KeeleyOne Spotlight: Isabella Pina

Keeley Companies’ newest cultural pillar, KeeleyOne, is focused on creating an atmosphere that promotes Diversity & Inclusion. This pillar would not exist without the hard work and dedication of the incredible members of the KeeleyOne team. Isabella Pina, member of the KeeleyOne team and CEO & President of Inspired Solutions, has a passion for culture and helping others become their best selves. She knew that KeeleyOne would be a way that she could do that while educating others and bringing change to Keeley Companies.

As a woman of color and a woman leader, Isabella has experienced the pitfalls that come with a culture lacking diversity. These experiences ignited her passion for Diversity & Inclusion and she was excited to join the KeeleyOne team to help Keeley Companies implement a world-class culture surrounding Diversity & Inclusion.

“It’s amazing that our entire team is diverse so we can fully understand every aspect of Diversity & Inclusion. I want to be able to share my own experiences, especially being the CEO of a diverse business. We truly need to live and breathe this culture in order for it to be successful. KeeleyOne is going to make our workplace and our people so much better. People will be able to come to work and be who they are while feeling comfortable in their environment.”

For Isabella, Diversity & Inclusion is about more than just race, it’s being an ally to our minority counterparts and making a conscious effort to recruit and retain diverse talent in our family. KeeleyOne is working hard to build up systemic processes to allow our people to thrive while breaking down existing barriers and structural inequalities.

“We all know that there is inequality in the world. Because of these inequalities, people are hindered from thriving and being their full, true selves. For me, KeeleyOne means bringing our people together and working to provide a platform for those marginalized groups so that they can rise up and truly be treated equally.”

Starting a culture of Diversity & Inclusion from the ground up is no easy task. The biggest challenge that the team faced was getting people on-board and fully convinced that KeeleyOne was going to be successful and ultimately benefit every aspect of the company. This was a challenge because it forced people to look at themselves and realize that they had some changes they needed to make that they did not realize before. Since overcoming this challenge, the team has been able to begin implementing initiatives that have received an incredible level of enthusiasm and optimism. With challenges comes lessons, and the biggest lesson that Isabella has learned throughout this process is to continue bringing everyone together and educating them on various topics pertaining to Diversity & Inclusion. She has found just how important it is to be transparent with our people about where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.

Now that KeeleyOne has really hit the ground running, there are many exciting things coming. The road ahead may prove to be challenging, but if Isabella could give Keeley’ns one piece of advice as we embark on this journey together, it would be:

“Don’t be afraid. Change can be difficult, but if you look back on your life, all of the changes you have gone through have gotten you to where you are today and made you who you are. If you look at Diversity & Inclusion the same way and embrace this change, you will look back and realize that this change wasn’t so bad after all.”

Right now, Keeley’ns can get involved with KeeleyOne through VOICE Chats and INCLUDE Sessions. The amazing thing about these initiatives is that you can make them as private as you want and can participate on your own time. These opportunities also give people the opportunity to see where they can make a change in their own life. Isabella believes that if people embrace these opportunities wholeheartedly, the sky is the limit.

Since joining the KeeleyOne team, Isabella has been responsible for the research showing what Keeley Companies Diversity & Inclusion looks like right now before all initiatives are rolled out. This entails gathering information on each company and office, along with the gender, race, disability status, sexual orientation, and veteran status of our Keeley’ns. This research allows the team to compare where we are to where we will be in the months and years to come.

“I am so excited to see where we are one, five, ten years from now. I am lucky enough to have seen where our baseline was when we started, so I can’t wait to have something incredible to compare this to. Our people are so amazing and we have already started to see some great change. KeeleyOne is only going to continue to make our people and our culture better and I can’t wait for the ride.”

Outside of KeeleyOne’s initiatives, there are plenty more ways to continue to get involved in Diversity & Inclusion while educating yourself. Isabella recommends the following books as they have helped her realize:

“Life is short, so do your best and encounter the best while you have it while loving people regardless of who they are.”

1. Level Up Your Life by Rick Pina

2. Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji

3. The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization by Crystal Byrd Farmer

4. Thrive: The Facilitators Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings by Dr. Mark Smutny