Member Spotlight

Kay Hocker

Incoming Executive Director

Parents can prepare children for success in a diverse world, but they can’t predict what that success will look like. Opal and John Hocker probably wouldn’t have predicted that their dance-loving daughter would become the next Executive Director of the Diversity Council, but from Kay’s perspective they clearly planted the seeds of her future role.

Although growing up in Ames, Iowa didn’t offer many experiences with diversity, her parents taught her to be accepting, “My parents thought about the world in a curious and positive way. My mother read to me avidly. I loved a set of books called the ‘Children’s Books of the World’—It featured poetry, stories and art from around the globe. I spent hours poring over these books—I was fascinated. My parents really encouraged us to explore new and different things.”

As a young girl, new and different people were especially fascinating. “When a family moved to my neighborhood from India, I sought out friendship with one of the girls from this family that was in my class. My friend tried out for various school clubs and activities, but she was never chosen or accepted. It enraged me—I didn’t really understand it, or know what to call it. I didn’t have the tools or skills to do anything about it, but I knew it was wrong,” says Hocker.

While her love of reading and new people continued, Kay found a new passion in her teens—dance. Pursuing her dream of professional dance, Kay spent one year studying with Seattle’s Bill Evans dance company while she broke into professional dance. Returning to the Midwest, Kay resumed her studies while performing with Dance Co’motion and the Iowa State Touring Dance company. She graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in dance and psychology.

After graduation, Kay began teaching dance and creative movement at the Octagon Center for Arts. Unfortunately, a back injury suffered in college began to make teaching difficult. When Kay moved to Rochester in 1983, she was unable to continue teaching dance, so she moved from a part-time position at Waldenbooks (BGI company) to a more permanent position. By 1987, Kay started managing a store, and working with its corporate offices as a district manager, regional recruiter, and corporate trainer.

During her time at BGI, Kay had the opportunity to help create a diversity training curriculum. “People had wonderful experiences in the training,” but despite diversity training, Kay witnessed incidents of bias that were never resolved because of lack of leadership. In 1997, Kay began a double Masters degree in Management and Human Services Administration, her thesis on “The effectiveness of diversity training on managing diversity within an organization.”

After completing her Masters in 2001, Kay decided to resign her position at BGI and pursue a new dream—working to help people in the health & human services sector. Kay began volunteering at the Diversity Council in June 2001 as Education Committee Chair. Within a year, Kay had accepted a role at the Diversity Council as Education Director, and brought her passion, educational background, and corporate experience to managing our Prejudice Reduction Workshop program and creating new adult education.

Throughout her life, Kay had seen people she loved dearly treated unfairly and it made her want to take action, “It took me a long time to realize what I could do…but now I think I have to do it. Education is our great hope. After all this time, I believe that education is the best tool for enacting social change. That’s why I feel like I have such a great fit here.”

Through a varied career Kay has gained wisdom and experience that has prepared her for the important role of Executive Director of Diversity Council, but she credits the leadership and values of her family.

“In a lot of ways, we were very traditional. But my family talked about politics, the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, with a sense of social responsibility and integrity. The main thing I learned from my parents is integrity. My father always did his duty. Always. I find the same sense of integrity and commitment for the people at the Diversity Council. It’s probably the best thing about working here—is being surrounded by people of integrity committed to making change.”

1130 1/2 7th St NW, Suite 204 , Rochester, MN 55901 · Tel: 507.282.9951 · Fax: 507.282.9964 · info@diversitycouncil.org

Diversity...It's all about respect.