George Floyd's murder ignited a racial awakening and brought diversity work under the spotlight. Organizations pledged to do better, demanding diversity professionals (CDOs) to deliver transformational change. Despite these efforts, evidence indicates that diversity work continues to languish. This study aims to understand why organizational pledges have been difficult to translate into actions and how CDOs grappled with fulfilling demands for change. To capture the nuances of doing diversity work, we grounded this study in tensions that characterize diversity work and CDO efforts in implementing change. Interviews with 54 CDOs capture a snapshot of their struggles navigating tensions and managing organizational chaos and resistance. This study sheds light on the internal dynamics of diversity work and offers a nuanced understanding of how CDOs toil for diversity work- continuously grinding and deploying different strategies to make progress. This research identified four types of toiling efforts reflecting participants' contexts, motivations, perspectives, and logics. Our findings provide complex explanations of diversity work and orient us toward its internal dynamics and daily micro-level toil.
