Sara Kershaw
Sara has spent over 20 years working and consulting with complex, large, for-profit, global organizations. She spent the first decade of her professional career working within historically marginalized and diverse communities across the Los Angeles area. She quickly learned the importance of understanding cultural differences to be effective in her leadership role and create desired change. During this time, she built the scaffolding for grass-roots sourcing and development programs to successfully hire and develop a diverse workforce, developed and nurtured critical community relationships and involvement, and was consulted with by leaders of the organization to scale learnings and processes across the organization and became a source for best practices still utilized today.
Sara then took her experience and learnings and worked in multiple cross-functional roles in which she provided leadership and operational consultation both within and to other complex, large organizations. As a result, she deepened her knowledge and understanding of how large, for-profit, matrixed organizations function and operate at multiple levels, and she was able to create structural and financial change sustainably.
Early in her 20s, Sara openly shared her same-sex attraction, which resulted in not being welcomed in spaces that used to provide a sense of identity and belonging, such as church and family. She can draw on her own experience, making her a culturally intelligent valued member of a diverse team.
Sara is a certified DEI practitioner through the National EIDA Center and offers expertise around the intersectionalities of women & race, as well as women & cultural intelligence and how these impact one's ability to lead diverse teams successfully. She is in the process of becoming a certified trainer for white women around the intersectionalities of race, gender, and power.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
― Nelson Mandela