What is citizenship? How do you define a good citizen of the world? Kenisha and Griffin learn what citizenship encapsulates, with its tremendously vast range of subject areas, discovering what RBC is focused on in DEI, with the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, RBC - Christina Cleveland. Christina shares her deep knowledge, what RBC has been developing, and their plans for the future. Their next guest is CBC Talk Show Host Madison Tevlin, who discusses her show, which speaks to people who feel that they are often misrepresented. Madison herself has had to deal with misrepresentation as a woman with Down Syndrome and shares her ideas about how we can better understand others by asking the right questions, and most of all, really listening to the answers.
What is citizenship? How do you define a good citizen of the world? Kenisha and Griffin learn what citizenship encapsulates, with its tremendously vast range of subject areas, discovering what RBC is focused on in DEI, with the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, RBC - Christina Cleveland. Christina shares her deep knowledge, what RBC has been developing, and their plans for the future. Their next guest is CBC Talk Show Host Madison Tevlin, who discusses her show, which speaks to people who feel that they are often misrepresented. Madison herself has had to deal with misrepresentation as a woman with Down Syndrome and shares her ideas about how we can better understand others by asking the right questions, and most of all, really listening to the answers.
RBC
RBC Future Launch - https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/index.html
RBC - https://www.rbc.com/canada.html
RBC Future Launch Scholarship for Black Youth https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/black-scholarship.html
RBC Diversity & Inclusion - https://www.rbc.com/diversity-inclusion/
RBC Indigenous Peoples Development Program https://jobs.rbc.com/ca/en/indigenousprogram
Christina Cleveland
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/christinacleveland
Madison Tevlin
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@madisontevlin
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/who-do-you-think-i-am/s01
https://www.shedoesthecity.com/meet-madison-tevlin-host-of-new-talk-show-series-who-do-you-think-i-am/
Hosts
Griffin Toplitsky
Kenisha Humber
RBC Team
Vishan Persaud
Rachel MacLeod
Elynn Wareham
Allison Tam
PSBX Team
Baron Manett
Dorene Arcayos
Shaun Benoliel
Isabel Magnoli
Norman Howard Team
Sandy Jobin-Bevans
Nate DuFort
Jason Reilly
Sandy Marshall
In the (K)now Ep4 The Changing Face of Citizenship transcript
Disclaimer: Below you will find a transcription of this episode. The text is the result of an AI-based transcription from an audio recording.
Christina Cleveland:[00:00:00] So I think a diverse organization means that there we create space for different perspectives and points of view.
Madison Tevlin: We have just focused on why we're the same and not what the differences are.
Griffin Toplitsky: Welcome to in. The podcast that in many ways goes where you, the listener, want to go, attempting to get your pressing questions answered, and sometimes bickering along the way. I
Kenisha Humber: mean, I wouldn't call it bickering.
Griffin Toplitsky: See, that counts. That's a bicker. I'm Griffin Toplitsky. And I'm
Kenisha Humber:Kenisha Humbe. I wanted to also add a welcome back to those who are returning to the podcast.
If you came back, we must be doing something right. In this episode,
Griffin Toplitsky: we will be looking at the changing face of citizenship, or more specifically, the impact of the growing influence of [00:01:00] multiculturalism, women, sexuality, gender identity, and Gen Z in. Hm.
Kenisha Humber: I love that you said more specifically than listed a bunch of hugely diverse subjects.
I
Griffin Toplitsky: know I kind of realized that halfway through the intro, fully knowing that we won't get to all those topics today, but the truth is citizenship covers a lot of subject areas, and I am known for being overly ambitious. Are
Kenisha Humber: you though? Luckily for us and our listeners, we will be joined by VP of Diversity and Inclusion at rbc Christina Cleveland.
Griffin Toplitsky: Followed by a visit from the host of the CBC talk show. Who do you think I am? Madison Tevlin.
Kenisha Humber: An outstanding lineup. And before we get to all that, we went out and asked how you are listeners or potential listeners, define citizenship and where you fit as an individual within that definition. Here's what you had to say.
Transition: Citizenship
Madison Tevlin: to me means
Christina Cleveland: being a positive contributor to a particular society. Uh, I [00:02:00] consider myself to be a citizen of Canada,
Listeners: and I do my best to
Transition: positively contribute. I think being a
Christina Cleveland: good citizen is like, uh, being patriotic. Uh, giving back to the community, making sure you vote and have a say in social issues locally and at the national level, uh, and that you're generally helping grow your community.
Transition: I
Christina Cleveland: define citizenship
Listeners: as someone who lives within a country that is, um,
Christina Cleveland: contributing. To the growth of that
Listeners: society. So whether it you're doing just the regular things, like paying your taxes, living according to the laws, that's one thing. But also going over and above, definitely if you are positively contributing
Christina Cleveland: to
Listeners: just different people groups.
Um, I think that that's what defines
Transition: citizenship
Griffin Toplitsky: as. [00:03:00] As usual. Those were some amazing insights, and to be honest, I feel like many of our listeners may have a stronger grasp on the definition of citizenship than I do,
Kenisha Humber: which is why we are going to welcome guests to help us go deeper into this topic, starting with diversity and inclusion.
Griffin Toplitsky: A great part of citizenship for sure, which is why we are proud to have two fantastic partners highlighted in this. Starting with a scholarship program that Kenisha is gonna tell you all about right after this peppy little audio transition.
Transition: The Future
Kenisha Humber: Launch Scholarship for Black Youth is an innovative program designed to empower and enable black youth to achieve their goals. By receiving financial and mentorship support from RBC and their community partners, this program will award 20 scholarships annually, valued up to $10,000 each per year for up to four years to black students across Canada.
For more on this program and to read the success stories of past recipients, jump on the RBC Future [00:04:00] Launch Scholarship for Black Youth Site.
Griffin Toplitsky:Kenisha, our first guest is here to talk about diversity and inclusion, a big
Kenisha Humber: part of citizenship, and with so many corporations focusing in on D, and I'm curious to see what specifically RBC is bringing to the table.
Griffin Toplitsky: Okay. Let's jump right in. Say hello to rbc, VP of Diversity and Inclusion, Christina Cleveland.
Kenisha Humber: Christina, thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for
Griffin Toplitsky: having me. First of all, how did you get interested in diversity and inclusion? I think
Christina Cleveland: my, my story and journey to where I've ended up, uh, might be similar to many others where our life experiences end up driving us to focus in a particular area.
So I am actually biracial. Uh, my father is of Scottish and English descent. Uh, he's a second generation Canadian, and my mother was [00:05:00] from Trinidad. Um, of South Asian descent, uh, and she immigrated to Canada in the early seventies. Um, and so being the product of a biracial marriage at a time in life where perhaps the world wasn't as inclusive as it is today, those experiences that I had, uh, growing up really influenced.
My outlook, uh, on the world. And I learned early in life what it felt like to be excluded. And I wouldn't have known then, uh, what a strong influence that would've had on my life. But my background in training actually has been in learning, uh, and leadership, uh, and neuroscience and behavior change. So, uh, the way I started to get connected into diversity and inclusion was through, uh, my work in the learning and development space, particularly in, uh, 2020 when the world kind of flipped upside.
For so many. Uh, and it changed a lot. And conversations about diversity and inclusion went from being important to urgent. Um, and at that time, RBC actually, uh, started focusing on amplifying and expanding our [00:06:00] learning portfolio related to diversity and inclusion. And so that's how I started to get, uh, connected into the topic, um, because I had an opportunity to support in expanding the learning offerings that we were making available.
To help RBC employees deepen awareness and interrupt bias, uh, and learn about the experiences of other people and, uh, communities. And actually that started a, a period of self-discovery for myself and a recognition too, of much of the experiences I had in early childhood that I had covered up or made some shifts in terms.
Covering up who, who I was, and now I find myself in a space where I feel much more empowered to be able to support conversations around diversity and inclusion and, uh, feel very fortunate to be working in a space where I can help to influence a better future for our colleagues. Clients and community.
Yeah,
Kenisha Humber: I can definitely relate to that. I think that with the shifts that were happening, even, uh, as of recent, that it really, there were [00:07:00] times where you did, you were able to take, kind of take stock of everything that you've been doing with whether it be internalized. Things and just realize that you can actually just stand in your truth, and I notice you said the person that you were, but it's really truly the person that you are, that you're standing in right now.
So I'm here for that journey and I love that. For you, are you seeing some real successes right now with the work that you guys
Christina Cleveland: are doing? Well, you know, you gave me goosebumps actually, when you just said that transition for the person that I was and then who I. I do think we're, we are seeing a great success.
I think we're having different conversations now than we were before. Uh, the DNI space, perhaps before might have seemed like a nice to do, and now people see it as a strategic imperative for the organization. There's true recognition for the impact that having, uh, a diverse workforce will actually contribute, and why inclusion is such an important part of helping to unlock that diversity.
So we are seeing, um, success in terms of our strategic priorities, um, which are focused on [00:08:00] advancing diversity, uh, strengthening inclusion, and enabling economic inclusion. I, I will say, as it relates to, uh, success, one of the biggest key measures for us is having greater transparency and accountability for actually moving the dial on the things that we're measuring.
And, uh, we do actually have, uh, a fair amount. Transparency around the information we provide connected into our DNI scorecard, uh, which provides quarterly kind of quantitative and qualitative results, uh, for each of RBCs businesses. Uh, and that allows us to track representation, uh, and statistics for hires, promotions, attrition as people may be le leaving the organization so that we can track how we are performing, uh, relative to our own targets, uh, for various equity seeking
Griffin Toplitsky: groups.
I'm wondering. To you makes the RBC DNI program stand.
Christina Cleveland: It's interesting to me that we reference the DNI as a program, um, because I think that that is a big shift in differentiator for rbc. Uh, [00:09:00] we don't necessarily look at it as a program as much as it's like a way of being and thinking and interacting with each other.
Um, so DNI has been a part of RBCs identity for the last hundred and 50 years. It's built into our values. So it's a core value at RBC and critical to our purpose of helping clients thrive and communities prosper. Um, so our commitments focus on employees, but they also extend to the relationships we have with our clients, uh, and the contributions that we make into the community.
And they're integrated into our broader ESG strategy. So our environmental, social and governance, uh, strategy that, you know, really is a, a broader and more holistic approach. So we understand the influence and voice, uh, that we have as a market leading organization, and we take that really seriously and have made some bold commitments, uh, and we're committed to driving sustainable change.
Kenisha Humber: How would you truly define a diverse
Christina Cleveland: organiz? So I think a diverse organization means that there we create space for different perspectives and points of [00:10:00] view. What
Griffin Toplitsky: are the key two or three things someone can do as an individual to make the culture where they work more inclusive? So
Christina Cleveland: the interesting thing about the DNI space is that it is, it is a shared responsibility.
Like it takes absolutely everybody in the organization to have a lens on, uh, how to be more inclusive. Uh, so I love the question about asking for, you know, practical strategies that people can consider. The first one that I would start off with is to stay curious, and that really means to get rid of the filters that you have about people.
Um, and, you know, lead with curiosity to truly get to know somebody. But that also means having empathy for people and being aware that not everyone is living the same experience as you are. And when we can stay curious about that, we can then move into my second tip, which is interrupting bias. Um, when we truly get to know individuals, we can start to.
Reframe our understanding. And the thing about biases is that they're like an [00:11:00] inevitable part of human cognition. Like they're just part of how we think, uh, and how we act. And our brains are efficiency machines, so they use prior knowledge to, you know, really help to inform decisions and actions without us having to think about it.
It's why we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We're not having to think about those. And so it can be helpful, um, in terms of supporting our survival, but where it becomes challenging is that if we're not intentional about interrupting biases or how, how and what we think, uh, it can lead to poor decision making.
It can lead to making judgments about. Uh, people, which would lead to some unintentional impacts. Um, and that can have a negative impact. So, you know, really it's about disrupting the way that we currently think and also creating space for different voices so that we are allowing people to contribute, uh, ideas that might be opposite to what we may be currently thinking, and that only just helps to improve the end result and outcome.
Griffin Toplitsky: Christina, we love to head out and grab questions from our audience. [00:12:00] So here's what they wanted to ask.
Christina Cleveland: Hi. My question is how do I get involved in diversity and uh, inclusion? So I love the action orientation around getting more involved. And I love the recognition too, that it takes all of us, uh, to be able to affect true, meaningful change.
Um, so I think it depends on, on, um, how you might get involved if you're working in an organization. I know at rbc, uh, we do have employee resource groups, um, which are sort of communities of individuals who come together and share a unique aspect of their identity to help advance conversations around diversity and inclusion.
Um, so no doubt in organizations that you may be part of, um, employee resource groups, uh, are likely represented. So you've gotta seek them out. The other opportunity is to continue to advance your own learning, continue to learn and grow, um, as it relates to your understanding of various communities that might not be part of what you identify with.
So if you [00:13:00] identify as male explorer, conversations with females to understand a little bit more about their experience, if you, um, you know, don't identify as part of the lgbtq plus community, consider exploring conversations to help learn more about that community, their history, and some of the unique barriers that they may be facing.
And finally,
Kenisha Humber: how can our listeners learn more about diversity and inclusion at rbc?
Christina Cleveland: Yeah, so I mean, I hope you do, um, seek out the information cuz uh, on our website. So if you go to speak up for inclusion.com, it'll actually direct you to the DNI section of our website, which, uh, holds the diversity and inclusion, um, strategy for rbc, but also has a ton of learning resources that you can get access.
To be able to continue to advance your learning journey. So I would, uh, suggest you check it out. We also have a, a series, uh, of videos as part of our Speak Up for Inclusion campaign, which you can, uh, check out, uh, the videos that are posted on that site.
Griffin Toplitsky: Christina, thank you again. This was, Absolutely fantastic.
Uh, [00:14:00] and it was great to hear what RBC is doing in the field of D&I Thank you for joining us. Thank you
Christina Cleveland: for having me, Griffin. And Kenisha,
Kenisha Humber: I really, really loved what she said about staying curious and exploring your own biases, cuz I think that we can all benefit from doing that.
Griffin Toplitsky: Absolutely. And for any corporation to view like she does diversity and inclusion, not as a program, not as a department.
But as a lifestyle and a way of thinking that we all kind of need to constantly be working on and conscious of.
Kenisha Humber: Up next, we will be joined by a talk show host who is well connected with RBC Future Launch. But first, a quick word about one of our partners.
Griffin Toplitsky: The RBC Indigenous People's Development Program enables recent graduates to develop the skills and network needed to build their professional experience. The program is open to candidates who self-identify as indigenous. That is First [00:15:00] Nations, Inuit, and MayT people of Canada. Applicants must have graduated within the last two years from an undergraduate program or a minimum of a two year college diploma.
For more information, check out the credits at the end of this podcast. For the link on the RBC site, or simply Google RBC Indigenous People's Development Program.
Kenisha Humber: We are very excited about our next guest. She's a talk show host whose most recent focus has been on talking with people who feel misinterpreted, misperceived, and mis.
Griffin Toplitsky: As someone with Down Syndrome, Madison Tevlin knows all about those three things and is reaching out to connect with others with those experiences in their own lives.
Just as Madison
Kenisha Humber: is working to get to the heart of [00:16:00] who the guests on her show are. We are now going to get to the heart of who Madison Tevlin is. Oh, I like how you
Griffin Toplitsky: spun that
Kenisha Humber: and I was about to land it when you jumped
Griffin Toplitsky: in there. Sorry. I got excited. I, I love a good spin.
Kenisha Humber: Welcome to the show, Madison Tevlin.
Madison, thank you so much for being
Christina Cleveland: here.
Madison Tevlin: Well, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be talking to both of
Christina Cleveland: you today.
Griffin Toplitsky: We are always so curious about someone's background or origin story. So tell us about where you grew up and what was your journey to where you are
Madison Tevlin: now? So I live in Toronto, Ontario, and how this all started for me is when I had my, I started with a YouTube video called All Made by John Legend, and it's only overly meant for family friends.
But then I just went viral. I got picked up for different news stations and then I was on Good Morning America. I was in New York Times Square Billboard, which was like super cool. And this scholars, all the news stations called Mr. D, the Canadian Show. I was [00:17:00] on all the band music studios on Family Channel, and I opened up a Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.
And. So much fun. I open up, let's reach up the band of OER and
Christina Cleveland: Cody sent Then how
Griffin Toplitsky: long had you been singing for?
Madison Tevlin: Well, since I was 13. I just like really loved everything I was doing and now I'm holding a show called Think I Am and that's where I am now.
Kenisha Humber: Well, actually, on that note, can you tell us a little bit more about who do you think I
Christina Cleveland: am?
I would love
Madison Tevlin: to. So there's so many reasons why I really wanted to share who you think I am. The concept of the show is based on stereotypes and breaking down barriers and really getting to know someone of who they really are.
Kenisha Humber: So how did you come up with the concept?
Madison Tevlin: It was a lot of talking to the producers.
So their names were Sylvia and Jenny, and it was more just like talking about, Cause I have downstream and I always see each, at least anything about me. So when we had this [00:18:00] conversation, it's because I was really tired of being judged the way I look at face value. So that's how the show really came. And how anding it
Christina Cleveland: is to hear people's stories.
Griffin Toplitsky: We are, uh, relative newcomers ourselves to interviewing a bunch of people. Did you have much experience interviewing people before you started?
Madison Tevlin: Well, it was more like for fun with like friends and family. I had sound, I practiced being myself. I'm very natural just speaking to people, being on camera. So it was really easy before I had to
Christina Cleveland: do the,
Kenisha Humber: We mentioned your curiosity about other people who have been misperceived or prejudged.
Um, have you experienced this a lot in your own life?
Christina Cleveland: I have been judged before
Madison Tevlin: because I'm different, which is a one part of me. Cause we're all different and we have to focus on why we're the same and not what the differences are.
Griffin Toplitsky: Definitely. So tell us about yourself. What, what do you like we, we know you like singing.
[00:19:00] I love to
Madison Tevlin: sing dance. Uh, I like to model too, in that I find a lot of fun for me. Basically like a triple threat and doing that kind of
Christina Cleveland: stuff. Awesome.
Kenisha Humber: Uh, so much of what you talk about is essentially don't judge a book by its cover. And in talking to people, I'm sure you're surprised by what you hear. So tell us, um, just a little bit more about you.
Cause I think all of our listeners want to know what are the, some of the surprising
Christina Cleveland: things about. I
Madison Tevlin: feel like people are really surprised that I'm very quick wied I am, and that I show my emotions like under my sleeve because I'm very open. I'm very honest. And also that some people that don't know about me is that I don't eat chocolate or candy.
Griffin Toplitsky: Cool. Now we know you got big through all of me, but what's your favorite song to sing?
Madison Tevlin: There's so many songs. I, It's really hard to pin out to what, because there's so many. But I love Sean Mees. [00:20:00] I'm like his biggest fan. What's your favorite song? My favorite song by Sean. My God, there's so many here. I probably like to be you because it's about.
Christina Cleveland: Differences. Very
Kenisha Humber: relevant. I haven't heard that one, but I'm gonna go and listen.
Christina Cleveland: Yeah, it's really
Madison Tevlin: good. It's like very upbeat and it's like talking about people's differences and how it's okay
Christina Cleveland: just to be your, Except
Kenisha Humber: if you had the chance to meet Shawn Mendes, how would you convince him to be on your show?
Christina Cleveland: This is such a hard
Madison Tevlin: question because, Well, it's true because like I loved him. It'd just be so cool to hear what he has to say, Right. And his story and what he has to share with everything he's been going through with throughout his thinking and what path we took to get there at that point, and how he, like how he all started from to where he is now to the journey.
Like that would be so cool to know and possibly singing duets together. [00:21:00] That'd be cool as well. Be able to sing with him and be like, ok, like
Transition: let's do
Griffin Toplitsky: this. Has doing the show helped how you see people?
Madison Tevlin: It does for sure. Listening to other people talking about it, it makes me feel different. And knowing that we're all the same, we're all in this
Griffin Toplitsky: together.
When it comes to acting or interviewing, do you ever get nervous?
Madison Tevlin: Okay. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. So it's more that I'm excited, but I am nervous. So when I had to like say a speech again to like be prepared, I have to be ready for it. So I have like someone that I feel so close to, like be comfortable with, to help me to stay calm.
So when I'm able to do that, then I'm like, I can showcase
Griffin Toplitsky: myself. Is that your biggest tip you'd give to people who might be nervous before a, a big speech or an acting role?
Madison Tevlin: Yeah, for sure. To have someone with you that you would each trust and be able to talk there and be like, Okay, you could do. [00:22:00] Focus on yourself.
Take deep breaths. You've got this. Madison, just do it. Put your heart and soul out of it. You're gonna love it. And go out
Christina Cleveland: there and do yourselves.
Kenisha Humber: Yeah, someone that can keep you grounded, but also make sure that you shine and you're at your best. That's awesome. Yeah,
Griffin Toplitsky: I've got Kaisha for that.
Kenisha Humber: And I haven't found my person yet.
Madison, would you like to be that for me? Oh, I would love
Transition: to. .
Kenisha Humber: I'm just really thankful that you gave us your time and uh, just all of your like information that was just so wonderful. So I just wanna thank you for being here. Thank you. This is really fun. I think we're just really thankful to you and also listeners out there.
Be sure to check out Madison's fantastic CBC talk show. Who do you think I am?
Griffin Toplitsky: Madison was such a great guest. I
Kenisha Humber: definitely had more questions for her. As I'm sure our listeners wanna know more about Madison, so be sure to check out our links in our show notes, including a link to her very entertaining
Griffin Toplitsky: TikTok tos.[00:23:00]
This was a standout episode there. I said it. I suppose
Kenisha Humber: we're striving to make all of our episodes stand out
Griffin Toplitsky: and we will achieve that. Goal, even if it's the last thing I do. That's
Kenisha Humber: a bit dramatic.
Griffin Toplitsky: Is it because I'm already excited about our next episode where we get in the game? That's right. We are gonna be talking about the evolution of sports and gaming in Canada.
Kenisha Humber: On the sports side, we will be talking to Shannon Cole, who is the VP of brand Marketing at rbc, and
Griffin Toplitsky: on the gaming side, we will be chatting with Stephanie Harvey, aka Ms. Harvey about pro gaming and video game development. Do you win medals for that? If so, I hope she brings
Kenisha Humber: them well. Yeah, I guess you can't really show medals on a podcast.
Not really a visual medium. I mean,
Griffin Toplitsky: we could say we're looking at metals and no one would know you would really do that, wouldn't you? Anything to jazz up the show? Yeah.
Kenisha Humber: Please don't ever say jazz up again. You sound like a
Griffin Toplitsky:[00:24:00] grandpa. You are right, and I am sorry.
Kenisha Humber: Thanks for listening to In The
Griffin Toplitsky: Know We're your hosts, Griffin Toplitsky and Kenisha Humber.
Special thanks to the VP of Diversity and Inclusion at RBC Christina
Kenisha Humber: Cleveland. And thanks of course, to the host of CBC's. Who do you think I am? Madison Tevlin.
Griffin Toplitsky: And finally we'd be nowhere without our in the know listener community. Thank you all for sending such amazing questions for this week's guests.
If you would like a chance to be included in a future episode of In The Know, email us at RBC Future launch@rbc.com. Within the know in the subject line,
Kenisha Humber: in the KNOW is a production of RBC dedicated to focusing on the issues that matter and are important to society and people. For more on RBC citizenship, check out the links in our show.
And here to share their mission is none other than Mark Becks, Vice President, social impact and innovation at rbc. All yours, Mark. At rbc,
Mark Beckles: our purpose is to help clients [00:25:00] thrive and communities prosper. And that's why we are investing $500 million over 10 years as part of RBCs future launch to help empower young people for the jobs of tomorrow.
We want to help you be the best that you can be. So we work to increase your access to information programs, tools, and. To share different points of view and challenge your norms, and ultimately helping you make sense of the world around you. We know that our future and the future of our communities starts with you, and that's why we want you to be in the know.