Meet Yabome Gilpin-Jackson: Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion

Throughout a career spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors, Yabome Gilpin-Jackson has helped organizations advance leadership and build capacity for systemic and social change.

As SFU’s first Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion (VPPEI), Yabome provides strategic leadership to further SFU’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and build an SFU where all can thrive.

Yabome has deep connections to the university. First accepted to SFU as a conditional student after leaving war-torn Sierra Leone, she completed both an undergraduate degree and MBA at the Beedie School of Business, where she now serves as an associate faculty member and advisory board member. She is also an SFU donor.

Learn more about Yabome’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive, sustainable and just society.

What do you enjoy most about being a part of the SFU community?

It’s such a connected community and the level of engagement in supporting and leading B.C. is high. From faculty and staff whose children have also come to SFU to board members who are alumni and got married at the Diamond Alumni Centre—finding these connections everywhere makes SFU very unique. In provincial circles, it’s often said that SFU is ‘the university for B.C.’ because the majority of people who attend SFU are from B.C., stay in B.C., and serve in sectors across the province. It’s enjoyable to know that you’re connected to a community of people that are making a difference locally and globally.

At a time when universities and the diverse communities we serve are increasingly under attack, SFU is committed to fostering a culture where people feel seen, heard, and valued. Can you tell us more about the work you and your team are doing to advance inclusivity and belonging at SFU?

Equity and belonging are fundamental human needs and fundamental human rights for everyone—and have been very clearly articulated as values for SFU. From a research perspective, the evidence in support of EDI efforts is clear and strong. My team and I stay centred in the reality that we are here to support all people at SFU, including addressing the needs of systemically underrepresented and marginalized communities, and are simply making this a better place for people to work, live, teach, and learn. We hold the view that EDI work is non-negotiable—and I can’t imagine a world in which we’re unwilling to do what’s needed to support fundamental human needs and human flourishing.

What impact did your SFU education and experience have on your life?

SFU created the foundation for my career and complemented my career transitions and professional development in a way that kept moving me in the direction I wanted to go.  When I came back to the university in this role, it felt like coming home. I still can’t put into words the experience of walking with the convocation platform party as VPPEI almost 20 years to the day that I had first graduated from SFU Beedie. It epitomizes the importance of what we do here and how critical it is that we support students to do their best, be their best, and find that nugget of identity and passion in themselves that will lead them to walk the walk they need to achieve their dreams.

Why is it important for you to give back to SFU?

When I arrived in Canada as a refugee, SFU was the only place that accepted me as a conditional student without a long list of unnecessary and prohibitive requirements. I had already done two years of post-secondary and was an A-student but was missing some documentation because of the situation. Luckily, I ended up getting all my documentation in time to transfer to a full student and graduated from Beedie at the top of my class with the Dean’s medal. Without that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It also demonstrates how to appropriately apply an equity and justice analysis lens in decision-making. We are not compromising qualifications. This is a disturbing misconception about equity work, that it somehow dumbs down merit—it does not. But it does say that the conventions of our protocols can be opened to remove barriers and allow people to have opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have. SFU did that for me, so it’s very easy to give back.

Who would you say inspires you the most, and why?

My mom was one of the first Indigenous Sierra Leonean girls from the Themne people to attend the first secondary school for girls in West Africa, founded as an Anglican missionary school. She is proud of her history and feels blessed by her educational experiences at a time when Themne girls did not have access to Western education, but she also had unpleasant experiences in that context. She went on to complete a teacher’s certificate, a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, conduct research in health care and public education, serve as a city councillor, work in diplomatic circles and immigration, raise her eight children and many others, and to-date has written four books documenting her life and journey. She never stops! And even when asked about the unpleasant parts, she speaks in matter-of-fact terms with a focus on what she did to move through and move on!

She’s been that quiet rock and the storyteller that imbued in me the values of knowing that no one else gets to define who I am. That is entirely up to me, no matter what adversity comes my way. And that there's always an opportunity to do one more thing that's aligned with your purpose and that will make a difference to someone else.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

I had three babies alongside completing my PhD. I got my acceptance before my eldest was born and went to orientation when she was three months old. I completed my comprehensive exam three months after having my second child, and I walked the graduation stage pregnant with my third child. So I call them my PhD—orientation, comprehensive exams, and graduation! It’s my greatest joy and honour to be their mother.