Episode 24: A Conversation On Accountability, Antiracism and Authenticity - How Dr. Akilah Cadet Is Doing The Work and Teaching Others To Do The Same Through Her DEIB Firm, Change Cadet

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Dr. Akilah Cadet

Founder & CEO, Change Cadet

Today’s episode features Dr. Akilah Cadet, Founder and CEO of Change Cadet a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging consulting firm, which offers a broad array of anti-racism and diversity services including strategic planning, crisis rebuilding, advising, executive coaching and facilitation. Akilah has 15+ years of experience working in various organizations, with both private and public sector companies. She is also the host of the Change Cadet podcast, and the Chief Creative Officer of Representative Collaborative, a storytelling collaborative that covers issues of racial and social injustice by reframing activism and sharing stories of the folks driving culture.

With a Bachelor of Science in Health Education in Community Based Public Health, a Master of Public Health, and a Doctorate of Health Sciences in Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Dr. Cadet embarked on a career in public health, advocating for communities of color and other underrepresented groups. However, faced with bureaucracy, not feeling valued, a never ending pattern of isms and barriers that Black women often face in the workplace, along with feeling limited and boxed into the ideals and expectations of the corporate workforce, Dr. Cadet made a decision to bet on herself for her happiness, her mental health, and her power to make a real impact for BIPOC and other underrepresented communities on her own terms.

Listen as we discuss Dr. Cadet's path to founding Change Cadet, what meaningful diversity and inclusion work looks like in 2021 in light of the protests of 2020, the biggest pitfalls and errors that companies and individual make when trying to educate themselves on being anti-racist, talking race and politics in the workplace, and how she maintains her personal boundaries and self care amid a year where demand for her work is at an all-time high.

Connect with Dr. Akilah Cadet

Additional Notes

  • Book referenced: “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood” by Trevor Noah

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Myriha Burce