Risha Grant
Diversity & Inclusion Expert, Corporate BS Finder, International Speaker, Author and Consultant, and CEO of Risha Grant LLC
Many people who have decided to join the efforts of moving diversity and inclusion forward find themselves asking a familiar question: how can I make a difference in this area? Franchisees are likely to follow this line of thinking due to their inability to make large sweeping changes to the franchise structure. It can be easy for a franchisee to feel like their locus of control allows little room for making a significant impact. Companies are full of problems that seem beyond the ability of one franchisee to solve. Can one person truly stop the harmful practices of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and gender intolerance? Yes.
A franchisee may not change white-washed marketing materials, biased company policies, binary bathrooms, or costly price points. But a franchisee can practice awareness of unconscious bias. They can make sure they are actively hiring diverse employees. They can ensure that every customer who walks through their door feels welcomed by a smile. They can demand a racist or homophobic customer leave when he/she/ they act in ways that are harmful to diverse staff and customers. One franchisee can do a lot in a world that consistently makes diverse people feel unwelcome and rejected. They have the power to create a safe environment in the communities they serve.
In Permission Granted: Get Rid of the BS Risha shows franchisees how to eliminate their unconscious biases and connect their franchise culture. Through her simple 3-step process, Risha empowers individual employees to identify, own and confront their biases so that they can engage with co-workers and customers in ways that increase team morale, improve customer satisfaction, and add diverse dollars to the bottom line. Risha’s presentations will help attendees tackle tough topics in a manner that feels safe, informative, and rewarding.
Risha Grant’s Demo Reel
Motivated by her passion to correct societal “isms” like racism, sexism, classism, and plain old stupidism, it is Risha Grant’s personal mission to expose the subtleties and values of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion while shining a light on the impacts they create.
Founder & CEO of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning diversity consulting, communications, and speaking firm, as well as an edgy, educational, and motivational speaker, author Risha Grant uses honest, humorous, and vulnerable storytelling to motivate audiences to embrace the inner tough work of Radical Acceptance while honoring diversity, equity, and inclusion without evoking feelings of judgment or assigning blame.
These audiences have included Google, Levi Strauss, Nestle Purina, Xerox, YouTube, Procter & Gamble, Discover Card Financial Services, Samsung Electronics America, U.S. Airforce, U.S. Navy, Intuit, and Harvard University, to name a few.
She’s been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, HR News, The Financial Times, Glamour Magazine UK, Bloomberg Media, and Black Enterprise among others.
Risha has received numerous honors such as being named one of the Top 10 Most Powerful Women Leaders in HR by PeopleHum in 2021, 40 Top Women Keynote Speakers by Real Leaders, and the NBA OKC Thunder Changemaker Award in 2020 among others.
Partial Client List:
- BJ’s Restaurant
- Boy Scouts of America
- Exelon Corp.
- National Basketball Association Franchise Team
- National Mortgage Industry
- Oklahoma Women’s Leadership Conference for Women in Public Service
- ONEOK Corporation – Stand Against Racism
- Rogers William University
- Sam’s Club – Women In Leadership
- Tropical Smoothie Café
- Urban Financial Services Coalition
- Wells Fargo
Whether implicit or conscious, bias is the number one threat to humanity and any company’s
success.
If your company’s goal is to create cohesiveness within your organization, increase revenue,
be innovative, and elevate your reputation-the bias in your workforce and community is a
roadblock. You know the problem. Getting Rid of the BS is your answer.
Throughout this session, Diversity & Inclusion speaker Risha Grant allows attendees to
express their biases, while giving them easily applicable tools to get over them, however
screwed up they may be. Although diversity can often be an uncomfortable topic, Risha’s
approach helps attendees to understand the concept, without feeling bored, judged or
blamed.
Attendees will leave this keynote understanding:
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- A thorough awareness of biases
- A realization of how biases originated
- A recognition of the symptoms and results of bias
- Tools to address bias internally and externally
- Benefits of Building a Culture of Inclusion
- The stuff she thinks is important (that you should write down) as you establish your inclusive culture
Companies need to know how to get diverse customers to buy their products and services.
Why? Because of business sustainability, competitive advantage, a constantly changing economy, and trillions in buying power. During this session, D&I Speaker Risha Grant will share with attendees the keys to effectively engage various diverse groups and provide them with tips to increase their bottom line.
Biases are always working against you in business. During this session, Risha will teach attendees to examine their own decision-making processes and identify ways to minimize biases in order to attract diverse markets and increase sales. With a majority of diverse communities holding $14 trillion in disposable income, Risha makes the case for how profitability and diversity can coexist. This session will review the benefits of advertising and marketing to diverse communities in order to attract them to your company’s products and services.
Attendees will leave this keynote understanding:
- How unconscious bias keeps companies from recruiting diverse candidates
- How to reach diverse candidates through unconventional methods
- Marketing ideas for recruiting diverse candidates
- The buying power of diverse groups
Empower Authenticity, Confront Bias, and Create a Culture of Inclusion through Radical
Acceptance.
This speech will help audiences and individuals to understand Radical Acceptance and how their BiaSphere, Belief Systems, and BS stop them from welcoming and embracing all of humanity, including their own. Our BS shapes how we feel about ourselves, how we perceive the world, and how we interact with others. Radical acceptance teaches that
through authenticity, we can connect with others on a deeper level, and create a culture of acceptance and belonging. Mental health and psychological safety are more important now than ever before in the workplace, and companies who create an environment where everyone is allowed to be themselves without fear of rejection, are at the cutting edge of what it means to be an innovative and profitable place to work.
Risha’s honest, memorable, and practical presentation on Radical Acceptance: Be Better Than Your BiaSphere, Belief Systems, and BS blends together stories from her life
experiences as a bisexual black woman, former division one athlete, and small business owner to teach audiences how their diversity can become their superpower! Learn how your own behaviors can be shaped by your own BiaSphere, which includes all of the subconscious beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and emotions you have about yourself and the rest of the world around you. Radical Acceptance: Be Better Than Your BS will provide your audience members with the awareness and education to help them become better leaders, employees, colleagues, and people.
Attendees will leave this keynote understanding:
- The power of authenticity to shift company culture
- How to use diversity as a competitive advantage
- The psychological need for belonging
- How our BiaSphere has shaped our view of the world
Franchise Speakers
