Uplifting Impact

I am so excited to be here with Julia Wuench, leadership and career coach, whose mission it is to enhance personal fulfillment at work and in life. In our conversation, we dive into what it means to be a necessity-entrepreneur, and the work she does with Helius to help entrepreneurs. She also shares the unique definition shared by Helius for what it looks like to be successful, and how the concept...

Today we have empathy warrior Corey Ponder with us. He has over 10 years of professional experience as a policy analyst in the public and private sectors and is a huge believer in the power of human connection and how that can drive impact. In our conversation, we really dig into the exploration of the idea that we all have some level of privilege, and how we can use that to leverage the voices of...

I am so glad that you’re here joining us today for such a wonderful conversation I had with Isioma Nwabuzor, an attorney in the Milwaukee area. Currently, she works with Robert W. Baird, an employee-owned financial services firm, supporting the firm’s US and UK transactions in its private equity business. Isioma is a DREAMer, and in this episode, she shares some of the unseen and unknown hardships...

Ashley Ladd is the Manager of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Hubspot, a global tech company, and I am so excited to have her own the show today. Hubspot is vital to the work we do here at Uplifting Impact, and after our conversation, it reinforces that I am so happy to use their platform. Ashley’s work is proof that this organization is a leader for D and I work in the tech space, and in o...

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 t...

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...

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 be...

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...

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 everybo...

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 initiat...

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 w...

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 in...

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...

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...

I am so happy to have Becky Kekula on this episode. She serves as the disability equality index director for Disability:IN. She’s responsible for managing the overall DEI program. She’s very passionate about making sure disability and inclusion conversations are happening in schools and in the workplace. She’s worked in a number of industries, and she’s also a prolific public speaker. In our conve...

I am talking with one of my favorite people, Sundeep Morrison, a queer, nonbinary, Punjabi, Sikh writer, actor, director, author, and activist. Her work focuses on social justice, cultural friction, inter-ethnic family dynamics, and feminism. She’s also the writer and star of Rag Head, an amazing production that explores Sikhs in America. She’s also the host of Deep Talks radio show, a platform to...

Keesha Gill has over 17 years of experience, serving youth and families. She joined Good Shepherd Services back in 2015 as the program director at a community in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and she’s currently the co-chair of the Equity Council. She has a passion for helping to create change in communities in need, and I am glad to share our conversation with you. In this episode, we discuss the need to n...

I am so glad I get to spend this afternoon talking to my friend, Meralis Hood. If you want to talk about education and showing up in a way that really supports an inclusive environment, she is the person to talk to. She is a thought leader with the mission to change the way we invest in professionals who work with our young citizens every day. Meralis is the Vice President and Executive Director o...

Today we have Michelle Kedem on with us. The minute I thought about doing this podcast I knew that I wanted to have her own the show because of the incredible work does. She is the founding partner at On-Ramps, an executive search and research organization that incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion into every step of their process. She is responsible for supporting the firm’s strategy, dev...

Warren Scherer is the Assistant Dean of Students, and the Director of Gender and Sexuality Campus Center at the University of Wisconsin Madison. He leads an array of campus-wide services that focus on the ideas of equity and intercultural campus initiatives for minoritized students. In our conversation today, he shares the perspective of what it means to do diversity, equity, and inclusion work at...

I am so excited to be here with my friend Paolo Gaudiano. He’s the CEO of Aleria, President of Aleria research, and the Executive Director of Quantitative Studies of Diversity and Inclusion at the City College of New York. He has decades of experience in business, technology, and academia to transform how people think about diversity and what to do about it, with the ultimate goal to make our soci...

Minda Harts is someone I’ve been dying to have a conversation with, so I’m excited to have her on and talk with her, and to share this with you. Minda is the CEO of The Memo LLC, a career-development platform for women of color. She’s the bestselling author of The Memo; What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table. She frequently speaks on topics such as leadership, managing dive...

Welcome back to Uplifting Impact, and I’m so excited because we have Kevin Clark with us today. Kevin is a professor of learning technologies and the Founding Director of the Center for Digital Media Innovation and Diversity at George Mason University. His research focuses on diversity in children’s media and technology and includes a national study that’s really looking at the digital lives of Af...

Angela Russell is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group. Angela is responsible for leading the development, direction, and implementation of short and long-term strategies and programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion. She shares her journey and how she began doing public health work, her transition to the financial services industry, and how interc...

We look at the intersection of Leadership and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. There are a lot of people who will discuss the challenges in the DEI space, but not how to solve them. Leaders who want to break the status quo, come here. We will build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices