Balancing Business Needs With Workplace Accommodations: Becoming a Compassionate Leader

Asking for accommodations in the workplace is scary, but at times, so is learning to accommodate others while keeping an efficient office ecosystem. In this session, Tonya Cherie Hegamin, author and Associate Professor at CUNY Medgar Evers College, will guide participants to explore how they can employ compassionate leadership while still delivering on the needs of the business.

Talks about: accessibility, leadership

Tonya Cherie Hegamin

Bridget Finkeldey

Tonya C. Hegamin, M.F.A. (she/her/hers), is a queer, (dis)abled BIPOC award-winning author of Most Loved In All The World, M+O 4evr, Pemba’s Song and Willow. Her honors include the Ezra Jack Keats’ New Writer Award, The Christopher Award and her books have received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly and been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, Ebony and Essence. Hegamin is an Associate Professor in the English Department at CUNY Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY. She also serves on the CUNY-wide Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board as well as on the Narrative Medicine Track of Distinction Advisory Board for CUNY’s School of Medicine. Hegamin has been a victim and patient advocate since 1998, working as an educator and counselor for organizations like Planned Parenthood, Women Against Rape, Police Athletic League, JP Morgan and Johnson& Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceutical.

Sienna J. Brown

Sanmaya Mohanty

Sienna Brown is the Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at PowerToFly, where she crafts a strong DEI vision for the company and leads a team of changemakers towards achieving it.

Her focus is on long-term impact and innovation with inclusive companies that elevate underrepresented talent so everyone can thrive. Based in Spain, she brings a global perspective to DEI work and pushes companies to think inclusively about all of their employees. She prioritizes awareness, action and accountability to spark change and have meaningful impact.