Deborah V. Pagnotta
Founder & CEO of Interfacet Inc.
Deborah V. Pagnotta, J.D. The child of two tough Bronx parents, Deb grew up in Ghana and Switzerland. A graduate of Brandeis University, she received her law degree from the University of California in 1981. She served first in the public sector, as Regional Director for the Westchester Office for the NYS Attorney General’s Office, and then Director of Legal Affairs for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Moving to the private sector in 1995, she joined Kirkpatrick & Silverberg LLP, focusing on sexual harassment and discrimination.
In 1999, she founded Interfacet Inc., a consultancy to provide training, fact-finding and mediation on harassment, diversity and workplace-based conflict. A great believer in the intelligent use of emerging technologies to support better communication across divides, in 2011 she developed diversityDNA®, a web-based app which allows users to explore their own internal communication rules and compare with others, to connect more effectively.
Deb discovered the extraordinary power of true storytelling as a communications instructor at Iona College and Norwalk Community College (2009-2016). To help her students make friends, feel included, and improve presentations, she taught them all storytelling skills – her hundreds of students bloomed and connected across perceived barriers, outside of their “groups”, making friendships which last through today. At Iona, she founded and ran the wildly successful Student Story Slam for 6 semesters, receiving a teaching award for her efforts (2013). She also received faculty teaching awards from Norwalk Community College (2015) and the Connecticut Board of Regents (2016), for her innovative and inclusive use of storytelling.
From 2016 through 2020, she served as VP, Human Resources, and General Counsel for Mulligan Security in Manhattan (where she heard numerous stories).
Presently, she is developing ULUstory™, an enterprise app to help employees tell their true stories at work to support inclusion and community.
Takes part in
May, 20 12:30 PM CEST
DEI Solution Stage
Online Expo
Storytelling at Work: the Secret Sauce to Create Inclusion and Connection
Speakers
Deborah V. Pagnotta Founder & CEO of Interfacet Inc.
Deborah V. Pagnotta