Monae Roberts

Strengths: Connectedness | Input | Intellection | Developer | Futuristic

Monae Roberts currently serves as the Chief Diversity Officer at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They joined the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in February 2023 after a brief hiatus from higher education. In their role Monae is responsible for K-12 outreach, supporting VetMed students in navigating experiences related to DEI, coordinating and facilitating DEI workshops for the greater VetMed community, serving as a DEI liaison between Veterinary Medicine and the greater UC Davis community, and acting as an advisor on DEI issues that impact Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.

Previously Monae served as the Director of the UC Davis LGBQIA Resource Center, a Program Coordinator at the Cross Cultural Center, Vice Chair of the CCLGBTQIA and Co Chair for the Lived-Name Gender Marker Task Force.

Monae holds degrees in Journalism, B.A., Health & Physical Education, M.Ed. and African American Studies, M.A.

They have spent the last 10 years as a DEI professional as both a consultant, and career staff in higher education and corporate. Their approach rests on the belief that dismantling oppressive systems requires individuals to commit to a personal journey in self-awareness in order to understand the role we must play in our collective liberation. Monae sees DEI is deeply personal and interpersonal work. The personal aspect often makes it difficult to address DEI issues in a work/education context since we are taught to separate the personal from our career-facing persona. However, if we are able to understand the unavoidable, interdependent nature of DEI we can begin to disentangle ourselves from the web of oppression and dominance. They live in Sacramento, California with their wife, two kids and two dogs, and spends much of their free time traveling, hiking, meditating, reading, listening to songs on repeat, playing sudoku and other puzzle games, all while being an awesome Black, Neurodivergent queer and trans person. 

My Life’s Work

There are several variations of a quote about the interdependent nature of liberation attributed to Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Lilla Watson, Audre Lorde, Emma Lazarus and possibly others. Ultimately these varied quotes on the interdependent nature of liberation, for me, ties back to the Bodhisattva’s mission to aid in the enlightenment of all beings. Enlightenment, for me, means the ultimate liberation. I am committed to the ultimate liberation of all beings because my liberation is your liberation, your liberation is my liberation. It is collective liberation. It is our liberation. It can only be our liberation.