Be an Ally Who CARES (Curious, Active, Resilient, Empathetic, Supportive)

An ally understands their privilege and turns intent into actions that combat systemic inequities. Allies proactively take steps to advance a culture of inclusion in the workplace.

Positive employee experience with ‘inclusion and belonging’ is a fundamental yet drastically overlooked component in driving diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. Commitment to a diverse workforce is unsustainable if inclusion is not experienced across all levels of an organization. Lack of inclusion leads to decreased employee engagement, lower retention rates, and positions an organization at a competitive disadvantage for recruitment and hiring.

Employees are co-creators of organizational culture, and all play a role in fostering an environment of psychological safety – especially as it pertains to historically underrepresented groups. This requires self-awareness, a more inclusive mindset, and commitment to accountability – all qualities of an effective ally.

In this presentation, we will:

• Explore the meaning of allyship
• Address misperceptions and barriers of being an ally
• Share guidance on how to be more inclusive with our actions and behaviors.

Participants should come prepared to engage in candid dialogue and learn actionable practices that contribute to a culture of belonging.

Your Choice Coach Team: Bios

Simone Sloan, Founder and Principal Consultant:

Simone is an accomplished business strategist and coach with a career in senior roles at Fortune 500 companies across marketing, communications, medical affairs, sales, and global business strategy. Her tenure includes successfully launching and leading products and services, implementing programs for key stakeholders across the globe, and developing and training sales, medical, and technical teams.

Simone’s mantra is “Voice, Power, Confidence.” As an emotional intelligence executive coach, she changes the way leaders and their businesses engage their employees and clients.  Simone emphasizes the human element with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

Simone is a keynote speaker and has been featured as a thought leader in articles for Huffington Post, Forbes, and Pharmacy Times. She is an active member of the Tri-State Diversity Council and advocate for women, LGBTQI, BIPOC, people with disabilities, and cross-generations.

Simone holds a BS in Pharmacy and an MBA from Howard University. She is co-author of the book: Achieving Results, and is certified in DISC, Emotional Intelligence (EQI) 2.0, IDI Cultural Competence, Block Chain, Behavior Design, and is also accredited through the International Coaching Federation.

Kelly Fuller, DEI & Communications Consultant: 

Kelly is a dynamic communications, sales, and analytics leader who is passionate about addressing inequity and driving adoption for change management in the workplace. As a consultant, she develops people-centered strategies for clients that support a more inclusive mindset and organizational culture.  

Prior to joining Your Choice Coach, Kelly was Senior Sales Director at Talkwalker, a global social listening and analytics company. During her tenure leading the healthcare vertical, she advised enterprise technology, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies on leveraging data insights to support organizational growth drivers.   

Kelly also held a career at PR Newswire, a Cision company, where she was recognized for her work counseling agencies and Fortune 500 clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Sanofi on communications and investor relations strategies that engaged global audiences and measured return on investment (ROI) tied to business impact. She’s also led communications and business development strategy at PR/Advertising agencies and tech start-ups.  

Kelly serves on the Advisory Council for the Diversity Action Alliance (DAA), a cross-industry coalition dedicated to increasing recruitment, retention, and representation in management for people of color and other underrepresented groups in the communications field.   

Kelly has a BA in Communications, Minor in Spanish from the University at Buffalo, and studied abroad at the Instituto Internacional in Madrid, Spain. She earned a Certificate from Cornell University for its Diversity and Inclusion Training program and has ongoing 1-on-1 training with the founder of Your Choice Coach.