Leading With Empathy & Allyship

In Episode 72 (recorded live), Tonita Webb, CEO at Verity Credit Union, and William A. Adams, Technical Advisor at Microsoft & Technologist, join us to discuss the systemic barriers and biases that Black leaders experience in the workplace, the importance of self-care and addressing healing, and how we can build workplace culture where Black leaders can thrive.

About Tonita Webb (she/her)

Tonita Webb was named the CEO of Verity Credit Union in early 2021, the first woman and first Black American CEO in the organization’s history. Tonita brings a strong vision for harnessing financial tools with a passion for DEI to enhance the lives of underserved communities.

As an Air Force veteran, MBA, & mother of four, Tonita leads by example and gives herself to her community work. She currently serves on boards for non-profits & social enterprises. She is a champion of diversity and inclusion and is a frequent public speaker.

As important as her credentials are, Tonita learned empathy & compassion being raised by her single mother in low-income housing projects. Her mother’s work ethic has inspired her to lead.

About William A. Adams (he/him)

William A. Adams is an award-winning D&I innovator, engineering trailblazer, & philanthropist. He was named the first Technical Advisor to Microsoft’s CTO, Kevin Scott.

As co-founder of the LEAP apprenticeship program – Microsoft’s D&I Program of the Year in 2020 – he helped launch the training of more than 26 cohorts around the world.

Early in his 30-year career, William was one of the first Black entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Today, in addition to his role at Microsoft, William is the philanthropic founder of The Event, a collaborative, community-based hackathon. When he’s not tinkering with code, the husband and father of three builds cabinets, knits, & rides a motorcycle.

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To learn more and join us for monthly live events, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources from this episode.

Connect With Tonita

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/tonitagwebb/ 

Twitter twitter.com/toniCULife

Connect With William

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/thewilliamaadams

Twitter twitter.com/LeapToTech

Connect With Us

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

This episode is sponsored by First Tech Federal Credit Union, a member-owned financial institution that is powered by a people-before-profit philosophy. Learn more at https://www.firsttechfed.com


[Image description: LEA promo with photos of Tonita Webb, a Black woman with brown hair and a gray knit top; William A. Adams, an African American man with short gray hair, thin-framed glasses, and a white shirt; and host Melinda, a White woman with red hair, glasses, & an orange shirt holding a white mug behind a

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In Episode 71, Minda Harts, Speaker & Author at Memo LLC, joins us to discuss the trauma that women of color experience in the workplace, the role allies can play in the healing process, and how managers can reduce workplace trauma.

About Minda Harts (she/her)

Minda Harts is the CEO of The Memo LLC and an award-winning and best-selling author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need To Know To Secure A Seat At The Table and Right Within: How to Heal from Racial Trauma in the Workplace.

Minda is a Professor at NYU Wagner and hosts a live weekly podcast called Secure The Seat. In 2020, Minda was named the #1 Top Voice for Equity in the workplace by Linkedin.

She is an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar and has been featured on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Fast Company, The NY Times, and Time Magazine. Minda frequently speaks at companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, and Bloomberg on topics such as Managing Diverse Teams, Courageous Leadership, and Advancing women of color in the workplace.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect With Minda On Social

Minda’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mindaharts/ 

Minda’s Twitter: twitter.com/MindaHarts 

Minda’s Facebook: facebook.com/MindaHarts/ 

Minda’s Instagram: instagram.com/mindaharts/ 

Minda’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/channel/UCkZfsSIp1-Cvpenl1Z3Lb-g?view_as=subscriber 

Connect With Us On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Emopvia logo; a photo of Minda Harts, a Black woman with long brown hair, gold necklaces, and a black top with a tanned overcoat, along with her grey book cover that has a darkened profile of a person’s face and pink writing over it that says: “Right Within: How to Heal from Racial Trauma in the Workplace”; and a photo of host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and an orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]

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In Episode 70 (recorded live), Founder of The Good Success Network, Lekisha Middleton, and HR business partner director in Intuit’s Consumer Group, Catie Harriss, join Melinda to discuss what they’ve learned from the ‘Great Resignation’; how we can build diversity, equity, and inclusion in remote and hybrid workplaces; and the unique opportunities that these workplaces provide around DEI.

About Lekisha (she/her)

Lekisha is the Founder of The Good Success Network, a global management consulting and executive coaching firm that focuses on creating a workforce that is equipped and a workplace that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

She is a proud techie and human advocate, who is driven by the desire to empower people with the tools and strategies necessary to achieve success.

All of her work is centered around transformation and positive impactful change. Her clients experience a safe space to clarify their vision, cultivate their strengths, and gain the confidence needed to move forward.

About Catie (she/her)

Catie Harriss is an HR business partner director in Intuit’s Consumer Group, bringing her expertise in innovation, design thinking, executive coaching, and mindfulness to translate business strategy into people strategy and help employees grow.

Prior to her current role, Catie led HR teams at Intuit to re-invent key employee experiences, to increase transparency, effectiveness, and inclusion for all employees. 

Catie has also been a mindfulness practitioner for 10 years. She loves hiking, horseback riding, and enjoying San Diego’s beaches with her 12-year old son.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect With Lekisha On Social

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ltmiddleton/

Twitter:twitter.com/ThePeopleTechie

Facebook: facebook.com/goodsuccessnetwork

Instagram: instagram.com/thepeopletechie/

Connect With Catie On Social

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/catie-h-3270171/

Connect With Us On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

This episode is sponsored by First Tech Federal Credit Union, a member-owned financial institution that is powered by a people-before-profit philosophy. Learn more at First Tech Federal Credit Union

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia & show logos and photos of Lekisha Middleton, a Black woman with short natural hair, hoop earrings, and a beaded necklace; Catie Harriss, a White woman with long blonde hair; and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and an orange shirt holdin

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In Episode 69, Scott Hanselman from Microsoft joins us to discuss how we can bring more people in to become allies and what allyship means to Scott. We discuss Scott’s path to allyship, why Scott works to be an ally, and what to do when you make mistakes as an ally.

About Scott Hanselman

Scott Hanselman is a programmer, teacher, speaker, technologist, podcaster, writer, inclusion advocate, and more.

Scott Hanselman has been a developer for over 30 years and has been running his own blog www.Hanselman.com for over 20 years. He is also a prolific podcaster and has produced over 800 episodes of The Hanselminutes Podcast and 700 episodes of Azure Friday.

Scott works in Open Source on .NET and the Azure Cloud for Microsoft out of his home office in Portland, Oregon, and has written a number of technical books and spoken in person to over one million developers worldwide.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect With Scott On Social

Scott’s LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/shanselman

Scott’s Twitter twitter.com/shanselman

Scott’s Facebook facebook.com/shanselman

Scott’s Instagram instagram.com/shanselman

Scott’s TikTok tiktok.com/@shanselman

Connect With Us On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Scott, who has a salt and pepper beard and brown hair and is wearing a purple shirt that says "include everyone," and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]

Support the show

In Episode 68, Melinda Briana Epler, Founder and CEO of Empovia (formerly Change Catalyst), talks us through how we can build allies in the workplace by understanding the Stages of Allyship and people’s motivations for being allies. She explains the behavioral science behind moving people toward action, addresses how we can convince people who don’t want to be convinced, and shares how we can grow allyship across our teams, organizations, and communities.

View this episode’s accompanying infographic at ally.cc/EP68Graphic.

About Melinda (she/her)

Melinda Briana Epler has more than 25 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs.

As CEO of Empovia (formerly Change Catalyst), Melinda is a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and activists around the world. As part of her changemaking work, she is an inclusive leadership coach, trains executive and management teams, and builds learning and development solutions for clients. 

Melinda is the author of How to Be an Ally (McGraw-Hill) and the host of the popular "Leading With Empathy & Allyship" podcast. She is also a TED speaker, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and former marketing and culture executive. She speaks and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, allyship, and empathy.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect With Melinda On Social

Melinda’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melindaepler

Melinda’s Twitter: twitter.com/mbrianaepler

Melinda’s Facebook: facebook.com/melindabrianaepler

Melinda’s Instagram: instagram.com/changecatalysts

Connect With Us On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia logo and a photo of host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, black glasses, and a black shirt, smiling at the camera with her book, How to Be an Ally.] 

Support the show

In Episode 67, Melinda Briana Epler concludes Season 5 of the Leading With Empathy & Allyship Show by guiding us through the first steps to becoming an ally. She provides some simple but powerful actions that managers and team members can take to help create a safe space in the workplace where learning, growth, and allyship are supported. She also answers the most often-asked questions around microaggressions, what performative allyship is, and how to talk about the business case for allyship.

About Melinda (she/her)

Melinda Briana Epler has more than 25 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs.

As CEO of Empovia (formerly Change Catalyst), Melinda is a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and activists around the world. As part of her changemaking work, she is an inclusive leadership coach, trains executive and management teams, and builds learning and development solutions for clients. 

Melinda is the author of How to Be an Ally (McGraw-Hill) and the host of the popular "Leading With Empathy & Allyship" podcast. She is also a TED speaker, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and former marketing and culture executive. She speaks and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, allyship, and empathy.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Melinda Briana Epler; a White woman with red hair, glasses, and black shirt; and the orange book cover of HOW TO BE AN ALLY.]

Support the show

In Episode 66, Melinda is joined by the founders of Own Trail: Rebekah Bastian and Kt McBratney. Rebekah and Kt share their journey on how they’ve blazed their own trail as entrepreneurs building a platform that’s intentionally diverse, builds empathy, encourages authenticity, and creates impact for women globally. They also provide actionable takeaways on how you can increase allyship and incorporate DEI into your own platforms.

About Rebekah (she/her)

Rebekah Bastian is an entrepreneur, award-winning writer, artist, tech executive, mentor, wife, mother, and aerial acrobat. She is the CEO & Co-founder of OwnTrail and was previously vice president of product and vice president of community and culture at Zillow. Rebekah is the author of Blaze Your Own Trail, is a contributor to Forbes, and is a frequent speaker on social impact, career navigation, and building AuthenTech companies.

 About Kt (she/they)

Kt McBratney is obsessed with disrupting the status bro. She’s the co-founder and chief brand officer at OwnTrail, the platform where women visualize and navigate their paths through life. She’s also a visual artist, borderline book hoarder, and former marketing executive who’s spent her career building communities and brands across industries.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Kt McBratney, a White nonbinary person with long platinum hair and pink animal print blouse; Rebekah Bastian, a White woman with long brown hair, dangling turquoise earrings, and leather jacket on top of a white shirt; and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]

Support the show

In Episode 65, Melinda is joined by Jennifer Brown and Rohit Bhargava, the incredible authors of the book Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways To Build A More Inclusive World. Jennifer and Rohit share their personal experiences and perspectives on creating a more inclusive world. They present key learnings from their book on storytelling, retail, and leadership, as well as their own educational moments they experienced while writing the book and how those moments helped them grow as allies.

About Jennifer

Jennifer Brown (she/her) is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, author, and diversity and inclusion expert who is deeply passionate about building more inclusive workplaces where more of us can feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard. As the Founder and CEO of Jennifer Brown Consulting (JBC), a certified woman- and LGBT-owned firm, Jennifer and her team design and execute inclusion strategies that have been implemented by some of the biggest companies and nonprofits in the world. She is also the bestselling author of two books, Inclusion: Diversity, The New Workplace and The Will to Change (2017) and How To Be An Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive (2019), a shortlist winner of the O.W.L. Award and winner of the 2019 Nautilus Book Awards' Business & Leadership category. She also recently co-authored a groundbreaking book on diversity, equity, and inclusion in society with thought leader and fellow bestselling author, Rohit Bhargava. The book, Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways To Build A More Inclusive World will hit bookshelves on November 9, 2021. Jennifer’s podcast, The Will to Change, is downloaded by nearly 15,000 listeners per month, and she is a sought-after keynote speaker and expert for leading research institutions and business schools. She lives in New York City with her partner of over 20 years, Michelle.

About Rohit

Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is the #1 WSJ bestselling author of 8 books on marketing, trends, and how to create a more inclusive world including Non-Obvious Megatrends & Beyond Diversity. Rohit has been invited to keynote events in 32 countries around the world. He loves the Olympics, actively hates cauliflower, and is a proud dad of boys.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & AllyShip promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Jennifer Brown; a White cisgender woman with blonde wavy hair and royal blue blouse; Rohit Bh

Support the show

In Episode 64, Sara Wachter-Boettcher, Founder of Active Voice, joins Melinda in a discussion on how pandemic-related trauma affects leaders’ abilities to manage their teams. Sara provides practical tips on how we can regain access to our critical thinking and work through the trauma without harming people around us. She also touches on what organizations, managers, and allies can do to build trust and create a safe space for courageous conversations in the workplace.

About Sara

Sara Wachter-Boettcher is an author, speaker, coach, and strategist dedicated to changing design and tech for good. She’s the founder of Active Voice, a coaching and training company helping organizations build radical, courageous leadership practices.

Her most recent book, Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech, was named one of the best tech books of the year by Wired. She also wrote Design for Real Life (with Eric Meyer) and Content Everywhere, and has been published in The Washington Post, The Guardian, and McSweeney’s. Find her at home in Philly, on Twitter @sara_ann_marie or at sarawb.com.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & AllyShip promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Sara Wachter-Boettcher, a White woman with short black hair who’s wearing a black denim jacket paired with a white top, and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]

Support the show

In Episode 63, Meag-gan O'Reilly, CEO & Co-Founder of Inherent Value Psychology INC, joins Melinda in an illuminating conversation about the importance of embracing your anger and how it helps us foster empathy with one another. They also discuss how anger helps us build resilience by allowing us to recognize our own needs and boundaries and how Systems Centered Language can be the first step to dismantling oppression and marginalization.

About Meag-gan

Dr. Meag-gan O’Reilly (she/her), is a staff Psychologist at Stanford University's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Adjunct Faculty in the Stanford School of Medicine. While completing her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at CAPS, Dr. O'Reilly created the first satellite clinic for Black undergraduate and graduate students across the African Diaspora. She currently serves as a Program Coordinator for Outreach, Equity, and Inclusion. In this role, Dr. O’Reilly co-created the Outreach and Social Justice Seminar in 2016 with the goal of training the next generation of culturally conscious and justice-oriented clinicians.

Outside of Stanford, Dr. O'Reilly is the Co-Founder and CEO of Inherent Value Psychology INC., her private practice that provides DEI consulting, workshops, trainings, and international speaking engagements. Dr. O'Reilly is a DEI consultant for companies including Google, LYRA Health, and The United Negro College Fund's STEM Scholar Program that supports Black college students nationwide to navigate underrepresentation and discrimination in STEM fields. She also serves as the lead clinician in a partnership with Google to provide therapeutic spaces called The Gathering Space for Black Google Employees in response to the murder of George Floyd and the chronic trauma, and grief, in the Black community. Her TEDx talk: Enough is Enough: The Power of Your Inherent Value, can be seen on YouTube and is a helpful reminder of unconditional self-worth and that our lives matter to the world.

Find Leading With Empathy & Allyship useful? Subscribe to our podcast and like this episode!

For more about Empovia, and to join us for our monthly live event, visit https://ally.cc. There, you’ll also find educational resources and highlights from this episode.

Connect On Social

YouTube: youtube.com/@empovia

Twitter: twitter.com/empoviaco

Facebook: facebook.com/empovia

Instagram: instagram.com/empovia/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/empovia/

Production Team

Creator & Host: Melinda Briana Epler

Project Manager: Emilie Maas

Finance & Operations: Renzo Santos

Marketing Communications Coordinator: Christina Swindlehurst Chan

Creative Director @ Podcast Rocket: Rob Scheerbarth

[Image description: Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the Empovia logo and photos of Meag-gan O'Reilly; a Black woman with curly black hair and yellow shirt; and host Melinda Briana Epler; a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.]

Support the show