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Allyship in Action
Allyship in Action episodes
- 217: How to be a Better Ally to People with Disabilities with Catarina Rivera
Catarina Rivera is a public speaker and DEI consultant with over 14 years of experience in the public sector. Catarina works with companies to improve accessibility and inclusion, retain employees, and design better products. She is the founder of Blindish Latina. On this episode, Julie and Catarina discuss:
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Why captions are critical to accessibility
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Non-obvious ways to be more inclusive
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Tropes to watch out for about inspiration or victim
Connect with her at https://www.catarinarivera.com/ and get her free e-book, watch her TedTalk and get tips in your inbox!
35 min -
- Bonus Episode: Celebrating LGBTQ+ as an Ally with Turquoise Peart
Celebrating the LGBTQ+ community needs to happen year-round. Turquoise Peart joins the podcast to share:
- How religious beliefs shape DEI work and how to respond to different spiritual perceptions
- Intersectionality and how it builds opportunities for allyship
- Finding your path as an ally to communities you are not a part of
Connect with Turquoise at https://www.linkedin.com/in/turquoisepeart/. Join our Pride program at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/julie-kratz-8595765091
28 min - 216: Gen Z is Shaping the Future of Diversity with Chris Clarke
For the last 15 years, Chris Clarke has provided inclusive leadership expertise to organizations in the public and private sectors. He is passionate about issues related to belonging and is skilled in the areas of organizational assessment and evaluation. Chris has been recognized twice as a 40 Under 40 by the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and Legacy Magainze South Florida. Chris has a Bachelor's degree in Educational Studies and Justice and Public Policy and a Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in nonprofit management. He recently completed his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Miami. On this episode, Julie and Chris discuss:
- Why young people will not retreat on the conversation about diversity
- How to ensure your organization is not performative with diversity
- A key question to ask about any DEI initiative - How do you know that works?
Connect with Chris at https://www.allenclarkeconsulting.com/.
32 min - 215: How to Have an Inclusive Conversation with Dr. Darian Parker
Dr. Parker is the Co-Owner of Epic Leisure Management LLC., the Owner of Parker Personal Training LLC., and the co-founder of a podcast host and guest connector platform, F.EM. Dr. Parker is a featured writer and presenter for national fitness organizations. Dr. Parker is also the host/creator of Dr. D's Social Network, a podcast devoted to genuine, open, and honest conversations with people from all over the world. He shares:
- When to use the tailing method of building off of what others are saying
- Why the words "how" and "what" lead to more inclusive conversations
- How to save your anger for when it matters the most
Connect with Dr. Darian Parker at https://doctordarianparker.com/.
37 min - 214: Do Your DEI Intentions Match Your Actions with Staci Hegarty
Staci Hegarty is the VP of Equity and Inclusion for Envision RISE. Envision RISE creates paths and programs for lasting inclusive and equitable workplace cultures. On the show we discuss:
- Why intentions are not enough, DEI execution is what matters
- What woke really means and how to address backlash associated with the term
- How to reward organizations for their inclusive behavior
Connect with Staci at https://envisionrise.com/ and here is the article Staci mentioned: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/woke-companies-broke-profits-1234710724/.
38 min - 213: What's Going Right with Diversity Now with Carice Anderson
Carice Anderson has been doing diversity work for over two decades and is the author of Intelligence Isn't Enough. She shares how the conversation has changed in DEI over the decades of her career, including:
- 3 practical strategies to elevate your DEI efforts
- How to proactively engage with underrepresented groups before they quit and questions to ask
- Why it is important to ensure your sponsee base mirrors the population you hope to serve and attract
Connect with Carice at https://cariceanderson.com/ and on LinkedIn.
28 min - 212: Moving from Cancel Culture to Coaching Culture with Kenji Yoshino
Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law and the Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. He is the author of the new book Say the Right Thing. We discuss how to:
- Shift from a cancel culture to a coaching culture
- Apologize in a productive, respectful way when you make a mistake
- Prevent identity threat when calling someone in on non-inclusive behavior
Connect with Kenji at http://kenjiyoshino.com/KY/books/ and https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/belonging.
40 min - 211: Centering Intersectional Voices in DEI Work with Eman Rimawi-Doster
Eman Rimawi-Doster is a DEI thought leader in intersectionality. She is a good troublemaker bringing multidimensional social justice and humor to every conversation. We discuss how to:
- Effectively use humor and anger in DEI work
- Speak up with allies to advocate for change beyond ADA compliance
- Believe the lived experiences of folks with intersectional identities
Connect with Eman at Hilc.org or on LinkedIn.
31 min - 210: DEI is a Paradox with Kurt Landon
Kurt Landon is the Founder and CEO of Enspira. Enspira is an LGBTQ+-owned HR services, talent acquisition and technology consulting firm. He joins us to share:
- His own experiences struggling with belonging growing up as "different"
- Why DEI conversations need to be focused on paradox rather than binary extremes
- How to be a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community and well-intentioned mistakes to avoid
- How to ask good proactive check-in questions as a leader
Connect with Kurt at https://www.enspirahr.com/ and on LinkedIn.
39 min - 209: Creating Open Spaces for DEI with Stephen Graves
Stephen Graves is a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), Workplace Culture, and Health Equity Consultant, Facilitator and Strategist. He has over a decade of experience, partnering with organizations of all sizes across sectors to add value and return on investment through his work and leadership in DEI, Health Equity, Talent Management, and Organizational Development.
Together, we discuss:
- How he found his calling for DEI through early childhood experiences and the church
- Why connecting DEI leaders is critical now more than ever to address burnout
- How to create open spaces for dialogue and use insights to drive systemic change
Stephen is a Senior Consultant with All In Consulting. Learn more at https://www.allinconsulting.co. Resources cited on the episode: The Nap Ministry (@thenapministry) on Instagram and the book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey.
32 min
About Allyship in Action
From the publisher's feed
I left Corporate America because the workplace culture sucked.
That realization was my personal pivot point, and it's the entire driving force behind my podcast, Allyship in Action.
Inclusive workplace culture doesn't happen by accident. It is built through intentional, consistent choices. In every episode of Allyship in Action, my goal is simple. My goal is to cut through the noise, skip the performative shiny stuff, and deliver real, practical tools that turn good intentions into sustainable workplace culture change.
Here is the core summary of what Allyship in Action is all about, and how all leaders can be better allies.
From Performative Statements to Everyday Practice
We've all seen standard corporate declarations like posting a statement on social media or making a grand pledge. While public support isn't inherently bad, true allyship begins when the cameras are off. Allyship isn't a badge you wear or a title you give yourself. Allyship is a verb. It requires continuous learning, unlearning, and showing up even when things get messy or uncomfortable.
In our conversations with workplace culture experts, we repeatedly unpack how real allies move from passive empathy to proactive intervention. That means noticing who gets interrupted in meetings, recognizing whose ideas are credited, and ensuring that opportunities are distributed equitably across the entire team.
Rewiring Workplace Culture for True Inclusion
A healthy workplace culture isn't created by ping-pong tables or free snacks. Inclusive workplace cultures are built on psychological safety, fairness, and trust. For genuine inclusion to take root, organizations must audit the subtle systems that drive daily behavior. How are your meetings structured? How are performance reviews conducted? Who holds the informal power, and how is feedback delivered?
On the podcast, we showcase practical tactics—like rotating an Inclusion Booster role during weekly staff meetings to monitor airtime and ensure introverted or underrepresented voices are heard. When you design everyday workflows with inclusion in mind, you stop relying on heroic individual acts and start embedding equity into the DNA of your organization.
Protecting the Pipeline and How Inclusion Drives Talent Retention
There is both a deep human case and a rock-solid business case for DEI. In today's shifting marketplace, talent retention is one of the single biggest operational challenges leaders face. High performers, especially women, racially diverse team members, neurodivergent colleagues, and Gen Z workers, simply will not stay where they have to mask their true selves or fight uphill against systemic microaggressions.
When employees feel seen, heard, and valued for their unique lived experiences, engagement skyrockets, innovation thrives, and turnover drops. Protecting your talent pipeline isn't about complex retention gimmicks; it's about fostering an environment where people know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they belong.
Engaging People with Power
One of our biggest research insights is that inclusion work stalls when it remains isolated in ERGs or HR departments. Without people in positions of power actively engaged as allies, systemic progress hits a ceiling. Powerful leaders often stay on the sidelines out of a fear of making a mistake or saying the wrong thing.
Allyship in Action serves as a compassionate, pushback-proof invitation for leaders to step up. Allyship isn't about having all the answers or acting like a superhero. It's about having the humility to say, "I don't know, but I'm here to listen, learn, and leverage my influence to help."
Allyship is a Continuous Journey
Allyship is progress over perfection. It's a practice. We are all works in progress. If we want better workplaces, we have to stay curious, challenge our own blind spots, and commit to taking small, consistent micro-actions every single day.
When we do allyship well, we don't just change our teams, we also redefine what it means to lead for all.