Ellevate Advisors’ Policy on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I)

Summary

At Ellevate Advisors, we believe that judgment, discrimination, and harassment of anyone, to any degree, or for any reason, is unacceptable. This includes team members working together and serving clients, as well as how our clients treat our team members. 

We believe that our differences as people provide a wealth of experience and perspective. Creating an open, safe workplace allows our valuable team members and clients to contribute to improving our company and the quality of our services. This will ultimately make us more innovative and successful as a business.

We are painfully aware that the research into the financial planning profession continues to show diversity metrics that significantly lag the general workforce in the United States. Ellevate is a diverse team, including 50% people of color and 75% female as of the date of this policy.* We see Ellevate’s role as one of providing a workplace that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

DE&I and Ellevate’s Services

Ellevate’s DE&I policy is our attempt to take a step forward in creating a profession where financial planners are evaluated based on the quality of their work and upholding fiduciary standards of client service. 

We believe it is our fiduciary duty to provide working engagements with clients that are grounded in the process of identifying and defining one’s values as life changes, and translating those values into personal, financial, and business goals. We do not emphasize any specific values, or pressure clients to choose certain values. Rather, we focus on the advantages of knowing and living according to one’s personal and family values. 

We believe it is our fiduciary duty to provide conversations and recommendations that align with the values our clients hold. The high quality, comprehensiveness, and accuracy of any strategies we may recommend should not be impacted by our personal, individual values.

Why do you include pronouns in your email signature?

Pronouns are used in written and spoken language to identify us. When we include pronouns in email signatures, it is not intended to reflect a personal belief system. Rather, it is intended to encourage respect for people and discourage judgment, discrimination, and harassment. 

Furthermore, we solely work virtually with clients, so including pronouns in our email signature helps us better convey identity across cultural boundaries. It is an easy, practical way to respectfully communicate with one another.

From a human resources perspective, we do not require our team members to include gender pronouns in their email signatures and believe that is a personal decision. Whether a team member, colleague, or client chooses to include pronouns in their email signature or not, we make every reasonable effort not to make assumptions about their personal beliefs, values, or identity. Instead, we focus our efforts on educating our team about diversity awareness and do not tolerate discrimination in the workplace. 

Questions or Recommendations?

We are growing in our understanding of the complex and ever-changing DE&I space and how to incorporate it into our company culture. If you have any further questions or recommendations regarding our DE&I policy or would like to talk to Brooklyn personally, we welcome the conversation! Living out DE&I at Ellevate means we value different perspectives and welcome non-confrontational conversations on these topics. For more information, we invite you to email us directly at Brooklyn@EllevateAdvisors.com. 

*Policy updated as of April 2023