Raychel Yokem has started a new position as the diversity, inclusion and affirmative action manager at Growmark, effective Dec. 1. The company, an agricultural cooperative serving businesses and customers throughout the U.S. and Canada, is based in Bloomington, Illinois, although Yokem said she will commute from Springfield. She most recently worked in human resources at Horace Mann.
"I wanted to be able to maintain my partnerships in the community," Yokem said. She is currently serving as the chair of Building Board Diversity, a partnership with Forefront and United Way to launch a new local initiative to help increase board diversity. She also serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois and Illinois Women in Leadership.
Yokem recently started her own consulting company, Corporate Kin, which provides diversity and inclusion training as well as facilitation and strategic planning. "I decided to start that company so that I could continue to provide support in the nonprofit space," said Yokem, who noted that she also works with start-up companies, including dispensaries, who can't get approved by the state without "having some type of diversity plan to hire or partner with diverse organizations."
Yokem has a master’s degree in human resource management and was named one of Springfield Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 in 2019.
