Remarkable Women: Kathleen McLean

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The second remarkable woman NEWS10 is highlighting in the Capital Region is a business leader whose family is at the core of everything she does. She was inspired by her young daughter more than 20 years ago to help bring about the change she wanted to see in the world around her.

When Kathleen McLean walks into a room, she has one main purpose: to make sure everyone has a seat at the table. "Feeling like you belong and that you matter is at the core of what we want, believe, and need," she said.

McLean is a trained social worker with an MBA, who has been changing how business leaders in the Capital Region think about diversity and inclusion in the workplace through her management consulting group at McLean Collective. "How do we embrace all people to make sure everyone is feeling included? And that's where equity comes in. It's not about giving anyone extras; it's about giving them what they need," McLean shared.

The idea was inspired more than 20 years ago by her daughter Danielle when she was just six years old. McLean shared, "Danielle walked up the stairs, took a yellow towel, put it on her head and started to wave her hair around. I didn't understand what she was doing. Danielle had no one in her classroom that looked like her. My daughter gave birth to this business because I saw her struggling with her racial identity development," Mclean said.

McLean started engaging local school districts in conversations about racial representation in the classroom, and over the years, her ideas blossomed into the corporate world. "We talk about emotional intelligence, we talk about psychology, safety and emotional regulation. Providing those tools in coaching sessions," McLean explained.

It's those tools that help business innovation meet community connections, engaging leaders of the Capital Region to explore and embrace the differences of their employees.

McLean also shared, "What the research has shown, where there is more diverse population, there is more innovation, there is more creativity. When people feel like they can share and talk freely about what's going on, they feel that sense of belonging. When people have friends in the workplace, they stay longer, they do more without being prompted, without being asked. They will be more productive."

Through empowering more women, her eyes have also been opened to racial disparities that exist in other fields. "Disproportionately, Black women and brown women are dying at a faster rate with heart disease."

This year, McLean is taking the heart of her mission to help another cause -- as a woman of impact for the American Heart Association, pledging to raise $20,000 by April.

"When women talk, sometimes people second guess them. They are, like, 'No, you're not really feeling that.' When they go to the doctor there are some inherent biases people have. I always tell everyone to bring someone with you," she said.

Whether it's equitable health care or economic empowerment, her advocacy for diversity is transforming professional environments into cultures where more people have a chance to thrive. "To see women changing their lives, knowing I played a small part in that, it means so much," McLean said.