LYNN — Faustina Cuevas has spent the majority of her adult life promoting diversity, equity and inclusion; now, she’s taking her expertise home to Lynn.
Cuevas has been hired to be the city’s first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) officer, Mayor Thomas M. McGee announced Thursday. The creation of the position — and the hiring of an officer to fill it — has been of paramount concern to McGee, dating back even beyond the murder of George Floyd last summer in Minneapolis by ex-police officer Derek Chauvin.
“I grew up in Lynn, across the street from Charlie’s Seafood (she also lived on Chestnut Street and Eastern Avenue) and Lynn, to me, is a beautiful place,” Cuevas said. “There’s a magic about that I don’t think people know how to appreciate.”
Cuevas, a 2006 Lynn English graduate, spent six years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and it was during that time that she developed her passion for diversity.
“It was culture shock for me in the beginning,” she said. “Here I was, from the very diverse city of Lynn, and I’m out there and I don’t see as many people who look like I do.”
She was so homesick for her “comfort zone,” she said, that she almost left and came home.
“But I stuck it out,” she said. And in so doing, she said she realized that there was a place in a college such as UMass for diversity mediation. She got her master’s degree in education before setting out to work in positions espousing diversity at both the University of Connecticut and The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Her last job, before returning to Lynn, was as the assistant director of the Social Justice Resource Center at Northeastern University.
“What I want to be,” she said, “is a sort of bridge that connects cultures.”
Cuevas was selected from a list of several highly-qualified candidates, McGee’s office said. The DEI officer will report to the mayor and serve as an advisor on equity and justice issues to the City Council, department heads, and city boards and commissions.
The DEI officer will also play a lead role in developing strategies and initiatives to ensure greater diversity, equity and inclusion throughout Lynn’s municipal government and the community at large, McGee’s office said.
“I am very proud of our efforts to establish this position within the mayor’s office to help Lynn build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive municipal government,” McGee said. “Faustina brings a number of skills and years of experience, having worked within the DEI realm. I am confident that Faustina will hit the ground running and help enhance the experience of local government for all Lynn residents, employees, and businesses.”
Cuevas has 10 years of experience as a trained facilitator, and last year she established her own consulting group called FC DEI Consulting, LLC, which focused on helping individuals and organizations improve their workplace climates. She has worked with more than 20 organizations in the education, non-profit and private sectors and carries experience conducting training and presentations on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I am humbled to be stepping into such an important role and I look forward to serving everyone in our community,” said Cuevas. “I have dedicated the majority of my adult life to understanding and educating on DEI issues, and now being able to do that in my hometown means everything to me. By partnering together, we will be able to move Lynn forward.”
