Michelle Wimes - Unapologetic Advocate of Equity and Inclusiveness

Michelle Wimes, Chief Diversity and Professional Development Officer at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Michelle is a strategic leader who is deft at implementing change management strategies necessary for a comprehensive and effective diversity and inclusion and professional development program. Previously, Michelle practiced law for 14 years, where she handled all aspects of employment litigation while serving as an equity partner at a Kansas City-based firm. She focused on matters involving employment discrimination, harassment, and civil rights issues while representing clients before administrative agencies and courts. Michelle is a nationally renowned presenter on professional development, diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace on topics such as, “Engaging Decision-makers and Practice Group Leaders in Diversity and Inclusion Efforts;” “Aligning Associate Competencies and Diversity Principles;” and “Reconciling Diversity, Inclusion & Meritocracy: Challenges & Opportunities.” She has presented before organizations such as the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the Center for Legal Inclusiveness, the National Association of Legal Professionals, the National Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals. Michelle has been recognized for her many professional contributions. Ingram's magazine selected Michelle as a member of the “40 Under 40 Class of 2005” and in 2007, Michelle received The Daily Record’s Legal Leader of the Year Award. In 2009, Kansas City's Call newspaper recognized Michelle as one of the top 25 most influential African-American Kansas Citians, and in 2012 Michelle was awarded the Distinguished Arts and Science Alumni Award from UMKC and was featured in the inaugural edition of Who’s Who in Black Kansas City. In 2014, the Societas Docta presented Michelle with the “Nefertiti” award for her demonstrated leadership in the Kansas City community. Michelle has also been featured in SAVOY magazine, MultiCultural Law magazine, and The Kansas City Business Journal. She is the mother of three daughters, Sydney, Gabrielle and Saige, and is married to federal district court judge, Brian C. Wimes.

Q. Best advice for women who want to go out in life and crush it!

A. Never take no for an answer, and certainly don’t take it personally. No just means “not now.”

Q. What do you do to celebrate women?

A. I believe, like Madeline Albright, that there is a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women. We just HAVE to do it! We have to look out for each other. Here are a few concrete things I do:

1. I’m ALWAYS looking out for opportunities for other women. I won’t speak on an all male panel. I refuse to be the token female. I’m bringing along other women to help them showcase their brilliance, talent and skills. When someone calls me about a speaking opportunity that I can’t take, I’m quick to refer other outstanding women FIRST who I believe can add value before I’m thinking about a man. I’m unapologetic in doing this. Men have been doing it for centuries.

2. When I see that a woman has a success, I am the FIRST person to congratulate her, wish her well, and then help to publicize her success broadly both within my law firm and outside of it. I call this the POSSE. I have a great posse at Ogletree. I don’t have to taut my own accomplishments, because I have a posse of women lawyers and team members who will often do it for me. And I do the same for them.

3. When women’s ideas are co-opted by men in a meeting, I subtly state who brought the idea up first and thank the man for adding to the woman’s initial thought or perspective.

4. I unapologetically advocate for policies, processes and procedures that are woman and family friendly to make the practice of law less laborious for both women and men who have care responsibilities whether that is childcare, elder care or just other interests. Recently, I helped to advocate for and got approved a move from a 12-week paid parental leave policy to 16 weeks, a new flex policy where our lawyers can work up to two days per week remotely, a milk stork program where our breastfeeding moms can ship their breastmilk for free if they are traveling on firm business, and a back-up childcare program.

5. I recognize that women are not monolithic. I support intersectionality, understanding that folks are not just their gender, their race, their ethnicity, disability, military status or sexual orientation BUT an amalgamation of ALL of those things. We recently sought and obtained approval for our firm to allow all employees to add their unique pronouns to their firm signature lines. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but to the small percentage of folks who are gender non-conforming, trust me, this means the world to them!

Q. What do you want to see more of?

A. I want to see more women have sponsors in the workplace who are willing to stand up for them and advocate for them when they don’t have a seat at the table.

Q. Recommended reading:

A. Minda Harts, “The Memo” is a great book for women of color who want to secure a seat at the table.

Q. The theme for this year's women's history month is Valiant Women of the Vote. What women's rights are you most passionate about?

A. I’m passionate about women and education, especially ensuring that women of color have access to high quality educational opportunities. Our schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1960’s. Right now, girls of color are 4-6 times as likely to be suspended than their white counterparts. Only nine percent of Black girls, 13 percent of LatinX girls, and 15 percent of indigenous girls achieved proficiency in 8th grade national science tests? LatinX college graduates only earn 54% of what their white male counterparts earn. African American college graduates only earn 63%, and Asian American women only earn 80% of what white male graduates earn.

Q. Shout out to another woman who has made a difference in your life and how she/they did that.

A. I want to give a shout out to my mom, Marilyn Scott, who labored for 35+ years for the federal government before retiring. Even though she never graduated from college, she always told me to get my education because no one could take it away from me. She believed in me and supported me during a time when others didn’t understand why a young Black girl from the inner city would choose to major in Spanish Language and Literature and want to live abroad. I stand on her shoulders today. Getting that degree and having the opportunity to live and work abroad changed the trajectory of my life and career.

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Monica Phillips