Crafting Inclusive Excellence:
Real World Strategies for Social Justice and
Racial Equity
The world is changing, so will you change with it or will you be left behind?
As a leader in the 21st Century…
To be a higher education or corporate leader in any aspect, you need adaptability, the key knowledge to navigate diversity, and skills for how to enact equity and inclusion in your sphere of influence
Adaptability and skillfully meeting needs in a fast-changing world are actually going to keep you in the driver's seat going forward.
As an organization navigating a constantly changing world…
Knowing how to create an environment that fosters innovation will make or break your company. When you know how to craft policies to reduce stressors and increase psychological safety, your teams can thrive, increasing productivity and putting you in the lead.
It goes beyond wanting or knowing you need to change. You need strategic implementation plans on small and large scales, which is where Sumi comes in.
As an educational institution shaping future generations…
Keeping people engaged has gotten more difficult than ever – especially when you have a great idea for students and staff, but budgets and legislative challenges slow you down.
You need to know how to navigate resistance, measure impact, ensure true inclusivity, be cognizant of legalities, and allocate resources effectively to create true change (and changemakers!).
Excellence and equity don’t have to be in conflict.
Create agents of change.
Inspire their highest potential.
Experience true innovation.
Dr. Sumun Pendakur creates customized strategic thought partnerships, trainings, talks, and think tanks for individuals, organizations, or higher educational institutions in racial equity and social justice realms – often falling into one of the following categories.
Keynote Speaker
Drawing from her journey as an activist-educator, as a seasoned inclusion executive and leader, as a mother, and as a cancer survivor, Sumi's keynotes inspire profound reflection and action, setting the stage for organizations, companies, and higher education institutions to embark on their unique paths to inclusive excellence.
Organizational Design & Culture Strategist
From document and policy reviews to equity audits, external reviews to focus groups, Sumi has extensive experience working with organizations on internal culture and policy work. Sumi specializes in helping organizations reshape culture prior to leadership changes and/or build skills to advance Inclusion work.
Trainer & Facilitator
Enacting inclusion and belonging, or any kind of positive change inside an organization, can feel overwhelming if you don’t have the right tools or systems to move your group forward.
Sumi leads interactive, professional development trainings for teams and companies centered in curiosity, cultural humility, unraveling the intricacies of bias, dismantling barriers to success for all, and effective allyship.
Executive Coach
Sumi specializes in blending whole-person approaches with strategic guidance, rooted in two decades of practitioner experience. She will partner with you and support you in your goal of leading with authenticity and courage, while also creating space for you to bring the complexity of your whole self into the container you create together.
Strategic Thought Partnership
Sumi serves as a sounding board and strategic guide, coaching you through changing management landscapes, tricky situations, and how to truly lead change.
Her personalized approach, fueled by energy, empathy, and intellect, ensures a tailored strategy that navigates complexities, breaks down barriers, and constructs high impact systems aligned precisely with your unique goals
and vision.
Each experience is tailored to you or your organization's specific needs to create lasting change in your respective spheres of influence.
THE MISSION
We don’t need to go along to get along – and we have more agency than we think.
It's easy to get overwhelmed with all the change that needs to happen. Organizations are often severely lacking the knowledge, tools, or momentum to enact sustainable change. But, in Sumi’s 20+ years of working on social justice and racial equity issues with individuals, organizations, and companies, she's seen firsthand how to bring change to life.
In her work, she prepares people and organizations with the skills, tools, and models to enact change to culture to create greater belonging, empowered individuals, and better work products that actually change how we live – recentering the baseline from which we build from.
Instead of our baselines continually resting on historic patterns of exclusion and marginalization, Sumi shifts the way we use data to make decisions and recreate foundations that include everyone for better outcomes - where everyone is seen, celebrated, and utilized to their fullest potential.
We all have some kind of power – and when we choose not to shut our eyes to what’s happening and truly embrace our power, we change the world.
CORPORATE AND NON-PROFIT CLIENTS
ASSOCIATION CLIENTS & SPEAKING EVENTS
HIGHER EDUCATION & SPEAKING EVENTS
