As the landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) continues to shift, we find ourselves at a crossroads. With increasing resistance, funding cuts, and political backpedaling, what does the future of DEI in workplaces and society look like? How do we move forward strategically while staying true to the principles of equity and justice?

Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking session on Navigating the Shifting Tides—What’s Next?, where we will explore:

• Understanding the global shifts impacting DEI in workplaces and beyond
• Strategies for sustaining equity work amidst political and corporate resistance
• Navigating the tension between moral integrity and financial realities
• How we organize and communicate effectively in this climate

Our speakers, Jeff Kwasi Klein & Chisom Udeze will explore the complexities of the current climate, the evolving language of DEI, and practical strategies for resilience, adaptation, and collective action. This conversation will not shy away from the hard truths—it will be a space to grapple with the challenges, reflect on what’s at stake, and chart a path forward.

In today’s evolving workplace, five generations are working side by side—each shaped by different historical, social, and technological contexts. While generational diversity can be a source of innovation and strength, it can also lead to misunderstandings, biases, microaggressions and communication gaps that hinder collaboration.

Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking session on Bridging the Generational Gap, where we will explore:

Intergenerational Dynamics: How different generations perceive work, leadership, and inclusion—and how these perspectives shape workplace culture.
🔹 Challenging Assumptions: The pitfalls of generational labeling and how to foster dialogue that respects lived experiences rather than reinforcing biases.
🔹 Bridging the Divide: Practical strategies for building workplaces where knowledge-sharing, mentorship, and psychological safety allow individuals across generations to thrive.
🔹 The Future of Work: How organizations can create inclusive policies and cultures that respond to shifting generational expectations, from career development to flexibility and purpose-driven work.

Join us for this discussion featuring Chisom Udeze, Charlie Fonda and Sarah Campbell.

Our 'Is Everyone in the Room?' podcast is a global platform dedicated to fostering open conversations and learning around equity, and inclusion in workplaces and communities worldwide. 

Since 2020, these monthly sessions have brought together professionals, leaders, and advocates from across the globe to explore best practices, share personal experiences, and discuss actionable strategies for creating more inclusive environments. These sessions serve as a space for collective growth, critical reflection, and meaningful dialogue in society. 

We are beginning 2025 with a topic that is more relevant than ever: Is DEI Dead? Rationale For and Against 

As organizations across industries grapple with changing societal expectations, economic pressures, and political polarization, the relevance and future of DEI initiatives are under scrutiny on a global scale. In this climate of increasing pushback against DEI initiatives, from budget cuts to critiques of their effectiveness, the question looms large: is DEI as a framework for change still relevant? 

Critics argue that DEI has become a checkbox exercise, stripped of its transformative potential, while advocates contend that it’s more critical than ever as organizations navigate systemic inequities and social tensions. 

This month, we confront the hard truths and polarizing opinions around DEI: 

✔ Is DEI failing, or are we failing DEI? 

✔ How do organizations strike a balance between accountability and impact? 

✔ What does the future of workplace equity look like in the face of resistance and fatigue? 

This session is designed to provoke thought, spark dialogue, and inspire action. 

Join our speakers Chisom Udeze and Dr. Poornima Luthra as they tackle these critical issues head-on, offering space for constructive debate and shared learning. 

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is imperative for a sustainable, competitive and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team. This series is designed by Diversify to centre Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.

Intersectionality is a term coined by Professor Kimberley Crenshaw. It is an analytical framework for understanding how a person’s social or political identity such as ethnicity, race, social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other facets of social stratification combine to create different modes of privilege and discrimination. 

Speakers: Chisom Udeze (she/her) and Miguel A. Leyva S. (He/him) 

 Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is imperative for a sustainable, competitive and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team. 

This series is designed by Diversify to centre Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. 

In honour of Black History Month, our topic for discussion in February is Anti-Racism with Rahwa Tilahun Yohaness (founder of Manifold, activist and campaign strategist) and Chisom Udeze (founder of Diversify and HerSpace, DEIB strategist and economist)

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is imperative for a sustainable, competitive and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team.

This series is designed by Diversify to center Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.

In this episode, our speakers, Chisom Udeze (three times Founder, Economist and DEI Strategist), Dr. Poornima Luthra (Author, Educator and DEI Expert), and Astrid Sundberg (Director DEI at Oda), will explore how inclusive are workplace DEIB initiatives, learnings from the past and the common mistakes to avoid in the future.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is imperative for a sustainable, competitive and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team.

This series is designed by Diversify to centre Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. We look forward to seeing you!

In December we will explore 4 practical tips that you can easily implement at your workplace in 2023, that will amplify and promote awareness of DEIB. The session will be co-facilitated by Diversify founder, Chisom Udeze, and Program Director, Iva Ogrizovic.

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: LGBTQIA+

June is Pride Month, a month dedicated to uplifting LGBTQIA+ voices, celebrating LGBTQIA+ culture and supporting LGBTQIA+ rights. It commemorates the years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of justice, equity and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community. 

LGBTQIA+ is an inclusive acronym that describes either a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex, asexual/aromantic/agender, pansexual, and allies.

Gender identity describes a person’s internal sense of being female, male, or someone outside of that gender binary, while sexual orientation refers to ‘a person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction.’

People from the LGBTQIA+ community face discrimination and hate regularly in their personal lives, workplaces and in public spaces. Furthermore, the intersectionality of traits such as race, ethnicity, religion can influence their experience and lead to discrimination on multiple fronts. In the workplace, they’re subjected to microaggressions like being asked inappropriate questions and hearing homophobic jokes and comments. Conscious and unconscious bias can prevent them from being hired or getting a promotion or opportunity at work. Many LGBTQIA+ individuals feel the need to hide their identity in the workplace for fear of discrimination, which causes high levels of stress, anxiety and other mental health issues among them. 

During this session of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, we will discuss how workplaces and organisations can create a genuinely inclusive culture for LGBTQIA+ employees. On an individual level, using pronouns in email signatures, on social media profiles, and stating them in meetings, being mindful of using gender neutral language and calling out discriminatory behaviours are some of the ways to be active allies.

For companies, using gender neutral language, diverse visuals on the website and options beyond male and female on the job application can help attract a more diverse workforce, while including anti-discrimination and harassment policies that address sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination can help retain this workforce.

In this session, we will discuss 

• How can we ensure that workplaces have strong inclusive policies and practices in place? 
• How can they attract, successfully recruit and retain LGBTQIA+ talent? 
• How can companies create a safe environment for employees of all sexualities and gender expressions to reveal as much or as little as they want? 
• How can we, as individuals, be active allies to the LGBTQIA+ community? 

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Mental health as a key topic in your D&I strategy

Mental health, especially in the workplace, is often overlooked and stigmatized. Most people will experience a mental illness or mental health issues in their working lives. In the wake of the pandemic, the sudden transition into remote and subsequent readily changing work situations have drastically affected mental wellbeing of people across organisations. It is important for employers to recognize this and understand that the mental health of their employees and of themselves is as important as their physical well being. Work stress and pressure can often aggravate and cause depression, anxiety and other mental health issues in employees. Further, people of colour, racial or ethnic minorities, women and the LGBTQIA+ community can face lack of representation, microaggressions, unconscious bias, and other stressors that negatively impact their mental health. With a majority of our lives spent at work, it is important for workplaces to focus on mental health as a part of their DEI strategy.

In this session of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, we will discuss how to destigmatize mental health in the workplace and promote open communication.

• What systems and resources must be put in place to support employees with their mental health?
• How to raise awareness of mental wellness and break stereotypes regarding mental illness?
• How to prevent employees from feeling overwhelmed at work due to the pressures and stress that they may be facing?

Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits. (Harvard Health)

The word neurodiversity refers to differences within ALL people. However, it is often used to refer to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as other neurological or developmental conditions such as ADHD or learning disabilities, where differences in behaviour and learning can be more apparent.

During this session of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace we will explore how workplaces, recruiters and we as individuals in our everyday interactions can become more aware of neurodiversity.  By making conscious “accommodations”, neurodivergant people can be better included. With this awareness of neurodivergant ways of learning and behaving, neurodiversity can be accepted and celebrated, rather than excluded.

These accommodations can be things such as:

• the way we communicate (avoiding sarcasm, euphemisms, and implied messages)
• paying attention to what words you use (person first language)
• the set up of a workplace to be considerate of sound sensitivity and movement (allowing regular breaks or the use of fidget toys, for example)

Join us to hear from our panelists about their lived experience and to learn what can be done to create a more inclusive workplace and society.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is imperative for a sustainable, competitive and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team.

This series is designed by Diversify to centre Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. We look forward to seeing you!

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Creating a Human-centric Hybrid Work Environment

Technology has been a saviour during the last two years, allowing us to continue to work, learn and stay connected.

However, the online platforms, like zoom and teams, were not designed to replicate the working environment in every regard. They lack a space for casual human interactions, kitchen talk and the opportunity to feel the energy in the room. Subtle body language is also often lost, impacting how we receive and interpret information.

Furthermore, like humans, these platforms were not prepared for our sudden and oftentimes complete transition to remote working in early 2020. With the instant increase in use, has there been the opportunity to humanize the way in which these systems operate? And have we made a conscious effort to change the way we use and communicate to one another on these platforms?

In many cases, hybrid working is here to stay, and there are many benefits. Accessibility, efficiency, and increased opportunities to collaborate across geographic distances, to name a few. So how can we centre people in hybrid working environments to ensure that diversity and inclusion continue to be upheld and developed?

During this edition of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace we will look at the experiences of those coming from across organisational structures and varying stages of business development. We will discuss strategies to ingrain best practices for the future of hybrid work to ensure to incorporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging values. Join us!

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Racial Equity

"Racial equity is about applying justice and a little bit of common sense to a system that's been out of balance. When a system is out of balance, people of color feel the impacts most acutely, but to be clear, an imbalanced system makes all of us pay."~ Glenn Harris, President, Race Forward and Publisher, Colorlines.

Equity has been a big topic for us since the start of Diversify, and the beginning of the Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace discussions, with the topic of our second meeting being "Equity vs. Equality".

Equity is the acknowledgment that while people should always have equal opportunities to resources like jobs, health care and education, we live in a world that is far from equal. Social equity takes into account systemic inequalities to ensure everyone has access to the same opportunities and outcomes.

Racial Equity is the acknowledgment that in many cases, this unequal distribution of resources is driven along racial lines, leading to the systemic discrimination that exists within many structures, including the workplace.

Racism is often an uncomfortable topic to address. In some cases, denial or ignorance is seemingly bliss. Many people deny the existence of racism against people of color on the assumption that racism is a conscious and calculated byproduct of hate. Racism can however  occur without conscious intent. Where racist experiences of people across racial lines are concerned, racism happens more often than many people, especially white people, are aware of. How then can companies address the issue of racism as they move towards racial equity in the workplace?

This month we ask the questions:
- What have recent surges in anti-Black racism and Asian-hate shown us about the situation today?
- What is the relationship between racism, micro-aggressions and gaslighting and how do they show up?
- What is the difference between subtle and overt racism?
- Do we have the skills to talk about racial, bi-racial and intersectional identities?
- What degree of race confidence do we need to be able to navigate this topic without causing harm?
- How and when can bystanders intervene in harmful scenarios?
Join us to explore these questions and many more.

This topics acknowledge Black History Month and LGBTQIA+ Month, celebrated in February in the US and UK.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace are imperative for a sustainable, competitive, and innovative company and society at large. Diversity also goes beyond the outward perception of a company – it includes how the internal structures work and signal the value systems of an organization’s management or leadership team.

This series is designed by Diversify to center Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. We look forward to seeing you!

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Putting Knowledge into Action

For over a year now we have been having conversations about various themes, concepts and elements of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). The New Year presents an ideal time to discuss how we go about putting these ideas into practice. As the saying goes, “Action speaks louder than words.”

For this edition of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, we will explore where and how to begin. Are you in a leadership role and responsible for enacting strategic change? Are you an employee who would like to see measurable progress at your workplace? Or would you like to make a conscious effort, on a personal level, to assess how your actions might contribute to the ripple effect that springboards a positive and sustainable DEIB culture?

The conversation will explore the following points and more:
- Why are you embarking on this journey? Why now?
- How should you begin enacting change to foster and sustain DEIB in your workplace?
- What should be considered when creating a DEIB strategy?
- What goals should be incorporated into the strategy?
- What are the incentives and the risks?
- How can accountability be integrated to ensure the strategy comes to fruition?

We look forward to engaging with you, as we collectively commit to ACT, where DEIB in the workplace is concerned.

Welcome to Episode 11 of 'Is Everyone In The Room?'
In this episode, we are exploring the intricacies of disability inclusion. One of the many things that the Covid pandemic has taught us is that work can be redefined and it can be much more flexible and inclusive for all than we ever imagined. Notwithstanding, a report by the Return on Disability group from the USA shows that 90% of companies claim to prioritise diversity, but only 4% consider disability in those initiatives. This is a huge loss, as the disability market is larger than the population of China, with 1.85 billion people, and $1.9 trillion in annual disposable income.

So what can companies and businesses do to incorporate and include persons with disabilities in their workspaces? How can employers understand the barriers that discourage people with disabilities from working for them? How might we play a part in dismantling ableism?  These and many more questions will be addressed by our three very insightful panelists: Lucy Mason, Gagan Chhabra, and Chisom Udeze.

In this episode of ‘Is Everyone In The Room?’, we look at pulling the plug on DEI buzzwords. Given the spike in the popularity of DEI recently, we acknowledge that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are buzzwords in themselves.
We know that it is more than a one-off training, more than having a Diversity department, and more than a campaign to diversify your recruitment. Although these things are beginning, it takes more to establish equitable practices within the organisational structure and for the workplace to be inclusive along a range of diversity parameters.
So what are other expressions and phrases which have been thrown around in recent times, and perhaps sound fantastic, but have become somewhat hollow?
Join us to explore these and more!

In this episode, we discuss Transformational and Authentic Leadership. This podcast is produced in collaboration with HerSpace. We hope you enjoy it! 

In this episode, we discuss transformational and authentic leadership. The aim of transformational leaders is to help their followers become leaders themselves and authentic leadership would encourage followers to be authentic. The growth of any organization is very much dependent on authentic transformational leaders.

These three panelists—Chisom Udeze, Adebayo Onafuwan, and Kewin Reeder—are joined by Hyacinth Walters-Olsen to discuss the importance of authentic and transformational leadership at work.

In this episode of 'Is Everyone In The Room?' our panelists Jacob Thomas, Astrid Sundberg, Sandra Mittica and Chisom Udeze are joined by moderator Hyacinth Walters-Olsen to discuss the many questions that arise when enforcing equitable solutions to challenges in the workspace. How safe are our work environments for the diverse populations? How will the minority groups be included and become active participants in leadership decisions? What is the future of DEI initiatives as we observe that the current DEI corporate training models do not work? How will digitalisation and access to technology impact on remote work, efficient workplace collaboration, and access to employment?

These and many more questions will challenge your ideas and thoughts about what the future hold for the leaders and the employees of tomorrow.

In this episode, we will address topics that are timely, honest, necessary and thought provoking - Allyship, Privilege and Power. 

If you have listened to any of our previous episodes in this podcast series or attended any of our panel discussions, you will know that we do not shy away from difficult questions and conversations. This session will be no different. 

In the current day and time where being a diversity and inclusion expert or ally is fashionable, who gets to take space? Who is invited to the room? Who gets to use their voice and privilege and who gets to wield their power?

Our panelists for this session are Chisom Udeze, Astrid Sundberg, and Fungisai Gwanzura-Ottemoller and the conversation is moderated by Hyacinth Walters-Olsen. This podcast is produced in collaboration with HerSpace.