As the director of diversity, equity, inclusion and employee experience at Medix, Cordelia Calderon strives to integrate inclusivity and belonging into everything the company does. “DE&I work fails when we think of it as a separate training, another conference call, an additional meeting outside of everything else people have to do,” she says. Instead, she is working to have it so embedded in the systems, culture and habits of the company that a diversity and inclusion lens is naturally applied to all decisions, large and small alike.

One of her first initiatives was to establish diversity and inclusion benchmarks for where Medix is today and where it wants to go. This required her to engage company leaders and teammates in a process of defining what diversity means at Medix and infuse it into the company’s new-hire self-identification process to give leadership more transparency into key diversity and compensation metrics to make more data-driven, actionable decisions. Additionally, she organized an unconscious bias training for Medix employees and leadership nationwide that achieved a 99% participation rate.

"DE&I work fails when we think of it as another training, another call, another meeting outside of everything else people have to do."

 

Among Calderon’s proudest accomplishments is the creation and development of Medix Impact Groups. Starting with the Women in Leadership group, which she helped found in 2018, she has been instrumental in creating five groups overall with two more in the works. Participation has increased from 10% in 2020 to 21% in 2023. “Research shows that job performance goes up with an employee’s sense of belonging,” Calderon says, noting that in addition to creating mentoring, networking and advocacy opportunities, the groups allow people spaces in which they can feel safe and be their most authentic selves.

Along with her DE&I work at Medix, Calderon has served as a passionate member of the associate board of the Cara Collective, a nonprofit focused on creating pathways out of poverty through employment.

2023 DE&I Influencers List