Black History Month Visibility Campaign: Shaunna Monts, MBA, MHA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Throughout Black History Month, we are spotlighting our Black staff through our Visibility Campaign series, as well as our staff who have a passion for support and advocacy. Today's spotlight goes to Shaunna Monts, MBA, MHA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP.
Shaunna joined Wheeler seven months ago as the chief human resources officer. She comes with 25 years of human resources experience in nonprofit community-based organizations.
How do you support your health and wellness? I support my health by working out. For the last three years, I have taken an intensive hip hop boot camp class at Diligence Training, a family-based, Black-owned business that promotes whole body physical health. I train five days a week from 5:30-6:30am and never miss a day. The workouts get me going and are great for my mental health.
How can employers support the health and wellness of their staff, specifically Black staff? With COVID-19 pandemic, racial tensions, and stress of returning to work, African Americans' mental health has been significantly impacted. As an organization, we need to have forums in which staff can discuss racial issues in the world, how they are feeling, and brainstorm ways we can move forward as a community. From a human resource perspective, we need to offer mindfulness events with a focus on dealing with racial diversity. By having our wellness and diversity committees partner together, we can change the traditional views of the wellness committee and work to include and address racism as a public health issue.
Why is it important to address racism as a public health issue? Racism has led to many health-related issues within the African American community. There are mental health aspects that affect every facet of our lives, such as receiving an education, acquiring affordable and quality housing, and finding jobs. Racism has negatively impacted each of those facets, which has led to numerous negative outcomes for African American for many generations. The only way to stop this trend is to look at all the issues associated with racism and address them.
Thank you, Shaunna, for sharing your story!
