Market Insights: Diversity - Flex Your Power

Thursday, April 18, 2019
5:30 PM 8:30 PM 17:30 20:30

Wunderman Thompson 414 Olive Way Seattle, WA, 98101 United States (map)

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From Hollywood to the neighborhood, creators from underrepresented backgrounds are making big waves by doing their own thing.

We’ve brought together a few of Seattle’s own amazingly creative and diverse minds who’ve chosen their own path—and have plenty of wisdom to share.

They’ll show what’s possible when you’re done waiting for permission; when you’ve got the skills and the conviction to use them; when you reach from within to flex your power.

Beer, wine, and light eats included!
Lavendar Cocktail provided by Hand Crank Films

The Talent

Featured

Aparna Rae

Co-Founder
Future For Us, Moving Beyond

Aparna Rae is the Co-Founder of a strategy and evaluation practice, Moving Beyond, with Jane Reisman that supports fund managers, wealth advisors, impact-investors, philanthropists, and other social innovators creating positive impact for people and the planet. Her background is in K-12 education and workforce development, advancing under-resourced students/communities, as well as lecturing at the University of British Columbia. Since 2013 Aparna has launched a number of initiatives, including Project Feast, placing immigrant and refugee women on a path to employment, and Firki, a nationwide teacher training portal in India.

Aparna works at the intersection of D&I and organizational design. In January 2019, Aparna launched Future for Us, a platform to advance women of color at work. She has been a presenter on the intersection of diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) with program design and evaluation at The American Evaluation Association, SOCAP, as well a number of Greater Seattle Area organizations, including Equal Pay Today, Equal Rights Advocates, Ladies Get Paid, WASBA, Legal Fund of Washington, Seattle University and more.

Having lived and worked in six countries, Aparna brings a diversity lens to all her work.

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Kirk Mead

Principal, Founder
The Carrington Group

Founder and Principal of The Carrington Group, a consultancy specializing in organizational development and strategy including strategic planning, training facilitation, capacity building, policy development, asset mapping, community environmental scans.

Karen Okonkwo

Co-Founder
TONL

Karen Okonkwo is a first generation Nigerian-American entrepreneur owning several businesses in the online sector. Her latest business venture, TONL, is a stock photography business that aims to provide diverse images of people all around the world while also trying to tell their stories. Karen considers herself a social entrepreneur and has made it her mission to empower her community. She has been honored for her great work and was recently awarded to Inc's 30 Under 30 List. She has been featured in Forbes, POPSUGAR, Adweek and more. Her expertise centers around business development, marketing and event planning. Community and philanthropy is what drives Karen. She believes that representation matters and has visited companies and conferences like REI, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Women In Digital, University of Washington and more to speak on the importance of diversity & inclusion on and offline.

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Kim Flanery-Rye

Principal Consultant & Founder
MyKimisms

Entrepreneurial in spirit, creatively minded and service at heart, Kim is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience with a diverse background in art, design, communication, training, digital marketing, brand strategy, executive leadership, design thinking and organizational development specifically focused on diversity, inclusion, and culture. Kim believes a company’s culture is the heart and soul of the organization. Without a thoughtful and purposeful strategy to feed a culture that includes diversity, equity, and inclusion, it will take on a life of its own without your intent or approval. Her entrepreneurial spirit, creative mind, and service heart continue to bring positive changes and support the organizations around her. In addition, Kim is a fierce advocate for the community, spends her time volunteering and donating to many organizations, large and small. Above all, Kim is someone who absolutely loves a creative mind, an artistic eye and a wicked sense of style…in whatever form.

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Ahmad Corner

Founder
YPGroup

Ahmad Corner is the Founder of YPGroup, a corporate growth agency and parent company of multiple professional development organizations; founder and President at Young Professionals of Seattle; Director of BizDev at Seattle Startup Week; Founder of ProDev Seattle, a professional development platform; Advisory Board at Future for Us and Intentionalist; and a mentor in the Seattle startup community, often donating his time to help champion the growth of the local startup ecosystem.

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