Meet Zachary Nunn | Founder and CEO of Living Corporate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zachary Nunn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zachary, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My motivation wasn’t to make a dollar, but to make an impact. I’m a first generation corporate professional and I’m a second generation reader. My grandfather was a sharecropper in Mississippi. He worked a factory job at John Deere and had to pass some factory tests that required reading, so my dad taught him to read. My dad is in the first generation in his family that learned to read. So when you think about my background, I don’t have this deep, organic network of people who can help me navigate being one of the ‘only’s’ in a majority white space. Which is why in the career journey I just articulated, I had a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, a lot of racialized trauma. The truth of the matter is I’ve been called a ‘gorilla,’ ‘monkey,’ and worse while on the job. My education, experience, and ability to think critically has been questioned (and still is). . I’ve been called a smartass, uppity, angry, intimidating, too aggressive… people have claimed my large vocabulary isn’t authentic to who I really am, or that I don’t understand the large words I use. Sad to say, more insidious than the words thrown my way are the double standards I have had and continue to endure. I’ve had to constantly do two or three times as much as my white counterparts to get the same promotion or raise, or be given near impossible standards to meet for promotion and achieve them just to have the goal posts moved again. If all of this sounds exhausting and depressing, it’s because it is. Every now and again though, people who looked like me would pull me to the side and give a nugget of wisdom here or there. But those were few and far between –self-preservation is the name of the game. I can’t demonize them for seeking to survive. It’s not reasonable for me to expect them to drop everything they’re doing for my well-being when they’re trying to help their families, but this didn’t change the fact that I still needed more guidance. Desperate to get some help I ran to whatever ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ initiative I could, typically an employee resource group (ERG). But I found that ERGs were mostly spaces to pacify groups that are ‘other’ – yeah they do happy hours and commiserate amongst themselves, but don’t connect to career sponsorship, accountability for poor leaders, or solve anything systemic. When you talk about what we understand as diversity & inclusion, from the language we use – ‘unconscious bias,’ or ‘assuming good intent’ to the over-indexing on ‘candid conversations’ that lead to no actionable change, to the conflation of Black and Brown people with white women as a collective minority, to the lack of transparency when it comes to sharing real diversity data, and the overrepresentation of white people in positions of DEI leadership roles—it’s all built to minimize discomfort for the majority and maintain capitalistic power structures. So naturally, it functionally cannot be about organizational justice—the two don’t mix. Experiencing this was also exhausting and depressing. A few years ago I looked up and realized my story wasn’t just my story, nor were my frustrations only my frustrations. I asked myself what does it look like to create a space that is authentic to the reality of Black and Brown experiences at work? What does it look like to challenge existing power structures in an unapologetic way? How can I bottle up the precious and valuable conversations I’ve had with folks that look like me, expand them, and make them accessible to anyone with an internet connection? Living Corporate was my answer.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What I am most proud of with Living Corporate is our mission and explicit focus on it – there isn’t another platform out there that’s constantly creating digital media centering Black and brown experiences at work multiple times a week, every single week – this sets us apart. More unique than that, we’re creating this content by interviewing Fortune 500 executives, entrepreneurs, activists, elected officials, authors, and professors. You can look on our website and see dozens of brands who’ve come on and had candid, frank discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion. I’m proud of that. Of course, none of this is easy, but we have overcome the challenges of the workload by practicing community. I am beyond thankful for the entire team, spearheaded by our Operations Manager Aaron DiCaprio. The lessons I have learned in this work is that if consistency is powerful. We live in a microwave culture expecting fast results so its easy to get discouraged if you aren’t missional in your focus. What I want folks to know about Living Corporate is that we’re unrelentingly passionate about creating digital media that centers and amplifies Black and brown folks at work while also being a resource to white folks looking to be better allies.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Houstonx’s food scene is incredible and I’d be focused on showing them the staples of the city. Here’s my list: – Turkey Leg Hut – Chachos – Breakfast Klub – Frenchy’s – Amy’s Ice Cream – Star Pizza – Green Seed Vegan – Cool Runnings Jamaican Grill – Barnaby’s – Downhouse – Fat Bao – Uchi

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m thankful we’ve been able to have these discussions, and we’re not only talking about the reality of lived experience, but the changes leaders and organizations need to make to really have an impact. And I don’t see any other platform having that type of conversation, explicitly, multiple times a week. And we’ve been doing this for nearly three years—we’re hundreds of episodes in at this point. It’s not just me, it’s Amy C. Waninger, Neil Edwards, a bevy of other talent who host The Access Point, a web show that provides the real talk that college students need to navigate the workplace as a first-generation professional and The Group Chat which tackles DEI topics that the legal department at your average company wouldn’t allow. Living Corporate affirms marginalized and historically oppressed experiences and creates a resource for aspirational allies and leaders on what they can do to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace. Most importantly, I have to thank my wife Candis who encouraged me to try podcasting in the first place and our beautiful daughter, Emory.

Website: www.living-corporate.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livingcorporate/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/living-corporate/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LivingCorp_Pod

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingcorporatepodcast/

Other: Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-corporate/id1358453989