FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — One Fond du Lac woman is using her experiences with poverty, homelessness, domestic abuse, and racial discrimination to make change in her community.
Laurice Snyder says her passion for diversity, equity and inclusion began early.
"[It started] the day I was born!” Snyder said.
Snyder said she moved to Green Bay when she was four years old, fleeing a domestic violence situation.
"Coming to a community with very few resources, my family had to access a lot of the resources around us,” Snyder said. “My family didn't have a car. We accessed food stamps."
Those early experiences shaped what would become her career today: a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging consultant for the educational service agency CESA 6.
"Having that breadth of different experiences helps me see things in just a different way,” Snyder said.
She began to take on many community leadership positions in the community, hoping to bring in new viewpoints.
“As I've worked my way into different leadership positions, I've realized the gap, the narrowing of knowledge, and so the higher I've gone I realized less and less perspectives are present… so I have been able to bring in the perspectives that oftentimes are missing,” Snyder said.
It’s community work like this that’s earned her the Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund award for “Woman of Achievement,” as the organization celebrates its 20th year.
"We know in a community that when we can support specifically women and girls, that the ripple effects for that entire community and in fact for the entire society are incredible and powerful and impactful,” Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund Executive Director Jolene Schatzinger said.
Snyder said that while she’s seen progress in our community, there's still a lot of work to be done.
"We all just need to be a little more curious,” Snyder said. “That sounds so simple, but it really is. If we stayed curious, before we got furious, or we got mad, before we cast judgment."
Snyder said the key is to lean into uncomfortable conversations.
"I actually really like conflict,” Snyder said. “I know it sounds weird, but I just think conflict is just really an opportunity to engage in a way that we haven't engaged"
Snyder will be honored at the Fond du Lac Area Women’s fund’s“Power of the Purse” eventon April 24th. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and aims to raise money to support women and girls in need.
