Rebranding DEIB: How to Continue Elevating Diverse Talent in Uncertain Times

An experienced change maker, Zara prioritizes the disruption of harmful systems, creating and facilitating brave spaces and opportunities for individuals to explore their intersectional identities, and empowering every individual to bring their whole self to work. Utilizing a holistic approach, she excels at collaborating with key players to craft strategic vision and operationalizing strong action steps to elevate workplace culture to a healthy culture of belonging. With an extensive background in Human Resources, operations, and programming within the non-profit, education, and tech sectors, Zara keeps a focused eye on the long-term mission and ensures she infuses humor in everything she does along the way. She’s also not afraid to openly share her love for Brooklyn and donuts!

Experienced in DEI, relationship management, conflict mediation and management, coaching, Human Resources, compliance, financial and budget management, administration, and auditing.

Milena is the Co-Founder and CEO of PowerToFly - the fastest growing global platform dedicated to fast-tracking economic equity by upskilling and connecting underrepresented talent to roles in highly visible sectors. Milena’s on a mission to partner with top 100 brands to bring them a slew of diversity solutions provided through the PowerToFly platform.

Milena was born in Bulgaria and moved to New York City a week before September 11th to pursue a Masters at ITP NYU. Prior to co-founding PowerToFly, Milena has contributed to numerous startups, and had a blast being the CTO of Avaaz.org where she oversaw the technology to support growth to over 30 million members.

Milena is a frequent commentator on how companies can diversify their teams, especially in tech. Her work for PowerToFly has been recognized in Business Insider and she was named Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2015. Her biggest accomplishments are her four children who constantly push her to rethink what work-life balance means.

Jacquese Brown-Gravely, is a seasoned Global Diversity Leader with a proven track record in Talent Acquisition and Workplace Inclusion. She holds certifications from renowned institutions such as Cornell University, Strayer University, the Institute of Coaching, and Positive Psychology. Her strategic and measurable expertise in talent acquisition and workplace inclusion is grounded in a commitment to fair and equitable practices.

As a veteran spouse, Jacquese champions integrity and ethical conduct as she partners with the US Military, Women In Leadership, Parents in Autism, Healthcare Equity, and other Diversity segmented programs. Her entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to diversity initiatives have led to a successful career spanning seven years as the Global Leader of Diversity Programs at Cielo. In this role, she has developed and implemented strategic diversity programs across various industries, from healthcare to home improvement.

Jacquese's contributions extend beyond client strategies. She is an active advocate for Supplier Diversity and ESG initiatives within Cielo, serving as a ERG champion and member of the Diversity Council. Her drive for creating inclusive workplaces and promoting Inclusion in all areas of life continues to fuel her professional endeavors.

Rha Goddess is THE entrepreneurial soul coach behind hundreds of breakthrough changemakers, cultural visionaries, and social entrepreneurs. Her mission? To revolutionize the way we live, work, play and handle our business.

In 2011, Rha founded Move The Crowd, a social entrepreneurial training company dedicated to organizational leaders, creative change agents, and cultural entrepreneurs working at the intersection of values, profitability and social impact. Since its inception, Move The Crowd has helped launch and scale luminaries like Gabrielle Bernstein, Reshma Saujani, Alisa Vitti, Anurag Gupta, Imara Jones, Daisy Dominguez, Anasa Troutman, Heather Box and Bree Jones, among others.

From the onset of her more than 30-year career as a cultural innovator, social impact strategist and creative change agent, Rha has drawn on the power of creativity, culture, and community to move hearts, minds and policy.

As an internationally acclaimed performance artist and activist, Rha’s work focused on issues of racial justice and equality, electoral politics, offender aid and restoration, mental health, youth and women’s empowerment, and contributed to initiatives that impacted millions of lives.

While working on the frontlines, Rha developed a unique perspective about effective leadership and cultivated a transformative approach to empowering individuals, teams, organizations and communities working for change.

Rha has leveraged this approach to support leadership development and organizational transformation initiatives for: Google, Lululemon, The B Team, Fidelity, KBL- Eisner, AICPA, Harris & Rothenberg International, Girls Who Code, The Ford Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Leeway Foundation, The Embrey Foundation, Omega Institute, The Center for Court Innovation, NY Cares, NY Foundation for the Arts and many more.

In 2020 Rha Goddess and Deepa Purushothaman created nFormation- a first-of-its-kind vetted community and platform for high-performing WOC seeking to reimagine traditional power. Their capstone research project PowHer Redefined, launched in collaboration with Billie Jean King and the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative captured the unfiltered perspectives of WOC in a unique first voice narrative to Corporate America. This work was featured in CNN, FastCompany, Forbes, among others and culminated in a symposium and TED Talk that garnered over 1.7M views.

In 2022 building on the success of nFormation, Rha launched Born To Shine, a high level mastermind and multifaceted community of practice dedicated to elevating the visions and innovations of WOC entrepreneurs and leaders who are rising to meet this unique moment in their life and leadership with greater vision, courage, agency and permission. The BTS Initiative’s inaugural offering, The Emancipation Plan, a 6 month immersive experience was launched in 2024 dedicated to helping women build viable brands and financially profitable strategies to drive their desired mission and impact in the world.

Rha is currently working on a new book titled, Intentional Ambition: Redefining Work For Greater Joy, Freedom and Fulfillment slated for release in collaboration with Wiley Publishing Company in the late Spring of 2025.