Living and working in the Bay Area has made me all too familiar with the term “workplace inclusion.” It may sound like a complex concept, but it’s actually very simple. How do you feel at work? What does your company and its employees do to make you feel included and like you belong when you show up to work? Pixar’s latest short “Purl” paints this visual clearly for those that are familiar with how this feels and for those that are hearing this for the first time.

It’s a powerful short that highlights Purl’s first day on the job surrounded by men – her new colleagues. Sure enough, these men promote “bro” culture and are quick to shut her out. Purl finds a way to fit in and relate to the men, but begins to lose some of her own identify. When her transformation to one of them is complete, she recognizes another new employee caught on the outside the way that she once was.

This short was written and directed by Kristen Lester and produced by Gillian Libbert-Duncan. Inspired by how she once felt in her own work environment, Kristen felt compelled to share her story.

“When Kristen came to me and said, ‘This is a story that I want to tell,’ I looked at her and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I have lived the exact same thing,'” Libbert-Duncan said in a companion video.

[Source]