This past year has been fraught with criticism and blatant misrepresentation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. And on his first day in office, President Donald Trump put forth an executive action to end DEI programs in the federal government.

When I think back on my childhood, the current state of affairs gives me great pause and disappointment. I’m biracial and what we referred to as “mixed” in the 80s, born to a Black dad and a white mom. I often didn’t feel like I fit in. I wasn’t Black enough and I definitely wasn’t white enough. Thankfully, I made friends, who are now like sisters to me. It took until high school to finally feel like I could be myself and find circles where people liked me for me. While the typical teenage desires to fit in still applied, I felt that there were people outside of my family who valued me.

Those experiences of acceptance were integral to my entire life. For me, they demonstrate that the concepts behind DEI matter — whether you call it DEI or not. Making space for and accepting that little biracial girl who was trying to figure out where she fit in, with openness to her unique interests and ideas, changed my life for the better and allowed me to thrive. I know that not all biracial kids growing up in the 80s were so lucky; and I definitely haven’t always felt that same sense of acceptance throughout my life and career.

Today, as I watch the national pushback against DEI, I wonder what this means for not only our home lives and academic experiences but for our workplaces. What is sometimes referred to as “belonging,” and is increasingly described as “psychological safety,” is really just what I was looking for as a kid. To be respected, valued and seen. However we decide to brand it, this work is necessary and must find a way to go on.

While many of us are quite familiar with the term “DEI,” I’d like to take the opportunity to define the terms again, because it’s important that we’re clear about what they mean and why they’re important — for all of us.

Diversity: It is not a matter of checking boxes on a form or displaying a colorful About Us page on the website. It’s about surrounding ourselves with people from different life experiences and perspectives with whom we will undoubtedly recognize commonalities, find opportunities to learn from one another and disagree.

Inclusion: Many organizations that have been doing DEI work for a while will name inclusion first, because it refers to the environment, which sets the conditions for diversity and equity to have an impact. We can have a diverse team where people of color, or those with different physical or intellectual abilities, don’t feel like they are part of the community.

The people changed but the organizational norms, language and cultural sensitivities didn’t. Just like the kids who don’t participate in class because they feel like the odd one out, we want to feel in our workplaces like our opinions count and our contributions matter.

Equity: I name this last because it is a little different and goes beyond culture. Embracing equity means having explicit conversations about and reckoning with the ways in which some members of our society, community or organization have been put at a disadvantage. Still, while working toward equity means repairing harm and addressing the aspects of our systems that have unlevelled the playing field for some, at its core, equity is about fairness. And we all thrive when systems are fair and just.

So, not only is a focus on these things — whether we call it DEI or something else — good for our shared humanity, it is good for business. Because it creates an environment where we can each feel valued, see the value in others and collectively do our best work. People can erase the term but the concept will simply evolve into a new brand, as it always has. It certainly wasn’t called DEI when I was growing up, but the community I lived in embraced the concepts behind it and it not only made for a better life for me, it made for a better community for all.

Britt Hogue lives in Maryland and is founder of the consulting firm The Collective Good.