Meet Jasmine Primm, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Home Chef

We interviewed Jasmine Primm from Home Chef to talk about her role as Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Read to learn more about the work she’s doing and her approach to DEI in the workplace.

What's your title and what are your job responsibilities?

I’m the Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Home Chef. My responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Implementing a company-wide DEI strategy that includes education, career-pathing and mentorship, pay equity, and strategies to implement diversity across all levels of the business

• Executing deadlines to ensure open lines of communication among employees, leadership and cross functional partners

• Building an employee and customer facing landing page that details all of our current an on-going DEI efforts

• Implementing pulse surveys company-wide to collect feedback on a quarterly basis

• Partnering with HR and Recruiting to ensure diverse hiring practices

Tell us a bit as to how you define diversity, equity and inclusion. What's your philosophy?

I think Malcom Forbes stated it simply— "Diversity is the art of thinking independently together."

I define diversity as a core philosophy that represents a company and/or individuals intentional mission, strategy, practice and resolve to build and support a balanced & diverse (varying in gender, religion, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation & education, etc.) workforce. 

This is keenly characterized by an environment where everyone has a voice, latitude to be their authentic selves, and are treated fairly and impartially without retaliation regardless of who they are. With this, will follow inclusion which equates to a work environment where all individuals  are treated fairly and respectfully with equal access to opportunity, resources and contribution. The most difficult thing about inclusion is that it means something uniquely different to everyone and truly is a "feeling" that can be very difficult to quantify. Equity is the chain that ties it all together and ensures that the inclusive workplace is a level playing ground for all employees. Equity is the practice of (fairness) checks and balances that are measured through resources and equal opportunity and access which also include compensation, benefits, promotions, career-pathing and support.

You previously worked at SoulCycle (awesome). How has that experience informed how you think about DEI?

Working for Soulcycle was a very unique experience. Because of a much smaller target demographic, it was even more important to implement and understand the importance of DEI within the employee groups as well as within the customer base. It can often be difficult to identify why DEI is important when your current customer base does not reflect the effects that you want to grow from within. 

What drew you to Home Chef?

Prior to working for Home Chef, I was a customer! Home Chef helped me to achieve my goal of losing 130lbs in just over a year. Home Chef was instrumental in me learning how to feed myself as an adult. No one tells you after college that your body can no longer run on adrenaline and junk food and home delivery was a major part of retraining my palate. Home Chef is also a brand that has always prided themselves on curing two of the world's largest problems— hunger & food waste. As an avid volunteer in food pantries and shelters, those are two major initiatives that are close to my heart.

“I think Malcom Forbes stated it simply— “Diversity is the art of thinking independently together.””

What's your biggest challenge in your new role?

The biggest challenge for all things DEI is the intricacy of cross-functional partnerships— because DEI oftentimes intersects into every part of the business, it is never as simple as making a business case/decision. It is important to have every teams' buy-in and commitment to ensure that strategies are implemented in a sustainable way without creating an excess workload.

What does success look like for you in your new job? Six months from now what do you hope to have accomplished?

Success for me is always based in the happiness of the majority— for most companies that is their hourly workforce and oftentimes equates to over 50% of the workforce. Within 6 months I hope to have implemented education, programs, systems and processes that will support Home Chef employees' desire to continue long-term employment at Home Chef. A company's mission and values can be visually seen in it's tenure. My goal is to strategically grow and develop our existing talent alongside our exponential growth as a company.

Finally, what do you do for fun these days? How are you staying sane during the pandemic?

For fun, I love indoor cycling, painting, any type of DIY project and playing with my dog Charlie. These are the only things that have kept me sane from the pandemic and I am so ready for us to come out on the other end stronger and better for it!