Many people tell me that DEI conversations are daunting. I get it; it’s hard to look at our own bias and have these conversations. Yet, I’ve been doing it my whole life, personally and professionally. And my life is richer because of it.

1. DEI is Personal: My Story of
Family, Kenya, and a Career
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
Diversity has been part of my life for as long as I
can remember. We just never called it diversity
when I was growing up. But it was there all along.
It started with being the youngest of eight children;
five brothers and two sisters, all of whom are very
different. Add in their friends and you get the
picture: a bustling, dynamic house with a never‐
ending, revolving door of high school and college
students. As the youngest, I spent a lot of time
observing the differences and similarities of my
siblings and their friends, trying to understand
what made each person tick.
My early memories start with having Rotary Youth
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2. Exchange students in our house, which is when
where an American high school student lives in
another country for a year, while a student from
that country lives in an American home for the
same year. Over the years, we had students from
Sweden, Belgium, Japan, Bolivia and other
countries living with us, each bringing new
perspectives on culture, language, food and
traditions to my world.
I hung out with a fairly international crowd in
college with friends from Argentina, Mexico, France
and Kenya. After falling in love with my Kenyan
friend, we got married in an international wedding
with his family coming from India, Canada and
Kenya to help celebrate. I didn’t think much of it at
the time; however, someone recently said to me,
“You married a Kenyan two decades ago?! That just
wasn’t done back then.” Well, we did it. And we
also moved to Kenya to live and work. It was only
supposed to be for two years; we stayed for 12
years instead. My grandmother referred to Africa as
the dark continent; that should’ve warned me of
what was to come.
I hadn’t seen real racism growing up, but I saw it
firsthand in Kenya. I witnessed how people of
different skin colors treated each other on a daily
basis. I noticed how people expected less of people
with darker skin color, for no reason other than a
bias that skin color was linked to intelligence. And I
clearly saw how my husband was treated differently
than me in various situations. All those
observations shaped my beliefs around diversity,
inclusion and belonging.
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3. After returning to the US, helping teams,
individuals and organizations talk about diversity
was my focus. I started with age diversity, being
dubbed The Generational Guru by the Washington
Post. Yet that felt limited and incomplete. So, I
moved into the wider arena of diversity, equity and
inclusion ﴾DEI﴿, using executive coaching,
leadership development, and human capital
consulting to drive those conversations forward.
Many people tell me that DEI conversations are
daunting. I get it; it’s hard to look at our own bias
and have these conversations. Yet, I’ve been doing
it my whole life, personally and professionally. And
my life is richer because of it.
I can help you start DEI conversations too. I’m
pleased to announce DEI360, an organization’s
starting point for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion ﴾DEI﴿.
It’s an easy, customizable, online assessment that
quickly allows organizational leadership to see how
they’re doing from the employee’s perspective.
Once an organization takes the assessment, our
team walks through the final report giving clear DEI
data, a snapshot of the internal DEI landscape, and
actionable next steps. Have questions? Check out
our FAQ or contact us directly.
Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below,
send me an email, or find me on Twitter.
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DEI is Personal: My Story of
Family, Kenya, and a Career
Diversity as a Revenue Engine:
What 16+ Studies Reveal
Making Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion faster, easier, and
actionable
How to Harness
Organizational Creativity
Leadership in the Zone – How
to Fully Engage Mentally

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