Podcast

Deepa Purushothaman was a first senior partner at Deloitte, where she spent more than 20 years focusing on women’s leadership and inclusion strategies to help women of color navigate corporate structures. She was the first Indian-American woman and one of the youngest people to make Partner in the firm's history. After leaving Deloitte in 2020, Deepa co-founded nFormation, a membership-based community for professional women of color, offering brave, safe, new space and helping place women of color in C-suite positions and on Boards.

Lily Lamboy leads the the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team at Blue Shield of California, which supports both internal-facing employee-focused work and external-facing health equity, social justice, and business growth initiatives. She holds a PhD in political theory from Stanford University, and continues to conduct research on persistent oppression, economic justice, and organizational dynamics, with recent work featured in Theory and Research in Education, Age of Awareness, Federal Times, and Cambridge University Press. 

Dr. Christopher Cross is a biomedical engineer, anatomist, neuroscientist, population geneticist, cancer biologist, LGBTQ+ advocate, and entrepreneur. He leads Cross River Strategies, a US-based boutique consulting firm that uses community engagement and scientific research to power health equity strategies and services across biotech, pharma, and academic institutions. He served as a congressional science fellow on Capitol Hill during the 113th Congress, and a principal investigator for the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity within Yale Cancer Center.

Carla Fulmore is a Marketing Program Manager focused on Enterprise and K-12 Education business to business customers at Office Depot. She began her career at Office Depot in 2007 and has worked in multiple functions of the business including Digital Merchandising and Direct Consumer Marketing. She has served in many leadership opportunities and is currently the leader of the Office Depot Women of Color Associate Resource Group.

Trisch Smith is the Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer of Edelman, the world’s leading global communications marketing agency. In her role, she oversees all diversity, equity, and inclusion, strategic planning, education, cultural development, external partnerships, and recruitment efforts to ensure Edelman's workforce reflects the increasingly diverse marketplace. She has been featured as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America” and one of the “Most Influential Women in Corporate America” by Savoy Magazine.