of the business space, and that no amount of (un)learning, good intentions or clever words can guarantee safety for anyone, let alone racialised folks, and yet we still commit to building ever-safer, courageous spaces, iterating on feedback, and holding ourselves and everyone in our spaces accountable.
A good example of how we operate in our business “in practice” can be seen in this excerpt from the Community Guidelines in our Mastermind:
🚨 Values Vibe Check 🚨
On our website, in key places where we sell our services, you will find our Values Vibe Check.
This is the shit that matters to us and the commitment that we make…
- When we see bigotry online, we won’t stay silent, but will intervene in whatever way best protects the person/people being impacted, putting their safety and agency first. We have no desire to get embroiled in “call out” culture, a private conversation is usually more effective in helping people see what impact their actions may be having on others.
- We’ll decline any panel, workshop, podcast or media appearance whose lineup doesn’t offer a reasonable representation of human identities in the world we live in. If it’s just a shiny list of privileged faces, we won’t play and we’ll tell organisers exactly why.
- Since 2022, we’ve offered part- and fully-funded scholarships and supported places. Prioritising folks with marginalised identities.
- All recorded programmes include closed captions on every video, plus either lightly-edited AI transcripts or slides detailed enough that a separate transcript isn’t needed.
- Our community platform for our programmes auto-transcribes voice notes, so you can choose to speak or read messages.
- When we host calls, cameras are on or off, participation is as-you-can, and we’re much more interested in you showing up in a way that is comfortable for you, than we are in how you show up. So bring what you need to bring and be what you need to be, to feel good in the space.
- With every client we work with, we put equity and justice on the agenda, share what we know, and signpost to true DEI specialists when it goes beyond our basic expertise.
- Every programme we run comes with a set of clear Community Guidelines that we revisit annually.
Commitment and mitigation in practice
- We’ll set a twice a year review of this statement and our actions so it never just gathers dust on a shelf.
- We’re about 75% WCAG-compliant and aim to improve this to at least 85% in the second half of 2025 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
- We’ll add meaningful alt-text to every image, on both our website and socials, so our visuals never exclude anyone by the end of 2025.
- We’ll launch an anonymous feedback channel and a clear process for raising concerns or reporting harm before the end of 2025.