Where Identity and Impact Coexist
By: Niji Shah
“There is no greater power on this earth than story” - Libba Bray
Despite my brown skin, I have been surrounded by predominantly white demographics. I was born in North Carolina and moved to Indiana where I later attended a PWI and have spent the last 5 years working in tech sales amidst a sea of Chads & Brads. It would have been easy to view belonging through the lens of assimilation. However, I was resistant to the thought of diluting myself to feel accepted.
For me, belonging lives in the spaces between words, gestures, and moments of recognition. It emerges in the willingness to speak even when your voice shakes, to stay present in spaces where you feel out of place, and to connect with others navigating the same in-between. This is why human connection and storytelling matters so deeply to me. My bicultural identity propelled me in spaces where there was no diversity to thought and helped me have empathy for those around me. It led me to study International Studies and Anthropology, analyzing ethnographies of different cultures, languages, foods, dances, and customs. And I’ve kept that curiosity satisfied through DEI work throughout my time in corporate America through events and community building, especially for Asian professionals moving through work environments that rarely leave room for ambiguity or cultural complexity.
The sad truth is culture isn’t something you carry neatly. It’s something you negotiate, often in real time, often in rooms not designed for you. Through creating spaces where people can come together and voice their lived experiences we can honor identities that are too often footnoted and show that growing up American while being rooted in tradition is not a contradiction yet a complementary truth. Stories give us the language to do just that and when shared intentionally, they move people towards each other and reshape the true definition of belonging.
One of the moments where I saw this come to life was in May 2023 at LinkedIn when I led our first Global fashion show. We worked to showcase 25 different countries in the continent with handmade clothing, employee models, built a runway with our tech team with lighting fixtures and signage, and brought local vendors and performers to the office. With everyone’s help we were able to transform the space into something that felt more communal than corporate. The convergence of people and purpose that filled the room that day was indescribable and encapsulates the sentiment behind the reason I took this role at Identitea Collective.
Creating pockets of space where identity and impact coexist without compromise is a discipline I live by and I encourage those who resonate to amplify their voices in our community through membership and participation. Amidst the chaos in our nation today with social and racial oppression that motif can feel easier to suppress but it's in these moments where community and belonging are truly formed. If we create more cohesive societies, we will naturally become less susceptible to the ideas of division.
Personally, I am still learning what it means to move intentionally in these environments but as the pressures and challenges within our society build up along social fault lines such as race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and religion, I somehow find myself embodying authenticity even more. My hope is practiced continually, authenticity becomes agency. Moving through fractured systems is not easy but it taught me this: equity and inclusion may earn you a seat at the table, but agency is what allows you to shape the agenda.
How to get involved…
If you’re interested in joining our community, you can:
Connect with Niji on LinkedIn!
