Approach
Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group is an innovative, implementation-focused Diversity & Inclusion consulting and training company for your workplace. We bring no frills, deeply practical Diversity & Inclusion expertise and experience.
Our knowledge and services encompasses all aspects of talent – recruiting, learning and development, succession planning, performance management, and associate engagement – to the Diversity & Inclusion work in your organization for a holistic talent strategy, goal-setting, and programming. We have worked with clients from many different industries including pharma, finance (banking institutions and accounting firms), academia (colleges and universities), tech, law, sports, and nonprofit.
Other consultants leave after making recommendations, we stay to implement them.
When to Use Us
When you are ready to start Diversity & Inclusion in your organization but do not know where or the best way to begin.
When you want to take Diversity & Inclusion in your organization beyond multicultural awareness and training.
When you want your workforce demographic make-up and engagement to change.
Our Beliefs
We believe in DOING Diversity & Inclusion, not just talking about it.
We believe training alone will NOT bring about change.
We believe Diversity & Inclusion is not only about changing of the minds, it is about changing of practices and processes.
We believe integration is the best method for inclusion at the workplace.
Our Approach
Our method is a no-frills and practical one.
Our unique approach is to FULLY IMPLEMENT Diversity & Inclusion in your organization to ensure sustainable success. We believe Diversity & Inclusion comes from DOING the work, not just from believing in it.
Whether it is our onsite facilitation/training or our offsite workshops, we combine our comprehensive talent knowledge and organizational behavior expertise with our experiences of what really works in the workplace to deliver implementable and sustainable techniques, strategies and information.
Check out the services that we provide. Contact us to see how we can put our approach to work for you.
About Us and Our Expertise
Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group is led by Su Joun (she/her/hers), a Diversity & Inclusion scholar and practitioner with deep comprehensive senior business leader and entrepreneur experience in diverse industries from financial services to publishing to health care.
In addition to fueling the Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group, Su was an adjunct Professor at Suffolk University and taught Global Human Resources Management, Organizational Behavior and CareerLAUNCH classes.
She was the Vice President of Talent, Diversity and Inclusion at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) where she led the enterprise diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, performance management, and leadership development, and associate engagement teams. In addition to expertise in Diversity & Inclusion and talent management, she held leadership roles in IT & operations, marketing, sales and call centers at BCBSMA, Key Corp, and Virgin Money. Su also founded and operated a publishing company. This breadth of experiences enables her to fully understand and “speak the language” of the various business areas and leaders allowing for true partnership to champion Diversity & Inclusion goals and programs.
Su received her MBA from Suffolk University and her MS in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University. She currently serves as the Board Vice-Chair for the UMASS Center for Collaborative Leadership.
Her thought-leadership on Diversity & Inclusion and talent overall has been showcased in the Skillsoft video library, the Urban Update, in various articles in BBJ and Workable.com, and she has presented to various audiences such as the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, NAAAP, HubSpot, CFO Roundtable, and Commonwealth Compact.
Amanda Martinez is a Senior Consultant with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group who has extensive experience assisting organizations improve their strategic operations with a concentration on diversity and organizational development. Her previous experience includes similar roles in the non-profit, medical device, consulting, semiconductor, consumer products and aerospace industries. Most recently, Amanda was the Executive Director of the Latino STEM Alliance; a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and empower underserved youth through STEM education.
Ms. Martinez supports many non-profit organizations and has a strong passion for STEM, diversity and mentoring initiatives. This passion has been exhibited through her involvement in many organizations including serving on the Global Employee Resource (ERG) Council and HOLA ERG core team for Boston Scientific and as a founding member of the Greater Boston Diversity Collaborative; a collaboration of Fortune 500 companies tasked with raising diversity awareness and support within the Greater Boston area.
Amanda’s passion is also shown through her work as the Board President for the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative in Nashua, NH and as a workgroup member of the NH Race & Equity initiative. Amanda’s dedication to her community has been recognized by the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots Foundations and by MassMentoring and the Highland Street Foundation as their inaugural Ignite Award Honoree. Amanda was also recognized as one of El Planeta’s POWERMETER 100’s “Most Influential People for Latinos in Massachusetts”.
Amanda is an alumna of the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth where she also served as a board member of the school’s Alumni Association.
Zainub R. Ruane (she/her/hers) is a Senior Consultant with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. While serving as a Global Product Manager for Boston Scientific Corporation(BSC), she realized her passion for diversity and inclusion. At BSC she served as the Women’s Network liaison for the Cambridge, MA office, an experience which exposed her to corporate D&I strategy.
Zainub has nearly a decade of experience working with Global Fortune 500 Companies such as Boston Scientific, Olympus America and Chubb Corporation. She has developed and influenced product marketing on a regional and international level. The majority of her experience is in the medical device industry where she marketed surgical devices and systems. Throughout all of her roles Zainub has played an active part in supporting team and organizational culture.
She received her Master’s in Business Administration from Babson College, and her Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science with a minor in Anthropology from Rutgers University. Most recently Zainub completed a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from eCornell.
Jen Coburn (she/her/hers) is a Consultant with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. She discovered her passion for this work while serving as the Global Staffing Specialist for Oxfam America. During that time, Jen was a founding member of both the Oxfam America and Oxfam International Diversity and Inclusion Working Groups. She helped to plan and organize Oxfam’s participation in the Boston Pride Parade for over five years. She helped to build Oxfam’s diversity recruiting strategy and saw a marked increase in the level of diversity in the talent pipeline.
During her time at Oxfam, Jen frequently collaborated with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) and has spoken at their events. She was awarded the MRC Distinguished Employer Award in 2017 and received a Certificate of Recognition from MCB in 2016.
She received her Bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of Rhode Island and is a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Certified Professional.
Prior to joining Oxfam, Jen taught English to Kindergartners in Seoul, South Korea.
Amanda Goodrum (she/her/hers) is a Consultant with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. She joined the team in 2021. Amanda is dedicated to innovation and has experience in business operations, project management, and regulatory compliance. As Co-Chair of the Black Affinity Network at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., she worked with senior leaders to increase diversity recruitment, extend the firm’s external footprint, and review its internal mentorship programs for opportunities to improve.
She discovered her passion for diversity education while still in high school, teaching second graders about diversity and inclusion through the National Conference for Community Justice’s Green Circle program. Amanda has always sought to learn about the informational, personal and structural drivers of inequity, which has fueled her actions as a mentor and change agent. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Stella Okeke-Common is a Consultant with Diversity@Workplace who builds wellness into the foundation of building diverse and inclusive environments where everybody is seen and heard. She is passionate about fostering growth in people and environment, seeing others not just survive, but thrive will always be the goal!
With over 13 years of transformative leadership experience working with diverse college students across the globe, Stella is skilled in the areas of strategic planning, talent acquisition, learning and development, supervision, project management, conflict resolution, large-scale problem solving, and crisis management. Social justice is at the foundation of each expertise.
Stella’s philosophies include strategically planning through a critical lens in all areas of business. Incorporating inclusive data metrics and strong interpersonal skills to cross functionally collaborate with others for optimum results. Research, Collaborate, Plan, Execute, Assess, Enhance, Repeat. Stella is PhD candidate in Educational Leadership at Concordia University and earned her Master’s and B.S at Iowa State University in Educational Leadership and Psychology, respectively. Stella recently completed a certificate from the Social Justice Training Institute.
Arturo Natella (he/him/his) is a Consultant with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. Arturo discovered his passion for this work while working for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. At the MassCEC, Arturo developed the Massachusetts Clean Energy Internship Program and grew the program to a robust $1.5 million workforce development program. Through the program, Arturo connected diverse students to good-paying clean energy internships throughout Massachusetts.
Arturo went on to work in the Massachusetts Legislature for the Assistant Vice Chair of Ways and Means. Arturo advised and advanced legislative priorities on workforce development, always focusing on BIPOC communities. Arturo later created Amaru, a diverse talent sourcing service aimed at promoting BIPOC in the workforce. Through Amaru, Arturo has supported enterprises to rethink their talent sourcing strategies while lowering barriers and increasing access to wealth-building employment opportunities for BIPOC.
Ladi Olaoye (he/him/his) is a Consultant for Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. He has spent more than a decade working as a project management consultant in both government and private sectors, for clients such as Pepsico, Optum Steward Healthcare, Bain Capital & Commonwealth of MA. Ladi is proficient at implementing strategic and operational initiatives that achieve business objectives and amplify diversity and inclusion.
Throughout his career, he has actively been engaged with efforts on workplace diversity, specifically around recruitment and belonging, and this involvement fueled his passion to build connections with diverse range of people and better understand different cultures.
Ladi recently served as President of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Boston Professionals, an organization focused on increasing the diversity in the STEM pipeline. In his role as president of the organization, he launched the annual “Inspire STEM” initiative, a campaign to increase advancement of Black STEM professionals and increase interests of Black students pursuing STEM degrees.
He is in the 2021 cohort of YW’s LeadBoston, a program aimed at building socially and culturally inclusive mid and senior career leaders. He was a member of the Inclusion Drives Innovation class of 2020, presented by She+ Geeks Out and Kendall Square Association. Ladi also serves as the VP of Learning & Development for Affinity Leadership Consortium (ALC).
Ladi graduated from Tennessee State University, a historically black college and university (HBCU), where he received his degree in Industrial Technology. He is a certified Agile Scrum Master (CSM).
Sara Blackerby (she/her/hers) is an Account Manager with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. Her passion for diversity and inclusion crystallized during her tenure at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. After many years of working with multiple BCBSMA community partners, she joined the Women@Blue employee resource group’s leadership team as the Community Lead. This opportunity allowed her to more directly support the company’s overall diversity and inclusion work through participation in community events, and coordination of volunteer opportunities with an emphasis on women and working parents.
Sara has nearly two decades of health insurance experience with roles in customer service, call center management, marketing, sales, and project management. She is a passionate communicator, relationship builder, and cross-functional collaborator. She is also a firm believer that no process is perfect and brings her operations expertise to bear in finding areas of opportunity for improvement and increased efficiency. Throughout all of her roles Sara has been an active participant in supporting team and organizational culture.
She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing from Western Governor’s University.
Wendy Hernandez is Su Joun’s Executive Assistant. She supports with special projects and calendar management. Wendy brings 10+ years of experience supporting high-profile executives in a variety of fields and industries including education, venture capital, technology, and non-profit. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resources Management and Writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she attended on a Talented Minority Scholarship, and a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Marshall Joun (he/him/his) is a Coordinator with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. His passion for diversity and inclusion stemmed from his experience as a professional actor and performer in the Greater Boston area.
Marshall has worked closely with the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Student Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Penn State University’s School of Theatre. He has professional performance and recruitment/community outreach experience for many reputable theatre companies in the city of Boston and has served as a Brand Ambassador for such companies as Unilever manufacturing. Marshall has taught children ages 5 – 18 at Wheelock Family Theatre in classes and summer camp.
Marshall is a rising senior at Penn State University, currently receiving his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Acting.
David Kimetto (he/him/his) is a Summer Intern with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. His passion for diversity and inclusion stemmed from his experience as a student advocate and business leader for the University of Massachusetts Lowell
Through his experience on the executive board of his school’s student government, David has worked closely with UMass Lowell’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. Within this newly formed group, he assists with projects in the Communications Subcommittee.
Aided with prior experience assistant teaching at high school & university levels, he has practice towards in-depth research that can provide actionable solutions to diversity and inclusion efforts.
He hopes to continue building on that experience by observing and applying his experience to client engagements here at D@W.
Kali Blackerby (she/her/hers) is a Summer Intern with Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group. Her passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion sparked during her work with Generation Ratify, a youth-led movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Through Generation Ratify she has lobbied with both Representative Rashida Tlaib and Senator Ed Markey’s staffers.
Kali hopes to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusion into her school and community as an incoming junior.