How to Be a Globally Inclusive Leader - No Matter What Your Title Is

Aracely has over twenty years of experience working on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and intersectionality. Aracely serves as Director of the Lawyers Network and the Washington, D.C. Office for the Center for Reproductive Rights. The Center is the premier global legal organization dedicated to women’s reproductive health, self-determination, and dignity. In addition to her director duties, since 2019 Aracely has chaired the Center’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council, which works with staff and leadership to promote a globally inclusive workplace. Prior to joining the Center, Aracely served as Vice President for Strategic Development for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), where she successfully led the development and implementation of its external programs and research focusing on corporate diversity and inclusion issues and best practices in the legal profession. Prior to MCCA, Aracely served as Associate General Counsel and large law programs Director for the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global association. While at ACC she conducted a wide range of compliance and ethics education programs for corporate legal departments. Before joining ACC, Aracely served as the Director of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities, where she led the establishment of the commission and its seminal report and policy recommendations focusing on the Latino community and access to justice. She simultaneously held the role of the Director of the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the association’s oldest diversity and inclusion entity and oversaw its external programming and reporting on diversity in association leadership and its entities. Aracely started her legal career as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago’s Department of Law, and a civil litigation attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Aracely was a commissioner of the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Serving as co- chair of its Legislative Affairs Committee, as well as co-chairing the Commission’s Guided Conversations Program Committee, focusing on allyship between women of color and white women in the legal profession. Aracely has previously served on several of the Commission’s committees including Grit & Growth Project, Women of Color Research Advisory Group, and Interrupting Bias Study. She also served as the Commission’s representative on the ABA’s Member Diversity Plan Working Group. Aracely previously served on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs, and as a Special Advisor and then Commissioner for the ABA’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Aracely is an active member of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, serving on its governing Council and is co-chair of the Rights of Women Committee. She is also a member of the Women’s Caucus of the ABA House of Delegates. Aracely is past chair of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Commission on Latinas in the Legal Profession, which oversees the association’s signature Latin Leadership programs. During her tenure as chair, Aracely helped establish the Commission’s Latina Executive Leadership Development Program (LELD). She is also a former member of its Board of Governors. Aracely is also an active member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), and most recently served on their Supreme Court Nomination Evaluation Committee. Aracely currently serves on the board of directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Management Property Corporation. Prior to that she served on MALDEF’s board of Directors, serving as a vice-chair and member of its Executive Committee from 2015 to 2021. Aracely received her BA and MA from the University of Chicago, and her JD from the University of Iowa College of Law. She is barred in Illinois and Washington, D.C.

Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal (pronounced Stay-skull) is the Founder and Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) of Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI), she is recognized #1 international expert on resilience, mental health, and wellbeing in both leadership and life. Her mission is to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people, by enhancing hope, healing, and health as well as increased consciousness and enhanced leadership through the practices of resilience. Her work has been featured by Fox and NBC News, Bloomberg Business, Thrive Global, and Forbes; her TEDx talk, “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has been viewed over 1.3 million time. Dr. Taryn Marie believes that resilience is the key to individual, teams, and organizational growth and acceleration across the globe, and based on her two decades of original research, she has developed The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, a framework that allows people to harness resilience and create a more positive and productive outcome anytime they face The 3 C’s: Challenge, change, and complexity. Prior to founding RLI, she served as the Head of Executive Leadership Development & Talent Strategy at Nike, as well as Head of Global Leadership Development at Cigna. She is a sought-after international inspirational keynote speaker and has received standing ovations from organizations such as Nike, Liberty Mutual, Toyota, and Citi. Her book entitled The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why some flourish when others fold is available in pre-sale, will release on April 18th , 2023, and has been endorsed by Arianna Huffington, Daniel Pink, Kathy Ireland, Keith Ferrazzi, Marshall Goldsmith, and Quinton Aaron, start of the Academy Award-winning film The Blindside.

Deophister Uffer is the Controller for The Center for Reproductive Rights. She has over 17 years of experience managing the financial activities of non-profit organizations and local government entities. Ms. Uffer has also previously held a variety of senior financial management positions such as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the New Jersey Re-Entry Corporation, Controller of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington DC and Accounting Manager to a local government and other non-profit organizations in Virginia prior to joining the Center. Her expertise in the accounting world includes implementing systems & processes, audits, budgets, managing investment portfolios, and establishing policies to ensure organizations are in compliance with regulatory authorities. As a leader, she believes creating a globally inclusive diverse environment is the key for all leaders to succeed because through a culture of togetherness diverse learning happens. Diverse learning creates a workforce that has higher levels of creativity, collaborations, and productivity to achieve common goals in an organization or community.

Josephine is the Regional Director for Program Management Unit, and part of the leadership team of the East and Southern Africa Region at FHI360. She provides portfolio growth, management leadership, implementation, prioritization, sequencing, and selection of programs within the region. She has over 25 years continued relevant experience in a variety of challenging program development and management roles with International U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations in the field of public health, education, food security, institutional capacity building, humanitarian assistance, governance and strengthening youth and civil society.

Farzana Nayani (she/her/hers) is a recognized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion specialist, business and strategy coach, and international keynote speaker. She has worked with Fortune 500 corporations, public agencies, higher education institutions, school districts, and non-profit organizations as a consultant and trainer on diversity and inclusion, intercultural communication, supplier diversity, and employee engagement. Farzana’s expertise has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Globe and Mail, NPR, the Washington Post, Marie Claire, and the LA Times. She is an instructor on Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for UCLA’s Management program. Her latest book The Power of Employee Resource Groups: How People Create Authentic Change was released in June 2022. For more information visit: www.farzananayani.com