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Meet Deanna Singh
Deanna Singh wants to live in a world where marginalized communities have power. As an expert social entrepreneur, she is dedicated with making the world a better place, and she will build or break systems to create positive change. While tackling complex social challenges, Deanna gives audiences the tools and courage to imagine, activate, and impact the world as agents of change. She is described as a trailblazer and dynamic speaker who is at the forefront of social change. She is an award-winning author, educator, business leader, and social justice champion who speaks to over 50,000 people annually!
Meet Justin Ponder
Justin Ponder is a Ethnic Studies, African American Studies, and Ethnic Minority Literature professor. He has published in numerous journals and books on the issue of race and identity politics, exploring ways to bridge the gap between who we are and who we must become to achieve a more equitable world. He knows how to masterfully weave the academic with the practical and the political with the personal, so people can better appreciate the complexity of the issues while finding clarity about their responsibilities. He’s known for his ability to teach difficult lessons in gentle ways — combining heartbreak and humor to inspire hope.
Keynotes
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Introduction to DEI
This introductory session will provide your team with foundational language, key terminology and concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion. During this session, your team will gain an understanding of how diversity, equity and inclusion topics relate to the workplace and can help improve their organization.
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The Power of Inclusion
This session will explore strategies for creating a more inclusive workplace culture. During this session, your team will consider common obstacles to inclusion and examine how inclusive practices benefit an organization. Your team will walk away with the tools to brainstorm methods for inclusion specific to your organization.
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Managing for Bias
In a changing world, organizations that thrive are those that know how to identify their assumptions and evolve. When it comes to connecting with different communities, bias can undermine deeper partnerships. In its quest to understand the world more quickly, the human brain creates shortcuts preventing it from understanding others more fully. By recognizing how pervasive biases are and by learning how to manage them, we can improve connections with customers, clients, coworkers, and communities.
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Talking Across Differences
This session will provide strategies for acknowledging, celebrating, and conversing about differences that improve workplace environments. During this session, your team will consider why leaders ignore differences, look at the benefits of talking across differences, survey best practices for structuring this conversation and brainstorm methods specific to your organization.
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Actions Speak Louder
This introductory session will provide your team with foundational language, key terminology and concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion. During this session, your team will gain an understanding of how diversity, equity and inclusion topics relate to the workplace and can help improve their organization.
Training & Workshops
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Allyship 101 - Part 1
If allies wish to foster greater inclusion, they must first acknowledge the biases they harbor. This session helps participants recognize how pervasive biases are and learn how to identify and manage their own. To manage biases, allies must create equitable structures in their organizations and in their own thought processes. In this session, they will pinpoint tactics for practicing equity in their thinking and lives.
Allyship 101 - Part 2
While most wish to combat large-scale blatant discrimination, allies must also understand the constant microaggressions that plague everyday life. In this session, participants highlight the microaggressions in their own lives. We go further to show that allyship requires more than simply not committing microaggressions. It also requires actively fostering environments where people feel welcome to be their whole selves. This session identifies what creating inclusion looks like and how to achieve it.
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Personalizing your Inclusion Plan
This session helps leaders take inventory of the responsibilities, skills, and interests they already have and figure out how to modify pre existing characteristics so they are more inclusive and effective. Leaders will learn to personalize a plan that connects inclusivity initiatives and other organizational strategies in ways that improve both.
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The Bridge Builder Game
Successful teams are inclusive teams. But all kinds of habits shut people out. In The Bridge Builder Game, you’ll learn about workplace exclusions and practice creating inclusion. Participants respond to scenarios and create opportunities that benefit people from all backgrounds. Develop these skills and even have fun with The Bridge Builder Game!
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Inclusive Leadership
This session will provide strategies to review leadership styles, skills, and responsibilities through a DEI lens. Learn how inclusive approaches to strategizing, motivating, decision-making, and leadership can improve entire organizations. Define DEI as a leadership value, survey the benefits of inclusive leadership and identify implementation strategies.
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Special Topic Workshops
The Special Topic Workshop provides leaders the opportunity to strategize how DEI can be implemented operationally within your organization. These sessions provide opportunities for drafting and reviewing specific techniques. Topics for these workshops are customizable to your organization and include, but are not limited to:
For Educators & Youth Organizations
Bubbles to Bridges
Our bubbles help us feel safe, establishing important boundaries. While safety and boundaries are essential, the distance between us can contribute to a lack of diversity, awareness, and community. You'll learn -
Methods for creating inclusive environments, facilitate conversations about identity, and apply strategies for building relationships with others from a different culture.
Looking for an adult version? Contact Us.
A Smart Girl's Guide: Race & Inclusion
Whether girls have seen protests in the news and wondered what they're about, themselves or others have been treated unfairly because of the color of their skin, they may have questions about racism. This book will help girls understand race, racism, and anti-racism, and why practicing inclusion can have an important impact on our world.
Hear it from our clients
Deanna was a joy to work with and a masterful presenter. She wove together professional expertise, personal stories, and implementable advice to deliver a keynote that was both engaging on a human level and informative on a practical level.
Sara Cunningham
ONBOARDING LEAD
Working with Deanna is an empowering and refreshing experience. Her enthusiasm, her wisdom and her presence is a motivating force that will not only make you want to go out and conquer the world, but it will make you want to better the world for others. Her presentations are incredibly engaging and will create a positive ripple effect among individuals in your organization.
Catherine Wanzer
COMMUNITY RELATIONS & INCLUSION MANAGER
Deanna offered a remarkable Keynote to kickoff our AmeriCorps members' term of service. Her genuine warmth and excitement was absolutely motivational and truly set the stage. We continue to get storied and appreciation for her amazing presentation. We are so grateful to have shared a powerfully inspiring moment of growth with such a tremendous change agent!
Amy Porter
EVENT PLANNER
Deanna was authentic, engaging, and delivered a message that was inspiring and uplifting - much needed given the major endeavors our agency currently faces.
Patty Metropulos
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO
If you are looking to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion both in your company and in your personal life, this is the summit for you and your team members.”
AMY LORENZ - Milwaukee
County Behavioral Health Division
Deanna is a true storyteller who brings her energy and passion to her work and shares that with others. She helped many folks in the audience not only feel compelled to make our organization more diverse and inclusive but also gave great actionable steps for all of us.
Joe Hankey
SR> DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION MANAGER
