Diversity and Inclusion Business Council seeks local business support

The mission of the newly developed Lake County Diversity and Inclusion Business Council is to foster and support the local business community, and strive to create a diverse, inclusive and welcoming atmosphere.

The council’s kickoff meeting will take place May 11. There, Renee Ligon from Team NEO will talk to current businesses about diversifying their workforce and the value behind doing so, said Janice Cackowski, chairwoman of the council and a volunteer board member of the Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

“The idea is to really make sure we as a community are doing a good job accepting and inviting businesses to come in and open through

“As far businesses that want to get involved, if they send people from their organizations to attend workshops to bring ideas back, that’s how they can really get involved.” — Janice Cackowski, Lake County Diversity and Inclusion Business Council chairwoman

Lake County,” said Cackowski, who is a certified financial planner at her business, Centry Financial Advisors, in Willoughby.

“Along with that, we want the current businesses in Lake County to be educated as to why having a diverse workforce is important, what that brings to the business itself and how it affects their bottom line,” she added. “It affects the thoughts, ideas and leadership that can come about when you bring people to have different mindsets and backgrounds.”

The idea of the council started in 2020 when Karen Tercek, president and CEO of the Willoughby chamber, was participating in webinars with chamber executives throughout the United States.

“A lot of this happened during the Black Lives Matter challenges that were going on in our nation,” Tercek said. “There was a lot more talk about diversity and inclusion from a business perspective with a lot of the chambers of commerce throughout the United States.

“A lot of the larger, regional chambers were doing some of this before, but it really became something that was a huge initiative last year,” she added. “We did not have that, so I shared it with the board, and there seemed to be an interest because of Lake County.

“We don’t really have a lot of diversity here and we want to be inviting to all businesses, so the board was very supportive of that. Janice graciously stepped in as the chair.”

As the group came together, representations from different leaders throughout Lake County became present within the group. The council has representation from people of color, members of the LBGTQ community and other organizations who will provide input into the direction of the council, Tercek said.

“One of the things that struck me that really made me confirm that this was something that was good for us to do for Lake County is that one of the leaders said that some of their folks are not really accepted in some of the businesses here,” Tercek said. “That was very sad for me to hear and not right. It’s 2021.”

Prior to Tercek coming to the board to talk about starting the council, Cackowski had been on a webinar with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, which was all about diversity, equity and inclusion, she said. It was there where she was inspired to make a difference.

“I was one of the only Caucasian women in that group. It was mostly people of color who were there talking,” Cackowski recalled. “I’ll never forget — one of the gentlemen, who was a very successful, thriving business owner in Cleveland, mentioned that it is really hard for him to go into a bank or talk to a financial planner because he doesn’t trust them.

“That struck me so hard and I thought, as a financial planner and we as financial planners in the world, are not doing a very good job if, for whatever reason, we’re putting up a wall and not allowing people of different colors to come to us, and feel that we’re trusted and that we’re going to give them good advice.”

When Tercek came with this idea for the council, Cackowski thought if she could make a difference, even if it’s just by leading conversation and bringing in thought leaders, she would do it.

“There are I believe 10 of us on the committee who are running the organization and pulling together the educational resources for the businesses in Lake County,” Cackowski said.

Currently, Lake County businesses don’t need to become members of the council itself.

“It’s really just open to everybody,” Cackowski said. “We’re promoting it through the chamber, so of course chamber members are going to hear about it and hopefully take part in this.

“As far businesses that want to get involved, if they send people from their organizations to attend workshops to bring ideas back, that’s how they can really get involved,” she added. “As this may develop over time into something totally different or a membership organization down the road, we don’t know.”

Tercek said the council will continue to be an arm of the chamber but is open to all businesses in Lake County.

“One of our critical partners is the Lake and Geauga Human Resource Association,” she said. “It has been great working with them because this is something that they’re looking at on a continual basis.”