Allyship /verb/
Allyship is the lifelong process in which people with privilege and power work to develop empathy and build relationships on trust, consistency, and accountability with individuals or a group of people within marginalized communities. The goal of allyship is to create a culture in which the marginalized group feels valued, supported, and heard. Being an ally is not a label -- it is action.
On Tuesday, June 30th at 10 am PST, FitPros is hosting a complimentary panel discussion on The Road to Allyship. During this 60-minute session attendees will learn how to approach difficult conversations and embrace being uncomfortable when discussing race and racial inequalities.
In the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Aubrey, and the recent death of Rashard Brooks, FitPros has vowed to use our platform to elevate voices within the Black Community and provide continuous resources for our network so that they can best support their black employees, provide education for non-black staff, and directly address challenges of racism and inequity in the workplace. Join us as our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion experts share their life’s work and lived experiences, helping us all on our journey to develop a culture that promotes listening, speaking up, and taking responsibility to build teams based on trust and cooperation.
Please register for the event HERE and share it with your teams and colleagues. This event is complimentary, open to the public, and will be recorded for expanded reach.
Meet the Panelists:
LeRon Barton
LeRon L. Barton is a writer from Kansas City, Missouri currently living in San Francisco, CA. A graduate of Paseo Academy of Fine Arts, LeRon is the author of two books, Straight Dope: A 360 degree look into American Drug Culture and All We Really Need Is Love: Stories of Dating, Relationships, Heartbreak, and Marriage. In addition to his books, LeRon is an essayist whose topics cover racism, mass incarceration, politics, gender, and dating. These works have appeared in Black Enterprise, Salon, The Good Men Project, Your Tango, Media Diversity, Raconteur, Elephant Journal, East Bay Times, and MoAD. LeRon has given multiple talks and appeared on TEDx, Al Jazeera, the University of San Francisco, Speakers Who Dare, Glide Memorial Church, Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, and Defy Ventures. In his spare time, LeRon enjoys mentoring African-American youth, teaching Creative Writing at the San Francisco County Jail, and backpacking around the world.
Seema Daryanai
Seema brings her commitment to inclusion and belonging to both her professional and volunteer work. She has a demonstrated passion for helping people and teams identify both professional and personal roadblocks and unconscious biases, rewire patterns, and strengthen relationships. She is currently a diversity, inclusion, and belonging leader at Anaplan, forming diversity alliances and partnerships, focusing on training to help foster a culture of belonging and leading the women’s interest network. Prior to Anaplan, she did a tour of civic duty with U.S. Digital Service, a start-up created by the Obama administration that hires technical talent from Silicon Valley to modernize government technology. Seema's long-term commitment to equity and inclusion extends far beyond her professional life. She's been actively involved fighting against human trafficking with International Sanctuary as an ambassador and Executive Board member over the past decade. Seema also serves on the advisory board of Model Expand, a D&I strategy firm focused on employer branding and talent acquisition, as well as on the Equity and Inclusion Strategy Committee at Katherine Delmar Burke School, a gender-inclusive school for girls.
Rajkumari Neogy
Rajkumari Neogy is an epigenetic coach and executive consultant focused on the intersection of neurobiology, culture, and empathy in today’s business world. Possessing a rare blend of scientific prowess and emotion, Neogy believes that passionate self-reflection coupled with dedicated curiosity defines true leadership. Specializing in the technology sector, Neogy has worked with high-powered, worldwide organizations for more than two decades, training leaders at Google, Facebook, Adobe, Indeed, Slack, Salesforce, and numerous others. She holds a master’s degree in Transformative Leadership Development from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is the author of “The WIT Factor: Shifting the Workplace Paradigm by Becoming Your Optimal Self.” Neogy is based in San Francisco.
Cava Menzies
Cava Menzies is a multidisciplinary musician, visual artist, and educator who resides in Oakland, California. She holds a BA from the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she studied jazz piano and music education. She received her MM from the University of Miami where she studied composition and music production and recording. Cava is a founding music faculty member at the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) and served as the Artistic Director of the school from 2015 – 2018. Through her cumulative work at OSA, Cava has led four concert tours to Italy, Puerto Rico, and New Orleans and has taught over 2000 young musicians from Oakland. Additionally, Cava served as OSA's Diversity and Equity Coordinator from 2018 -2020 and helped found the Step It Up program at OSA which creates free arts training classes for marginalized 4th and 5th graders in Title 1 schools in Oakland. She is the founder of the brand, COLORQUEEN, a multidisciplinary platform that highlights her integrated visual art, music, and travel work.
If you are interested in having any of these speakers host a live talk for your employees please email your Wellbeing Manager or email Hello@fitpros.com for more information. Make sure you check our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Page for up to date services.