AWWEE was established to advance equity and inclusion for our members and in the industries we serve at large. At the 2017 Conference Desiree Adaway, our keynote speaker, presented a compelling talk on diversity and bias. She had attendees thinking deeply about their own professional and personal networks and experiences, and their own roles in cultivating more diverse and inclusive organizations.
Since then, we’ve heard directly from the AWWEE community about their experiences with discrimination at work. In response, we’ve invited members who are leading diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within their organizations and communities to share about their experiences, the lessons they learned, and offer resources and recommendations for how individuals and organizations can lead and support the transformation to more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations and industries.
As a crucial next step, this event will help attendees recognize how power dynamics operate within their organizations, assess the impact of actions, and empower them to be upstanders for women and other marginalized groups within their organizations. A culture of care requires us to name and interrupt harm when it’s happening. To understand and curtail microaggressions and tone policing, we must center the impact of interactions, not the intent. A culture of care requires learning, sacrifice, reciprocity, and repair.
In this two-hour virtual workshop, we’ll focus on concepts and skills needed to support and build authentic relationships with your colleagues across race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and all the other ways in which we differ. Learn how to break free from the niceties and name the ways that perfectionism, urgency, burnout, and defensiveness block you from interrupting patterns of harm. We’ll also discuss the important role of leaders to foster brave environments where these culture-changing conversations can take place.
About Our Speaker
Desiree Adaway: She/Her, Principal of The Adaway Group
Desiree Adaway is a consultant, trainer, coach and speaker building resilient, equitable, and inclusive organizations. Desiree is the person who says the thing, who runs towards difficult conversations. She is an expert at teaching others how to handle complex, charged conversations (particularly around identity and power) with grace, assertiveness, and transparency.
Desiree has over 20 years of experience creating, leading and managing international, multicultural teams through major organizational changes in over 40 countries. She has crafted and administered partnerships that have secured over $10.5 million in funding from a variety of private and corporate resources.
As the Senior Director of Mobilization for Habitat for Humanity, she was responsible for planning the strategy and training for hundreds of membership organizations, totaling more than 50,000 members. She was responsible for the overall strategy and DEI plans for 1,600 US affiliates and one million volunteers globally.
From this experience, Desiree knows that if you want to create lasting change in the world you can’t expect to get something better if you’re doing the things you’ve always done.
Select Client List: Intuit, Facebook, Mansueto (Fast Company and Inc.), Rocky Mountain Institute, KIPP Foundation, Google, Omidyar Network, TransAfrica, Rotary International, United, Gray TV, National Park Service, Dogwood Alliance, American Jewish World Service, Reos Partners, Amy Mandel & Katina Rodis Fund, East Fork Pottery, Opportunity International, Global Health Strategies
Special Thanks to Our 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program Sponsor
Registration
Active AWWEE members have priority registration access to this special event. Any remaining spaces will open for non-member registration on Monday, February 28 for a fee.