When Keith Bevans first met recruiters from Bain & Company in the mid-'90s as an undergrad at MIT, he didn't know much about the management consulting firm. But he saw a place that would welcome someone like him. 

"There were certain things that I wasn't interested in compromising on when I was looking at where I would work after a very difficult academic path at MIT," said Bevans, who wanted to make sure he had the support he needed as a Black man. At Bain, one of the three largest consulting firms in the world, he saw leaders he could reach out to if he ever had concerns or challenges related to his race.

When Bevans started at Bain in 1996, the firm was already interested in diversity recruiting. Bevans had attended a school diversity-recruiting event and had met one of the founders of Blacks at Bain, an affinity group for Black employees at the company.

Today, Bevans is a partner and the global head of consultant recruiting at Bain, where he's worked for 25 years. In 2008, he was one of the first Black consultants to be promoted to partner at the firm. The firm has 12,000 global employees, and 32% of its US employees identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, and mixed race. 

Bevans shared why he felt supported at Bain and how the firm, which has been repeatedly ranked as one of the best places to work, is continuing to create opportunities for Black and brown applicants today.