Guided by research, The Centre aims to create an environment that will offer innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our global challenges so that people can live in harmony. Join us as we make an impact on DEI around the globe!
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Board Of Directors
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Diane O'Reggio, Canada (She/Her/Hers)
Diane O'Reggio has over 20 years of leadership experience in the non-profit, public and private sectors, working collaboratively with boards of directors, staff, volunteers, and community partners. Diane has extensive experience working in the non-profit sector, labour and within political movements. Diane is the Director of Finance and Operations for Oxfam Canada, an international non-governmental organization located on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People known as Ottawa, Canada, whose mission is to fight inequality and patriarchy to end poverty and injustice.
Throughout her career and volunteer work, Diane has served as a community moderator, keynote speaker and panelist for a variety of non-profit, community and labour conferences. She has served as a media spokesperson and political commentator on national television and radio.
Diane holds a Master of Arts in the Study of Human Rights from Columbia University in the City of New York, a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Honours) in Public Administration from Toronto Metropolitan University (Canada), a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Western University (Canada) and executive education program certificates in Strategic Management for Leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations and Nonprofit Financial Stewardship from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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Lorelei Carobolante, USA (She/Her/Hers)
Lorelei is an accomplished global HR consultant with more than 20 years’ experience, a recognized thought leader in global HR standards and workforce communication, talent and international assignment management, subsidiary expansion, and performance metrics.
She leads G2nd Systems, a Global HR consultancy that improves quality and effectiveness in globally diverse workplaces by providing HRM consulting services and Global 2nd Language learning systems that enhance workforce and business interactions across non-native and native English speakers.
Lorelei is an ISO/TC 260 HR Management Registered Expert, and Chair for ISO TC/260 HR Management U.S. Technical Advisory Group. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Centre for Global Inclusion and Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBEC-West); member of WBENC® Leadership Forum, and SHRM Foundation Leadership Circle, which is dedicated to advancing global human capital knowledge and practice by providing thought leadership and educational support.
Lorelei holds a Global MBA degree from St. Mary’s College of California and GPHR® and SHRM-SCP® certifications. She is also very involved with global workforce mobility and holds the Senior Certified Relocation Professional® and Senior Global Mobility Specialist Talent Mobility® professional certifications. Carobolante developed an advocacy mentality at an early age and has devoted her life to helping non-native English speakers address inequity due to English proficiency, perceptions associated with accents; and serving the roles of women at work.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorelei-carobolante
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Melanie Harrington, USA (She/Her/Hers)
Melanie Harrington has spent almost 20 years in the field of diversity and inclusion leading broad scale efforts designed to foster environments that build diverse talent pipelines; increase talent engagement; facilitate inclusive cultures; and build strong, strategic partnerships. Melanie has advanced the field of diversity and inclusion as a lawyer, leader of a diversity management think tank, leader of an economic development organization, consultant, and adjunct professor.
She was an expert panelist for the 2016 and 2017 versions of the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks and serves on the board of the Centre for Global Inclusion. She was a contributing writer for the Diversity Management Handbook, edited by Dr. Deborah Plummer and is a frequent speaker on economic development and diversity and inclusion topics.
Melanie is the Senior Director for Affiliate Equity Programs, for the ACLU. She is responsible for leading the organization’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging team for the Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiative’s department. Her team supports 54 ACLU affiliates throughout the nation with strategic approaches and programming. Previously, Melanie served as the first President and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh, a nonprofit economic development organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The organization was established to spearhead the next Pittsburgh renaissance – a “People Renaissance” – that embraces inclusion; ensures the region’s growth through talent attraction, retention and elevation strategies; and promotes the Pittsburgh region – nationally and internationally – as a diverse, welcoming region of opportunities.
Prior to joining Vibrant Pittsburgh, Melanie served as the President of the American Institute for Managing Diversity Inc. (AIMD), a national nonprofit diversity think tank based in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to AIMD, Melanie served as the General Counsel for D.J. Miller & Associates, Inc. (DJMA), a national management consulting firm that specialized in advising federal, state and local government agencies on Equal Opportunity programs, practices and policies.
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-harrington-86a5205
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Zahid Mubarik, Pakistan (He/Him/His)
Zahid Mubarik is the CEO of HR Metrics and SHRM USA Partner in Pakistan. He introduced SHRM HR Competency Standards in Pakistan. He is a global expert in human capital measurement metrics and analytics. Zahid is the only HR Leader from Asia to become a member of ISO Geneva Technical Committee 260 for HR Standards. He launched Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks Standards in Pakistan and facilitated 47 large corporate in their quest to develop inclusive culture at the workplace.
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahid-mubarik-shrm-scp-sphri-gphr-5a1b672b/
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Deepa A Agarwal, India (She/Her/Hers)
Founder of Re-Link Consulting, a research-based advisory firm based in India, Deepa has 20 years of experience, consulting with organisations in bringing about a complete culture change, especially taking the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lens, across the corporate, academic as well as social sectors. She has a Master’s degree in Economics and started her career with the Madras School of Economics, India, which gave her a strong foundation in research, enabling her to design evidence-based solutions rooted in the organisation’s cultural reality.
A trained facilitator, Deepa has facilitated numerous dialogues with leadership teams across sectors and countries- India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Dubai, South Africa, US, and Egypt as well as addressed conferences and webinars with a global audience. In these sessions, she takes an experiential approach to help the participants discover the value of diversity and uncover their own biases.
In the corporate sector, her work involves assessments and audits of people processes as well as employee mindsets, using participatory interviews, Creating powerful communication campaigns that are delivered digitally and carrying out community research. Her work in creating Transition Guidelines: Returning Mother’s Project and technology-based digital solutions on tackling workplace stereotypes, won the best communication award for the clients. A student of Counselling therapy, she advises organisations to create mental health interventions and remove the stigma attached to mental health.
She is closely involved in the academic sector, and gives guest lectures to management students on concepts of DEI. During her stint as an Adjunct Faculty at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she initiated leadership programs for school leaders, a program that was oversubscribed. She has also worked with jailors to create employment opportunities and skill building for the jail inmates post-release.
Deepa writes and publishes papers and articles in media publications, including Business World, Deccan Herald and People Matters.
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Gamiel Yafai, UK (He/Him/His)
Gamiel is more than an engaging, passionate, seasoned Diversity & Inclusion expert. He was the proud recipient of the Global Diversity Leadership Award presented by the Global HRD Congress and the author of ‘Demystifying Diversity' and Yemen Proud.
Gamiel’s first foray into the world of Diversity was in 2000 when was in publishing, collaborating with the then Commission for Racial Equality to promote the Amendments to the Race Relations Act which require public bodies to take action on Race Equality. Now more than two decades later, Gamiel has built an award-winning Global Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy working with companies that include: Publicis Group, BAE System, Siemens, Rolls Royce, Eon, Channel 4, Zalando, South Pole, BNP Paribas, the Welsh Assembly Government, Local Authorities, the NHS, Charities, Schools, Colleges and Universities and more...
Gamiel works with employers to design and implement Change Leadership/Positive Action initiatives to attract new talent from diverse backgrounds, support existing talent to reach their potential through leading themselves as well as role modeling inclusive behaviors for others to follow and ensure that the culture of the organisation is conducive to the needs of diverse talent through audits, benchmarks (GDEIB), research, training, coaching and leadership behaviours. Gamiel has been called a subject matter expert in the area of Inclusion and Diversity and talks at many conferences as the keynote speaker. Gamiel also supports the development of new and existing heads/managers of DEI through a partnership with ‘d&I Leaders’ working with 245 participants.
Gamiel spent 15 years in business magazine publishing where he revitalised failing magazines. This is where he developed an interest in Diversity as a means of attracting new audiences and giving fresh content to readers and advertisers. Gamiel was headhunted by Havas to head up their Diversity and Inclusion practice before moving to Barkers (now Penna) where he accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience in the areas of diversity and inclusive leadership.
Gamiel is also a founding member of the MK Ethnic Business Community, a Trustee for The Parks Trust, Women Leaders UK and a member of the Employability Advisory Group for Bath University
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Gretchen C. Bellamy, USA (She/Her/Hers)
Gretchen C. Bellamy (she/her) has nearly 25 years of experience in diversity, equity & inclusion strategy across many industries touching nearly every continent. With her world-class legal & business background including two Duke University law degrees and senior leadership experience at organizations such as Walmart Inc., McDonald’s Corp. and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she provides expert DEI strategic planning, training, coaching and advisory services globally to transform organizational culture, operations, and talent management through the creation, refinement, and implementation of DEI strategies to positively drive business resilience.
She’s committed has committed her career to DEI strategic development, organizational design and change management and has worked successfully with various stakeholders and colleagues at all levels of corporations (public and private), universities, non‐profits, governmental bodies and other institutions. Gretchen has spearheaded forward‐thinking talent/leadership development through a lens of DEI policies and practices as well as effectively led teams and managed innovative and award‐winning global projects in the UK and Latin America that have created tangible and sustainable organizational change using data and metrics as the foundation of any work contemplated.
She has won several awards for her innovative, replicable, and sustainable approach to diversity, inclusion, and equity including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visionary Award by Walmart, Architect of Meritocracy by the Apollo Project & Financial Times of London, and Outstanding Corporate Counsel by the American Bar Association Section of International Law. She serves on several boards and advisory boards in addition to the Centre for Global Inclusion including the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and Level the Playing Field, and serves as a co-lead for the Apollo Leadership Institute. Finally, she served as a Commissioner for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession where she chaired the Corporate Counsel Committee (and lead the Model Diversity Survey from its inception and launched the UK version with Interlaw Diversity Forum) as well as liaison to the Commission on Women and co-chair of the Task Force on Sexual Harassment & Gender-based Bullying. Ms. Bellamy received a J.D. and LL.M. in international and comparative law from Duke University School of Law and is admitted to the Maryland bar. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Cameroon 2001). Lastly, but most importantly, she is the mother of a beautiful son and “pack leader” to Petey & Pablo.
Executive Director
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Sudeep Mohandas, USA (He/Him/His)
Sudeep’s notable achievements during his career have been in winning the National HR Award for best HR Employer in 2002, an editor to the book on Careers in Conservation, as well as an author of three books What Influences the Generation Y to join a Nonprofit Organization? & Nonprofit Management: Trials and Tribulations and Nonprofit Management: Connecting the Dots. Sudeep’s postgraduate degrees are in Human Resource Management at Hawaii Pacific University, USA where he received a distinction; and from HELP University, Malaysia where he was the first DBA Doctorate program graduate. He is an Alumnus of Harvard Business School and is certified as a Professional Facilitator from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). He received his certificate from Harvard University in Strategic Management and Governance Leadership for non-governmental organizations.
He served as the Board Member and Treasurer to the World Institute of Action Learning (WIAL), USA for four years and completed his term as the Vice Chair and Advisor to the IAF Malaysian Chapter. He served as a Board Member to Amnesty International Malaysia and is active with Amnesty International USA, Maryland Chapter. He was identified three years consecutively as Marketing in Asia Top 100 LinkedIn icons from 2018 – 2020. He was an Adjunct Professor to the Swiss School of Management, Italy where he was a supervisor for a DBA student through to the successful completion of her Doctorate in 2020.
Currently he is serves as a volunteer to CareerVillage.org, USA where the impact of his work helped more than 5000 students in 2021. He also contributed to realizing over $20K in savings to nonprofits across the globe by working for Catchafire.org. He is a committee member of the International Social Services (ISS)-USA and is an Adjunct Professor to Towson University. He coaches young children soccer on a part-time basis.
He has many management tips, sharing of knowledge, podcasts and YouTube interviews that are available. He speaks and writes in English, Malay and Indonesian. His mother tongue is Malayalam. He resides in Maryland, USA with his wife, and has two adult children.
Sudeep can be contacted at sudeep.mohandas@centreforglobalinclusion.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsudeepmohandas
Fundraising Committee
The Board would like to thank the Fundraising Committee for their commitment and participation in supporting The Centre
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Riikka Salonen, Finland (She/Her/Hän)
Ms. Riikka Salonen, bi-national of Finland and the U.S., has served as a DEI leader in academic and faith-based health systems and now specializes in health equity and culturally responsive care as a consultant. This GDEIB Expert Panellist has offered her DEI and intercultural services in 20 countries since 1994.
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Dr. Rohini Anand, USA (She/Her/Hers)
Dr. Rohini Anand is the Founder and CEO of Rohini Anand LLC providing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) advisory services to clients in the public and private sectors. She is a strategic business leader and trusted board member who has successfully transformed cultures and built an iconic brand with an enduring reputation, resulting in accelerating new business creation. With expertise that spans executive leadership, human capital, global corporate responsibility, wellness and diversity equity and inclusion, Rohini brings a unique perspective on the critical alignment of the business culture and the triple bottom line to drive exceptional performance. Rohini is recognized as a pioneer in the DEI field and is a sought-after expert by leaders around the world. Her global experience, cultural dexterity, extensive network and ability to influence leaders to result in a reputation for judgment, integrity, and accountability.
Rohini Anand is a thought leader and a published author. Her book, Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations, has been endorsed by luminaries like Indra Nooyi, former Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO Chobani and Tent, Michel Landel, Danone S.A Board member and former CEO, Sodexo, amongst others. It is available on Amazon here and Bookshop.org and on bookdepository here for international orders.
Most recently Rohini was SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer for Sodexo. She reported to the Global CEO and was a member of Sodexo’s North America Executive Committee. Rohini successfully positioned Sodexo as a global thought leader in DEI and Corporate Responsibility. Sodexo’s remarkable global culture change, led by diversity and inclusion, is featured in a Harvard Business School case study entitled Shifting the Diversity Climate: The Sodexo Solution.
Rohini has been featured in several articles in CNBC, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. Rohini has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, and CNN Money as well on National Public Radio. She is the recipient of many accolades including the Mosaic Woman Leadership Award, the Women’s Foodservice Forum Trailblazer Award, Webster University’s Women of Influence Award and the Who’s Who in Asian American Communities Award (WWAAC), amongst others.
Dr. Anand received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She serves on the boards of several organizations including WomenLift Health a Gates Foundation initiative, Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Initiative, Tent Partnership for Refugees and Galt Foundation. She also serves on the external diversity advisory boards for Sanofi and for Charter Communications and chaired the Catalyst Board of Advisors. Rohini is a Senior Fellow with the Conference Board and is on the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Center for Inclusive Governance’s Advisory Council.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohinianand
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Mary Waweru, Finland (She/Her/Hers)
Mary moved from Kenya to Finland 18 years ago as a college student. She holds degree in international business and spent 15 years working in hospitality in Helsinki and London. Mary has also spent her time volunteering for gender advancement and educational non-profit organisations both in Kenya and Finland. After graduating with an MBA, she moved into advertising. She currently works under the largest advertising umbrella brand as a Project Manager. At the agency, she specialises in mainly content maintenance and content management projects for global corporations. Mary is also a DEI consultant, keynote speaker, and content creator who is focused on purpose-driven topics and brands, creating social impact, and elevating the voices of racialised and minoritised communities.
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Ursula Arlauskas, USA (She/Her/Hers)
Ursula Arlauskas is a graduate of Portland State University and has spent nearly a decade in the Wealth Management and brokerage world. In 2017 she joined the world of philanthropy over at the Community Foundation for SW Washington as a Development Associate. Ursula uses her lived experiences to connect, learn and live by her values to make a positive impact in the community and build relationships. Her role at the Foundation has been all encompassing as a co-project manager for SW Washington’s largest giving day GiveMore24!, organizing major events, data integrity, strategic planning, technology assists and helping to lead their equity work inside the organization. In addition to her work at the foundation she sits on the Leadership Council for Partners in Diversity an organization who works with employers to address critical needs for achieving and empowering a workforce that reflects the rapidly changing demographics of the Pacific northwest.
Strategy Planning Committee
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Gamiel Yafai, UK (He/Him/His)
Gamiel is more than an engaging, passionate, seasoned Diversity & Inclusion expert. He was the proud recipient of the Global Diversity Leadership Award presented by the Global HRD Congress and the author of ‘Demystifying Diversity' and Yemen Proud.
Gamiel’s first foray into the world of Diversity was in 2000 when was in publishing, collaborating with the then Commission for Racial Equality to promote the Amendments to the Race Relations Act which require public bodies to take action on Race Equality. Now more than two decades later, Gamiel has built an award-winning Global Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy working with companies that include: Publicis Group, BAE System, Siemens, Rolls Royce, Eon, Channel 4, Zalando, South Pole, BNP Paribas, the Welsh Assembly Government, Local Authorities, the NHS, Charities, Schools, Colleges and Universities and more...
Gamiel works with employers to design and implement Change Leadership/Positive Action initiatives to attract new talent from diverse backgrounds, support existing talent to reach their potential through leading themselves as well as role modeling inclusive behaviors for others to follow and ensure that the culture of the organisation is conducive to the needs of diverse talent through audits, benchmarks (GDEIB), research, training, coaching and leadership behaviours. Gamiel has been called a subject matter expert in the area of Inclusion and Diversity and talks at many conferences as the keynote speaker. Gamiel also supports the development of new and existing heads/managers of DEI through a partnership with ‘d&I Leaders’ working with 245 participants.
Gamiel spent 15 years in business magazine publishing where he revitalised failing magazines. This is where he developed an interest in Diversity as a means of attracting new audiences and giving fresh content to readers and advertisers. Gamiel was headhunted by Havas to head up their Diversity and Inclusion practice before moving to Barkers (now Penna) where he accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience in the areas of diversity and inclusive leadership.
Gamiel is also a founding member of the MK Ethnic Business Community, a Trustee for The Parks Trust, Women Leaders UK and a member of the Employability Advisory Group for Bath University
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Deepa A Agarwal, India (She/Her/Hers)
Founder of Re-Link Consulting, a research-based advisory firm based in India, Deepa has 20 years of experience, consulting with organisations in bringing about a complete culture change, especially taking the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lens, across the corporate, academic as well as social sectors. She has a Master’s degree in Economics and started her career with the Madras School of Economics, India, which gave her a strong foundation in research, enabling her to design evidence-based solutions rooted in the organisation’s cultural reality.
A trained facilitator, Deepa has facilitated numerous dialogues with leadership teams across sectors and countries- India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Dubai, South Africa, US, and Egypt as well as addressed conferences and webinars with a global audience. In these sessions, she takes an experiential approach to help the participants discover the value of diversity and uncover their own biases.
In the corporate sector, her work involves assessments and audits of people processes as well as employee mindsets, using participatory interviews, Creating powerful communication campaigns that are delivered digitally and carrying out community research. Her work in creating Transition Guidelines: Returning Mother’s Project and technology-based digital solutions on tackling workplace stereotypes, won the best communication award for the clients. A student of Counselling therapy, she advises organisations to create mental health interventions and remove the stigma attached to mental health.
She is closely involved in the academic sector, and gives guest lectures to management students on concepts of DEI. During her stint as an Adjunct Faculty at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she initiated leadership programs for school leaders, a program that was oversubscribed. She has also worked with jailors to create employment opportunities and skill building for the jail inmates post-release.
Deepa writes and publishes papers and articles in media publications, including Business World, Deccan Herald and People Matters.
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Sudeep Mohandas, USA (He/Him/His)
Sudeep’s notable achievements during his career have been in winning the National HR Award for best HR Employer in 2002, an editor to the book on Careers in Conservation, as well as an author of three books What Influences the Generation Y to join a Nonprofit Organization? & Nonprofit Management: Trials and Tribulations and Nonprofit Management: Connecting the Dots. Sudeep’s postgraduate degrees are in Human Resource Management at Hawaii Pacific University, USA where he received a distinction; and from HELP University, Malaysia where he was the first DBA Doctorate program graduate. He is an Alumnus of Harvard Business School and is certified as a Professional Facilitator from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). He received his certificate from Harvard University in Strategic Management and Governance Leadership for non-governmental organizations.
He served as the Board Member and Treasurer to the World Institute of Action Learning (WIAL), USA for four years and completed his term as the Vice Chair and Advisor to the IAF Malaysian Chapter. He served as a Board Member to Amnesty International Malaysia and is active with Amnesty International USA, Maryland Chapter. He was identified three years consecutively as Marketing in Asia Top 100 LinkedIn icons from 2018 – 2020. He was an Adjunct Professor to the Swiss School of Management, Italy where he was a supervisor for a DBA student through to the successful completion of her Doctorate in 2020.
Currently he is serves as a volunteer to CareerVillage.org, USA where the impact of his work helped more than 5000 students in 2021. He also contributed to realizing over $20K in savings to nonprofits across the globe by working for Catchafire.org. He is a committee member of the International Social Services (ISS)-USA and is an Adjunct Professor to Towson University. He coaches young children soccer on a part-time basis.
He has many management tips, sharing of knowledge, podcasts and YouTube interviews that are available. He speaks and writes in English, Malay and Indonesian. His mother tongue is Malayalam. He resides in Maryland, USA with his wife, and has two adult children.
Sudeep can be contacted at sudeep.mohandas@centreforglobalinclusion.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsudeepmohandas
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Animah Kosai, UK (She/Her/Hers)
Malay-English, Animah has lived in diverse environments all her life. Her fierce desire for equity - among genders, race and the global East and West - led her to law in Malaysia’s largest law firm, before joining Schlumberger and a Petronas-Hess JV, rising to general counsel.
Animah stands up for excluded voices, to enable less dominant perspectives be heard via her vibrant global community of change- makers and leaders, the Speak Up Collective.
Animah speaks globally on diversity, ethics, anti-corruption and co-creates healthy and inclusive Speak Up Cultures for organisations. Her writing spans from corporate scandals, to deep reflections around #MeToo and toxic leadership while provoking thought around equity and privilege. She now lives in England.