Five minutes with… Tanisha Singla

Five minutes with… is our interview series that gives you the opportunity to learn more about the Inclusive Employers team and other inclusion and diversity professionals who are working to make inclusion a reality every day.

Here we learn more about Tanisha Singla, Senior Inclusion and Diversity Consultant at Inclusive Employers.

1) Can you tell us how you came to be in your role?

Like many other people’s careers, my journey to equalities was not a straightforward one. In my final year at university, I decided it was time to figure out what I should be doing with my life.

I booked an appointment with the careers team and they sent over a test. The top result was Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) specialist. I remember thinking that sounds dull!

How wrong I was. I think the description said something about being a HR professional and it thoroughly switched me off. I had never heard of an EDI specialist and having just finished a history degree, I was keen to explore my options as a teacher. I forgot about this experience for many years.

Fast forward a few years as a teaching assistant and I enrolled on a part-time master’s in Race and Resistance. From that point, I never left education. I spent many years working in widening participation at university and then found myself in a role as a Project Manager at a college.

EDI was one of my responsibilities and it was at this Project Manager role that I found my calling. I remembered that careers test I did back in 2011! I always used to think those tests were pointless and look at where I ended up!

I had worked with Inclusive Employers previously and always kept an eye on what they were doing. When the opportunity came up I felt like I had to give it a shot!

2) Can you share an ‘inclusion moment’ with us – a time when you have felt included either at work or in your personal life?

Not to bring the tone to a sad one but during my working life, I have lost lots of close family members, and lots in close succession of each other.

I have been lucky to have amazing line managers, who understood the cultural and religious differences during this period and the responsibilities I had to fulfil with no questions asked.

It really helped in a difficult time, which could have been so much more difficult if my line managers were not who they were. So a massive thank you to them!