Advocacy Strategies: Expanding Consciousness in the Workplace and Beyond 

Speaker Bio:

Caroline  Mailloux (Cari, in the Brown community) is a people-first intrapreneur, equitable organization designer, disability activist, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Accessibility (DEIBA) strategist and practitioner. Her specialty is leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, inclusive of culture, policy, and technology. Currently she serves as the Senior Director of DEI at Sarepta Therapeutics, a biotech pursuing the development of precision genetic medicine for rare diseases through gene therapy, RNA-targeted exon skipping, and gene editing. Her work centers on implementing equitable systems for employees, the patient community, and partners alike (pay equity, clinical trial diversity, and impact investing, for example). More than 15 years after graduating and 2 years into the role, it’s the first time she can say she loves her job across role, manager, team, culture, and mission.

Cari came to Brown pre-med and was quickly drawn to health equity and social determinants of health-related work. She ultimately concentrated on Development Studies and wrote a thesis on comparative models of foreign aid in Mali from an equity lens. She was working in a global health-focused non-profit and studying for the State Department exam when a mix of chronic health issues and accidentally falling in love with someone with kids altered “the plan.” The nonlinear career journey between foreign aid reform to increasing healthcare equity for rare diseases includes a variety of roles and sectors including innovation consulting at the Medici Group, change management at BJ's Wholesale Clubs, Inc, entrepreneurship, and lobbying locally in Rhode Island for good governance policies.

She resides in greater Boston, MA USA with her partner, two kids, 2 cats, and a dog. She is a proud board member at AS220 in Providence. For fun, she enjoys the exploration of places and possibilities; she is currently learning how to sail with the long-term dream of working from a sailboat and traveling the world.

Invisible identities and lived experiences include disability, neurodivergence, LGBTQIA+, step-mom, parents not speaking English as a first language, and growing up in a religious, military family.

Advice: every org, including Brown, has written and unwritten rules. You can learn a lot by asking directly what the “unwritten rules are.” It’s ok to ask because you deserve to know.