Unlocking Black Potential: Strategies for Amplifying Black Excellence in Leadership and Education

We’ve all heard that it’s important to elevate Black professionals, but what does that really look like in practice? In this interactive workshop with Patricia “PB” Brown, founder and CEO of YGIS group, you’ll learn evidence-based strategies for elevating Black voices, celebrating Black triumphs, fostering inclusion and equity within the workplace and classroom environments, and creating opportunities for lasting impact within teams, organizations, schools, and communities.

Patricia "PB" Brown

Bridget Finkeldey

PB has multi-industry leadership expertise. She uses her experience as a coach, mentor, and advocate to create more diverse, inclusive, and fair opportunities while guiding today's leaders to embrace "inclusive leadership" mindsets. During her 30-year career in Fortune 500 companies, she was often the only female/African American in the room. Before starting YGIS Group LLC, she worked as a senior leader at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, where DEI advancement/coaching and mentoring were crucial in her co-leadership of the Women's & Allies (WE) ERG expansion both domestically and internationally. She was also well known as a corporate DEI ambassador within field operations. Meanwhile, as a member of the Men as Allies committee, she worked to increase understanding and awareness of how important it is for everyone to be allies in order to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. PB is driven by her desire to “give back” to the next generation by supporting the power that exists when everyone has the equal opportunity to engage, express themselves, and realize their highest potential. Always looking for opportunities for improvement in the DE&I space, she sponsored and coordinated the first national Women of Color summit in the fall of 2020, which focused on “humanizing” (DE&I) data points while creating reciprocal learning for C-suite and senior leadership for the advancement of women of color. PB, the daughter of former Tuskegee Airman, has served on several boards in advisory capacities, including the National BIG I Diversity Council, YearUP-Seattle, and the University of Washington Foster School of Business–Consulting and Business Development Center.

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.