October celebrates Black History Month with the theme of Saluting our Sisters, paying homage to black women who had contributions ignored, ideas appropriated, and voices silenced.
We were delighted to invite esteemed journalist and news presenter Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije to our Diversity & Inclusion forum to speak about the significance of this month, how we can overcome unconscious bias, and why diversity is good for everyone.
“I greatly enjoyed joining Venn Group’s Black History Month forum, the questions were really varied and it was superb to see an engaged group of individuals keen to learn about my experiences.”
Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije
“It was our honour to host a remarkable guest speaker during Black History Month, Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije. Her talk on Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement was not just informative, but truly inspiring.
Her powerful yet accessible words resonated with all of us, and affirmed how being kind is at the heart of inclusion and empathy.”
Avtar Singh, Executive Director
“The recent D&I session with Claudia-Liza was really informative. I think it is important for people to tell their stories, and I appreciated how candid she was about her thoughts and life experience. This included the biases she held and was subjected to when growing up, and how those contrast now for her children, as well as what has stayed the same.
The biggest take away from the session is the importance of not being afraid to have an open dialogue amongst people that are different from us, because that is the first step in getting a better understanding of each other.”
Denzel Sarkodie-Addo, Consultant
“Claudia-Liza is a force of nature; driven and ambitious with massive amounts of empathy and honesty. It was privilege to spend an hour with an individual who was so self-aware and conscious of actions and impact.”
Elly Hanna, Head of External Communications