Social justice issues have everything to do with the environment, environmental justice advocate Wanjiku ‘Wawa’ Gatheru told the PCMA Convening Leaders 2022 audience in Las Vegas, ‘and the environment has everything to do with me.’

Kimberly Lewis, board chair of clean energy nonprofit Groundswell, spoke with Convene about finding her calling, uplifting diverse communities into leadership roles, and making events people-centric.

Visit Baltimore President and CEO Al Hutchinson is grateful for the opportunities he has had in the travel and tourism business. At the same time, he’s seeking ways to make CVBs — and the communities they serve — more equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

The second edition of Uplifting Impact’s inclusion and allyship summit will be held virtually Oct. 4-6, with an emphasis on sparking joy.

Melissa Cherry has made a career out of telling destinations’ often overlooked stories of diverse communities. In her new role with Miles Partnership, she’s using her 25 years of tourism experience to help organizations make DEI part of every conversation.

After stumbling into association management, Mason turned barriers into opportunities and used her platform to elevate others who are underrepresented. She now leads ASAE as president and CEO.

As Visit Sacramento’s chief of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Sonya Bradley is applying her marketing and communications background at the bureau she has served for 19 years to social justice issues — locally and more broadly.

Earlier this year, Dzidra Junior left her long-term and high-level position at MGM Resorts International for a new role at the charitable nonprofit YMCA of the Rockies. She spoke with Convene about her time in the industry and her big career move.

PCMA Groundbreaker Ashlee Ammons, president and co-founder of event tech company Mixtroz, on how she and her mother found funding — and their way — in a white, male-dominated industry.

An HR services company found that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not anyone’s responsibility at 17 percent of nearly 400 companies it recently surveyed. PCMA EduCon Main Stage speaker Janet Stovall says it’s everyone’s responsibility — and business has the power to solve racial inequity.

Justice is key everywhere, but is especially important in the event industry, Tanya Gibson of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America told the EduCon 2021 audience.

President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday designating Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, a federal holiday. It marks the day when — as relayed in a story which author Clint Smith calls a “long-held myth” — a Union general stood on a balcony in Galveston, Texas, to publicly