2020 Gearing Up Speaker Bios

Keynote Speaker 

Kori S. Carew, Esq., an attorney and community builder who generates awareness and understanding of critical human issues by creating the space and climate for open dialogue that is meaningful, enables people to expand their perspective and drive positive change. 

With grace and truth, she is a disruptor, womanist and social justice advocate. With a multi-national, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual family background, she brings a keen sensitivity to belonging and inclusion across differences and creating space for the under-represented. Kori questions barriers that divide communities and hold back individual potential, and at the center of her perspectives and passion is her faith. 

Kori is the Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, an international AmLaw 100 firm and before that served as the Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives for 7 years Shook Hardy, & Bacon LLP, leading all efforts related to the firm’s primary diversity and inclusion drivers of excellence, education and equity across 12 offices. She uses an innovative and proactive approach to tackling diversity and inclusion by embracing inclusive talent management, inclusive leadership development and assessing and interrupting systems. 

Using advocacy and organizational strategy to address structural barriers to diversity in the workplace, she brings an incisive voice, unapologetic questioning of the status quo, and a lifelong fascination of human potential to empowering women and marginalized people and improving inclusion. She is a nationally sought-after speaker on topics of diversity, inclusion and belonging, inclusive leadership, talent engagement and development, authenticity and leveraging power.

Kori's drive toward redefining the circle of belonging and restoring authenticity fuels her work in the marketplace as well as in her community. She is wife to Gary and mother to two spit-fire curly wild haired strong willed daughters, Riley and Samarah.

Workshop Leader: Utilizing Your Influence: What Can You Do Where You Are? 

Nakia J. Green is founder of Culture Solutions and Culture Solutions In Action, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations designed to decrease unemployment and underemployment amongst people of color and people with disabilities who are college graduates. Nakia is also president and principle consultant of Nakia J Consulting, a firm with specialized capabilities in leadership development, organizational development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Nakia’s expertise in facilitation, change management, and executive coaching has afforded her the opportunity to work in healthcare, non-profit consulting, law enforcement, religious organizations, and larger national organizations.

Workshop Leader: Emotional Intelligence of Feedback and Compassionate Leadership

Minna Taylor is the Founder of Energize Your Voice, a NYC based communication consultancy. With an experiential approach, rooted in the principles of improv and performance, she and her team support organizations to explore their full potential in public speaking, brand storytelling, executive presence, and leadership communication. Notable clients include UBER, Red Bull, Citi, and E&Y. Minna earned her BFA from NYU Tisch and went on to earn her MFA in Performance with a concentration in speech and vocal production. Beginning her career as an accent reduction specialist, Minna went on to transfer her theatre training to developing an innovative approach for professional development.

Workshop Leader: Confident Career Negotiation

As a Leadership Coach, Negotiation Advocate, and Keynote Speaker, Ashley helps clients feel confident, communicate effectively, and earn more. Ashley founded Own Your Worth® to bridge the gap between employer and employee.  Ashley’s clients are published authors, entrepreneurs, and corporate change makers.  Her clients have pivoted careers, negotiated $40,000 raises, received promotions to Director levels and beyond.

With over 12 years experience as a leader in corporate Human Resources, Ashley leverages her HR insider knowledge to lead workshops, coach highly motivated clients, and support clients and businesses to own their worth and create impact. Ashley is a Tedx Speaker and has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, Glamour, CNN, and more. She resides with her husband and son in Boston, MA.

Leading with Allyship: A Fireside Chat About Working Together Across Difference

Yaro Fong-Olivares serves as Associate Director for the Center for Women and Business and Executive Education at Bentley University, where she leads the design and delivery of customized training programs for organizations and coaching for individuals. Using a psychodynamic systems approach to organizational development and change, she focuses on the following topics: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); leadership; and management development. A sampling of the programs she develops and facilitates includes: Race, Gender, and Intersectionality; Conflict Styles and Effective Communication; Inclusive Leadership; and Leading and Managing Inclusive Teams. 

A sought-after speaker and facilitator, Yaro holds an M.S. in Organizational Change Management from The New School, a B.A. in Sociology from Barnard College, and Clark Wilson’s 360 feedback Task Cycle Survey Certification. Yaro serves as president of the Executive Committee of the New York Center for the Study of Groups, Organizations and Social Systems, an affiliate of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems and is a member and a psychodynamic group relations consultant-in-training of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems.

Leading with Allyship: A Fireside Chat About Working Together Across Difference

Trish serves as Executive Director in the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, where she sets strategy and guides thought leadership. A sought-after speaker, Trish develops and delivers programs and workshops for a wide variety of organizations on issues impacting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), often with an emphasis on intersectionality and gender. She researches and writes reports on a range of critical DE&I issues. Some of the topics she writes and speaks about include How to Lead Through an Intersectional Lens, How to Leverage Professional Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Networks, How to Be an Effective Workplace Ally, and for women, How to Overcome Hidden Barriers such as the Confidence Gap.

Trish is a member of Bentley’s Diversity Council and Co-Chair of the Boston Steering Committee for 2020 Women on Boards, the national campaign to increase the number of women on US corporate boards. As a passionate advocate for inclusion and allyship, Trish spearheaded formation of Bentley’s undergraduate Men of Alliance group. She frequently facilitates workshops for Bentley’s Women’s Leadership Group.

Previously, Trish served as vice president of Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations and senior vice president of FleishmanHillard Public Relations. She holds a B.S. in business from The University of Delaware.