Inclusion Catalyst

What’s really at stake when you ignore your nervous system? In this follow-up episode of Inclusion Catalyst , host Mickey Desai continues his conversation with Dr. Rebecca Eldredge, diving deeper into the real-world consequences of dysregulation—on our relationships, our communication, and our ability to lead meaningful change. From subtle shifts in tone and perception to breakdowns in connection...

What happens when the people working hardest to make the world better begin to lose themselves in the process? In this episode of Inclusion Catalyst , host Mickey Desai sits down with licensed psychologist Dr. Rebecca Eldredge —founder of @ Feel Deeply, Live Completely —to explore the hidden toll of advocacy, leadership, and social change work. From burnout and compassion fatigue to the subtle ero...

Host Mickey Desai sits down with Su Joun, principal of Diversity at Workplace Consulting Group , to unpack the realities and misconceptions surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Su reframes DEI not as a system of preferential treatment, but as a deliberate effort to remove barriers that prevent qualified individuals from accessing opportunity. Through practical examples and candid discussi...

This episode is produced in partnership with the Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center . Host Mickey Desai sits down with children’s author and entrepreneur Tiffany Obeng, founder of Sugar Cookie Books, to explore a powerful and often overlooked truth: inclusion in the workforce doesn’t begin in college or even high school—it begins with literacy in early childhood. Tiffany shares her perspectiv...

In this powerful episode, Inclusion Catalyst sits down with Professor Corinna Lain, legal scholar and author of the forthcoming book Secrets of the Killing State , to examine the realities behind lethal injection in the United States. Lain’s work exposes a system shrouded in secrecy, built on medical misconception, and sustained by public misunderstanding. Corinna Lain’s research confronts the cor...

Charles Gibson is the Chief Engagement and Belonging Officer at Randolph College .  He visits the Inclusion Catalyst to talk about fostering a culture of belongingness and home for Randolph Students. Key Takeaways Engagement and belonging work aims to make everyone feel at home on campus, focusing on authentic self-expression and learning from differences Private colleges have more latitude in DEI...

Nadia Mian is the Senior Program Director at the Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement at Rutgers University. She visits the Inclusion Catalyst to discuss a very innovative faith-based housing initiative.    Key Takeaways Dr. Mian is leading research on faith-based affordable housing, including a database of congregational housing projects across the U.S. California's SB4 legislation allow...

Theresa Lau, Senior Policy Counsel, Eradicating Poverty at the Southern Poverty Law Center , visits with Mickey again to discuss the proposed federal budget cuts and their potential impacts on social programs and states. The budget bill passed by the House contains massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, while making deep cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP that he...

Theresa Lau is Senior Policy Counsel, Eradicating Poverty at the Southern Poverty Law Center . Theresa and Mickey discuss the proposed federal budget cuts and their potential impacts on social programs and states. Key Takeaways Proposed budget includes hundreds of billions in cuts to critical human needs programs like Medicaid and SNAP Cuts aim to fund tax breaks for corporations and wealthy indiv...

Dr. Johanna Moya Fábregas visits the SnapCast. Dr. Fábregas is the Executive Director of Con Mi MADRE , a nonprofit dedicated to empowering Latina girls and their loved ones through education and emotional support. We talk about Texas State Bill-Seventeen, which is known informally as “the anti-DEI law,” shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion offices like university LGBTQ+ centers.  Among t...

Carla Kopp is a game Designer, Developer, and Publisher. Her company is Weird Giraffe Games . Mickey talks with Carla to scratch the surface of diversity and inclusion in the gaming and game development world. Carla believes the content of games can change the world. We discuss how to make the game development world more accessible to everyone, and what a safe-space means to the development proces...

[This episode was originally published as part of the Nonprofit SnapCast.] Christal M. Cherry is a nationally recognized nonprofit board consultant and certified leadership coach. She is the Principal and CEO of The Board Pro . We talk about Board Recruiting with an eye on Diversity and Equity. Changing beliefs, behaviors, and practices related to board service and leadership can be challenging, b...

Today on the show, guest host Josh Miller of Josh Miller Ventures and IDEAS xLab talks to  Lori Frisher as part of his Uncovering Your Value series. Frisher is a leader, an advocate, an entrepreneur, an athlete, a two-time cancer survivor, and a public speaker who dares to dream beyond her present circumstances to discover what is possible. She was born with severe hearing loss and relies on two c...

Today on the show, guest host Josh Miller of Josh Miller Ventures and IDEAS xLab talks to Marija Abney as part of his Uncovering Your Value series. Abney is a community organizer, the arts curator at The Soapbox Presents, a Broadway performer and actress having starred in movies including both Black Panther films and Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Learn more about her work at The So...

Today on the show, queer changemaker and public speaker Josh Miller kicks off a multi-part series on the topic of covering: downplaying, hiding or filtering parts of ourselves at work, with different social groups, at school and with family.   Miller believes that being visible can shift culture, and that sharing our stories can be the catalyst that changes how people see and move through the worl...

Today on the show, Julien speaks with Richard Mireles , the Director of Communications at the Oakland-based non-profit CROP Organization .   CROP stands for Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs and their mission is to reimagine reentry (for justice-involved folks) through a holistic, human-centered approach to advocacy, housing, and skill development for the future of work. Richard's st...

Join LeNaya Hezel, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) as she chats with three alumni of the WSP program, Army veteran Chris Twigg, Navy veteran Desaree Edwards, and Marine Corps veteran Jessica Nelson. In this episode, they’ll discuss life after military service, the role higher education plays in transitioning to civilian life, owning the veteran narrati...

Join LeNaya Hezel, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) as she chats with WSP’s director of education, Dr. Cassie Sanchez, about how the WSP program supports transitioning service members in their pursuit of higher education by meeting the nontraditional student veteran community “where they are.” The two also discuss how using an assets-based approach ensu...

Today on the show, Julien speaks with Maurice Jones , the CEO of the non-profit OneTen . OneTen is a coalition of leading chief executives and their companies who are coming together to upskill, hire, and promote one million Black Americans over the next 10 years who do not yet have a four-year degree into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. Prior to joining OneTen, Maurice...

Today on the show, Julien speaks with Alana Beard. A philanthropist and entrepreneur, Alana utilizes the power of business and sports to shift how women and girls experience opportunities.    She is the Founder of Transition Play , a talent firm that specializes in helping women athletes live prolific lives across their personal, professional, and public domains beyond the game. Alana is the Found...

Today on the show, Julien speaks with Ashanti Branch. Ashanti is a key-note speaker, advisor to the US Surgeon General, a Fulbright Fellow and 4x TedX Speaker. His work with youth has been featured at SXSW, on CNN with Lisa Ling, on the Kelly Clarkson Show, and in the documentary about American masculinity 'The Mask You Live In', which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He is the Founder and Exe...

Today on the show, Julien speaks with Jamey Harvey. Jamey is a technologist and white guy from Washington DC who in 1999, with a collective of multi-racial friends, founded the 2020 Project. Their goal and commitment to one another was to be accountable to each other for pursuing the end of racism in the United States by the year 2020. Though the group dissolved in the early 2000s, Jamey has succe...

Today on the Inclusion Catalyst, Julien is joined by Sid Pailla, Founder and CEO of Sunny Day Fund , a fintech and financial inclusion company that wants to achieve financial security with dignity for 142 million American workers. They are revolutionizing the way that Americans save for emergencies and support employers in establishing financial security as a competitive employee benefit. As of Ju...

Today on the show, Julien is joined by James and Krista White, the father and daughter team behind the book Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World (Harvard Review Press). Their book is based on the indisputable premise that every leader must be anti-racist, actively seeking opportunities to create more inclusive environments through both deed and word....

Julien and Ruchika Tulshyan discuss their shared experience of being third-culture kids and how that relates to the importance of cultural humility in the workplace. Adults and children who qualify as third-culture have a unique and sometimes incomplete experience of cultural identity formation. While they might struggle with feeling a sense of true belonging in whichever of their home cultures th...