ABOUT
The Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute™ is an innovative leadership program designed to upskill Black Women and Black Latina to be complex problem solvers. This upskilling Initiative is building a talent pipeline of Black Women and Black Latina through accredited Six Sigma Green Belt training and certification. The cornerstone of this Initiative is an equity project that impacts the Black community in Marion County. Each participant’s project creates a community of stakeholders, funders, participants, and coaches who are benefiting while giving back. Projects focus on education, workforce, and other critical areas.
FOUNDER & CEO
Joy E. Mason is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt with over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory operations, and risk assessment, with an emphasis on business processes and quality systems. Joy has managed international projects and effectively delivered results using six sigma methodologies for both public and private sectors.
As an internal consultant for a Fortune 200 company, Joy consistently created strategies and implementation plans to help clients meet new regulatory requirements. As an entrepreneur, Joy has helped clients dramatically improve their bottom line by applying her problem-solving techniques. Her strategies and techniques are proven to resolve process problems, evaluate risk, and save costs. She is known for her unwavering optimism and her unique ability to create a collaborative environment for diverse stakeholders to get things done.
WHO WE ARE
Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute Inc was founded by Joy E. Mason, President and Founder of Optimist Business Solutions, LLC ("Optimist"). Optimist is a firm that works with leaders to achieve better outcomes by applying process improvement, change management and Six Sigma strategies.
In the spring of 2021, racial unrest and growing disparities activated Mason's deep sense of purpose to leverage Optimist as a force for change. This change started with marshaling the financial resources to upskill the Black community, specifically Black women and Black Latina. The vision was not only to upskill Black women and Black Latina, but to also address community inequities at the same time.
Why Six Sigma
Our goal is to upskill Black female professionals with Six Sigma green belt training and certification. This training will equip Black women and Black Latina with the strategies and tools for complex problem-solving in the workplace and the community. We believe that Six Sigma is an ideal method for combining community voice, process thinking, and data analysis to tackle racial inequities across sectors.
Why Black?
Black women and Black Latina are under-represented in the Six Sigma community because they are commonly under-exposed to this training and its benefits. Six Sigma training is also costly. In addition, the Black community is oftentimes the most harmed by inequitable policies, resulting in low education attachment, poor health outcomes, and high unemployment.
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What if Black people were equipped to solve complex problems for themselves? What if the barrier of costly training were removed? What inequitable policies and process problems could these newly trained women solve in the workplace and in the community?