The Inclusion Cafe' Podcast

This week in the cafe I am speaking with Dr. Dominic Longo. Dr. Longo and I approach two topics this episode, the impact religion has on inclusion, and the development of LGTBQ+ leadership.  Dominic Longo, Ph.D., draws on his diverse professional background in leading Flourishing Gays as a social enterprise. His greatest passion is fostering the holistic development and transformation of individuals, communities, and organizations to foster human flourishing.He founded Flourishing Gays to unlock human potential through executive coaching, leadership development, and organizational consulting. At the heart of Flourishing Gays is a leadership development program customized for highly accomplished men in the LGBTQ+ community. Dominic also serves small- and medium-sized organizations that aim to weave diversity, equity, and inclusion into the fabric of their culture – both to reflect their values and enable outstanding business performance. He works with organizational clients to build organizational development programs customized to their unique needs.Besides Flourishing Gays, Dominic has co-founded two other LGBTQ organizations. While at McKinsey & Company, Dominic founded GLAM Allies, the employee resource group for allies of LGBTQ colleagues. More recently, Dominic teamed up with another Boston College alum to found an LGBTQ alumni association, which recently received official recognition as an affiliate of the University.As a management consultant at McKinsey, Dominic became expert in business strategy as it intersects with leadership development, capability building, cultural transformation, and organizational development. He managed teams and led projects for private and public sector clients, including Fortune 500 companies, major non-profits, and government agencies in multiple countries. In his corporate career, Dominic has also managed international marketing, Middle East sales, and business development functions for a global equipment manufacturer. He holds a Professional Certified Coach credential from ICF, the largest guild of professional coaches globally. As a scholar, Dominic has been a tenure-track professor and director of a center for Muslim-Christian dialogue, where he integrated leadership development into inter-religious dialogue programming for undergraduate students, faculty, and staff. His doctorate from Harvard University is in Arabic and Islamic Studies, and he has distinctive expertise in queer comparative Christian-Islamic theology. Dr. Longo’s book Spiritual Grammar, published by Fordham University Press, has recently been released in paperback. Besides teaching inclusive leadership development at the MBA level, he has taught university courses in Arabic, Islamic Studies, Christian theology, Western intellectual history, Arab political history, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He holds four university degrees, from Harvard and Boston College, and is also an alum of a year-long advanced Arabic program at the American University in Cairo. Dominic is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a citizen of Italy and the United States. Link to site https://www.flourishinggays.com/ Connect with Dominic dominic@flourishinggays.com Subscribe for more conversations on how to create inclusion in the workplace! 

This week in the Cafe' is James Cheng. We tackle the topic of Employe Resource Groups and their importance in the inclusion process. James is the Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of Zimmer Biomet. Prior to Zimmer Biomet, was the Global Director of Inclusion & Diversity and Talent Acquisition at Gilead Sciences Inc. and formally Global HR Inclusion & Diversity Business Resource Groups and Business Development at Cargill Inc. He is responsible for the strategy, development, and growth of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to drive positive impact for the 23,000+ team members in 25+ countries across the globeTo learn more connect with James via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameschijiencheng/ For more conversations about inclusion be sure to subscribe! 

In the cafe with me is Jennifer Thompson. We discuss the topic of Ethnocentrism. What it is, and how it impacts organizations and society. Jennifer has worked within Higher Education and Professional Development, working to develop adult-learners into life-long success stories. Jennifer Thompson has recently started her own Marketing and Public Relations Agency, Social Sweet Treats, LLC, where she offers new and small businesses solutions to marketing plans which utilize tips and tricks employed by non-profit organizations. Connect with Jennifer via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-thompson-cprw/ Or Visit Social Sweet Treats to learn more about Jennifer's work https://socialsweettreats.com/ 

This episode in the Cafe' is Yvonne Alston, founder of Indelible Impressions. Indelible Impressions is a DE&I strategy, marketing and communications firm. Indelible Impressions aims to help organizations and individuals realize their full potential: driving diversity equity and inclusion to advance a high-performing culture. To learn more about Indelible Impressions or to connect with Yvonne: www.indelible-consulting.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonnealston/ https://www.instagram.com/indelible_impressions_cons/

Natasha Porizkova serves as a DEI Manager for Nika White Consulting. She brings to the DEI space years of experience as a marketer and content creator. She decided to pivot from marketing upon realizing her true passion and calling was for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Natasha now works to marry marketing and DEI to maximize impact and change.Natasha co-founded an organization called LADY: A Queer Women’s Collective. LADY brought together the queer women of Dallas and their allies to build community.Originally born and raised in Dallas, Natasha now resides in Boston, Massachusetts.Connect with NatashaLinkedIn: @natashaporizkova, Instagram: @natasha.paige, Twitter: @natasha_paige_, Website: natashaporizkova.com 

This week in the cafe is Dr. Justin Velten from Go Culture. Dr. Velten is Co-Founder & CEO of Go Culture International, a leading SAAS for personal and organizational development in diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI). Before becoming head of Go Culture: Software for a Better Workplace, Dr. Velten researched and taught Intercultural Communication for 14 years as a scholar and professor. In 2005, Dr. Velten joined world-renowned and top Intercultural Communication scholar, Dr. Carley H. Dodd, to further develop Dodd’s 47 years of research in the field. Together, they devoted two decades to assessment and training in diversity, equity, & inclusion by way of research, development, and testing. After 20 years of documented statistically significant positive program results, Drs. Dodd and Velten launch Go Culture as a public, web-based offering to improve attitudes and behaviors in DEI.To learn more about Go Culture visit www.goculture.org Check out past and upcoming episodes by subscribing to The Inclusion Cafe! 

This week Karin Childress-Wiley and I talk Vets! As a military veteran myself I know all to well the struggles veterans have transitioning into the workplace. Companies at times can struggles as well to create environments of inclusion for recent services members. Karin is an expert in this subject and has helped countless service members and companies getting this RIGHT! Connect with Karin to learn more about building strategic military inclusion in the workplacehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-childress-wiley-4004443b/ To listen to previous episodes or to be alerted when new ones post, be sure to Subscribe! The conversation is brewing...

This week in the Cafe we have Sandy Lawrence. Sandy and I talk about veterans and her passion in helping military in transition. Sandy works as an author, instructor, consultant, and willing contributor of expertise when it comes to helping people, start-ups, and structured organizations transform and transition in order to reach and exceed their goals. She is a wife of a 30 year USAF veteran and spent 10 years as a DoD contractor.Sandy co-founded GR8Transitions4U with Jay Hicks, and together they are recognized throughout the U.S. as Military Transition advocates. To date they have written and published six books in the Military Transition series. To learn more or connect with Sandy check out the links below.Website:  http://gr8transitions4u.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shlawrence/Books in the TRANSITIONING MILITARY SERIES include: The Transitioned Veteran: Success Beyond Service   The Transitioning Military Project Manager – 2nd Edition  The Transitioning Military Cybersecurity Professional The Transitioning Military IT Professional The Transitioning Military Logician The Combat Arms Professional 

This week in the Café we have Celia Daniels. Celia is a member of the executive board at TransCanWork, Inc, an organization that focuses on building a culture for transgender and non-binary employees to thrive in their workplace. Celia is an advocate for inclusion among the transgender community and human rights activist. That does it for this episode. To learn more about TransCanwork, inc or to connect with Celia visit https://www.transcanwork.org/. Join us next time, the conversation is always brewing at the inclusion café. Subscribe Now!

This week in the cafe Dr. Yvonne Larrier & Dr. Geneva Fleming stop in to discuss an array of topics. We have an amazing discussion about their organization GCSCORED and how every piece matters. We also take time to discuss deeply the impact labels within diversity play in impacting inclusion. To learn more about GCSCORED visit https://everypiecematters.com/ Connect with Dr. Larrier https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-larrier-a7287983

This week stopping by the Cafe is Cachet Prescott. Cachet and I talk about the process of unlearning behaviors and the impact it can have on inclusion in the workplace. Cachet is the Virtual Inclusion Strategist, whose genius lies in her ability to inspire and leverage the power of empathy to remove barriers to intentional inclusion in business and work. She catalyzes remote and distributed teams to explore, embrace and elevate DEIB in virtual workplaces and supercharge organizational effectiveness and impact through on-demand inclusion support and education solutions. This proud military spouse and mother of three future female leaders is also a part-time Psychology faculty member, a DEIB instructor and the creator, producer, and host of All Things (Un)learned, a podcast that explores unlearning as a powerful means to personal growth, transformation and well being.To learn more or connect with Cachet check out the links below. Join us next time in The Inclusion Cafe'. Website: http://virtualinclusionstrategist.com/ Podcast: https://allthingsunlearned.buzzsprout.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachetprescott/

This week in in the Cafe' is Dr. Steven Ambrose. Dr. Ambrose is President of Walk the Ridge, a solution helping companies battle test their inclusion while creating inclusive work environments and improving employee relations. Dr. Ambrose is passionate about providing organizations meaningful actionable steps and information to improve relationships within their workplace. To learn more about Walk the Ridge visit walktheridge.com 

 This week in the Cafe with me is John Carlson. John is the CEO of JD Consults; specializing in DEI Strategy Consulting, Equity Analytics, and Business Coaching. John has worked for some of the top companies in the United States helping to analyze their business and create/revamp D&I and culture programs. John is passionate about people and giving everybody an equal voice in the workplace and ensuring fair hiring practices. Most recently John has been finishing his book "DEI: The Key To Success" due to hit shelves in January. Contact John https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndcarlson1/ Questions regarding an episode or to learn more about being a guest on The Inclusion Cafe contact Joe Motes at inclusioncafe2020@gmail.com.

This week in the Cafe' deep knowledge was dropped! Ricardo Gonzalez brought with him game changing insight regarding the role culture plays in global inclusion and unity. Ricardo is the founder and CEO of The 6 Stages Group and founder of Bilingual America. He is a trusted consultant to many organizational and corporate leaders across the globe. If you would like to take the Cultural Assessment that Ricardo talks about in the conversation, you can do so here:https://culturalmastery.com/assessment Connect with Ricardo via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardogonzalez1/ To learn more about cultural mastery check out The Six Stages of Cultural Mastery https://culturalmastery.com/books/

Norma Marquez, Senior Manager of Diversity & Inclusion with Randstad USA stopped by The Inclusion Cafe' this week to discuss diversity recruitment and the role TA plays in creating inclusion. Norma shares great insights how corporate TA teams can make an impact with their hiring partners, and shares best practices when attracting, engaging, and hiring diverse talent. To learn more about how to create effective diversity recruitment programs contact Norma Marquez at https://www.linkedin.com/in/norma-m%C3%A1rquez-barahona-mba/Questions or comments about this episode?Send To: Joe Motesinclusioncafe2020@gmail.comFollow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joe_caffeinated/

This week The Inclusion Cafe' was graced with the presence of a true CELEBRITY within the diversity & inclusion field, Jennifer Brown. Jennifer and I discuss the topics of building successful D&I teams, positions, efforts, and the importance of psychological safety within teams and organizations. Jennifer is an award winning entrepreneur and best selling author. She is CEO of Jennifer Brown Consulting and a highly sought after speaker. To learn more about Jennifer Brown Consulting visit https://jenniferbrownconsulting.com/Connect with Jennifer via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbrownconsulting/Questions or comments about this episode?Send To: Joe Motesinclusioncafe2020@gmail.comFollow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joe_caffeinated/

This week Sejal Thakkar stopped by The Inclusion Cafe to talk about unconscious bias in the workplace. Sejal provides amazing insights and perspectives on this topic and challenges us to think of unconscious bias as unconscious beliefs instead. Sejal is owner and Chief Civility Officer at Trainxtra.To learn more about TrainXtra visit https://trainxtra.com/homeInterested in connecting with Sejal? Connect at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sejalthakkar/Questions or comments about this episode?Send To: Joe Motesinclusioncafe2020@gmail.comFollow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joe_caffeinated/

This week I sat down with Ian Moses, Global Head of I&D at Allegis Global Solutions.Ian and I discussed the many challenges organizations and leaders face when taking steps beyond the verbal commitment of creating an inclusive workforce. Ian's perspectives on the challenge they face and steps they can take to overcome them provide great value for companies looking to move past the "let's do this' to "we are doing it"! Questions or comments about this episode?Send To: Joe Motesinclusioncafe2020@gmail.comFollow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joe_caffeinated/

Hello everyone and welcome to The Inclusion Cafe, I'm your host Joe Motes. At the Inclusion Cafe we host focused one on one interviews with Diversity & Inclusion professionals, industry leaders, CEOs, and allies for inclusion that dive into creating work environments of belonging. The guest on the show offer deep insights and thoughts around how organizations can go beyond the verbal commitments to creating an inclusive workforce by putting words into actions.