Motivated by her passion to correct societal “isms” like racism, sexism, classism and plain old stupidism, it is Risha Grant’s personal mission to expose the subtleties and values of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion while shining a light on the impacts they create.
Founder & CEO of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning diversity consulting, communications and speaking firm, as well as an edgy, educational and motivational speaker, author Risha Grant uses honest, humorous, and vulnerable storytelling to motivate audiences to embrace the inner tough work of Radical Acceptance while honoring diversity, equity, and inclusion without evoking feelings of judgement or assigning blame.
These audiences have included Google, Levi Strauss, Nestle Purina, Xerox, YouTube, Procter & Gamble, Discover Card Financial Services, Samsung Electronics America, U.S. Airforce, U.S. Navy, Intuit, and Harvard University, to name a few.
She’s been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, HR News, The Financial Times, Glamour magazine UK, Bloomberg Media, and Black Enterprise among others.
Risha has received numerous honors such as being named one of the Top 10 Most Powerful Women Leaders in HR by PeopleHum in 2021, 40 Top Women Keynote Speakers by Real Leaders, the NBA OKC Thunder Changemaker Award in 2020 among others.
Whether implicit or conscious, bias is the number one threat to humanity and any company’s success. If your company’s goal is to create cohesiveness within your organization, increase revenue, be innovative and elevate your reputation-the bias in your workforce and community is a roadblock. You know the problem. Getting Rid of the BS is your answer.
Throughout this session, Diversity & Inclusion speaker Risha Grant allows attendees to express their biases, while giving them easily applicable tools to get over them, however screwed up they may be. Although diversity can often be an uncomfortable topic, Risha’s approach helps attendees to understand the concept, without feeling bored, judged or blamed.
Attendees will leave this keynote understanding:
● Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
● A thorough awareness of biases
● A realization of how biases originated
● A recognition of the symptoms and results of bias
● Tools to address bias internally and externally
● Benefits of Building a Culture of Inclusion
● The stuff she thinks is important (that you should write down) as you establish your inclusive culture
“We just completed her session and it was the most well received of our 3 keynotes, in my opinion. She knocked it out the park. Or, to use a basketball reference, she was draining 3’s all speech long.
She did a fabulous job. I truly appreciated her story-telling and transparency. It allowed our team members to connect with her.”
We loved having Risha as our Keynote Speaker for our 2020 Professionals of Color Conference. This year came with a lot of challenges, but Risha and her team made going virtual smooth. Risha’s content challenged the cultural norms and we appreciated her openly speaking her truth and experiences.”
“Nestle Purina’s Women Leaders Forum invited Risha Grant to lead a (virtual) presentation to our members in August 2020. Risha’s presentation, Authenticity is Everything, was a candid discussion on how to identify and get rid of our biases so that we can show up as our authentic selves. The feedback from this discussion was overwhelming! Our members appreciated the safe space for discussion, asked thought-provoking questions that Risha answered truthfully, and walked away with tools on how to examine and overcome their own biases. Risha has such a dynamic personality that was felt even through the virtual environment (although I bet seeing her in person is even better!) and a disarming manner that made it easy for us to engage with her. If you’re looking for an energetic, no BS speaker to engage your organization on some tough topics, hire Risha.”
“D&I is hard work because we humans are complicated. The bottom line is, when you need an extraordinary facilitator–who is clear-eyed, compassionate, and unafraid to work on implicit bias—call Risha. She steered the conversation to illustrate the unacknowledged, unaware white privilege that was underneath many of the exchanges among the participants, yet always created an environment of safety. Risha is uniquely equipped to lead your people forward into better territory where everybody wins.”
“Risha Grant did an amazing job at our virtual leader offsite. She provided an entertaining, compelling and informative discussion on the power of Diversity and Inclusion. Risha left us with many tools and provocations in our own journey to be better stewards of Diversity and Inclusion. I highly recommend Risha as a speaker. Thanks to Risha for providing the highlight of our session!”
“I want to say a HUGE thank you to our bureau team and to Risha Grant. Risha’s talk was so impactful and we have received tons of positive feedback from our team. Risha was warm, engaging, and honest with our group. She wasn’t afraid to address many of the challenging topics facing our nation’s businesses and our social groups when it comes to diversity, equity & inclusion. Risha was genuine and relatable to our fully distributed team across 41 states. I highly recommend booking Risha for a virtual keynote. She truly is such a gift and we are grateful for the opportunity to have her speak with our team.”
“Risha provided an excellent presentation that had record attendance – with some of the highest evaluations ever.
Risha’s presentation teed up a critical conversation for our membership, one that we plan on continuing. Thank you for helping make it a success.”
“I just want to take the time to sincerely thank you for everything.
This entire process has been seamless, starting with our bureau agent introducing me to Risha, to Risha’s team assisting with the facilitation, to Risha’s incredible presentation. Our employees have already expressed such incredible feedback and appreciation for Risha’s session, and that means so much to us as an organization. Again, THANK YOU all for the part you have played in ensuring we had a successful event.”
“The American Staffing Association was thrilled to have Risha Grant as a break-out presenter at Staffing World 2019 and she knocked it out of the park! Attendees shared that Risha was energetic and her content was thought provoking. Her engaging storytelling talent and expertise in D&I will bring great value to any adult learner forum. She prepared well for our audience and delivered and provoked as promised! It was a pleasure working with Shannyn and Risha.”
“Risha’s presentation was absolutely amazing and insightful. She captivated the audience and challenged us as HR Professionals to look at what diversity and inclusion really means. We truly appreciate her extraordinary and heartfelt impactful message. Keep up the great work!”
“Risha Grant will bring an energetic discussion of diversity that will make your organization think beyond the obvious. Risha’s superb storytelling abilities keep listeners’ attention from beginning to end.”
“Risha was wonderful today! She received a standing ovation and was the perfect speaker to wrap up our conference!”
“We recently had Risha Grant at our 2019 NICA Conference in Sun Valley; we brought Risha as part of our DEI initiative. That sounds like “checking a box.” Far from it. Risha exceeded our expectations and was remarkable, relevant and thought-provoking in her ability to move our initiative from concept to personal transformation with humor along the way. Risha’s warm and real approach touched our audience by connecting her experience, tools, insight, and inspiration into the hearts of our audience for an ultimate change, impact, and influence. Bravo to Risha.”
“Risha did a fabulous job reminding us that everyone needs “to be the change” in understanding diversity and inclusion in order to affect a long-term, organizational cultural change. She reminded us the starting point is for people is to “unpack your boxes” and look at how they deal with bias. She provided us with a great introduction to a very important issue that requires our attention. I highly recommend her to any business or district looking to have someone who genuinely connects with her audience and knows how to read a community.”
“We recently had Risha speak at our annual Women’s Leadership Forum and she was phenomenal! She kept attendees engaged, challenging others to confront their own biases while also sharing her own raw and personal experience and biases. She was authentic in every aspect of the word and a true pleasure to work with!”
“She spoke to over 90 attendees for 10 different Samsung Companies across the USA and Canada. She was inspiring, funny and brutally honest. I really appreciated her ability to tell a story, willingness to share her personal experiences and insight. She was professional and personable.”
“We had Risha Grant in for our International event in Belfast and she was phenomenal. Risha absolutely crushed it, she is amazing, and had incredible impact. Thank you so much!!!”
“Risha Grant is a dynamic and very effective speaker. Her ability to demonstrate the value of Diversity & Inclusion, while providing individuals the opportunity to recognize and examine their own personal beliefs and behaviors, allows her message to truly resonate and live beyond her presentation.”
“Risha’s approach to diversity and expert advice impressed me to say the least. She is articulate, smart and provided a practical approach to improve diversity and easily applicable resources to achieve success.”
“Risha Grant is tenacious in her approach to define and explain diversity from her audience’s point of view. She is the most engaging and interesting speaker with a style of her own that will provoke audiences into learning without being aware.”
