Meet Apeksha Naik, a driving force behind diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the rail industry. As one of the Industry Inclusion and Belonging Leads at the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT), Apeksha co-chairs Rail Unites for Inclusion, a platform uniting over 300 members across 90 organisations. Her passion for fostering a culture of belonging stems from a deep belief in the power of kindness and inclusivity. Join us as we delve into Apeksha’s journey, her proudest achievements, and her invaluable advice for embedding DEI principles across organisations.
What is your current role?
I am one of the two, Industry Inclusion and Belonging Leads at the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT). I also Co-Chair of Rail Unites for Inclusion, which has around 300 members from about 90 organisations both within and outside the rail industry. Our LinkedIn page was set up a couple of years ago and has nearly 2,000 followers. I work alongside my colleague Odis Palmer who is the other Lead and the other Co-Chair of Rail Unites for Inclusion and together we are ‘partners in virtue’ as one of our industry Directors refers to us as. Odis and I joined GBRTT around 21 months ago and we are both striving to make our industry more diverse and inclusive.
What does DEI mean to you?
There are so many versions of the acronym DEI – there’s Equity, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion but also Belonging and they are all so important. Without equity, true equality for all can’t be achieved. Without diversity and inclusion, you can’t create a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Also, if people aren’t included, their wellbeing can be impacted, which in turn can affect safety. So, these all mean a lot to me and at the crux of them all is kindness, just being kind to people, no matter what their characteristics or backgrounds, is what lies at the heart of DEI.
What has been your biggest/proudest achievement to date?
Being shortlisted for an Investors in Ethnicity award as well as recently being shortlisted for an UnderOne global diversity and inclusion award for Rail Unites for Inclusion, which I Co-Chair, are amongst my biggest achievements to date. I’ve been nominated and won awards within organisations that I have worked at before, but being nominated for national and global awards alongside such high calibre candidates across the UK and globally is still something I can’t quite believe has happened to me. If my Dad were still here, he would have been very proud of me, as is the rest of my family, because he was the Chair of the Hindu Association of Zambia when we used to live there. Dad did a great deal of work as Chair to serve society. I think he would have been pleased to see me trying to follow in his footsteps.
Are there any initiatives you are excited to have worked on?
Recently in May, for World Day for Cultural Diversity, I Chaired an event where 4 of my GBRTT colleagues talked about their languages and cultures and we then opened the discussion out to those who had joined to talk about any languages they spoke or to educate us more about their cultures. We then shared food from different cultures together. I was excited about this because I love learning different languages and immersing myself into different cultures so much so that I did a French and Spanish degree and spent a year abroad spending some time in the South of France, where I also learnt a bit of Italian taught in French and then some time in Barcelona, where I also learnt some Catalan alongside Castilian. I’ve loved the opportunity of reconnecting with different languages again including trying to teach my children a bit of Gujarati and Hindi and trying to teach them more about my culture.
Also, another recent initiative that was very exciting was our first hybrid Rail Unites for Inclusion conference that took place in March. I played a lead role in pulling together and shaping the conference, including inviting all our key stakeholders, alongside an excellent team (they know who they are and some are featured in the photos I have shared). We collaborated with 16 organisations across the rail industry featuring high profile speakers from the organisations including Senior Leaders and operational front-line staff. Many of our industry DEI partners and members from our Trade Unions also attended. We had a number of break out rooms and I have shared the outputs with our members. We are going to continue collaborating with all our RUI partners to make a difference on all areas of DEI.
Do you have any advice for others trying to get more involved in DEI?
My advice would be – embed DEI within all areas of your organisation and do not just focus on events and initiatives. These are also important and have their place to raise awareness and to get people engaged but also use these strategically to encourage people to take action to make a difference and to make systemic changes within organisations so that everyone benefits, including those that are marginalised. Get your leadership teams on board to support and advocate for your organisation’s DEI journey and get them in turn to get their teams on board and their teams to do the same so that DEI becomes everyone’s business, not just the DEI Lead’s responsibility. We are all in this together and should all be accountable to ensure that DEI is continually being embedded organisation and sector wide.
