I am so excited to have the opportunity to speak with Tariq Meyers on this episode and to share our conversation with you. Tariq has spent many years advancing equity and inclusion in the private and nonprofit sectors, served at Lyft and Coinbase as their first Head of Belonging and Inclusion, and recently joined Jumpstart as their Vice President of Strategy. Jumpstart is an example of a company that does DEI very well, and in our conversation, we talk about some of the amazing work he’s doing there, how to bring together companies and recruits that share the same values, and the key steps companies and organizations should take when beginning the work of DEI.

Today we have Torin Ellis with us, who uses his platform as a diversity strategist, published author, and host of Career Mix on Sirius XM, to assist clients in optimizing recruiting efforts using strategies of collaboration, transparency, and performance monitoring. Our conversation kicks off with Torin explaining that he approaches the work differently than other practitioners in this space, and we can see that through our discussion of his core values of love and process. He explains more about what this means on a day to day level, and how he applies his unique approach to making teams, corporations, and humanity as a whole, better.

I am so honored to have Fields Jackson Jr on the podcast today. Fields is a thought leader in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space and is currently the Founder and Chief Cheerleader of Racing Toward Diversity magazine, which is focused on showcasing the best DEI work being done all over the world. He is also the Executive Director of the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable, and as such, he has been able to connect students and young people with companies looking to hire. In our conversation, we discuss how we can help those that are on the journey of understanding and providing diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments. And we also talk about the impact of this moment, and the longevity and accountability of the changes we’re seeing around us.

I am so excited that we have Dawn Bennett-Alexander on the episode with us today. I have had the great fortune to watch and see how she has used her legal background with her educational background and blended that so beautifully in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. Through her work in this space, she has received over 50 awards and recognitions for her work and has also lead a Ted talk on practical diversity, taking inclusion from theory to practice. In our conversation today, she impresses upon us the importance of heart-work and approaching diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging from a place of love and connection.

Today our guest is Edward M. Jones, the Vice President of Programs at ABFE, a Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities. In his role, he brings together leaders across the country who are focusing on philanthropic work for organizations led by leaders of color. One of the great things about ABFE is that it creates a great space to learn, convene people, and make sure we are including everybody, particularly African-American issues in our conversations. In our conversation, Edward shares the power of thinking differently about the investments we can make using our time, talent, treasure, and testimony, and challenges us to think about how we can each make a difference.

In this episode, I am very excited to share with you the conversation I had with Nate Todd. Nate has more than 14 years of experience in higher education and was named Tulsa Community College’s Dean of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in 2019. In that role, he’s responsible for leading and driving change through the development and implementation of strategic equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives across the college. In our conversation he explains the importance of bringing in students and young people to help drive change, and the context of being in Tulsa has shaped the work he does.

Today I have a long-time friend Joseline Hardick on the show. She is a professor at WMU-Cooley Law School and has used her years of experience and knowledge as a federal judicial law clerk to create Journey to Esquire, where she is currently the director. This non-profit creates a pipeline for students to help them commit to a law career and gain the skills of leadership and professionalism, all while promoting diversity and inclusion and creating access for law students in the Tampa area.

I’m super excited because I have my friend Gladys Manzanet here with us today. In addition to being an amazing community leader, she uses her wealth of experience and knowledge within her role at Northwestern Mutual to coach, consult, and support field leadership in their diversity and inclusion efforts. In our conversation, she shares all about what it feels like to have diversity, equity, and inclusion really help move your ideas around sales and help your thinking about how you can bring this into the marketing spaces of your business.

Today we have Tyler Whipple from American Family Insurance with us. Tyler is the Vice President of Inclusive Excellence at American Family Insurance. He’s responsible for leading the company’s efforts to develop and implement strategies to advance inclusive excellence as a core value, resulting in a strong culture and great business results across the American Family enterprise. Tyler and I first connected because I was really curious about his role and what he was doing, particularly because American Family Insurance is showing up in the news all the time for doing amazing things in our community and pushing for this idea of being equitable. In our conversation, he shares his experience with building a team for a large enterprise, how to get started, and his mindset of a million, plus one.

We have an amazing guest with us, Ms. Chantell M. Garrett. Chantell is responsible for the diversity and inclusion work at the Federal Reserve bank in Kansas City. In her role, she works to lead and execute the strategic priorities and the robust programming of the office of diversity and inclusion throughout the bank’s seven-state district. She’s also the founder of R.U.B.I.E.S., a non-profit she supported for 10 years that provides mentoring and scholarship for female, first-generation, college students. In our conversation, she demonstrates that the road to being a DEI practitioner doesn’t follow a single path to get to that role. She has a passion for working with communities and bringing together collaborative partnerships and ensuring that these partnerships are mutually beneficial, and creating relationships that extend throughout organizations.