Cornell Verdeja-WoodsonCornell Verdeja-Woodson

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Headspace, Founder & CEO at Brave Trainings

Headspace
Cornell Verdeja-Woodson is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Headspace. Prior, he led DEI at Google and Looker. Cornell has been leading and consulting in the DEI space for 13 years. In 2015, he founded Brave Trainings, a boutique diversity consulting firm. Cornell works with clients across various industries to assess their culture, engage in authentic dialogue about inequity, and embed equity into every part of the business.


Takes part in

May, 21 4:00 PM CEST
DEI Solution Stage
Panel Discussion

An Intersectional Approach to Addressing All Inequalities in one DEI Strategy

The term intersectionality is becoming more common in discussions of DEI. Still, many employers aren’t sure what it means—or why it matters in their workplace.

Many HR and diversity professionals tend to focus on one type of discrimination at a time. But humans themselves aren’t one-dimensional. For instance, Black women earn substantially less on average than their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts for doing the same jobs. And the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than twice the rate for people without disabilities. For a worker who is a Black woman with a disability, these two issues are compounded.

If corporate inclusion efforts don’t prioritize intersectionality, they risk being counterproductive—and can potentially even be harmful.

So how to build an intersectional DEI strategy with true belonging, empathy and inclusion in a company?

Our speakers will examine the following topics in this panel:

  • How to boost awareness of intersectionality among DEI and HR officers across the company
  • How a holistic approach can provide greater support for all employees
  • The power of Allyship programs in fostering a culture of belonging
Speakers
Cornell Verdeja-Woodson Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Headspace, Founder & CEO at Brave Trainings
Mx. Pips Bunce Head of Global Markets Technology Strategic Programs at Credit Suisse
Lydia Smith Diversity & Inclusion expert
Susi Collins Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (ID&E) Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
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