Deborah Levine is Editor in-Chief of the American Diversity Report. She is a Forbes Magazine top Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer and an award-winning author of 15 books. She received the Champion of Diversity Award from diversitybusiness.com, the Excellence Award from the TN Economic Council on Women and is featured on C-Span/ BookTV. Her published articles span decades in journals & magazines: The American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, The Bermuda Magazine, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin. A former blogger with The Huffington Post, she is now an opinion columnist with The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Jeremy Spake is a Principal on the Thought Leadership & Advisory Services team at Cornerstone OnDemand, a leading global SaaS-based talent management solution provider. In this capacity, he works to develop continuous performance management, data-driven compensation, and succession strategies to advise organizations on how to drive people theory into practice. Central to this work is providing guidance to embed talent management strategy with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) initiatives for clients. Spake has led pay equity initiatives, Employee Resource Groups, advocated for inclusive benefits offerings and regularly leads talent management strategy workshops for Cornerstone’s clients around the world. He lives in Seattle with his husband David and cat Oliver.
CLICK links to Resources discussed by Jeremy Spake:
Of all the inauguration speakers, the one that truly hypnotized me was Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate. The tiny young powerhouse joins the roster of famous inaugural poets like Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. Reading “The Hill We Climb”, she had us all climbing with her. It was a joy to see her energy, hear her inspiring verses, and be reminded that poetry heals the soul.
The words bring optimism about the future. A colleague messaged, “The seed of hope has been planted. It is up to each of us to build upon that hope in order to cultivate and strengthen the ties that bind us together as a People —one Nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all!”
Rayna Edwards is a principal consultant in Mercer’s Workforce Strategy & Analytics practice, where she specializes in DEI analytics, including pay equity analyses. She will address 1) The importance of understanding how the employee experience differs by race and gender. 2) (for business/HR leaders) How to pull meaningful insights from data that is typically housed in a company’s HRIS system. 3) (for business/HR leaders) The importance of a statistically rigorous pay equity analysis in closing pay gaps.
The monthly Black-Jewish Dialogues began in Chattanooga virtually in July 2020 and quickly spread across the USA and internationally. As our communities progress in understanding each other, we explore new topics each month. History is frequently an underlying theme.
Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press
Editor-in-Chief Deborah J. Levine
I should write about the siege of our Capitol but my brain has oozed out of my ears. I’m rendered speechless at the gallows and chants calling to hang Vice President Pence who refused to illegally overturn the election. My loved ones hid under the covers seeing the nooses, Viking-like horned helmets, Confederate flags, Auschwitz T-shirts with skull and crossbones and 6MWE (6 Million Weren’t Enough) signs referring to Jews killed during the Holocaust. Not surprising that people wondered if America, not just Trump, lost its mind.
Andrea J. Simon, Ph.D. is an international leader in corporate anthropology and CEO of Simon Associates. She is an Axiom 2017 Best Business Book author of On the Brink: A fresh lens to take your business to new heights, and author of the new book, Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business. Dr. Simon discusses corporate culture and changes needed to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
When I considered doing an article on the iconic Greenpeace movement which started much of our environmental activism, I thought it would be an intellectual and historical project. But, my 92-year old Aunt Polly informed that Green-ness runs in the family,. Greenpeace is just a cousin away, including one of the movement’s matriarchs.
Dr. Tana M Session is an organizational development strategist, international speaker, and media contributor. Dr. Session changes lives at work through transformative Inclusion, Diversity & Multigenerational workforce strategies . She is the CEO and Founder of From Foster Care to Fabulous Foundation.
Christopher. Lafayette is an Emergent Technologist in medtech, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, climate and applied sciences. He is a Silicon Valley national and international speaker, Thought Leader and Culture & Inclusion Advocate. He is the Founder of Black Technology Mentorship Program (BTMP)
Our Black-Jewish Dialogue for January 2021 featured presenters Mike Green and Dov Wilker. Many thanks to them and Mizpah Congregation, our co-host.
Mike Green is an award-winning journalist headquartered in Colorado. He is the Chief Economic Strategist for The National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness (niicusa.org) and also co-founder of Common Ground Conversations on Race in America.
He is also co-founder of ScaleUp Partners LLC, a nationally networked consulting practice focused on changing the nation’s economic narrative.
Dov Wilker is the National Director for. Black-Jewish Relations for the American Jewish Committee and heads the AJC Atlanta Regional Office with the goal of enhancing the well being of the Jewish people worldwide and advancing human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. The office has worked with the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition for nearly 35 years.
Jeremy Spake is a Principal on the Thought Leadership & Advisory Services team at Cornerstone OnDemand, a leading global SaaS-based talent management solution provider. In this capacity, he works to develop continuous performance management, data-driven compensation, and succession strategies to advise organizations on how to drive people theory into practice. Central to this work is providing guidance to embed talent management strategy with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) initiatives for clients. Spake has led pay equity initiatives, Employee Resource Groups, advocated for inclusive benefits offerings and regularly leads talent management strategy workshops for Cornerstone’s clients around the world. He lives in Seattle with his husband David and cat Oliver.
Rayna Edwards is a principal consultant in Mercer’s Workforce Strategy & Analytics practice, where she specializes in DEI analytics, including pay equity analyses. She will address 1) The importance of understanding how the employee experience differs by race and gender. 2) (for business/HR leaders) How to pull meaningful insights from data that is typically housed in a company’s HRIS system. 3) (for business/HR leaders) The importance of a statistically rigorous pay equity analysis in closing pay gaps.
Andrea J. Simon, Ph.D. is an international leader in corporate anthropology and CEO of Simon Associates. She is an Axiom 2017 Best Business Book author of On the Brink: A fresh lens to take your business to new heights, and author of the new book, Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business. Dr. Simon discusses corporate culture and changes needed to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
Dr. Tana M Session is an organizational development strategist, international speaker, and media contributor. Dr. Session changes lives at work through transformative Inclusion, Diversity & Multigenerational workforce strategies . She is the CEO and Founder of From Foster Care to Fabulous Foundation.
Christopher. Lafayette is an Emergent Technologist in medtech, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, climate and applied sciences. He is a Silicon Valley national and international speaker, Thought Leader and Culture & Inclusion Advocate. He is the Founder of Black Technology Mentorship Program (BTMP)