Meet Milka Milliance, MBA | Co-Founder, Partner| Different

We had the good fortune of connecting with Milka Milliance, MBA and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Milka, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Different was co-founded by Alex Suggs, Milka Milliance, and Grace Yi – three DEI practitioners in the industry who had worked at a number of highly-recognized organizations delivering process-driven, rather than human-centered methods of diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Disenchanted with the serious limitations that we were facing time and time again with the dozens of companies and high-growth startups we worked with, we knew that trying to help teams heal broken relationships, create and implement strategic initiatives, and provide learning and development workshops to develop awareness of one’s biases and lived experiences was only getting so far in the organization’s journey to cultivate a safe, healthy, and innovative work environment. We were only scratching the surface of deep social issues that were left unchecked for years that manifested into toxic workplace cultures where people felt unseen and under-valued.

What should our readers know about your business?
Different is a Black, Asian, Queer, Women, and Non-Binary owned diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting company, and we believe in doing DEI differently. We see human connection as a means to propel purpose-driven organizations into a different tomorrow. One where organizations foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive human-centered workplaces that welcome all people to bring their authentic selves to work – to do their best work. We knew there had to be a different way for real change to happen for those who desired a better, bolder, more sustainable workplace culture. This work has challenged us to think differently about how to change the workplace in the midst of the great resignation and people being tired of toxic work environments impacting their mental and physical health.

As a co-founding team, we have developed entire service and product lines that have supported startups to global corporations in delivering comprehensive and impactful solutions at the individual contributor level to the most senior executives. However, we have found that small to midsize companies struggle to find the budget that meets their greatest organizational needs, which require lengthier project timelines and the labor of multiple consultants and facilitators that easily balloon the scope of work, which ultimately affects the pricing of those services.

We are committed to offering a suite of products and services that allow organizations with a smaller budget to access more self-service products, such as toolkits and community-based learning, that are more cost-effective and still drive high impact to their team and organization at large.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I always encourage my friends to come to Miami during Art Basel. I love art, meeting new artists and exploring their art work during these festivities always gets me very excited. We would start the morning in Miami Beach with a quick dip in the ocean and then grab some cafe con leche and some Haitian patties or Cuban pastries. We would change and head over to the beach to visit the art exhibitions. For lunch we would head over to Wynwood and visit some the art expo located there and then go over to 1-800 Lucky for some Asian bites and a cocktail. We would walk around Wynwood, tuck into a few spots dance and grab a drink and visit some additional galleries.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shout out is to my business partners who decided to take this entrepreneurship journey with me. While we have our differences, our shared values of integrity, humility, boldness and the desire to do the right thing keeps us together. I’m grateful for how thoughtful, gracious, compassionate and patient they are as people.

Looking back, each of us as co-founders of the company share a connection in our background that shaped our interest and desire to come into this work – and to eventually start a business together. For one, growing up, we each navigated spaces and places that left us feeling a deep sense of longing to belong. Feeling “othered” as queer, black, Asian, and immigrant in our identities significantly impacted who we wanted to be and how we wanted to be of service to the world. We, as co-founders, also share the experience of seeing our parents strive, struggle, and find both success and failure as small business owners and entrepreneurs. The dream of making something for themselves and their loved ones left a lasting imprint on each of us.

Website: https://differentdei.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/different.dei/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/differentdei/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DifferentDEI

Image Credits
Alex Suggs