Anti-Racism and Organizational Development

What we DO

Anti-Racism and Organizational Development – Building Vibrant Culture

Anti-racism is a long term, active, intellectual and emotional labor, to interrogate and dismantle how systemic racism was designed and the impacts perpetuated today. Systemic racism permeates organizational policies, procedures, and ideologies.  Anti-racism is a framework and practice that when engaged, brings about restorative and transformative change for racial equity.

We want everyone to be able to live and contribute beyond surviving in inherently racist cultures in allowance to be authentic, spirited, and fully contributing where everyone is invited to thrive and belong.

 

Why You Want/Need Us

We are a diverse collective of intersections with a shared collective consciousness. We embrace the synergy of our lived experiences, intellectual prowess, rigor, care, and healing abilities. We have a unique compilation of skills, talent, and resources.  Our work is sustainable. We are aware of the cost of perpetuating a design that is oppressive.  Transformative collective consciousness allows us to share commitment around living, breathing systems that are thriving. We are able to hold differences without sanitizing oppression, honoring the life in everyone through education, love, healing, and connection. With us, you will be able to move your organization towards racial equity and a truly inclusive environment.

 

Partnering with YOU

Our work is in partnership with your organization and is custom designed centering your organizational needs that serve your long term goals.   We work with you to create a culture that is based on equity, inclusion and belonging through; training and development, strategic planning, policy and practice shift, racial climate survey data (quantitative and qualitative data), affinity groups, transformational and restorative processes and more. We believe it is imperative that we audit HR practices and policies with a lens of cultural responsiveness and support and restructure accordingly. We acknowledge that this is a process that disrupts what is habitual and familiar in order to build a vibrant, diverse and engaged culture, and we are committed to working with you long term to ensure sustainability and success in this new framework.

 

Representation and Belonging

Our goal is to build cultures where representation exists at all levels.  We create a space for culture shift where true belonging matters and there is readiness and safety developed for contribution and thriving for all members of the organization.

 

Unpack, Address, Interrupt, Accountability

Our work is designed to unpack systemic racism on the individual, group, and systemic level. We begin to address the racial harm that has occurred, is occurring, and to find restorative and transformative solutions to interrupt and reduce the harm while building systems of accountability and repair.

 

Consultation

We require a consultation to determine if we align with the needs for your organization. Contact us here.

Team Bios

Suzanne Roberts (She/Her/They/Them)

Suzanne Roberts is the Principal of UnifyingSolutions and the co-founder of Safe Conversation About Race. As an Executive Coach, she has worked with leaders, teams, and organizations large and small to lead on purpose.  Suzanne is dedicated to anti-racism, cultural diversity, social equity, and social justice. She educates how social systems of oppression got designed, and incorporates an intersectional lens in her work, in order to bring about sustainable change. The process illuminates how historical forces operate today to limit human dignity and contribution in some groups of people, while benefiting an elite group of people. While she cares about all marginalized communities, her primary focus is on interrupting and reducing racial harm due to systemic racism.
 

 

 

Karen Hewitt, MA Ed. (Ze/Hir/She/Her)

Karen is passionate about the heart work of advocacy, transformative justice, empathetic leadership, education, creativity, and connection. Currently, Ze serves as Deputy Director for Kaleidoscope Youth Center. Karen also facilitates and consults in Anti-Racism and Diversity Management.  She is a published author, creative, coach and conversation catalyst. Karen is committed to doing the work of holding space to create connection, belonging and community. Karen serves on a variety of committees, commissions, and collectives in Columbus to further advance the work of racial and social justice and create visibility and representation for Black, Queer, Non-Gender Conforming/ Non-Binary intersections in these spaces.  She is a non-negotiable stand for the most marginalized and the dignity and value of every human life.

 

Sierra J. Austin, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Dr. Sierra J. Austin is a graduate of the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University, with a focus on race and social justice. She also graduated with an interdisciplinary specialization in Latinx Studies. Sierra’s research, activism, and work focus on education equity and prioritizes operationalizing intersectional approaches to sustainable social change. Her work has appeared in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society and Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, and she is also the recipient of several national and academic  grants.

Sierra serves as a lecturer at The Ohio State University, where she was nominated for an Outstanding Faculty Award, and Columbus College of Art & Design. She currently serves as Regional School Improvement Coordinator for Diversity and Equity at the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio.

Collective Skills and Expertise

  • Executive Coaching
  • Emotional Intelligence Coaching
  • Team and Organizational Development and Effectiveness
  • Coordinating for Action and Trust with Accountability and Feedback
  • Transformative and Restorative Racial (Justice) Processes
  • Cultural Climate Survey: Design, Data Analysis, Delivery, Strategy Development
  • Human Resources Management
  • Diverse Talent Recruitment, Development, Retention
  • Conflict Resolution and Mediation
  • Racially Brave Culture
  • Unpacking Racism Series
  • Intersectional Approach within Coaching, Training, Development
  • Creating affinity groups to support belonging and thriving
  • Engage Racial Conversations within your organization
  • Curate and Design Trainings
  • Pose relevant questions to determine needs of your organization
  • Affirming shared language
  • Organizational Development
  • Job Analysis/ Development
  • Diversity Management Consulting
  • Organizational Development Consulting

 

Qiana Williams (She/Her/Hers)

I am a professionally certified coach, entrepreneur and busy mom who knows the struggle of trying to balance a career and family.  In my coaching practice, I help leaders understand the science of microaggressions, privilege, and representation. helps leaders and professionals in a range of sectors, develop sustainable skills in cross-cultural competence, required to work well in an increasingly diverse world. And, I provide the tools, strategy and support to help people create meaningful change in their lives.

What we do in life matters. How we show up for others matters, too. As a leader, I want people to know they are valued for who they are and what they bring to our community.

Diversity and Inclusion is a journey. It’s bigger than one person or role. As a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practitioner, I lead the charge in shaping hearts and minds to embrace that journey and ensure that no matter who you are or where you come from, you feel you belong. You can look up, down and across and see someone who looks like you.

That reflection is important. Healthy, responsible and successful organizations and leaders not only celebrate and serve their communities; their workforce reflects the communities they serve.

I believe that journey starts with looking in the mirror.

When we do that, we’ll see breakthrough moments for our organizations, ourselves and those we serve.

It certainly isn’t an easy road. There are ups and downs, successes and failures; moments of joy and pride, and those of learning and opportunity.

That’s why resiliency matters too. I learned to build this skill at an early age, and not always by choice. It’s why I find clarity and comfort in lacing up my tennis shoes, putting Beyoncé in my earbuds and hitting the pavement. Running clears my head and helps me bounce back, ready for another day.

I believe our own journeys must also be driven by a vision. When I was little, my grandmother says every day, I carried the business section of the newspaper under my arm. She said that’s when she knew I’d be a leader.

This memory and vision are my daily motivation.

I want to help others fulfill their own vision, to create opportunities for others to succeed and thrive, however they define it – there is no better measure of a leader than that.

  • “Suzanne Roberts is very skilled in conducting training that are interactice, engaging, and include very useful strategies that I was able to apply immediately. My team is now utilizing several of the techniques she deomonstrated with success. The feedback training supports building capacity and competency to help your team achieve company goals. I highly recommend Uniying Solutions for both training and one-on-one coaching.”

    Patricia M. Gibson, President, PMG Communications

  • "In my work with Suzanne I have experienced an increased self-awareness which has allowed me to be more informed of my own actions and reactions and their impact on myself and others. Through this self-awareness, I was also able to become a more authentic leader as I had a clear understanding of what I stood for. I align my work and leadership to my principles. I also experienced a heightened physical awareness and learned how I respond physically, specifically to stress, and gained tools and practices to address this for greater centeredness and overall well-being."

    Aisha Allen

  • “Suzanne Roberts assisted me in my personal and professional development by working with me and my organization on understanding thought provoking communications skills, trust relationships, and discovering the potency we all possess. I have achieved great success with Suzanne’s warm and sensitive approach to coaching and compassionate listening to fully appreciate all points of view when making key decisions.”

    Trace, LTD.

  • 'I recently had the opportunity to work one on one with Suzanne Roberts with Unifying Solutions. As a 25-year professional, I have never worked with a professional coach. Suzanne worked with me individually over the last six months to help me learn more about my own leadership through a challenging time in our organization's history. Suzanne also provided one on one coaching through some challenging issue-oriented conversations. She has been inspirational, challenging, and educational through the entire process. She has shown me the value of professional coaching. I look forward to continued learning.' 'Suzanne Roberts, Sierra Austin, and Karen Hewitt who comprise the UnifyingSolutions Anti-Racism Collective for Organizational Development have been an incredible guide for our organization's new leadership team. They facilitated two sessions 'Unpacking Racism' and 'Coordinating for Action'. Their insight, analysis, and challenges have helped our team learn from each other and create a path forward. While we are just beginning to learn how to be an anti-racist organization, I am thankful for the foundations that we have developed with their help. The tools and protocols that they shared with our team are valuable for our long-term success as a leadership team and a thriving organization.

    Tony Collins, CEO, YMCA of Central Ohio

  • Unifying Solutions conducted a six-week training course for the PetPeople Leadership Team. Unifying Solutions provided us with key learnings in our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion journey. They approach their training through a social justice lens sharing personal experiences and a variety of resources throughout the course. The team started with a historical foundation, shared resources and personal experiences allowing our team to learn and grow. They helped our managers shift perspectives, start uncomfortable conversations, and share ideas and thoughts around the topics of race and gender. This is not a textbook DEI class as it challenges you to sit with information instead of seeking a solution or actioning change.

    Jenifer Marchio, PetPeople

Certifications and Specializations

UnifyingSolutions associates are highly trained and skilled individuals