Ascent: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Paulette Brown
During her time as ABA president, Brown was responsible for several diversity initiatives. She has been commended for her efforts to increase diversity and inclusion and is an acclaimed speaker and educator on the subject. Brown has been honored by U.S. News as one of the Best Lawyers in America.
Zontee Hou
A communications and marketing expert, Hou is the winner of multiple awards, including the PR News Platinum Awards and a Forrester Groundswell Award. Hou advises major organizations including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and Oracle Marketing Cloud on how to build a unique marketing strategy. She also teaches graduate students at Columbia University and the City College of New York.
Laurel Bellows
Managing principal of the Bellows Law Group, Bellows has spoken and written extensively about the pervasiveness of human trafficking in the United States and abroad. As an advocate for the professional advancement of women in the workplace, she also speaks about the ways in which personal power can help people succeed.
Dorri McWhorter
McWhorter heads YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, an organization dedicated to empowering marginalized communities. She’s a former partner at Crowe Horwath, one of the largest public accounting consulting and technology firms in the U.S. McWhorter’s passion for civic duty and her business background have made her an ideal leader of a 140-year-old institution as it transitions to a market-driven, sustainable business model for the 21st century.
Bridget Brennan
Brennan heads Female Factor, a consulting firm that helps companies market and sell to women. She’s also the author of the best-selling book Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World’s Most Powerful Consumers. As one of the world’s foremost experts on female consumers, Brennan is a frequent guest lecturer at business schools and major companies around the world.
Rachel Godsil
Director of research and cofounder of the Perception Institute, Godsil regularly conducts workshops on the role of implicit bias, racial anxiety, and stereotype threat in key fields, such as education, criminal justice, and health care.
Denise Lee Yohn
Yohn is a go-to expert on brand leadership for national media outlets, an in-demand speaker and consultant, and a writer.
Bernadette Smith
Smith is the founder and president of the Equality Institute, which allows businesses to serve their LGBTQ customers and colleagues more effectively through unconscious-bias training.
Samantha Ettus
An inspirational work/life expert and entrepreneur, Ettus aims to motivate women to achieve their greatest potential. She is the best-selling author of five books including The Pie Life: A Guilt-Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction and makes frequent TV appearances.
Kristy Tillman
A former designer at IDEO, Tillman is known for looking for ways to push design and integrate best design practices across digital and print.
Leigh Stringer
A workplace strategy expert and researcher, Stringer works for EYP, an architecture, engineering, and building technology firm. She is the author of two bestselling books including The Healthy Workplace: How to Improve the Well-Being of Your Employees — and Boost Your Company’s Bottom Line.
Clara Shih
A former Microsoft engineer, Shih worked at Google and Salesforce.com before developing the first social-business application for Facebook, called Faceforce. Hearsay Social is an enterprise social-marketing tool used by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Allstate, among others. She’s a frequent keynote speaker on the topic of social media.