Same name, new pronunciation…or is it old pronunciation?! – Guest Post by Kanako Suwa

In 2018, I wrote this blog post, “What’s In A Name” where I discussed the connection between a name and an identity, and the realities of having a non-Western name in an international context. The majority of students at my school in Vietnam have Western nicknames registered in the database, like Jason or Annie. They have their Vietnamese name, but many of them don’t go by that in [...]

2021-11-19T10:57:30+00:00November 19th, 2021|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

Ethnic Pause at Work: 74% Struggle with Name Mispronunciation

Image via Pexels | George Milton | PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "You wanna go where everybody knows your name," according to the famous theme song from the television sitcom Cheers. But according to a new study from NameCoach, work is not as inclusive as Cheers when it comes to pronouncing names correctly. The new study reveals that 44% of respondents had their names mispronounced in an [...]

2021-09-16T22:29:03+00:00September 16th, 2021|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

Accepting Me for Who I Am Begins with My Name – Guest Post by Christine Priester

NameCoach Guest Blog - by Christine Priester A few weeks back, during the chaos of the election, I came across an article that addressed the issues related to correct name pronunciation as it relates to politicians. In the article called “What it reveals when senators repeatedly mispronounce the names of Kamala Harris and Sundar Pichai” by author Harmeet Kaur, the author describes how Sen. David Perdue lacked the [...]

2020-12-14T20:34:41+00:00December 11th, 2020|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

Identity Needs Representation to Thrive – Guest Post by Rev. Tracy Kronzak

NameCoach Guest Blog - By Rev. Tracy Kronzak, Strategic Platform Advisor, Now It Matters Tom Black, Chief Innovation Officer at Paradigm, made a recent guest blog post in the NameCoach that pulled at my heartstrings. In it, he writes of deep truths regarding who we are as connected to our life experiences and identities. He asserts the importance of names and pronunciation as foundational for truly including a person [...]

2020-10-06T03:05:16+00:00October 2nd, 2020|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

Say their names.

To support efforts to raise awareness of racial injustice, NameCoach is providing full name audio files for a partial list of Black Americans killed by police.  It is intended to support those who are encouraging the public to hear and say these names, to help recognize their humanity and memorialize them. It is also intended to support the correct pronunciation of these names in national discourse. The names [...]

2020-07-10T06:54:25+00:00July 7th, 2020|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

More than Platitudes: Equality, Humanization, and American Independence

For many, this Independence Day has a renewed sense of meaning.  As we celebrate the founding of this country, we remind ourselves not just that America declared independence, but did so in a way that invited the world to affirm the core principle underlying that declaration:  that all people are created equal, and consequently have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s easy [...]

2020-07-12T04:20:48+00:00July 4th, 2020|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

Reflections on the #SpeakingMyName Summit and the Need for Societal Change

On June 16th, the SPEAK Mentorship organization hosted the #SpeakingMyName campaign, which invited people to post videos about their names, pronunciation, identity, and backgrounds.  Our team at NameCoach was thrilled to support the campaign, and I was honored to participate as a panelist in the #SpeakingMyName Summit, alongside students, educators, business and nonprofit leaders, and elected officials. Many important perspectives and stories were voiced - borne of personal [...]

Seeking Social Justice One Name at a Time – Guest Post by Tom Black

NameCoach Guest Blog - By Tom Black, Assistant Vice Provost, Johns Hopkins University The pursuit of social justice is on everyone’s mind these days.  Mostly it is thought about in the context of destroying systematic cultural and economic practices that were intended to advantage select individuals within our society.  These practices are and have been unfair and inequitable, and we are now grappling with how to change them, [...]

2020-07-08T04:28:15+00:00June 23rd, 2020|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|

The values we must affirm now more than ever

The events of the past weeks have weighed heavily on many of us.  I feel outrage, sorrow, and solidarity with Black Americans and minorities across the world who suffer deep injustice every day.  Black Lives Matter.  The freedom to live and breathe is inviolable.  Racism is intolerable.   The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others are sickening. Personally, they are a painful reminder [...]

Salesforce.org Demo Jam Winner

NameCoach, Salesforce’s only solution for accurate name pronunciations, was selected as the winner of the 2019 October Salesforce.org Demo Jam. Demo Jam is a competition between 4-7 companies who showcase their Salesforce App in a short 3-minute demo, without slides. At the end of the demos, the winner is selected by the AEs, SEs, and the rest of the Salesforce folks on Demo Jam “Of all the tech [...]

2020-07-05T23:40:01+00:00November 17th, 2019|Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging|