Talks and Videos

Leadership Tips for Diversity and Inclusion
Uzo Akotaobi

Uzo Akotaobi, VP of HR, diversity and inclusion and learning and development at Prologis, talks about the steps any leader can take to foster diversity and inclusion in their company, as part of LinkedIn’s Talent on Tap series.

Why Design Should Include Everyone
Sinéad Burke

Sinéad Burke highlights how the designed world often inhibits her ability to do things herself and makes everyday tasks dangerous, even that which is labeled "accessible”. Here, she tells us what it's like to navigate the world at 105 centimeters (or 3' 5") and asks: 'Who are we not designing for?'

Why We Need to Make Education More Accessible to the Deaf
Nyle DiMarco

Nyle DiMarco – a model and activist who was born deaf – is often asked whether he wishes he could hear.  In this talk, he demonstrates why his answer is no, emphasizing the connection between education and self esteem, and arguing why we need more accessible education for the deaf.

Purl from Pixar: Change Your Culture, Not Your People
Kirsten Lester

Based on her own experiences of trying to fit in in a male-dominated industry, this animated short from Pixar demonstrates the difference between exclusive and inclusive cultures. 

We All Seek the Same Sense of Inclusion
Julian Maha

In this insightful talk, non-profit founder Julian Maha shares a powerful idea about how we all seek acceptance, inclusion and community, but that many with invisible disabilities are left out. He shares how we can create more sensory inclusive environments to welcome them as well.

Complexities of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
Nene Molefi

Nene Molefi, author of A Journey of Diversity & Inclusion in South Africa, expounds the complexities of bringing diversity and inclusion into the workplace, and the different perspectives and unintended consequences that make it so. 

Diversity is Being Invited to the Party: Inclusion is Being Asked to Dance
Vernā Myers

Vernā Myers, VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix, breaks down the concept of inclusion and what it looks like in practical terms. 

Diversity, Inclusion & Bias
Sonia Studer

In this three part series for Nestlé MENA, Sonia Studer walks through key elements of difference, conscious and unconscious barriers to accepting difference, and how we leverage difference towards inclusion. 

Diversity Does Not Mean Having to Choose Between Identity and Inclusion
Kenji Yoshino

NYU’s Kenji Yoshino discusses the concept of covering – the hiding of aspects of oneself, at a cost to their sense of self, in order to be included. 

Everyday Racism: What Should We Do?
Akala 

Akala uses his own bias to demonstrate what he terms “everyday racism”, arguing that racism is a business with effective marketing and pernicious consequences. 

The Right Way to Ask Questions About Your Colleague’s Race
Ritu Bhasin

Diversity consultant Ritu Bhasin on why we need to notice and about ask about difference in order to address prejudice and discrimination, and how to do it. 

Understanding My Privilege
Sue Borrego

University Chancellor, Susan E. Borrego, reflects on her life as an emancipated minor and dissects the emotionally charged conversation surrounding race relations in the United States. Using her powerful first-person account of white privilege and how racism affects her biracial family, Borrego underscores the responsibility each one of us has to bring about change, through learning, willing to be uncomfortable, and in the day by day choices we make.

White Fragility
Robin DiAngelo 

Robin DiAngelo explains what she means by the term “white fragility” and her experiences in confronting her own unconscious bias. 

What is Intersectionality?
Newcastle University

This video explains the theory of intersectionality, a framework through which we can understand how the discrimination experienced by people with multiple marginalized identities is compounded and not simply addressed by considering, say, racism and sexism separately. 

Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Ask Me Where I’m Local To
Taiye Selasi

Author Taiye Selasie pushes back on the idea that we come from nations, arguing that to do so limits our conceptions of ourselves. Instead she offers the possibility of being local and multi-local – identity rooted in experiences and the places they occur. 

How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias
Valerie Alexander

Author, speaker and CEO, Valerie Alexander, explains how the human brain instinctively reacts when encountering the unexpected, like saber-toothed tigers or female tech execs, and proposes that if we have the courage to examine our own behavior when faced with the unfamiliar, we can take control of our expectations, and accordingly change the world. 

The Brilliance Barrier: Stereotypes about Brilliance are an Obstacle
Andrei Cimpian

NYU’s Andrei Cimpian discusses his research on how the use of brilliance impedes diversity in science, demonstrating how it represents obstacles such as a reduced sense of belonging for underrepresented groups. 

The Danger of a Single Story
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes stereotyping the people we meet or observe often as knowing only half their story. In the workplace, this may look like underestimating or even overestimating a colleague’s ability just by some preconceived idea you hold about their ethnicity, or disability. Countering it requires recognizing that each individual is shaped by their own life experiences, culture, family status and genetic composition etc.

Addressing Microaggressions and Biases in the Workplace
Serilda Summers-McGee

This video provides examples of microaggressions and loaded language, biases, stereotypes and other behaviors that inhibit the creation of a truly inclusive work environment, showing how we can instead cultivate a more inclusive workplace. 

Rethinking Privilege
Mariam Veiszadeh

People with the most privilege tend not to admit it, or even be aware they have it. Diversity and Inclusion consultant Mariam Veiszadeh explains how privilege and unconscious bias work and offers solutions to level the playing field.