National Inclusion Week Speakers
Founded by Inclusive Employers, National Inclusion Week will run from the 26th of September to the 2nd of October 2022. The week is designed to celebrate inclusion and promote inclusive workplaces. Now in its 10th year, its theme this year is “Time to Act: The Power of Now”.
If you are planning an event to mark that week, these are a few suggestions of speakers we would recommend.
Anne Wafula Strike, MBE, is an inspirational and motivational speaker who draws on her own life experiences and achievements to inspire her audiences. Anne was a fit and healthy child before polio struck when she was two years old. She was given the middle name of Olympia at birth, a title of prophetic significance for the future and prescient of hurdles she would face in forthcoming years.
2004 marked the beginning of an Olympic career when Anne became the first wheelchair racer from Sub-Sahara Africa to compete at the Paralympics in Athens. In 2006 Anne became a British citizen and joined Team GB and in 2007 she was officially recognised by the Queen at a Buckingham Palace reception for her work as a disabled athlete and for involvement in charity work for people with disabilities
In 2020, Anne was appointed as a Commonwealth special envoy Champion for Equality in Sports with a role to promote the Commonwealth’s values and principles around the world by connecting sporting initiatives and supporting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals relating to sport, peace, and development and improving equality in sport. She continues to advocate for an accessible and inclusive society.
Anj Handa is the Founder of Inspiring Women Changemakers, an inclusive community of changemakers who stand for fairness and safety for women. Named as one of Grant Thornton’s 100 Faces of a Vibrant Economy in 2018, described by i-news as ‘a bloody brilliant woman’ and winner of the AFSA Positive Action Award, Anj was recently recognised in Forbes as one of the ‘10 Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazers You Need to Get Familiar With’.
In her talks, Anj draws on her own experiences when speaking about diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership, covering little-explored themes such as psychological safety, emotional correctness, and healthy boundaries.
Jackie Handy is a leading keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion in business leadership. From selling antiques on her parent’s market stall as a 12-year-old, traveling the world working as a holiday rep in her early 20s to spending a 15-year career as a recruiter and senior leader, before moving to Learning and Development in 2011, her skills and knowledge are extremely varied!
In 2018, Jackie Handy made the brave decision to share her personal story of bullying and exclusion in her TEDx talk, ‘The exclusive nature of inclusion’. This became the catalyst for her to become a leading authority in diversity, equity, and inclusion in business leadership.
Through sharing her personal story, Jackie provides the audience with several core takeaways – including –
- Understanding why exclusion happens
- ‘Busting the myth’ on privilege
- Using inclusive language
- Knowing the true definition of inclusion
Matt Ellison is a highly sought-after, entertaining, and thought-provoking transgender speaker. His life experience as a trans man has fascinated and inspired audiences of all kinds in both private and public sectors in the U.K. and internationally. His insights on change, as someone who has made such a huge and fundamental change himself, apply to everyone in all areas of professional and personal life.
Matt Ellison speaks on a number of topics including –
- How diversity and inclusion can help your company thrive- from recruiting more highly skilled staff to increasing staff productivity and boosting staff retention
- Practical advice on how to be more inclusive, develop good practices, and put together company policies and procedures.
- How to be more dynamic with your diversity and inclusion policies and procedures, creating a higher degree of engagement, including with your non-LGBT staff
Winston Ben Clements is a culture specialist with an emphasis on Resilience and Diversity & Inclusion. His ultimate mission is to help 1 BILLION people to unleash their full human potential. Winston was predicted to live a life of isolation and pain due to a rare bone disorder known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). This condition caused his bones to be extremely fragile, suffering over 200 fractures in his lifetime.
One of his speaking topics includes
Diversity and Inclusion – Creating Inclusive Cultures
- Diversity for the sake of metrics will not cut it, inclusion and belonging are the way forward
- Business and ethical case for embracing diversity in an organisation
- Create safe spaces for people to express their uniqueness, creativity, and innovation
Shola Kaye MSc FRSA DTM is a communication specialist, award-winning international speaker, and author of two books. She speaks on Empathy in the workplace, Inclusive Leadership, and D&I.
She spent the first part of her career in IT consultancy in the U.S.A., consulting at household name investment banks, and in the U.K for global clients in aviation and finance. Her experiences as a black woman in the workplace, with insights gained from working in corporates on both sides of the Atlantic, led her to develop an interest in learning to create inclusive workplaces with open, supportive communication. One of her speaking topics include –
LEADERSHIP, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: inclusive leadership for the post-pandemic workplace. Equip your leaders with the skills and knowledge to combat bias and foster belonging
It’s 2021 and, more than a year after Covid hit, we know that many workplaces will never be the same again. That’s why leaders need an expanded repertoire of skills and know-how to ensure staff are engaged, happy, and productive. In this highly impactful programme, leaders are given the skill set to flourish in today’s complex work environments, managing ever more diverse and demanding teams.
If you are looking for a speaker for National Inclusion Week please do drop us a line on enquiries@scampspeakers.co.uk