About us
Born out of a successful initiative to improve a STEM community’s academic climate, Reflecting Equity is dedicated to helping organizations foster inclusion and develop equitable policies and practices within their workplace. We understand that every organization has a unique historical narrative and thus faces different challenges. For this reason, we work with our clients to develop a plan for improving their culture that is tailored to their specific needs.
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Chrissy Stachl, Ph.D.
FOUNDER & CEO
About our founder
Read about the journey that led Chrissy to improve the culture of her research environment:
A catalyst for change. Stachl, eLife, 2021
Philosophy and positionality statement
As a Latina, my awareness of how STEM systematically excludes individuals with marginalized identities has always been present—and personal. By the time I started my doctoral training in chemistry, the injustices I experienced and witnessed had solidified my desire to dedicate my career to identifying and rectifying the systemic oppressions within institutions.
Halfway through my Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Berkeley, I pivoted the direction of my research to initiate and assess a movement that ultimately changed my department’s academic culture and climate. Prior to this point in my career, I had seen many diversity & inclusion initiatives fail the communities they intend to serve. To change this narrative, I positioned myself as a liaison between the faculty leadership and the graduate student body, to involve all community members in decision-making and use the existing organizational structure of my department to create institutional change. This anti-deficit model—which centers the voices and needs of community members and acknowledges that perceived deficits result from systemic inequities—made my efforts successful and continues to ground my work. Additionally, I embrace the theory of change framework in order to create equitable assessment tools, design evidence-based interventions, engage stakeholders, and monitor changes within an organization over time.
By the time I finished my Ph.D., I realized I had fallen in love with the process of understanding and addressing the issues that negatively affect an organization’s climate. So, I founded Reflecting Equity to help my clients create a path toward enhancing inclusion, sense of belonging, wellness, and diversity among their community members.
My expertise as a researcher, chemist, educator, and teacher enables me to tailor this approach to the unique culture and needs of my clients. While I recognize that I will never experience all the ways in which individuals are marginalized by oppressive social structures, my philosophy enables me to empower those individuals and keep their needs at the forefront of ongoing efforts toward equity, liberation, and justice.
About our logo
Watching the sun rise and set over the ocean has always been one of Chrissy’s favorite things—the ability of those moments to immerse her in peace, serenity, and awe for our earth has always taken her breath away.
Our logo symbolizes the beauty of a sunset, its reflection on the ocean, and the metaphorical start of a new day for equity and inclusion within organizations.
Chrissy captured this background photo—that also inspired Reflecting Equity’s logo—in 2021 at Sunset Beach in California.
