2020 RACIAL EQUITY FORUM LEADERS AND CHANGEMAKERS COMING TOGETHER FOR COLLECTIVE CONVERSATION AND ACTION

By: NaTyshca Pickett

Certified Coach and CEO of inviteCHANGE, a success-culture building coaching organization for companies, Janet Harvey has trained leaders at Fortune 500 companies, across 6 continents, for nearly 25 years. An early adopter for creating a coach-centered workplace, Harvey has worked with global organizations and teams of leaders to establish a generative, resilient, and high-performance culture through a coaching approach. Through Harvey’s coaching, these teams gained new methods for leading and managing success. Harvey is also an ICF Global Past President, Certified Mentor Coach, and Accredited Coaching Supervisor.

Elevation Strategist Zakiya Larry, elevates brands, self-awareness, and influence through coaching for media or public speaking mastery, crisis mitigation and strategic public relations. Larry’s media features as an expert include: O, The Oprah Magazine (.com,) FOX News Radio Network, A trained journalist, Larry is the CEO of Quest Media Training, a strategic communications firm. She and her team teach entrepreneurs or executives and their teams how to find ‘Your Core,’ how to Master the Media, as well how to elevate their business above a crisis. Larry also leads campaigns to pivot and create relevant messaging in response to crises and social unrest.

Harvey and Larry are the Co-creators of the 2020 Racial Equity Forum. The 2020 Racial Equity Forum, is a segment of the 2020 Global Leaders Conference, provides space for relevant and substantial thought-leadership to discover solutions and committed action to generate ongoing equity building in the United States in a post-pandemic society. “I have been thinking about this for more than a decade. It starts with understanding that there is a common foundation of inequity in our society,” Harvey stated.

The Virtual 2020 Global Leaders Conference is a three-day event, happening September 9 - 11, 2020. It brings together business leaders, non-profit organizations, Fortune 500 executives and change makers around the globe, to discuss issues concerning climate emergency, healthy communities, racial equity, and human trafficking. Some of the panelist for the Racial Equity Forum include, Dr. Yusef Salaam, Social Justice Activist and One of the Exonerated Five, Dr. Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism”, and Ron Busby Sr, President/CED of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. "What makes the Racial Equity Forum unique is it's bringing together leaders and coaches who have been shaping mindsets of clients in Fortune 500 companies for decades. Also, it’s bringing together people who are cross cultural, it’s inclusive and it’s focused on moving individuals inside of these industries to action,” Larry stated. With the world in the state of crisis, this conference provides a sense of hope of change and moving in the right direction.

When asked what one can gain by attending this conference, Harvey stated, “what it does is move us from courageous conversations into meaningful new choices, new decision, new actions." Larry added, “another thing you will experience and can expect is a level setting of minds. People are confused, exhausted and experiencing unrest. We’re creating openness and healthy dialogue, but not for the sake of conversation, this is to bring about serious change and set the steps to take action for that change to occur."

When discussing the mix of speakers for the forum, Larry stated, “having black and white voices is a positive things because it’s the breathing example of having conversations with each other, instead of saying we need to change, we are coming together as a collective voice and created solutions to the change.” Larry added, “it’s an awakening for all of us, we are living out the work and we are encouraging others.”

To become apart of the Racial Equity Forum, you can go to racialequityforum.com for more information and to be apart of the forum. You can also go to https://www.invitechange.com/be-choose-cause/ for the Global Leaders Conference to connect and become a part of the community.