Chanin Kelly-Rae facts for kids

Chanin Kelly-Rae (born in 1970) is an American expert in diversity and inclusion. This means she helps organizations make sure everyone is treated fairly and has equal opportunities, no matter their background. She started her own company, Chanin Kelly-Rae Consulting, which helps other businesses with diversity.

She worked for a short time at Amazon in a role focused on diversity for their Amazon Web Services part. She later left her job to share her concerns about what she believed were "deep, systemic issues" at Amazon. She felt these issues made it harder for some employees, especially Black workers, to succeed.

Early Life and School

Chanin Kelly-Rae grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her father, Gus Kelly, was a chef. She has five siblings. She went to Rufus King International High School.

After high school, she studied English and cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She also earned a special certificate in diversity management from Cornell University.

Her Work and Career

Chanin Kelly-Rae began her career as a teacher for middle school and high school students in Milwaukee.

Later, she worked in different roles focused on making workplaces fair and inclusive. She was a senior director for a group called the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association. She also managed diversity for Catholic Community Services of Western Washington. Before joining Amazon, she was the statewide diversity manager for Washington State.

Her Time at Amazon

In 2019, Kelly-Rae joined Amazon as the global director of diversity for Amazon Web Services. In February 2021, she spoke publicly about why she left Amazon after about 10 months. She shared her concerns as part of a news investigation by Recode.

She raised concerns that Amazon's system for reviewing how employees perform might not be fair to everyone. She felt that Black employees were sometimes rated more harshly than white employees. This could make it harder for them to get promoted.

Kelly-Rae also said that she felt there was a "culture of fear" at Amazon. This meant employees might be afraid to speak up about problems in the workplace. She also felt that Amazon's public support for movements like Black Lives Matter did not match how the company treated its own employees internally.

She noticed a pattern where women applying for jobs at a certain level were sometimes offered positions at a lower level, even if they were qualified for the higher one. She said this happened to her too. She also felt that her team was given a very small budget, which made it hard to do important diversity work.

Kelly-Rae believed that Amazon was not serious enough about making its workforce diverse and fair. She also said that the company's public diversity numbers could be misleading. She felt that while Amazon reported a certain percentage of Black workers, many of them worked in warehouses. She said that in Amazon's main offices in Seattle, she mostly saw Black people working in roles like opening doors or cleaning.

Amazon has stated that they "work hard to make Amazon a company where our Black employees and people of all backgrounds feel included, respected, and want to grow their careers." They also said they "do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form." Amazon also said that offering jobs at a lower level than applied for is a common practice for all employees, not just women.

After leaving Amazon in September 2020, she started her own company, Chanin Kelly-Rae Consulting. This company helps other businesses manage diversity and inclusion.

Personal Life

Chanin Kelly-Rae moved to Seattle to avoid some racial issues she experienced in Milwaukee.

In 2004, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper named her "coach of the year" for boys' tennis. She coached the boys' tennis team at Lakeside School for three years.

As of February 2019, Chanin Kelly-Rae lives in Everett, Washington with her husband, Richard Rae, and their two children.

See also

• Ifeoma Ozoma
• Sophie Zhang
• Frances Haugen
• Chelsey Glasson