Meet the faculty of the Exploring Whiteness laboratory.
Antoine Johnson (He, him) I am an African American, cisgendered, heterosexual man, living in Acworth, Georgia, USA
My foundation for understanding dimensions of diversity started with having the lived experience of having a marginalized group identity as an African American male raised in New York City, the most culturally diverse city in the US. I grew up with families and friends from all over the world, which fueled my interest in different cultures and understanding of different perspectives.
My work as an Organization Development Consultant, Trainer, and Coach for nearly 20 years has helped me understand and accept my identity and sharpened my Use of Self as I worked with both covert and overt Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues across several industries. I have learned that I am naturally gifted with compassionate empathy. Over the years I have become very skillful in using this natural gift to navigate differences, connect with people, help them feel at ease, and create psychologically safe environments to help explore differences and belonging.
The last five years has been fueled by more intentional pursuit of DEI Consulting and facilitation expertise. I have consulted on anti-racism and equity projects with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Baltimore Ethical Society, Albright College, Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, The Nature Conservancy, among others.
I led a Call to Action for Racial Injustice in NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Sciences in 2020 - Led NTL members in developing 5 unique workshops in response to tragic Racial Events of Spring 2020.
I am a certified and practicing Executive Coach for over 16 years. I have been an internal Executive Coach and mentor for organizations such as Clorox, Boeing, and Americold. In my own practice Johnson TOD Group LLC, a large part of my practice is in the DEI space working with leaders navigating building more inclusive cultures and coaching high potential leaders from underrepresented groups at companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Warner Media, IBM, The Federal Reserve Bank, Snap Inc, Slack, Deloitte, Accenture, VMWare, among others.
I am the Founder and facilitator of EmpowerMen Groups which provides a supportive environment for Men to work on challenges and goals to support them and their families. Additionally, I am a member and mentor with 100 Black Men and a Scoutmaster in Boy Scouts of America.
In terms of education, I recently completed the Executive Certificate in Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management from Georgetown University in February 2021 to remain current in the ever-evolving DEIB field. Which builds upon my MS in Organization Development from the American University/NTL Program, BS in Management from St. John's University, and Coaching Certification from The Executive Coaching Academy. I am also certified in Gestalt Organization & Systems Development, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Denison Cultural Survey, Hogan Assessments, DDI Facilitator, amongst others.
View my LinkedIn profile here
Julian Walker (she/her) I am a white British woman, living in Leicester. I moved here the year that Leicester City won the English Premier League - an achievement that fills me with vicarious pride and pleasure.
The BLM resurgence in Summer 2020, and its reverberations in UK public sector and third sector organisations, enabled me to turn a decade-long passion for anti-racism and critical examination of whiteness, into professional practice as an associate of equality and human rights charity brap. I have more recently been working as an associate of HR-rewired
This work feeds my soul and requires that I bring all of myself, drawing on every aspect of my life experience and learning:
• as a UK Home Office and Cabinet Office senior civil servant, developing expertise in public policy and private cynicism, and the weak links between leaders' desires and systemic change, even when those leaders have a panoply of State power to draw upon.
• As a governance consultant in Afghanistan, Libya, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tunisia and Turkey, I benefitted personally and professionally from the global reach of white privilege and the long after-effects of colonialism. I learned experientially that in situations of unequal power, 'help' tends to come in a form that allows the helper to feel better about themselves more often than it helps the 'helped'.
• As Barnardo's Director of Policy and Research from 2006 to 2010, I led an organizational race equality and diversity programme and was given Peggy McIntosh's invisible knapsack of white privilege by one of my team. This began both my interrogation of whiteness, privilege and power, and my indebtedness to women of colour whose generosity and brilliance, emotional and intellectual labour, has supported my own development and practice.
I'm a graduate of both the NTL OD certificate programme (2012) and the iGOLD Gestalt OD and leadership programme (2018).
View my LinkedIn profile here